Customization Guide for Administrators and Advanced Users

• What's New

• Concepts
  • Multi-level Customization Approach
  • Customizable Components
  • Available Commands
  • Storage of User Customizations

• Customization Files
  • Available Commands
    • File Syntax
    • User Defined Available Commands
  • Ribbon Customization, Quick Access Toolbar, Command Mini Toolbar, Toolbar and Context Menu Files
    • Ribbon Customization Files
    • Quick Access Toolbar Files
    • Command Mini Toolbar Files
    • Toolbar Files
    • Viewport Popup and Preselection Context Menus
  • Mouse Button Customization
  • Keyboard Shortcuts and Abbreviations Files
  • UI Layout Files
  • Persistent Data Storage Files (PDS)
  • Default Setting Files
  • Viewport Default Background Color Bitmap Files
  • Modules Definition File
  • File Browser and File Manager Customization
    • Project Directories
    • File Manager Customization
  • Structure Browser Customization
    • Browser Views
    • Browser Queries
  • Multi Language Support

• Technical Topics
  • Customization Directories
    • Deviations for Creo Elements/Direct 3D Access
    • Localized Versions
    • Other Locales
    • Version-dependent Customization Directories
  • Load Order
  • Filenames and Directories
    • Filename Conventions
    • File Load Sequence
    • Image Files
  • Environment Variables

• Troubleshooting
  • Customizations don't appear as expected
  • Unexpected Error Messages
  • Known Restrictions and Defects

• Appendix
  • Customization Files of Add-On Applications and Modules

What's New

The separate document Customization and User Interface News describes all additions and modifications in respect to the customization capabilities of Creo Elements/Direct Modeling and its default menus, toolbars and context menus.

With every new Creo Elements/Direct Modeling release this document is updated to make the upgrade of Creo Elements/Direct Modeling in respect to customization as smooth as possible.

Concepts

This chapter contains general information about the concepts used in Creo Elements/Direct Modeling to fully leverage the power of a multi-level customization approach. All components and technical details will be explained in specific sections below.

Multi-level Customization Approach

Creo Elements/Direct Modeling and all of its add-on modules and applications support a consistent and generic approach to multi-level customization.
There are four levels of customization:

• SD
• Corp
• Site
• User

The SD level is the factory level of customization. For example, if no other customization has taken place (yet) Creo Elements/Direct Modeling 20.4 and its modules/applications will show up and behave as defined by Creo Elements/Direct Modeling.

A big company can add/modify or even replace the initial look and behavior of Creo Elements/Direct Modeling and all its modules/applications by providing a Corp (= Corporate) customization.

Single sites within a company can decide to overwrite, modify or enhance customizations done on corporate level. This can be done by providing a Site customization. It is not mandatory to have a Corp customization to make a Site customization. If there is no Corp customization given, a Site customization will tweak the default Creo Elements/Direct Modeling customization.

Finally, the user has the choice to tweak his system to his needs by changing defaults, UI layouts, toolbars, etc., either interactively or by editing files in the User customization directory. Usually all User customization files are written automatically as soon as the user modifies a setting during runtime of Creo Elements/Direct Modeling and its add-on modules/applications. In rare cases the user might need to edit a file such as the standard customization file (sd_customize) to make more sophisticated customizations. User settings can overwrite customizations given by Site, Corp or SD.

Customizable Components

The following UI components can be customized either interactively by the user at run-time or by providing specific definition files in site and/or corp customization directories:

• Ribbon Bar
• Quick access toolbars
• Command mini toolbars
• Toolbars
• Viewport context menus
• Preselection context menus
• Keyboard shortcuts
• Command abbreviations
• Available Commands
• UI Layout
• Modules UI contents and startup sequence

In addition to that, Creo Elements/Direct Modeling and each add-on module/application features their own specific customize files which allow the user to further tweak module specific functionality or settings.

Available Commands

The basis for all user interface customizations at run-time is a list of Available Commands. This list of available commands is provided by Creo Elements/Direct Modeling itself and by its add-on applications and modules like Annotation or Sheet Metal.

A corporate (corp) customization can add corp specific commands or can modify core Creo Elements/Direct Modeling commands. Having a specific variable set, corp can even completely replace the definitions of core Creo Elements/Direct Modeling. A site administrator also can add site specific commands or can modify corp or core Creo Elements/Direct Modeling commands.

