Toolbar Menus:

This section discusses changes and enhancements that have been made to the TOOLBAR and its supporting menus.

Z-Height Box:

A new Z-height box has been added to the left side of the TOOLBAR menu.


Z-Height

• The Z-HGT box displays the current work-plane height along the Z-axis ("8.5" in the image above) or off if the work-plane is set to 0. Being able to control this setting is particularly useful when working on 3-D models and monitoring the Z-height can help avoid many confusing problems in 2-D drafting when the work-plane is accidentally set to some non-zero value.
  
  
• Clicking on either of the Z-HGT boxes will prompt for a new height value to be entered. There is also an option to graphically set the height by picking and existing point using the mouse. Enter a value of 0 (zero) to turn Z-height off.
  
  
• Right-clicking on the upper Z-HGT box toggles on/off the display of a temporary white square indicating the current work-plane location. This is useful for visually checking the workplane while working on a 3-D model.
  
  
• Right-clicking on the lower Z-HGT box toggles the Z-height between the current and previous values. This is very useful for quickly turning the Z-height on and off without having to constantly re-enter the same offset value.

Caps Mode Box:

A new Caps Mode box has been added to the left side of the TOOLBAR menu.


Caps Mode

• The CAPS box displays the current state of the text system's caps-lock mode. Clicking on either of the CAPS boxes toggles the mode on/off.
  
  
• Right-clicking on either of the CAPS boxes always forces caps-lock mode on regardless of it's previous state.

Toolbar Box:

A new Toolbar box has been added to the left side of the TOOLBAR menu.


Toolbar Button

• The upper T-BAR title box is used to access various features of the toolbar system. These features are discussed below.
  
  
• In ARRIS++, there are always two toolbar styles active concurrently; a foreground style (the one you see on the screen) and a background style. The lower box displays the name of the current foreground toolbar style ("details" in the image above). Clicking on the this box toggles the current foreground style to the background and brings the background style to the foreground.
  
  
• Right-clicking on the upper T-BAR box immediately resets the foreground to the user's STD and the background to the user's ALT toolbar styles - assuming they have been previously defined. Otherwise, the SYS-STD and SYS-ALT styles will be used.

  (For more information, see Toolbar Styles below.)

Toolbar Types:

• The TOOLBAR menu was modified in a number of ways. One off the most significant changes was the replacement of the static toolbar with a family of selectable menus offering either 20, 26, 29, 40, 44, 46 or 80 boxes which may be assigned custom functions.

  Example TOOLBAR menu with 20 assignable boxes (20 @ 2x2)      (Click on image for larger view in pop-up window)

  Example TOOLBAR menu with 26 assignable boxes (8 @ 1x1, 18 @ 2x2)      (Click on image for larger view in pop-up window)

  Example TOOLBAR menu with 29 assignable boxes (12 @ 1x1, 17 @ 2x2)      (Click on image for larger view in pop-up window)

  Example TOOLBAR menu with 40 assignable boxes (40 @ 2x1)      (Click on image for larger view in pop-up window)

  Example TOOLBAR menu with 44 assignable boxes (8 @ 1x1, 36 @ 2x2)      (Click on image for larger view in pop-up window)

  Example TOOLBAR menu with 46 assignable boxes (12 @ 1x1, 34 @ 2x2)      (Click on image for larger view in pop-up window)

  Example TOOLBAR menu with 80 assignable boxes (80 @ 1x1)      (Click on image for larger view in pop-up window)

  
  

• The 2x1 toolbar boxes display text labels that are generally readable in a full-screen ARRIS session running on monitors 17" or larger. On smaller screens the boxes may become too small to read conveniently. In that case, there are two options:
  
  
  1. Switch to a toolbar menu that has larger boxes. The toolbar type may be changed at any time by clicking on the T-BAR button and selecting the T-BAR TYPE option followed by a choice of either 20, 26, 29, 40, 44, 46 or 80. The TOOLBAR menu will immediately change to the designated type and will display as many of the current style's commands as will fit. Select 20 to use the toolbar with the largest display area and biggest text. The improved readability comes at the expense of having to accept fewer assignable boxes.
     
