AVEVA™ XR Studio

InteractionSelector

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InteractionSelector

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Last UpdatedSep 05, 2024
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The InteractionSelector node drives the user interaction with the environment inside industrial applications. It is specifically designed to interact with all the nodes of the Item hierarchy.

Typically, when there is one user, there is just one InteractionSelector node inside the application.

Platform supportThis node is fully supported on XR-Windows platform.

It is partially supported on XR-Portable Windows, XR-Portable iOS, XR-Portable Android, and XR-P WASM platforms.

Not all types of picking are supported on the portable platforms.

XR-WIN	XR-P-WIN	XR-P-IOS	XR-P-AND	XR-P-WASM
Full support	Partial support	Partial support	Partial support	Partial support

Code example

This is a code example for the InteractionSelector node.

Selection mode for picking items

In a manipulation based system, when selecting items in order to pick them, you can choose from several types of selection mode. For more information, see Selection modes.

Picking strategy

The InteractionSelector can apply picking strategies if the pickingStrategyNode field is populated with the name of a PickingStrategy node.

Can select which object type to be selectable or not. This is usually set up to includeCMesh only and incudeMWX, with other properties set to false).
Can use the jsonList to be able or unable to select particular nodes based on tags, IDs, or name.

Selecting the highlight style

The InteractionSelector is designed to highlight the Item instances that interact with it. Use the highlightStyle field to specify the way the highlight (silhouette) displays.

Note: The highlightStyle can be changed at runtime, but requires the selection to be deactivated and then reactivated to apply it correctly.

Style	Information	Reference Image
silhouette	Shows a clipped silhouette around the Item.
silhouette_noZ	Shows a silhouette around the item. The silhouette displays over everything, so it’s visible even when the Item is covered partially or completely.
filler	Shows a filler color over the item. The filler displays over everything, so it’s visible even when the Item is covered partially or completely.
silhouette_noZ_filler	Shows both a filler color and a silhouette over the item. The filler and the silhouette display over everything, so they are visible even when the Item is covered partially or completely.

Configuring which Item states display the highlight

The highlightShowMode field can restrict the list of states in which an Item can display the highlight. For example, use this field to prevent selectable items from displaying highlight and providing a hint on what is active and what is not.

State	Mode
	all	selected
Selectable	Yes	No
Over (Blink)	Yes	No
Selected	Yes	Yes
Remotely Selected	Yes	Yes
Inactive (with showSilhouetteWhenInactive=true)	Yes	No
Debug (with _debug=true)	Yes	Yes

Note: The hightlightShowMode field should be set to all value when the selectionMode is set to manipulator because similar functionalities can be achieved using the manipulatorSilhouetteMode field.

Remote actions

The InteractionSelector can display other avatar activities by setting remoteHintsVisible to true.

Only activities that occur inside the distance from the avatar (set by remoteHintsVisibilityDistance) appear. This lets operators understand what is happening in their vicinity.
The items currently selected by other avatars display a colored silhouette. The default color is blue.
When a user performs an action, an overhead hint appears displaying information about the selected item (group or name) and the currently running action. A line the same color as the silhouette joins the hint message with the selected item.

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Group name conversion

The InteractionSelector has a dstring parameter named groupDisplayNames that can be used to override the name or group name of a selected item.

Guidelines

Item names must be unique.
Group parameter is used to group separate items together into a macro item.
Use the groupDisplayNames field to rename groups of items, even at runtime.
This can be useful for several purposes:
- Having separate items or grouped items showing the same name.
  
  For example, if a device has 30 or more screws, users might not understand why each screw requires a different name.
- Changing the name of an item based on its state.

Rename an item name or item group

Create a dictionary pair, where:
- Key = Old name
- Value = New name

For example, a basicItem named screw35 can be renamed to Screw by inserting {screw35=Screw} in the dictionary.