Solid Edge ST4 Event: Session 221 Customizing the Solid Edge User Interface by Jeff Walker

© Siemens AG 2011. All Rights Reserved.

Customizing Your User InterfaceJeff Walker


Siemens PLM Software

Solid Edge. Design better.

Jeff Walker

Solid Edge Product Design Manager

Background:

BSME, Auburn University

23 Years Software Design Experience

Member of the Solid Edge Product Design Team pre-V1

Managed Solid Edge Product Design Team since V9

Areas of Expertise:

Solid Edge Modeling




Solid Edge User Interface

You’ve Come A Long Way Baby…

Today we’ll cover…

Overall Layout – Smart Step Ribbon, Pathfinder, etc.

Customizing the Experience – Menus, Shortcuts, etc.

Graphic Manipulation Goodies from ST4




Back, by Popular Demand:

Horizontal “Smart Step”

Similar to the Smart Step Ribbon Bar – but more flexible

Called “Command Bar” technically

May float or be „magnetically stuck‟ to the window boundary or to the

side of PathFinder

May float anywhere – inside or outside the application frame

Frees up vertical space for PathFinder




PathFinder

Transparency and Text Options

PathFinder is now transparent (Win 7 and Vista)

Options for “backed” text or “outlined” text

To turn off transparency, go to Solid Edge

Options…Helpers, check “Show PathFinder in the

document view” (happens automatically in XP)

OR

Ctrl + Double Click the Gray Bar

Tip: Double Click the

top node in PathFinder

to collapse the tree




PathFinder

What’s Your Favorite Location/Size?

PathFinder can float anywhere, even outside the application

PathFinder can be magnetized right or left

Default is magnetized left with Command Bar to its right

It will auto-slide down if Smart Step is dragged above it

Double click the top gray bar

to cycle through:

snap to the right

snap to the left

return to the last floating location

Stretch top gray bar to widen PF




Live Rules

Move to “In Window” by Default

Live Rules have moved from the Command Bar to the graphics screen.

This provides easy access to the Live Rules and was necessary for the horizontal

format Command Bar.

There are four main colors to understand:

White: Rule turned OFF

Orange: Rule turned ON

Red: Rule found but ignored

since user turned rule off

Green: Rule found and enforced

When no active move/edit or

not found during move/edit

When moving/editing




Users can control where they would like Live Rules to be displayed: on screen or

in a floating panel

In Solid Edge Options…Helpers tab, user

can choose:

Show Live Rules in the

document view (On Screen)

Show as a floating panel

With the floating panel option, Live Rules panel can

reside outside of the Sold Edge application window

(second monitor)

There is a sub-option with the floating panel

Make Live Rules panel vertical

Live Rules

What’s Your Favorite Location?




Pathfinder

Synchronous, Ordered, and Editing

Ordered features now display an edit handle when selected from PathFinder or

in the graphics window that provides quick access to:

Synchronous

Ordered

Edit Feature Edit Feature

Edit Feature




Switch WindowsHeavily Used Command Gets Face-lift

Switch Windows command – now on Home Tab

Shows graphic preview (sweet!)

Well-known fact – ALT+Tab switches between applications

Little-known fact – CTRL+Tab switches between Windows




Radial Menu

A Massive Productivity Boost

16 of your most commonly used

commands at your finger tips

Completely customizable (per environment)

External XML File for easy portability

RMB drag to invoke

Supports gestures for inner ring

Pause to get both rings

Carries-over from release to

release




Radial Menu

Spend Time to Get the Hang of it…

RMB click still brings up Shortcut menu as it used to

Interaction pattern is different to get Radial menu

Click RMB, but HOLD IT DOWN

After a slight pause the Radial menu will display

Continuing to hold the mouse button down…

Slide over the command you desire

(it will highlight)

Release the mouse button

Command starts




Radial Menu

Expert Mode – Using Gestures

OK, so you‟ve got the hang of the Radial menu?

Time for GESTURES!

Gestures apply only to the inner ring

A quick move and release to any of the 8 directions invokes the

command on the inner circle

Do the following very quickly…

Click and hold the RMB, move in one of the 8 directions and then

release the mouse button. Do this all in under .4 second

(adjustable) and you‟ll get the appropriate “inner ring” command

Radial menu is NOT displayed

A confirmation of the command invoked is flashed




Radial Menu

Customizing Gestures

The Options button is provided to give

the user quick access to the Solid

Edge Options…Helpers tab.

In the Solid Edge Options…Helpers tab,

you will find two options the user can control:

Minimum drag distance (pixels)

Show radial menu after (msecs)

This means “I must move my mouse at least 50 pixels and release the button in

less than 250 milliseconds for a gesture to occur”.

Tip

Set timer low and distance high if you don‟t want gestures

Set timer high enough (.4 to .6 sec?) to allow gesture to occur

Set distance large enough to avoid unintentional gesture with RMB




Customization

A Progression, Completed in ST4

All Customizations support Themes

Keyboard

Ribbon

Quick Access toolbar

Radial menu

Stored as XML Files

NOT in registry

Portable

Carries-over release to release

ST3

ST4

ST2




Customization

Customizing the Command Ribbon

To start the customization process,

Use the Customize menu from the QAT.