     
  2. Create custom ikons which replace the text labels and are easier to distinguish at a smaller size. For additional information on creating and using ikons, see the section titled Toolbar Ikon Creation below.
  
  
  
• With the advent of ikon support, use of the 80-box toolbar becomes a practical possibility with a properly designed set of ikons.
  
  
• The default toolbar is the 40-box type. However, this is overridden as soon as a new user creates their default STD and ALT toolbar styles as described in the following section.
  
  

• Notes:

  • The alternating colors on the toolbar serve no purpose other than to create visual groupings which make it easier to scan the toolbar and quickly locate the desired commands.

Toolbar Styles:

• Support for toolbar styles has been greatly enhanced. In ARRIS++, not one, but two sets of styles are active at the same time, doubling the number of user-assignable commands. For example, if the 40-box toolbar menu is active, then there are 40 left-click (i.e., foreground) and 40-right-click (i.e., background) commands available for a grand total of 80 customizable commands that are immediately accessible.
  
  
• The toolbar style name is displayed immediately below the T-BAR box. Clicking on the style name toggles the foreground toolbar style to the background while bringing the background style to the foreground and displaying its style name. This provides a quick and easy way of reviewing the background commands if their position cannot be remembered.
  
  
• When ARRIS++ is first installed, there are two default toolbar styles loaded which are named SYS-STD and SYS-ALT.

  SYS-STD Style Toolbar      (Click on image for larger view in pop-up window)

  SYS-ALT Style Toolbar      (Click on image for larger view in pop-up window)

  
  It is strongly recommended that the first thing a new user do is customize these styles to personal preferences (see next section) and then save them with the names STD and ALT. Each time ARRIS++ is activated it will search for these two customized toolbar styles and automatically load them if they exist.
  
  

• Additional toolbar styles may be created for special tasks. While STD and ALT might be used for general drafting work, an individual could create toolbar styles with different sets of commands for specialized work such as notation, dimensioning, 3D model creation, rendering, sigmac programming, menu design, etc. Once created, these styles are easily loaded by clicking on the T-BAR box and entering the desired style name at the prompt. The MENU option may also be used to select the desired style from a pop-up menu.

  
  T-BAR Toolbar Style Prompt

Toolbar Style Creation:

A new toolbar style is created by first selecting the desired toolbar type as described above, then modifying the layout to contain the desired set of new commands, and finally, saving the configuration as a style, assigning it a name.

A few important things to keep in mind are:



• The toolbar type is stored with the style. This means that when any toolbar style is loaded, the toolbar type will be automatically adjusted for that style.
  
  
• Any foreground and background toolbars that are used together should be of the same type (i.e., the same number of boxes). For example, this means that if you select a 29 box type to use as your STD toolbar style, then your ALT toolbar style should also be of the same type.
  
  
• It is perfectly alright to create various toolbars using different types. For example, you might have a STD and ALT style that each have 40 boxes while creating a special detailing toolbar that uses 80 boxes. Just remember that when the 80 box menu is loaded into the foreground, whatever commands are currently assigned to the background style will be rearranged to fit into the 80 box layout. This might be confusing if you don't understand what is happening. That is why it is recommended that, when creating a style using a type different from your normal toolbars, a foreground/background pair be created for use together.




Modifying Toolbar Commands:

There are three ways to modify the commands on a toolbar:

1: Automatic Toolbar Modification:

Existing commands from other menu locations can be automatically transferred to the toolbar. This is accomplished using the ARRIS++ help system. Display the menu with the command that is to be placed on the toolbar. Move the cursor over the desired menu box and press F2 to display the pop-up QUICK HELP menu.

Typical QUICK HELP Menu




Click on the TOOLBAR button and ARRIS++ will prompt:

Select box on toolbar for the custom command?

Click on the desired toolbar box and the command will be assigned to that location along with the corresponding ikon or text label.

Take note of the following two points which describe powerful features for placing commands on the toolbar that can greatly speed up the creation of custom toolbar styles.



• Right-clicking on the QUICK HELP TOOLBAR button will cause the right-click command associated with the original menu box to be placed on the toolbar rather than the standard left-click command.
  
