Customizing Your User Interface Jeff Walker. Siemens AG All Rights Reserved.

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1 Customizing Your User Interface Jeff Walker

2 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 Page 2

3 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 Page 3

4 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 Page 4

5 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 Page 5

6 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 Page 6

7 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 When no active move/edit or not found during move/edit Red: Rule found but ignored since user turned rule off Green: Rule found and enforced When moving/editing Page 7

8 Live Rules What s Your Favorite Location? 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 Page 8

9 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 Page 9

10 Switch Windows Heavily 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 Page 10

11 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 Page 11

12 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 Page 12

13 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 Page 13

14 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 Page 14

15 Customization A Progression, Completed in ST4 All Customizations support Themes Keyboard Ribbon Quick Access toolbar ST4 Radial menu Stored as XML Files NOT in registry Portable Carries-over release to release ST2 ST3 Page 15

16 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 Page 16

17 Ribbon Customization Adding/Deleting Tabs and Groups Tab Separator Group 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 Page 17

18 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 Page 18

19 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! Page 19

20 Radial Menu Customization LMB this little arrow or RMB on the ribbon and choose 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. Page 20

21 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 Page 21

22 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 Page 22

23 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.) Page 23

24 Demonstration ST4 Interface New Levels of Productivity Page 24

25 Maximizing Screen Real Estate Go without your most precious asset Your Ribbon Bar menu! and Your Prompt Bar also! Page 25

26 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 Page 26

27 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! Page 27

28 Middle Mouse Button Rotate User 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 Page 28

29 Scroll Wheel Zooming Works 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 the cursor is positioned: Within the graphic area Within the PathFinder Within a docking pane And so on MMB scroll will: Zoom in/out the model Scroll the PathFinder Scroll the docking pane 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 Page 29

30 Solid Edge User Interface Complete 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 Page 30

31 Q & A Page 31