A user usually modifies or adds to the list of available commands in an interactive way by means of the New ... or Modify ... buttons in the Customize UI. In addition to that he can also provide an available commands file just like a site administrator or or corp customization.

An available command defines a command within Creo Elements/Direct Modeling and all its add-on applications and modules uniquely. This unique identifier is a triple of three strings:

Application Name - Group Name - Command Name

This unique identifier is used to build up toolbars and context menus. Each entry in such definition files references the unique identifier of an available command.

When Creo Elements/Direct Modeling (and its add-on applications and modules) starts up, several toolbar and context menu definition files are loaded from various places (for more details see here).

If at this time the definition of an available command which is referenced in one of the toolbar/context menu files is found in the list of available commands, the toolbar/context menu button is created based on the information given in the available command definition: icon, tooltip, label, action, etc.

If a toolbar/context menu file references an available command which is not part of the list of available commands (yet), a proxy button is created with a reference to a (yet) unknown command. If at some point in time Creo Elements/Direct Modeling loads in additional available command files and the formerly referenced unknown command now became a known command, Creo Elements/Direct Modeling replaces the proxy button with a button created from the now available data.

Please note that the correct case-sensitive spelling is important when identifying a command in the list of available commands.

Storage of User Customizations

User customizations interactively done at runtime of Creo Elements/Direct Modeling are automatically stored to a place which Creo Elements/Direct Modeling always visits when the user starts up the next time. This guarantees that Creo Elements/Direct Modeling's user interface will appear to the user as it was in the previous session.

All changes the user does to the UI at run-time like creation or deletion of toolbars, modification of context menus or toolbar contents, rearranging the UI layout etc. are automatically stored to text files in the user's personal customization directory. This enables the user to easily reuse his customizations on a different computer or to leverage his customizations in a future release of Creo Elements/Direct Modeling. Also these generated files can be copied to a site or corp customization directory to make these changes available for site users or even on a corporate level.

From CoCreate OneSpace Modeling 2007 onwards, the default encodings for customization files are UTF-8 and UTF-16. Creo Elements/Direct Modeling recognizes these encodings automatically if the customization files start with a BOM. For background information on Unicode, encodings and BOMs, please consult the separate document on Unicode concepts.

Customization Files

This section decribes the exact syntax of all necessary definition files to allow user interface customization. Usually these files are written automatically by Creo Elements/Direct Modeling, but this section should serve as reference to understand the contents of each file.

Available Commands

An available commands file contains definitions of commands which are the basis for the ribbon definition and can be used in user-defined toolbars, viewport popup menus and in preselection context menus.

The default Creo Elements/Direct Modeling available commands file is:

INSTALLDIR/personality/sd_customize/sd_avail_cmds.cmd

or

INSTALLDIR/personality/<language>/sd_customize/sd_avail_cmds.cmd

where <language> is one of the local languages (french, german, italian, spanish, japanese). This file contains a number of commands that you can use to customize toolbars etc.

File Syntax

This section describes the syntax that is used to define an available command. The syntax is similar to LISP; however, you need a special Creo Elements/Direct Modeling function to read in such a file. The standard LISP function load cannot be used for this purpose.

Creo Elements/Direct Modeling will read additional command files automatically at startup if you put them into certain directories (corp/site/user) which are checked during startup. See here for more information.
Each command defined in such additional available command files is appended to the list of available commands. If you specify a command with the same command name, group and application as an existing command, the existing command is overwritten (redefined). The last definition in the order SD-corp-site-user wins.

Example

    (:Application "SolidDesigner")

    (:Group "Machine" :title "Machine")

    ("Linear Pull Profile"
     :title           "Linear Pull Profile"
     :action          (ui::uic-call-pull-action :linear-pull-profile)
     :description     "Linear pull profile with immediate distance specification"
     :image           "SolidDesigner/Machine/linear_pull_profile"
     :ui-behavior     :relative
     :cmt-ui-behavior :on-request
     :context-enable  (agent::workplane-enable-context-menu-entry :any-closed-profile))

Each expression is enclosed in parenthesis. If the first element of the list is a string, then that string represents a command name and that expression specifies a command. In the above example, "Linear Pull Profile" is a command name. Several other parameters follow the command string that describe the behavior of the command. All of these parameters are optional. If you omit such a parameter, a useful default will be taken.