  
• When selecting the final location for the command, if the box on the toolbar is selected with a right-click, the command will be assigned to the background toolbar style rather than the foreground one.

Alternately, from the QUICK HELP menu, the MORE HELP button may be selected to display the EXPANDED HELP pop-up menu.

Typical EXPANDED HELP Menu




Here, the menu box ikon or label text is shown and the left and right-click commands may be reviewed in detail. Selecting either of the PLACE ON TOOLBAR buttons will allow the corresponding command to be placed on the toolbar as described above.



2: Manual Toolbar Modification:

The second method for modifying a toolbar layout is to manually assign custom commands to the boxes. This is done by clicking on the T-BAR button and selecting the CUSTOM CMD option. ARRIS++ then prompts:
Select box on toolbar for the custom command?

Click on the desired box and the TOOLBAR BUTTON CUSTOMIZATION pop-up menu is displayed:

TOOLBAR BUTTON CUSTOMIZATION Menu




Use this menu to modify or completely replace the current command assigned to the toolbar box.

• IKON: Select this button to assign an ikon label to the toolbar box. If no previous ikon repeated item has been entered, ARRIS++ will prompt for the RI's name (and possibly the RI library if the RI cannot be found in any well known location). The two boxes to the right display the RI name and library and may be selected to change these values. A sample of the current ikon will be displayed in the box on the extreme right. For more information on using ikons, see the section titled Toolbar Ikon Creation below.

• TEXT: Select this button to assign a text label to the toolbar box. If no previous text label has been entered, ARRIS++ will prompt for the string. Two lines of text may be entered by using either a caret ( ^ ) or a vertical bar ( | ) symbol to indicate the location of the line break. (Note that if a vertical bar is used, it will be displayed on the menu as a caret.) Remember that the longer the text, the smaller it will appear on the button. The box to the right displays the text string and may also be selected to change the label. A sample of the current label text will be displayed in the box on the extreme right.

• Commands: Complex commands are broken into component parts (at the location of semi-colons) and each component is displayed individually in a numbered command list. Clicking on any of the existing command components will display the following prompt:

  Command Customization Prompt

  
  

  The selected component may be replaced by typing in a new command string. Selecting DELETE erases the command altogether while INSERT allows a new command string to be placed immediately in front of the selected component. Sometimes an empty or null argument is required in a command string. Use <null> to add this component.

  Note that complex command strings with one or more semi-colons may be entered at the prompt, but the string will then be broken into its parts when displayed on the menu's command list.

• CLEAR MENU: Selecting this button will clear the entire menu of all data in preparation for the assignment of an entirely new command.

• CLEAR CMDS: Selecting this button will clear the entire command list while leaving the current ikon or text label as is.

• OK: When all modifications have been made, select this button to dismiss the menu and assign the new command to the specified toolbar button.

• CANCEL: Select this button to dismiss the menu without making any changes to the toolbar button.
  
  

3: Toolbar Modifications Using the Command Database:

The third method of modifying toolbars is to select commands from the extensive Toolbar Command Database which is described in detail below.


In all cases, prompts that accept label text for toolbar buttons honor the CAPS mode setting. Thus, if CAPS mode is on, entering label text will be automatically converted to uppercase without having to hold the shift key.



Saving Toolbar Styles:

• As soon as a change is made to an existing toolbar style, the style name changes to "none".

  
  Toolbar Style: none

  This is done as a reminder that the current foreground configuration has not yet been saved. To save the layout click on the T-BAR box and select the SAVE STYLE option. ARRIS++ will prompt:
  
  

  Enter name of style to save?

  Type in the desired style name, from one to eight characters in length, and the toolbar layout will be saved in a file named ik_<style>.st in the USR:config.dir directory so that it can be reloaded at any time.
  
  

• As discussed above, it is suggested that two toolbar styles named STD and ALT be created as soon as possible since, if they exist, they will be automatically loaded each time ARRIS++ is activated.




Converting Toolbar Styles with cj_mktb:

• A perl script named cj_mktb has been created which allows existing ARRIS toolbar styles to be automatically converted to the file format required by ARRIS++. This tool is intended to be run only once by each person planning to use this package and will not affect the existing ARRIS style information in any way. To run the script:
  
  
  1. Open a shell or command window and move into the USR:config.dir directory. The script will not run from any other location.
     