On the Ribbon Tab,

select the Solid Edge Environment

you want to customize

You can customize all environments at

one time or you may prefer to do them

as you go…




Ribbon Customization

Adding/Deleting Tabs and Groups

Add a new tab by selecting the

“New Tab” button

Add a new group within a Tab

by selecting “New Group”

Rename any group or tab

Use “Separator” within a group

to organize like things

The “Move Up/Move Down” buttons allow users to move tabs, groups, and

commands up/down the list – changing the order of the tabs or groups

Tab

Group

Separator




Ribbon Customization

Release to Release Differences

When moving to a new version of Solid

Edge, the commands highlighted in

orange are new for the version and

need to be considered for adding to

custom themes




Keyboard Customization

Complete Revitalization

Keyboard customization has been completely redesigned in ST4.

Modifiers not required

Usage can be unique per

environment OR set across all

applications

Theme Support

Carried-over from release to

release.

Tip: Use Choose commands

from option „All Keyboard

Assignments‟ AND Print to

create a quick-reference guide!




Radial MenuCustomization

On the Radial menu tab, you can

select the Solid Edge environment you

want to customize.

Customizing the menu is done

with the drag/drop method. Just drop in the

wedge you want it in.

Drag commands from one wedge to another;

if the wedge is occupied, then the two

commands swap.

LMB this little arrow or

RMB on the ribbon and

choose




Radial Menu

Access Commands from Many Sources

To find more commands, use the

“Choose commands from:” drop-list

Here you will find the following:

All Commands

All Tabs (Command Ribbon)

Commands Not in the Ribbon*

Custom Tabs and Groups

Macros

System Menu

*for example, commands that are found

on the RMB shortcut menu…




Themes

Saving Multiple Customized Variation

Themes Can be use to save

completely new and different

variations of your customized UI

When edits are made to the

customization, you will be prompted

to define the theme

Themes drop-list contains all

the names of all the customizations

Use “Save As” to save changes to a

new Theme

Apply Themes using QAT Customize

menu




Customization

Protability

Keyboard, command ribbon, radial menu, and quick access toolbar customizations

are all stored in XML format on a per user basis

Vista/Win 7:

C:\Users\”username”\AppData\Roaming\Unigraphics Solutions\Solid

Edge\Version XXX\Customization\xxxxx

Win XP:

C:\Documents and Settings\”username”\Application Data\Unigraphics

Solutions\Solid Edge\Version XXX\Customization\xxxxx

XML file can be shared between users/computers

Granular management:

Each Theme is in a different folder

Each type (keyboard, ribon, QAT, radial Menu) are in separate files

XML carries forward from one SE version to another (ST3 to ST4, ST4 to ST5,

etc.)




DemonstrationST4 Interface – New Levels of Productivity

..\..\ST3\AVIs\August 2010\10_ST3_Customer_UI\10_ST3_Customize_UI.avi




Maximizing Screen Real Estate

Go without your most precious asset…

•Your Ribbon Bar menu!

and

•Your Prompt Bar also!




Maximizing Screen Real Estate

Giving it a try…

Why?

• Not just for massive screen real estate…

• It help train you to use your Radial menu & Keyboard shortcuts

• If you are missing a command on the Radial menu, add it

• Keep doing it; tough it out without your Ribbon Bar menu.

How?

Use Transparent PathFinder

Minimize the ribbon

Kill the prompt bar

Prompts redirect to status bar

Customize as need




What About All That Ribbon Bar Stuff

You Just Taught Me?

• Many people still want the comfort of the Command

ribbon.

• Or use more than the 16 commands very often

• It‟s OK if you want to turn it back on – I won‟t tell!

• But just don‟t do it right away – work with Radial

menu and collapsed Command bars for at least a

solid week.

• You will be glad you did, because the Radial

menu will become second nature and save you a

boatload of time!




Middle Mouse Button RotateUser defined focus…

You can now define the center of MMB Rotate

• Instead of click/hold on the Middle Mouse Button…

• Just click (no hold) the MMB

• This invokes a command that allows you to select the center of rotation

• Select Point, Edge, Circle Center

• Rotate about Point or Axis

• Cursor Indication During Rotate

Double Click MMB – Fits View




Scroll Wheel ZoomingWorks as expected…

Full-time mouse wheel scroll!

In graphic area, wheel zooms no matter what command you are in.

Can perform other tasks based on cursor position.

If a command takes value input (e.g. Edit Dim, Round, Hole, Pattern, …)

To change the value, use CTRL key along with mouse wheel scroll

If you do a lot of dim value scrolling, holding CTRL will take some getting used

to

If the cursor is positioned: MMB scroll will:

Within the graphic area Zoom in/out the model

Within the PathFinder Scroll the PathFinder

Within a docking pane Scroll the docking pane

And so on…




Solid Edge User InterfaceComplete customizable…

Horizontal Command Bar

Transparent Pathfinder

Fully customizable UI

Keyboard

Ribbon

QAT

Radial Menu

Survives release to release

Portable; Theme based

Scroll Wheel Improvements

MMB Rotate

MMB Scroll




Q & A

Solid Edge ST4 Event: Session 221 Customizing the Solid Edge User Interface by Jeff Walker

Technology

Transcript of Solid Edge ST4 Event: Session 221 Customizing the Solid Edge User Interface by Jeff Walker