Each command can be uniquely identified by the triple

      "Application" - "Group" - "Command Name"

Thus, in this example the triple

      "SolidDesigner" - "Machine" - "Linear Pull Profile"

describes the path to the command specification given above. The triple is used in customization files to uniquely specify the command that is related to an entry in a toolbar or in a popup menu.

Note that the same command name can occur several times in different groups and applications, and yet represents very different commands.

Application Entry

An expression of the type

    (:Application "application")

marks the beginning of the definitions for a given application. All following command definitions will belong to the specified "application" until the ocurrence of another application entry in the available commands file.

An important application is the special virtual application "All". Commands belonging to the All application will be accessible in all add-on applications as well as in core Creo Elements/Direct Modeling itself. For example, if you run Annotation, commands belonging to "All" will be accessible.

Group Entry

The specification

    (:Group "group" :title "title")

marks the beginning of a group. All following command definitions will belong to the specified group "group" until another group specification occurs in the available commands file. The group "title" is a localized string that will be presented to the user, in contrast to the "group" name itself.

Note that the "group" name is used to uniquely identify a command and not its "title". In the english sd_avail_cmds.cmd file "group" and "title" are usually the same strings.

Special Treatment in Creo Elements/Direct 3D Access:

Usually all commands defined for a group are not available in Creo Elements/Direct 3D Access by default. To make all commands of a group accessible in Creo Elements/Direct 3D Access you need to add the additional parameter :all-in-sd-access :yes to the definition of a group.
Example:

   (:Group "Help" :title "Help" :all-in-sd-access :yes)

Command Entry

The parameters for specifying an available command are provided below:

  ("command-name"
   :title               title
   :action              action
   :description         description
   :image               image-name
   :ui-behavior         ui-behavior
   :sysCmdId            sysCmd-id
   :range               range
   :enable              enable
   :context-enable      context-enable
   :context-is-visible  context-is-visible
   :context-action      context-action
   :sd-access           sd-access-flag
   :deleted             deleted)

command-name {STRING}

Name of the command. This name is used to uniquely identify this command within a group and application.

:title {STRING}

This string appears in the user interface and is localized. If the command is used on a toolbar, this string appears as tooltip. If this string is not provided (default), the command-name is used as :title.

:action {STRING | LISP form}

The button action. A STRING will be executed using 'sd-put-buffer'. This action has exactly the same effect as typing in STRING into Creo Elements/Direct Modeling's user input line.

A LISP form will be evaluated immediately when you hit the button.

NOTE: If you pass a LISP form here, you need to prefix the LISP function with the package and two double colons. The package must to be known by Creo Elements/Direct Modeling at the time when the available commands file is loaded. If this is not possible in your case, enclose your LISP form in double quotes to make sure it is evaluated at run-time rather than during startup.

:description {STRING}

Brief explanation of the command and its action. This text appears in Creo Elements/Direct Modeling's prompt bar as fly-by text as soon as you move the mouse cursor over a button which references this command. If no description is given, the commands :title is used as description.

:image {STRING}

Basename of the image file to be used as toolbar image including an optional relative path.
For more information on images please check the chapter Image Files.

This image has to be in BMP or PNG format and will be searched in the directory

         bitmaps/bmp/commands/"image-name"

where "image-name" can contain further directories like "application"/"group". The physical image file in the specified directory has to have the file extension ".bmp".

The directory search order is the following:

1. user-dir/bitmaps/bmp/commands/"image-name".bmp
2. site-dir/bitmaps/bmp/commands/"image-name".bmp   (if set)
3. corp-dir/bitmaps/bmp/commands/"image-name".bmp   (if set)
4. INSTALLDIR/personality/bitmaps/bmp/commands/"image-name".bmp

If no image is found or none is specified for this command, Creo Elements/Direct Modeling uses the command title as string instead of an icon.

:ui-behavior {KEYWORD}

This keyword controls the behavior of the command dialog. Possible keyword values are:

:default

Makes the command dialog appear at its default user interface location. You'll get the same user interface behavior as if you would type in the command name into Creo Elements/Direct Modeling's user input line.

:none

Prevents any UI display for this command.

:relative

This keyword makes a classic command dialog appear in the upper right corner of the viewport area.

:on-request

If you start a command with this behavior set, by default just the Advanced button will appear at the top of the task bar (in the upper left corner of the viewport in Creo Elements/Direct 3D Access). You'd need to click this button to get access to the command dialog.