     
  2. Execute the program by typing:
     
     
     ${ARRIS}/ap/cjsa.vn/cjmenus.ap/bin/cj_mktb

     A message will be displayed for each existing toolbar style found in the mn_ik.sf file that is converted to the ARRIS++ format and stored in a new ik_.st file.

• Because there are 22 assignable boxes on the standard ARRIS toolbar, this script creates 40 box ARRIS++ toolbar style files to insure that no commands are lost. To convert these to some other type (say 20 or 26 boxes), simply load the styles, select the desired toolbar type, make any required adjustments to the command layout and then resave the style in the new format.

Toolbar Ikon Creation:

It is possible to create custom ikons which can then be placed on the toolbar to identify an associated command function. To do that, follow these steps:

1. From the REPEATED ITEM overwrite menu, select the EDIT RI command to display the DRAW/EDIT REPEATED ITEM pop-up menu.
   
   
2. At the prompt, select the option create new RI and then enter a name for the new RI.
   
   
3. Create the desired image. While any colors may be used in the creation of the new ikon, using the solid or shadable colors from the ARRIS color bar are not advised as these colors will change if a different colormap is used. By convention, most icons are created with the following three colors:

   Color	White	Black	Grey
   Number	115	116	127
   Command to Set	$setvar(#fcol, 115)	$setvar(#fcol, 116)	$setvar(#fcol, 127)
   Description	Used to indicate new entities	Used to indicate existing entities	Used for construction information

   
   

   When creating RIs using these three colors, it is impossible to see the work if the screen background is either black or white. To solve this problem, temporarily set the background color (color #0) to some other value. This can be accomplished with a command such as:

   $cols(0, 38, 113, 118)

   To facilitate ikon creation, each of these commands have been included in the Toolbar Command Database under the command group titled ARRIS++: MENUS for easy placement on the toolbar.
   
   

4. When the ikon design is completed, select SAVE 2D RI and enter an appropriate library name. It is suggested that a separate RI library be used to store menu ikons to keep them from being confused with other RIs used in production work.
   
   
5. The new ikon may now be assigned to a toolbar box using the Manual Toolbar Modification technique described above.

Toolbar Ikon Placement:

Once a command has been placed on a toolbar using one of the techniques described above, it is possible to assign any existing repeated item (RI) as a toolbar button ikon. The easiest way to do this is to load the REPEATED ITEMS overwrite menu and then click on the SELECT button to display the REPEATED ITEMS SELECT pop-up menu.

Partial REPEATED ITEM SELECT Menu shown with TOOLBAR




Navigate to the appropriate library or catalog and highlight the desired RI by clicking once on its name or image. Select the TOOLBAR button at the bottom of the menu and then choose the button on the toolbar where the ikon is to be located.

Note that this operation only changes the button label image. The current command assigned to that button is unaffected by this operation. To change the button's command refer to the manual section titled Toolbar Style Creation.

Toolbar Command Database:

A comprehensive database of over 850 commands with text labels has been created and organized by category. These commands are available through the TOOLBAR COMMAND ASSIGNMENT pop-up menu which is displayed by clicking on the T-BAR box and then selecting the SETUP option.


The TOOLBAR COMMAND ASSIGNMENT menu      (Click on image for larger view in pop-up window)

This menu provides a convenient means for quickly creating new toolbar styles. There is detailed on-line help available for all boxes. Here is a quick review of the menu's main features.

• Titlebar: If the menu's contents ever becomes garbled or lost, right-click on the titlebar to re-execute the initialization command to restore the display.

• Style Management: At the top-right of the menu, the names of the CURRENT (i.e., foreground) and B3 (i.e., background) toolbar styles are displayed. If either of these styles has been modified, then the name displayed will be "none". The SWAP STYLES button can be used to exchange the CURRENT and B3 styles.
  
  Two buttons are provided which load the default SYS-STD or SYS-ALT style commands into the CURRENT position.
  
  Additional buttons are provided which will LIST all existing styles in a pop-up menu, LOAD an existing style into the CURRENT position, SAVE the CURRENT configuration as a new style, or PURGE (i.e., delete) one or more existing styles.

