Tabs don't stay persistent 2

[treddie]

Hi.

I am making the big switch from Wildfire to Creo and am learning the whole new GUI. Concerning the ribbons (I think they're called that, anyway), I can't seem to find any info on how (if it is even possible) to keep them persistent...Using a Revolve operation as an example, every time I change one parameter like solid or surface, the ribbon collapses, So I have to keep reopening it to change another parameter, like angle or direction.

Many thanks!

 

[treddie]

I found it. It can be made persistent by first being outside sketcher, right-clicking the general ribbon area and unchecking, "Minimize the ribbon".

 

[mjcole]

Good find,

It helps to save space when not in use. I think I have a ribbon toggle mapkey rx in addition to my R1, R2, R3, R# mapkeys that focus a specific tab which helps in Drawing environment.
The main thing that came to mind when seeing the post topic was the tab close order setting indicated by the small #s (numbers) shown on tabs during Customize Screen operation.

I'd think if you were in the midst of a feature operation relevant ribbon tabs should remain active and visible. Just Tested it, When the tab is clicked manually while Minimize is active the Tab and icons are displayed. Since Mapkeys virtually click the button somehow the same behavior doesn't occur as when done by hand. Also for long time users, some of you may recall the Mapkey Option
visible_mapkeys Yes/No* (* Default setting)
When set to no The Menu Manager Picks by user would be hidden when mapkeys were played back.

No matter what the Minimize setting behavior is I believe if a user clicks a {Tab}, He/She probably wanted to and wants to see the ribbon bar's contents. Instead it seems PTC is asking "Are you sure you want to click this menu?", just like those File Save and Exit Warnings that I know S0N¥? and other companies love showing Confirmation Dialogs

The fact that the mapkeys don't work as they do as when recorded makes me consider this a bug. Maybe PTC should look into it or add a new config option similar to visible_mapkeys.
Show_Ribbon_For_Mapkey_Clicks Yes/No


"It's not the size of the Forum that matters, It's the Quality of the Posts"

Michael Cole
Boston, MA
CSWP, CSWI, CSWTS
Follow me on !w¡#$%
@ TrajPar - @ mcSldWrx2008
= ProE = SolidWorks

 

[treddie]

Thanks for the tips, mjcole.

Since you brought up mapkeys, I had a bunch of my own that no longer get loaded with my config file. One was a key to not only close a file, but all referenced files not displayed that are still in memory. Much quicker than going back up into the menus and doing the two steps manually. Where are mapkeys stored now? I can make new ones, but cannot find anyway to load preexisting ones.

 

[mjcole]

Treddie,

(Thanks for the star if that was you're doing)
In answer to your question. The mapkeys are typically held in your config.pro options file in the following manner as a config option.
You can load presaved or existing options or mapkeys by simply accessing the Tools Options config (I use "0o" as the mapkey for this) then use the File Open, Browse button on the pull down showing currently loaded config.pro from the Install\text folder or your \Working_Dir or InSession.pro if neither is loaded.
Note the "Save Mapkeys" [Changed] & [All] buttons in the config dialog shown later in post, they can be used to save your old mapkeys back to your config.pro file that you use.

After loading in and applying you can then return to your previous config file by using the same method. The config dialog keeps recently used configs in the pulldown list so you can reload your config file that you save your options to.
>> I've included some additional tips below which are probably above and beyond the scope of your post but will help new viewers/users

Code (|:Space , MK:MapKey, ..:format spacing)
mapkey|Launch Code|Actual Mapkey
Left Column ....| Middle Column ..|
Mapkey ........|A-#? (MK String)| ~ Command `ProCmdViewSpinCntr` 1; (MK Code)
mapkey | ds @MAPKEY_NAME'Displays Spin Center';@MAPKEY_LABEL"DISP Spin Ctr";mapkey(continued)|~ Command `ProCmdViewSpinCntr` 1;"[/b]
mapkey rx @MAPKEY_LABELRibbon TOGGLE;mapkey(continued) ~ Activate `main_dlg_cur` `adb_main_menu.adb_minimizeRibbon`0;0;
web_browser_homepage|

http://www.eng-tips.com/threadminder.cfm?pid=554

Since Creo still has an issue with line length in the config files which is max 96-100 chars, my longest line is 97 chars. Longer mapkeys get ";\" tacked on the end of each line and are continued on the next line with "mapkey (continued)" and end with a single semi-colon as seen in above examples.