If nothing is specified, :default will be used.

:sysCmdId {NUMBER}

Windows operating system specific commands which are not defined as LISP functions or action routines (dialogs).

:range {LIST}

Specification of a range button which can be used on toolbars. See the "Preselection" command in
INSTALLDIR/personality/sd_customize/sd_avail_cmds.cmd for an example.

:enable {LISP expression}

This can be either a single LISP global variable or a single LISP expression (not a (progn ...) expression!). If the variable or expression evaluates to T at runtime, this command is accessible by the user otherwise this command will be greyed out. If no :enable expression is given for this command, the command is accessible all the time.

Note: :enable expressions are called by the Windows framework very frequently. Make sure that your :enable form performs very fast and does not create LISP garbage!

:context-enable {LISP expression}

Similar to :enable but this expression decides whether the command if used on a viewport context menu will be accessible or not (greyed out). If not given, the command will be accessible on a context menu without restrictions.

:context-is-visible {LISP expression}

Similar to :context-enable but this expression decides whether the command if used on a viewport context menu will be visible (and so accessible) at all. If not given, the command will be visible and :context-enable decides if it is accessible.

:context-action {STRING | LISP form}

Similar to :action but this action is executed if this command is called from a viewport popup menu or preselection context menu. If this action is not given in such cases the regular :action is called.
A specific context-action is useful if you want a command to be called differently if invoked from a context menu.

:sd-access {KEYWORD}

By default no available command is accessible in 3D Access. To make all commands of a group accessible in Creo Elements/Direct 3D Access, add :all-in-sd-access :yes to the specification of a group. If you now want to disable single commands in that group to be used in 3D Access, set this parameter to :no.
If a group has no :all-in-sd-access :yes specified, all commands of that group are not accessible in Creo Elements/Direct 3D Access (default). To enable single commands within that group, set this parameter to :yes.

:deleted {BOOLEAN}

If this parameter is given and its value is T, this available command will not be available as available command (does not appear in the list of available commands in the Customize menu). In addition to that, all UI buttons which reference this available command will be disabled.

User Defined Available Commands

At run-time of Creo Elements/Direct Modeling you can create new or modify existing available commands using a built-in UI. Open the Customize menu and make the Commands page current: Click on New ... or Modify ... (accessible only if you selected a command) to open the User defined Command UI.

As soon as you leave the dialog to create/modify a user defined command, Creo Elements/Direct Modeling stores the information automatically to a file named

user_avail_cmds.cmd

in your personal customization directory.

This file is loaded (if available) automatically with every startup of Creo Elements/Direct Modeling after all corp/site/user sd_avail_cmds.cmd files were loaded.
The syntax used in this file is equivalent to the one described above.

Quick Access Toolbar, Command Mini Toolbar, Toolbar and Context Menu Files

Toolbar and context menu files are written automatically to your personal customization directory if you interactively modified one of these while the Options or accordingly the Customize menu was open.

Ribbon Customization Files

Creo Elements/Direct provides user to customize Ribbon Bar as per one's need. Ribbon Customization is possible on all modules and applications. Naming convention for customized files at application level is:

<application-prefix>_ribbon.lsp

All module based customization files are saved into Modules folder under customization directory. Naming convention of customized files for modules:

Modules/<module-prefix>_ribbon.lsp

Customized filename prefixes for various Modules is listed in personal customization directory\README.txt. Rest of the modules prefixes for ribbon customization are as follows:

  Module Name                 Prefix
  ----------------------------------------
  Application Interface       appl_int
  Model Manager(Annotation)   mm_am
  Model Manager(Modeling)     mm_sd
  Basic Sheets                bas_sheet
  Surfacing                   surf
  part Library (Annotation)   prt_lib_am
  part Library (Modeling)     prt_lib_sd

Utility(shared) group customization exists separately for Annotation and Modeling. File name for Utility group customization is:

<application-prefix>_utility_ribbon.lsp

The contents of Ribbon Customization files are, a list of Integration Kit function calls used for creation of Ribbon Bar.

On startup of Creo Elements/Direct Modeling or Annotation Utility Group: the first file found in the directories user, site, corp or SD is considered to define the contents of it. Rest of Ribbon Bar Customization: loads every file found in any SD, corp, site or user directories.

