Custom Toolbars and Commands-have to reload each time 2

[NorthwesternDesign]

I have some custom icons and functions that I would like to use in NX 7.5.4.4. I can get them to work, but each time I exit NX (File, Exit) and reopen a new session, I have to load them again. The toolbar files are located in C:\Startup. An example of the file paths in the toolbar file is located below.
BUTTON Thick to Thin
LABEL Thick to Thin
BITMAP C:\Bitmaps\Tk2Tn.bmp
ACTION C:\Macro_Toolbar\Thk2Thn.vb

I then selected My Computer, right click, Properties and created two environment variables in the UGII_FLEX_BUNDLE and the UGS_LICENSE_BUNDLE. They read: UGII_USER_DIR= C:\Startup and UGII_BITMAP_DIRECTORY=C:\Bitmaps

I called UG tech support and was directed to read the documentation for tbr. It was not much help. Before I call back with my IR, I would like to get some input here.

 

[cowski]

Once everything is loaded, try saving a 'role' and setting that role as your default.

www.nxjournaling.com

 

[NorthwesternDesign]

Under the Customize menu (with my icons loaded), I selected Roles, Create and saved one called mynewrole.mtx in the C:\Startup directory. I closed NX down and reopened. I also loaded the role that I just created, but the icons or toolbar did not show up.

 

[SDETERS]

Please take a look at this thread form GTAC site. This really worked well for us. This puts all of your custom files in one place on a server. Then it has start up scripts that point all of your files to the correct locations.

https://bbs.industrysoftware.automa...ead.php?t=42187&highlight=customization+nx7.5

 

[NorthwesternDesign]

Thank you SDETERS and cowski. I looked at the link you sent and am overwhelmed with the thread, but I will keep looking at it. While Unigraphics has the capability to have custom menus and other custom features, I have been very disappointed in how difficult it is to make changes. I am no computer expert and nearly everytime I contact tech support, it requires changing lines of text in some txt file, changing environment variables, looking here, looking there for another file.... certainly something could be done to simplify the process I would think.

 

[cowski]

If this is only going to be used on only a few computers, it may be easier to customize an existing toolbar and add a button, and point it to your journal on each computer. To do so:[ol 1]
[li]right click in the toolbar/menu area and select customize[/li]
[li]select the "Commands" tab[/li]
[li]scroll down to "New Button" (near the bottom)[/li]
[li]from the Commands pane (right side), drag "New User Command" to the toolbar of your choice[/li]
[li]right click on the new command button, edit action set type to journal file, browse to your journal, optional: add tooltip text[/li]
[li]from the same right click menu, you can change the button icon to your custom file[/li]
[/ol]

But if you are rolling this out to many computers, it would be easier to roll out and maintain the .tbr files.

www.nxjournaling.com

 

[JohnRBaker]

...certainly something could be done to simplify the process I would think.

Exactly how long have you been using NX?

Back before Customize and before Roles, editing the content of a Menu or a Dialog was very limited, basically your only choice was to manually edit .men and .tbr files. And while that can still be done and we still support MenuScripts (as this provides functionality which goes way beyond simply adding/removing/moving menu items and icons) the vast majority of what users generally with to do can be done using Customize and then capture those changes in a user-defined Role. I'm not sure how we can make it any easier.

BTW, for NX 8.5, we're adding some additional User Interface enhancements such as 'Context Toolbars' (which are fully customizable, including now the existing radial pop-ups) as well as more use of 'Favorites' (introduced in NX 8.0) as well as adding a 'Less/More' option on virtually all Dialogs so as to better manage whether you need to see full dialogs or not (this is done on a dialog-by-dialog basis and can be captured by Roles).

Anyway, we are continuing to work on improving your interactive experience when using NX, both in terms of what a users see out-of-the-box as well as what can be done by an average user when he/she wishes to modify the content and presentation toolbars and menus.

John R. Baker, P.E.
Product 'Evangelist'
Product Engineering Software
Siemens PLM Software Inc.
Industry Sector
Cypress, CA
Siemens PLM:
UG/NX Museum:

To an Engineer, the glass is twice as big as it needs to be.

 

[NorthwesternDesign]

I have been using Unigraphics for 15 years, but have had very little training. I don't know what MenuScripts are. We have a supplier that uses NX. They have developed some customized menus and have supplied them to us. These customizations that they provided us are located in a Startup directory, a Macro_Toolbar directory and a Bitmaps directory. I opened the toolbar file and changed lines of text to look for files in the Bitmaps and Macro_Toolbar directories. Like I said, it would work when it was loaded, however each time I opened NX, I would have to reload it. cowski suggested adding a new button through the commands tab. I tried it and it worked! Did not even know it existed...Now why it would not recognize the toolbar after changing the environment variables I can't say. Thank you all for your help!

 

[JohnRBaker]

May I suggest this:

Set the following environment varaible...

UGII_USER_DIR=

...pointing to a folder somewhere. Then in THIS folder create another folder named 'startup' and in THIS folder place any NEW toolbar and menu files, including any MenuScripts (if you use them) which are also .men files.

Now if you're editing an EXISTING toolbar or menu file, copied from the .../UGII/menus folder, you need to place these files in a folder, in that same original folder pointed to by the variable above, but this time named 'application'.

When you start NX the system will automatically replace/load the toolbar and menu files found in these two folders and they will be the ones which will be controlling what you see in the user interface.

John R. Baker, P.E.
Product 'Evangelist'
Product Engineering Software
Siemens PLM Software Inc.
Industry Sector
Cypress, CA
Siemens PLM:
UG/NX Museum:

To an Engineer, the glass is twice as big as it needs to be.

 

[NorthwesternDesign]

That worked great John! Thanks all for your help!