Re: plote_date in Wildfire

"Rainer Harter" wrote in message news: snipped-for-privacy@ipm.fhg.de...

Since Release 20 we are using a free tool called plotdate. It was > provided by a company named Spekan
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It has worked > pretty well in 20, 2000i, i² and 2001. After I now installed Wildfire I > found out that the tool produces a crash everytime I start it. I found > out that the problem is a trailfile called timestamp.txt. It doesn´t > work with Wildfire. > > My questions: > > - Is anybody able to fix the trailfile so that the tool works with > Wildfire? I´ve tried it without success. Now I´m giving up. > > - Do you have another idea to print the actual date and time on to your > drawings while you´re plotting? > > Any help would be greatly appreciated. > > Thanks, > > Rainer

Ok, upon closer inspection the Spekan Plotdate appears to have 2 problems with Wildfire:

This utility defines 3 mapkeys in config.pro: hpd1, hpdu, and hpdn.

hpd1 is just a system call to plotdate.bat that creates a time stamp trailfile. This mapkey is still functioning properly.

hpdu is a mapkey that a) calls hpd1 to create an up-to-date time stamp trailfile; b) uses this trailfile to create parameters PLOT_DATE and PLOT_TIME in the current drawing.

hpdn a) executes hpdu; and b) creates a note using a plot_date_note.txt from Pro/E note text directory.

There is one problem inside hpdu and another inside hpdn.

hpdu problem. Wildfire uses the new parameter creation interface. It was introduced in Pro/E 2001, but was disabled by default there. The controlling config.pro option is: new_parameter_ui Pro/E 2001 default was: new_parameter_ui no Wildfire default is: new_parameter_ui yes

When hpdu tries to create parameters using the time stamp trailfile created by the Spekan utility, the trail file fails because instead of calls to the menu items it contains Wildfire now expects calls to its new parameter creation dialog box. There are two ways to cure that: a) You can include a line 'new_parameter_ui no' into your config.pro. This will permanently switch Wildfire back to the traditional menu-driven parameter creation mode. However, I personally like the new parameter creation dialog box. I think it is much more comfortable when you have to manually create a parameter. So my advice is: b) You can modify hpdu to turn parameter creation to menu-driven, create parameters via trailfile, and then turn the parameter dialog box mode back on. Here is the modified version:

mapkey hpdu @MAPKEY_LABELUpdate plotdate params ;%hpd1;\ mapkey(continued) ~ Select `main_dlg_cur` `MenuBar1`1 `Utilities`;\ mapkey(continued) ~ Close `main_dlg_cur` `MenuBar1`;\ mapkey(continued) ~ Activate `main_dlg_cur` `Utilities.psh_util_pref`;\ mapkey(continued) ~ Input `preferences` `InputOpt` `new_parameter_ui`;\ mapkey(continued) ~ Update `preferences` `InputOpt` `new_parameter_ui`;\ mapkey(continued) ~ FocusOut `preferences` `InputOpt`;~ Open `preferences` `EditPanel`;\ mapkey(continued) ~ Close `preferences` `EditPanel`;~ Select `preferences` `EditPanel`1 `no`;\ mapkey(continued) ~ Activate `preferences` `AddOpt`;~ FocusOut `preferences` `InputOpt`;\ mapkey(continued) ~ Activate `preferences` `ApplySave`;~ FocusOut `preferences` `InputOpt`;\ mapkey(continued) ~ Activate `preferences` `Close`;\ mapkey(continued) ~ Select `main_dlg_cur` `MenuBar1`1 `Utilities`;\ mapkey(continued) ~ Close `main_dlg_cur` `MenuBar1`;\ mapkey(continued) ~ Activate `main_dlg_cur` `Utilities.psh_util_trail_train`;\ mapkey(continued) ~ Update `file_open` `Inputname` `c:\\\\TEMP\\\\timestamp.txt`;\ mapkey(continued) ~ Activate `file_open` `Open`;\ mapkey(continued) ~ Select `main_dlg_cur` `MenuBar1`1 `Utilities`;\ mapkey(continued) ~ Close `main_dlg_cur` `MenuBar1`;\ mapkey(continued) ~ Activate `main_dlg_cur` `Utilities.psh_util_pref`;\ mapkey(continued) ~ Input `preferences` `InputOpt` `new_parameter_ui`;\ mapkey(continued) ~ Update `preferences` `InputOpt` `new_parameter_ui`;\ mapkey(continued) ~ FocusOut `preferences` `InputOpt`;~ Open `preferences` `EditPanel`;\ mapkey(continued) ~ Close `preferences` `EditPanel`;\ mapkey(continued) ~ Select `preferences` `EditPanel`1 `yes *`;\ mapkey(continued) ~ Activate `preferences` `AddOpt`;~ FocusOut `preferences` `InputOpt`;\ mapkey(continued) ~ Activate `preferences` `ApplySave`;~ FocusOut `preferences` `InputOpt`;\ mapkey(continued) ~ Activate `preferences` `Close`;

hpdn problem. The problem is actually quite similar: Wildfire no longer uses the menu-driven call to #NOTE DIR. Instead, it now has a file dialog box from which you can select 'Note Text Directory' (if one has been defined in the config.pro). Thus, the mapkey fails at the point where it contains #NOTE DIR; it needs to be modified in the following manner:

mapkey hpdn @MAPKEY_LABELCreate plotdate note;%hpdu;\ mapkey(continued) Select `main_dlg_cur` `MenuBar1`1 `Insert`;\ mapkey(continued) ~ Close `main_dlg_cur` `MenuBar1`;\ mapkey(continued) ~ Activate `main_dlg_cur` `Insert.psh_dwg_note`;#NO LEADER;#FILE;#HORIZONTAL;\ mapkey(continued) #STANDARD;#DEFAULT;#MAKE NOTE;#ABS COORDS;6;4;\ mapkey(continued) ~ Open `file_open` `Ph_path.Path`;~ Close `file_open` `Ph_path.Path`;\ mapkey(continued) ~ Select `file_open` `Ph_path.Path`1 `Note Text Directory`;\ mapkey(continued) ~ Select `file_open` `Ph_list.Filelist`1 `plot_date_note.txt`;\ mapkey(continued) ~ Activate `file_open` `Open`;#DONE/RETURN;

If you compare these mapkeys to the originals in the Spekan's documentation, the changes will be quite evident. I have checked these new versions and they appear to be working with the original Spekan executable, batch file, and trailfile. If you encounter any problems using them, please let me know.

-- Alex Shishkin

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