Quick Access Toolbar Files

There exist 2 different definitions for the quick access toolbar: one for base Modeling along with all applications and modules and one which is specific for Annotation. The names of the quick access toolbar files are:

sd_qat_contents.lsp
ANNOTATION/am_qat_contents.lsp

The contents of these files consist of a list of available commands which are defined by the unique triple Application - Group - Command.

On startup of Creo Elements/Direct Modeling or Annotation the first file found in the directories user, site, corp or SD is considered to define the contents of the quick access toolbar.

Command Mini Toolbar Files

Creo Elements/Direct defines a couple of command mini toolbars which are displayed after preselection of objects and elements. There exist 4 different application dependend definition files for command mini toolbars. The names of the files are:

<application-prefix>_cmt_contents.lsp

Different command mini toolbars exist for the following applications:

• Modeling
• 3D Documentation
• Sheet Metal
• Annotation

All other modules and applications use the command mini toolbars defined for Modeling.

The file contain a list of available commands for a number of system defined keywords. Each keyword represent a specific type of preselection contents. If for example a single planar face is selected the contents of the mini toolbar is equal to the list of available commands listed after the keyword :planar-face.

On startup of Creo Elements/Direct Modeling or one of the other specified applications the first file found in the directories user, site, corp or SD is considered to define the contents of the command mini toolbars.

Toolbar Files

Each toolbar is represented through a separate file named:

Toolbar-Name.tlb

The load sequence of toolbar files defines the initial UI layout of Creo Elements/Direct Modeling in case no UI layout file file is present. To determine the initial UI layout Creo Elements/Direct Modeling does the following:

1. Gather all *.tlb files in user, site, corp and SD directories and sort this list in lexical order. If there are files with the same name, sort these files in user, site, corp and SD order.
2. Walk through the list of .tlb files generated in the previous step and open each file.
3. If a toolbar with the unique name within the specified application as defined in the .tlb file does not exist yet, it will be created and will be attached to the UI according to the :docking and :visible (see below) attributes.

To achieve a deterministic initial UI layout, a file name convention as follows has been estabilished:

Initially docked (visible or invisible) toolbars:

'prefix'_'location''row'column'_'name'.tlb
where location is one of:

• t - Top
• r - Right
• b - Bottom
• l - Left

Row and Column are numbers and represent in which order toolbars in the same location should be layed out initially.
For horizontal toolbars applies the following:

• Row = 1
  • Top Docked Toolbars: Top Row next to menubar
  • Bottom Docked Toolbars: Last row, on top of status bar
• Row = 2
  • Top Docked Toolbars: Second row, below the first row of toolbars
  • Bottom Docked Toolbars: The row above the last row
• Row = i
  • Top Docked Toolbars: Count from top to bottom
  • Bottom Docked Toolbars: Count from bottom to top

Column = 1 means this is the left-most toolbar. Column = i means this is the i-th toolbar in that row even if may be some of the toolbars before that one are not visible.
For vertical toolbars the following applies:

• Row = 1
  • Left Docked Toolbars: Left-most row (vertical) of toolbars
  • Right Docked Toolbars: Right-most row (vertical) of toolbars
• Row = 2
  • Left Docked Toolbars: To the right of the left-most vertical row of toolbars
  • Right Docked Toolbars: To the left of the right-most vertical row of toolbars
• Row = i
  • Left Docked Toolbars: Count from left to right
  • Right Docked Toolbars: Count from right to left

Column = 1 means this is the top-most toolbar in the vertical row of toolbars. Column = i means this is the i-th toolbar in that vertical row even if may be some of the toolbars before that one are not visible.

Name is a useful name which identifies the toolbar.

Initially floating (visible or invisible) toolbars:

'prefix'_x_'name'.tlb

A sample toolbar customization file looks like this:

  (toolbar-filing-revision "20.4")

  (win-user-toolbar :name "Model 3D"
                    :application "SolidDesigner" 
                    :title "Model 3D"
                    :docking :left)

  ("Linear Pull Profile" :application "SolidDesigner" :group "Machine")
  ("Angular Pull Profile")

  (separator)

  ("Blend Create" :group "Modify 3D")

The entry (toolbar-filing-revision "20.4") indicates that this toolbar definition file was last adapted for Creo Elements/Direct Modeling 20.4 (aka 20.4). Usually such files are not downwards compatible and should not be used in older Creo Elements/Direct Modeling versions.

win-user-toolbar describes the toolbar and its specific attributes. Here a complete listing and description of all valid toolbar attributes:

:name {STRING}

Unique name (not localized) to identify this toolbar (within an application).

