Improvements in Documentation module
Contents
In FEM-Design 19 Documentation module is improved a lot. New functionalities and objects are implemented to speed up the process of documenting the project.
Speed up
The speed of the documentation module is drastically increased. Entering and exiting to the documentation module and navigation between the pages is sped up by 10 - 100 times, depending on the results displayed in the different views.
New functionalities
Navigation panel is synchronized to the current page
The items belonging to the actual page got a grey background in the navigation panel.
Whenever any page is displayed, all the items in that page are automatically highlighted in the navigation panel.
New ways to modify item properties
There are two new ways to modify the properties of documentation items:
- double clicking the item on the current page
- ALT+ double click the item in the navigation panel
Copy window settings
Copy windows settings provide an easy way to copy many types of properties (see the picture below) of one window to other window(s) in a fast and easy way.
Step 1: Highlight the graphical window to copy its settings
Step 2: Right click, then select Copy window settings
Step 3: Select the windows to modify their properties
Step 4: Right click on any of them, then select Apply window properties
Step 5: Select in the properties to be copied, then click OK.
Simple way to add pictures and texts
FEM-Design 19 provides direct copy (Ctrl+C) and paste (Ctrl+V) of pictures and text even from the web to the documentation module.
More convenient printing to PDF
Even if a document contains sections with different paper size/orientation/margin, it still will be printed into one pdf file with correct settings.
New or improved objects
Document – new option
User can set the vertical space between items in the Document dialog for better organization. The following picture shows an example of how the Vertical spacing between items affects the documentation.
Logo
Logo, the new drawing object can be added to the title block to display the company logo. It can be created and modified by launching Draw/Logo command.
User has to specify the file path to the required image, then they can place it anywhere on the page. Finally, a new title block has to be registered that contains the new logo, too.
New line
In FEM-Design 19 the items inserted in a page are arranges next to each other, in order to save some space. To avoid this, User can insert New lines between the items.
Table – new options
There are new ways to assign objects to tables: At List objects… beside All/Current selection and User defined filters, now axes and storeys can be assigned to the tables. This way table will contain data only for objects that belong to the assigned storey or axis.
Text box – new options and renewed dialog
To make easier the identification of a text box in the navigation panel, a title can be added to it. It also can be displayed in the document by checking Display title option.
Similarly to tables, Fit width to content option is available for text boxes, too. If it is checked, the width will be set according to the longest line in the text.
Wizard
New documentation wizard provide a possibility to generate a set of graphical windows and tables by a few clicks.
Three types of wizard dialogs are available for
- structural data
- load data
- results
Structural data wizard
There are two ways to launch it:
Way 1: Highlight an existing Structure graphical window (later called Template), press Wizard, then select Use highlighted graphical window as template from the menu.
Way 2: Highlight any other type of documentation item, press Wizard, then select Structure from the menu
The wizard dialog consists of 4 main parts, which contain the following data:
- Structure parts: Whole structure, storeys, axes and user defined filters.
- Graphical windows tab: Object types and views
- Table tab: Tables of structural input data
- List: Graphical windows and tables already selected by the user
Step 1: Select at least one structure part
Step 2: Select graphical windows [optional]
- select object type(s) to display
- set view in one of the following ways
- Automatically (if Template window was selected, its view is used, otherwise the default view)
- Manually in a dialog
- Predefined view from the list
- Press Select button -> A set of graphical windows are added to the List
Step 3: Select tables [optional]
- Highlight required tables
- Highlight required tables
- Press Select button -> A set of tables are added to the List
Step 4: Press Apply button, if there is at least one item in the List ->
All graphical windows and tables in the List are added to the documentation.
Load data wizard
There are two ways to launch it:
Way 1: Highlight an existing Load graphical window (later called Template), press Wizard, then select Use highlighted graphical window as a template from the menu.
Way 2: Highlight any other type of documentation item, press Wizard, then select Load from the menu
It works in exactly the same way as Structure input wizard, but instead of object types, load cases have to be selected.
Result data wizard
It works in a similar way as Structure input wizard, but instead of object types, results have to be selected.
Further difference is that view setting dialog is available by pressing Set view… button.