• ASSIGN COMMAND: When this button is selected, any of the assignable commands in the central portion of the menu may be placed on the toolbar. This is done by first clicking on the desired command and then selecting the appropriate box on the toolbar. The command will be immediately assigned to the toolbar and the style name will change to "none" to indicate that this new configuration has not yet been saved. Repeat this procedure until you have created the toolbar command layout that is desired and then select SAVE to save the configuration as a new style.
  
  An important fact to keep in mind when laying out a toolbar is that in addition to initially picking the command from the ASSIGNMENT menu, you may also pick any existing command from the toolbar itself. This provides a convenient means of rearranging the existing toolbar commands.

• EXECUTE COMMAND: When this button is selected, any of the assignable commands in the central portion of the menu will be immediately executed when selected. Note that executing many of these commands will cause the TOOLBAR COMMAND ASSIGNMENT menu to be dismissed from the screen.

• EXPLAIN COMMAND: When this button is selected, clicking on any of the assignable command buttons in the central portion of the menu will cause a short two-line description of that command to be displayed at the bottom of the menu. Use this feature to determine exactly what action a command performs when it is not immediately clear from the button label.

• CLEAR ONE BOX: Use this function to erase the command and label from individual boxes on the CURRENT toolbar.

• CLEAR ALL BOXES: Use this function to erase the commands and labels from all of the boxes on the CURRENT toolbar.

• Commands:Commands have been grouped into the following categories to make them easier to locate.

  ADMINISTRATION	APPS (LOAD)	APPS (MENUS)	ARCH ELEMENTS	ATTRIBUTES
  CEILINGS	CEIL (FIXTURES)	COLOR	COPY	CURVES
  CURVES (EDITS)	DATABASE	DIMENSIONS	DIM (EDITS)	DISPLAY
  DISPLAY LIST	DRAWINGS	EDIT (SINGLE)	EDIT (ALL IN)	EDIT (SOME IN)
  EDIT (MISC)	ELECTRICAL	LAYER	LAYER (EDITS)	LINES
  LINES (EDITS)	MISCELLANEOUS	MODES	NOTES	OBJECT SNAP
  OPENINGS	OPENINGS (EDITS)	PATTERNS	PATTERNS (EDITS)	PDF
  PLOT	PROJECTS	QUERY	RASTER ENTITY	REPORTS
  RIs	RIs (EDITS)	ROOFS	SAVE	SCREENS
  SHEETS	SLABS & PATHS	SOLIDS	SOLIDS (EDITS)	STAIRS
  STATUS REPORTS	STRUCTURAL	TEXT	TEXT (EDITS)	TRANSLATION
  STATUS REPORTS	WALLS (TOOLS)	WALLS (EDITS)	WORKPLANE	UTILS
  VIEW	VIEWPORT	ZONE	ZOOM	ARRIS 3D
  ARRIS DETAILS	ARRIS SITE	ARRISplus	ARRIS++: COLORMAP	ARRIS++: DOCS
  ARRIS++: DRAWING	ARRIS++: MACROS	ARRIS++: MENUS	ARRIS++: MISC	ARRIS++: POINTS
  ARRIS++: PROGRAM

  
  

  Tips:

  • Here is a little trick. If you want to quickly assign all of the commands within a command group to the toolbar, simply right-click on the command group name and then specify where on the toolbar the set of commands is to be placed.

  • The command database can be easily customized by the project administrator or by individual users, allowing existing commands and labels to be modified and new commands to be defined. Instructions for how to do this are provided at the top of the cj_ikon.tx file located in the ${ARRIS}/ap/cjsa.vn/cjmenus.ap directory.

Miscellaneous Notes:

• When ikons are used with a toolbar style, ARRIS++ attempts to store the RI library name where the ikon RI is located. Occasionally, a toolbar style is created with an ikon that cannot be located. In this case, a message is displayed and the ikon RI name is used as a label on the toolbar button. Should this occur, fix the problem by modifying the toolbar button using the procedure described under Manual Toolbar Modification and set the proper RI library for the named RI.

See Also:

• Desktop Menus