:application {STRING}

Name of the application this toolbar should be associated with. An "All" toolbar will be visible/accessible in all applications including Annotation. A toolbar defined for "SolidDesigner" can be accessed in all applications except Annotation. A toolbar defined for e.g. SheetAdvisor can only be accessed if the user is in the Sheet Metal application.

:title {STRING}

Optional localized string which appears in all menus which list the currently available toolbars and is shown as title in case the toolbar is floating. If no title is given, :name is taken instead.

:docking {KEYWORD [:hidden]}

This attribute defines the initial state of the toolbar. The value of this attribute can be one of the following:

• :top or :top-next
• :bottom or :bottom-next
• :right or :right-next
• :left or :left-next
• :float
• :hidden (default)

The meaning of :top is that this toolbar will be docked as left-most toolbar in the top row of the user interface. If there are already other toolbars docked in the top row, this toolbar will open a new row of toolbars below the existing top row of toolbars.
:top-next tells the toolbar to dock itself next to the last toolbar which was docked top or top-next.
The same semantics applies to the other keywords :bottom, :botton-next, :left, :left-next, :right and :right-next.
:float makes the toolbar appear floating, i.e. not docked.
:hidden is the same as :float but the toolbar will be hidden by default.

:visible {BOOLEAN [t]}

Controls the initial visibility of the toolbar.

:sd-access {KEYWORD [:no]}

By default, a toolbar is not accessible in Creo Elements/Direct 3D Access. If you want to make a toolbar available in Creo Elements/Direct 3D Access you have to set this attribute to :yes.

:sd-access-only {KEYWORD [:no]}

It you want this toolbar to appear exclusively in Creo Elements/Direct 3D Access you need to set this attribute to :yes.

All other entries in the toolbar file fill this toolbar. You can have button entries, separator entries and even submenu entries. Submenus are defined by enclosing the submenu entries by the expressions

   (start-submenu "Submenu-Name")

and

   (end-submenu)

All button, separator and submenu entries which follow the start-submenu entry will appear in that submenu. This technique allows you to have any number of further menus cascading from this menu. To end a submenu definition, you need an end-submenu entry.

A "&" sign in the name of a submenu has a special meaning and indicates that the character which follows the "&" sign will be used for keyboard traversal and will appear underlined in the UI.

Any button, submenu or separator entry which appears before win-user-toolbar is ignored. It is not possible to have a second win-user-toolbar entry in the same toolbar file.

A button entry identifies an available command uniquely by the identifier triple Command Name - Group Name - Application. "Linear Pull Profile" above is an example for this. This command references the Linear Pull Profile command from the application SolidDesigner in the group Machine. All further references to available commands like "Angular Pull Profile" are taken from the same group and the same application until a command defines a new group and/or application.
The command "Blend Create" redefines the actual group to be Modify 3D. Therefore Blend Create refers to the command in the Modify 3D group also in the SolidDesigner application.

Viewport Popup and Preselection Context Menus

Creo Elements/Direct Modeling defines a couple of preselection context menus which can be popped up in viewports depending on the type of previously selected elements and objects. If nothing was selected, the regular Viewing or Catch/Select/Show (if you hold the SHIFT key) popup menus will appear.

The files which describe the contents of the regular viewport popup menus are:

sd_vp_rmb.pum - the Viewing popup menu (Right-Mouse-Button)

sd_vp_srmb.pum - the Catch/Select/Show popup menu (Shift-Right-Mouse-Button)

sd_command_specific.pum - the Command Specific popup menu which will be filled at run-time with entries specific to the current active command

The files for the various preselectable objects are:

sd_presel_assembly.pum - the Assembly preselection menu

sd_presel_part.pum - the Part preselection menu

sd_presel_wp.pum - the Workplane preselection menu

sd_presel_face.pum - the Face preselection menu

sd_presel_edge.pum - the Edge preselection menu

sd_presel_edge_2d.pum - the Edge preselection menu

sd_presel_3d_anno.pum - the 3D Annotation preselection menu

sd_presel_docuplane.pum - the Docuplane preselection menu

The Viewing viewport popup menu file ("sd_vp_rmb.pum") may look like this:

  ;; Default Creo Elements/Direct Modeling Viewport-Right-Mouse-Button Menu:

  (popup-menu-filing-revision "20.4")

