Dimension Customization

Controls the default representation of support dimensions.

The DimensionControlDesigner.exe tool allows you to customize existing supports and add new supports to the application. The tool is installed into the AVEVA E3D Design installation directory.

The Dimension Control Designer window allows you to apply custom configuration to support dimensions.

To open the SupportsConfiguration.xml file, click File and select Open from the drop-down menu. The left hand part of the Dimension Control Designer window displays the content of the SupportConfiguration.xml which is located in the AVEVA E3D Design installation directory. You can modify the xml text directly.

The bottom part of the Dimension Control Designer window displays errors and warnings for the XML file.

The file location displays in the status bar.

A simplified version of the SupportConfiguration.xml is:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?>

<DimensionControlConfiguration id="Aveva.Supports.Presentation.DimensionControl">

<Mappings>

<Mapping name="FT09" representationId="ft09"/>

</Mappings>

<Representations>

<Representation id="ft09">

<Image id="ft09_dim" />

<Dimension id="dimension3" x="0.1" y="0.3" />

<Dimension id="dimension2" x="0.41" y="0.73" size="35"/>

<Dimension id="dimension1" x="0.5" y="0.82"/>

<Dimension id="dimension4" x="0.9" y="0.3"/>

<Dimension id="distance" x="0.5" y="0.95" size="80"/>

<Dimension id="anAngle" x="0.5" y="0.95" type="angle"/>

</Representation>

</Representations>

</Supports>

The Mappings part of the SupportConfiguration.xml displays all of the configured supports. The example displays one support identified as FT09. The support is configured by a representation of the same name. Multiple supports can use the same representation.

The Representation part of the SupportConfiguration.xml displays the filename of the image file used for the support and each of the specified dimension nodes.

Each representation contains an image, the standard images supplied with AVEVA E3D Design do not require a file extension. To apply a custom png image, the image must be located in the custom support configuration directory, and the file name specified in the Image id attribute.

In the example, the mycustomsupport.png is located in the same directory as the SupportConfiguration.xml.

<Image id="mycustomsupport.png" />

In the example, the mycustomsupport.png is located in a subdirectory named myPngImages.

<Image id="myPngImages\mycustomsupport.png" />

The dimension nodes can be configured to have as many dimensions as required. For example:

<Dimension id="aSpecialDimension" x="0.1" y="0.3" />

The dimension nodes can be configured to display a specified number of decimal places. The example specifies three decimal places.

<Dimension id="hei" x="0.19" y="0.50" dp="3" />

The dimension nodes are then accessed via the GetDimensionById and SetDimensionById api calls. For example:

GetDimensionById('aSpecialDimension')

The dimension node x and y values indicate the centre point position of the dimension box within the control, defined as a decimal value. For example a position of x="0.5" and y="0.5" positions the centre point of the dimension box directly in the centre of the control. Valid values are from 0.0 to 1.0.

You can also configure the size of the dimension boxes. The default size is 54 pixels. The example positions the dimension1 text box directly in the centre of the control, with a width of 100 pixels.

<Dimension id="dimension1" x="0.5" y="0.5" size="100" />

The dimension type can also be configured. The default dimension type is distance. The example defines the dimension type as an angle.

<Dimension id="anAngle" x="0.5" y="0.95" type="angle"/>