As Seen in the above picture which I've posted before...
@MAPKEY_LABEL}Stores option text for Name field of mapkey dialog.
@MAPKEY_NAME}Stores the description shown for mapkey in the mapkey dialog.
There are length limits for each of the fields
I usually add a space or other symbol ]}> between the _(LABEL/NAME) and the Name or Description I enter to make the separation clearer and allow easy searching when manually text editing mapkeys.

If anyone would like this added as a FAQ in this Forum please let me know via Tweet.Err or maybe a forum reply. This is only a subset of my tips for configs and mapkeys. I plan to tweet more in future and eventually offer custom training via a Blog/Vlog etc.
If you know VSS Variable Section Sweeps one of the relation parameters range [0-1] is my "t w 1 t t 3 r" name. :~)

"It's not the size of the Forum that matters, It's the Quality of the Posts"

Michael Cole
Boston, MA
CSWP, CSWI, CSWTS
Follow me on !w¡#$%
@ TrajPar - @ mcSldWrx2008
= ProE = SolidWorks

 

[dgallup]

A lot (most?) of old WF mapkeys will not work in Creo. Creo can also become unstable if you load too many obsolete config options. You can look at std.out to find invalid config options.

----------------------------------------

The Help for this program was created in Windows Help format, which depends on a feature that isn't included in this version of Windows.

 

[mjcole]

Yes Dan,

One of my main tips is to use the Save All to just save to a file called allmapkeys.VERS.pro to store the files.
allmapkeys.WF5.pro

The problem with the config pro storing the mapkeys is any time they are resaved or "save changed" is used you get duplicate mapkeys. The std.out files will say option not valid on line ### and give details as you said. As to unstable check the size of your config if it reaches 5Megs or more you'll definitely see a performance hit on start up of creo.

When in the Config.Pro dialog valid or used and working options get a green "*" (star/dot) symbol, and any old or replaced mapkey options will have a grey "*" symbol and can be deleted from the config dialog.
A quick way to test all the mapkeys is to show the mapkey dialog and double click each mapkey label and see if it does the expected command sequence.
Another tip for mapkeys is any time data is entered you'll get a line per character such as the following
(continued) ~ Input `newlayerprops` `LayerNameInput` `ANNOTAT`;(continued) ~ Input `newlayerprops` `LayerNameInput` `ANNOTATI`;(continued) ~ Input `newlayerprops` `LayerNameInput` `ANNOTATIO`;(continued) ~ Input `newlayerprops` `LayerNameInput` `ANNOTATION`;(continued) ~ Update `newlayerprops` `LayerNameInput` `ANNOTATIONS`;\
can be manually entered or just use copy paste and CTRL+V to enter the data all at once.

Example std.out errors - When WF5 config was opened in an earlier WF version
ERROR - C:\config.pro, linenum 63: Keyword 'SAVEUNDERS_ENABLED' is not valid.
ERROR - C:\config.pro, linenum 97: Keyword 'FILE_OPEN_DEFAULT_VIEW' is not valid.
ERROR - C:\config.pro, linenum 98: Keyword 'OPEN_DRAW_SIMP_REP_BY_DEFAULT' is not valid.
ERROR - C:\config.pro, linenum 99: Keyword 'KEEP_MODEL_IN_OPEN_WINDOW' is not valid.
ERROR - C:\config.pro, linenum 103: Keyword 'MODELTREE_SHOW_GEN_OF_INSTANCE' is not valid.
ERROR - C:\config.pro, linenum 136: Keyword 'HIGHLIGHT_GEOMETRY' is not valid.
ERROR - C:\config.pro, linenum 139: Keyword 'SAVE_HIDDEN_ITEMS_W_STATUS' is not valid.

"It's not the size of the Forum that matters, It's the Quality of the Posts"

Michael Cole
Boston, MA
CSWP, CSWI, CSWTS
Follow me on !w¡#$%
@ TrajPar - @ mcSldWrx2008
= ProE = SolidWorks

 

[treddie]

Sorry for the delay in getting back.

Yah, that was me and the star, mj. And thanks to everyone for your great help. I think it would be a great FAQ.

My problem was not understanding that the old mapkeys just don't work anymore (. But apparently, the procedure to save/load new ones is roughly the same as before, per your posts.

You can load presaved or existing options or mapkeys by simply accessing the Tools Options config (I use "0o" as the mapkey for this) then use the File Open, Browse button on the pull down showing currently loaded config.pro from the Install\text folder or your \Working_Dir or InSession.pro if neither is loaded.

I could not find Tools > Options, but I do have File > Options > Configuration Editor, followed by Options > Import/Export > ....
I am running M070.