  (popup-menu-attributes :title "Viewing")

  ("Fit" :application "All" :group "View")
  ("Window")
  ("Redraw")
  ("Last View")
  (start-submenu "Zoom")
    ("Zoom Out 10")
    ("Zoom Out 5")
    ("Zoom Out 2")
    ("Zoom In 2")
    ("Zoom In 5")
    ("Zoom In 10")
  (end-submenu)   ;; "Zoom"
  (start-submenu "Rotate Center")
    ("Rotate View Center Follow Mouse")
    (separator)
    ("Rotate View Center Camera Reference Point")
    ("Rotate View Center Viewport Center")
    ("Rotate View Center Model Center")
    ("Rotate View Center Select")
  (end-submenu) ;; Rotate center
  (separator)
  ("Full Screen")
  (separator)
  ("Flip View")
  ("View by Curr WP")
  ("View by Curr WP and Fit")
  ("View by Any WP")
  ("View by Face")
  (start-submenu "Isometric")
    ("Isometric XYZ")
    ("Isometric XY-Z")
  (end-submenu)   ;; "Isometric"
  (separator)
  ("Deactivate Configuration" :application "SolidDesigner" :group "Configuration")
  ("Capture Camera In Active Configuration")
  ("Capture Drawlist In Active Configuration")
  ("Capture Camera And Drawlist In Active Configuration")
  (separator)
  ("Show Settings ..." :application "All" :group "View")
  ("Light Settings ...")
  ("Viewport Settings ...")

A preselection context menu file looks very similar. The following is the default Face Preselection Context Menu definition file ("sd_presel_face.pum"):

  ;; Default Creo Elements/Direct Modeling context menu if a face is preselected:

  (popup-menu-filing-revision "20.4")

  ;; Reference to the regular viewing popup menu ...
  (cascading-popup
    :type :viewport-right-mouse-button
    :title "Viewing")
  (separator)
  ;; Context sensitive commands ...
  ("Line/Arc" :group "2D CoPilot" :application "SolidDesigner" :title "2D CoPilot (Line/Arc)")
  (separator)
  ("Taper" :group "Modify 3D")
  ("Move 3D")
  ("Stretch")
  ("Linear Pull Faces")
  ("Cut Faces")
  ("Copy Faces")
  ("Offset")
  ("Radial Offset")
  ("Radial Move")
  ("Change Radius")
  ("Align")
  ("Delete Face" :group "Surfacing")
  (separator)
  ("Blend Modify" :group "Modify 3D")
  ("Chamfer Modify")
  ("Blend Remove")
  ("Chamfer Remove")
  (separator)
  ("Position Dynamic" :application "SolidDesigner" :group "Part and Assy"
    :title "Position Part")
  (separator)
  ("MM Reload Lightweight" :application "SolidDesigner" :group "ModelManager")
  (separator)
  ("Clipped Cross Section" :group "Measure")
  ("Define Clipping On Face" :group "Clipping")
  ("Define Clipping On Axis")
  ("Face Mass Properties" :group "Measure")
  ("Face Properties" :group "Settings")

The difference in this example to the regular Viewing popup menu definition file is the entry cascading-popup.

This entry allows you to reference other popup or preselection context menus from this one. At run-time if the user clicks this Viewing (see :title) button in this face preselection menu, the regular Viewing popup menu will appear as cascading submenu.

The following keywords as value for :type are supported:

• :viewport-right-mouse-button
• :viewport-shift-right-mouse-button
• :am-aux-vp-right-mouse-button
• :preselection-assembly
• :preselection-part
• :preselection-wp
• :preselection-face
• :preselection-edge
• :preselection-edge-2d
• :preselection-3d-anno
• :preselection-docuplane

  and the following if you have activated the Annotation module:

• :am-viewport-right-mouse-button
• :am-viewport-shift-right-mouse-button
• :am-preselection-view
• :am-preselection-dimension
• :am-preselection-geometry
• :am-preselection-hatch
• :am-preselection-text
• :am-preselection-symbol
• :am-preselection-sketch
• :am-preselection-picture
• :am-preselection-detail-border
• :am-preselection-secline
• :am-preselection-cutaway-border
• :am-preselection-ole
• :am-preselection-refline

Mouse Button Customization

The functionality which is called if a user clicks a mouse button without any modifier key or with any combination of the modifier keys SHIFT, CTRL and ALT is defined in this file:

   all_mouse_defs.lsp

This file contains LISP functions like this:

  (defun ShiftControlButton1 ("rest args)
    (declare (ignore args))
    (oli:sd-put-buffer "set_catch_parameters :next_catch")
    (oli:sd-put-buffer "set_catch_parameters :center")
    (oli:sd-put-buffer (oli:sd-get-last-vp-pick)))

The LISP function names are fixed and must not be changed, otherwise they will not be executed at all. Some LISP functions can't be customized. These functions are marked with a comment in their body.
You can copy the all_mouse_defs.lsp file to a corp, site or user customization directory to apply any changes to the bodies of the defined LISP functions. Functions you don't want to change can be removed from the copied file(s), because Creo Elements/Direct Modeling will load every file found in any SD, corp, site or user directories. The last definition of a mouse button function wins.

Keyboard Shortcuts and Abbreviations Files

Keyboard shortcuts and command abbreviations can be defined interactively at run-time. You can assign a specific keyboard combination or character sequence as abbreviation to any existing available command of any currently active application. This information is kept in a file named:

  'app-specific-subdir'/app-prefix_shortcuts.acc

By default Creo Elements/Direct Modeling ships three keyboard shortcut and abbreviation definition files:

• all_shortcuts.acc - defines shortcuts and abbreviations for commands which are accessible in all applications
• sd_shortcuts.acc - defines shortcuts and abbreviations for commands which are accessible in Creo Elements/Direct Modeling
• ANNOTATION/am_shortcuts.acc - defines shortcuts and abbreviations for commands which are accessible in Annotation

The contents of such a file (here sd_shortcuts.acc) looks like this:

  (keyboard-filing-revision "20.4")

  (start-keyboard-accelerators)

  ("F4" :command "3D Hidden On/Off"   :group "Show" :application "SolidDesigner")
  ("F5" :command "3D Geometry On/Off")
  ("F6" :command "Shaded/Wire")
  ("F7" :command "WP Borders On/Off")
  ("F8" :command "WP Axes On/Off")

  ("CTRL F" :command "Search"         :group "Miscellaneous")
  ("CTRL N" :command "New Session"    :group "Filing")
  ("CTRL O" :command "Load ...")
  ("CTRL S" :command "Save ...")

  ("CTRL TAB"  :command "Flyby Probe" :group "Select")
  ("TAB"       :command "Flyby Feat Select Next")
  ("SHIFT TAB" :command "Flyby Feat Select Previous")

  ("DELETE" :command "Universal Delete" :group "Delete")

  (start-command-abbreviations)

  ("dac" :command "Delete All 3D" :group "Delete" :application "SolidDesigner")

As you can see, each .acc file has two sections which are initiated with (start-keyboard-accelerators) and (start-command-abbreviations).

In the first section, keyboard shortcuts are defined. The first string of each line defines the shortcut. This can be a combination of the following:

• SHIFT, CTRL or ALT
• a character or a number
• F1 ... F12
• NumPad0 ... NumPad9

separated by a space character.
Examples: "Shift Ctrl A" or "Ctrl NumPad5"

After the keyboard shortcut string you need to identify the available command which you want this keyboard shortcut to be used for. This is done by the unique triple Application - Group - Command. This is equivalent to available command references in toolbar or context menu definition files.

In the secend section of this file you define command abbreviations for specific available commands. The first string of such an entry is a sequence of characters which the user has to enter (including the ENTER key!) to call the available command.

Each application like Creo Elements/Direct Modeling, Annotation or Sheet Metal can have its own 'prefix'_shortcuts.acc file. On startup of Creo Elements/Direct Modeling or any other add-on application the first file found in the directories user, site, corp or SD is considered to define the keyboard shortcuts and command abbreviations for an application.

The following speciality is possible if you edit .acc files, but which is not possible in an interactive way at run-time:
You can define the same keyboard shortcut for different commands within different applications although both commands can be accessed. For example you can define CTRL-O in Creo Elements/Direct Modeling to call the Load ... command whereas you can assign CTRL-O to Create new Sheet by Outline in the Sheet Metal application. Depending on which application is current, Creo Elements/Direct Modeling will call the one or the other command. That way it is possible to shadow single command shortcuts.
This speciality does not apply to Annotation. Because all Annotation commands can exclusively be accessed in Annotation only and no Creo Elements/Direct Modeling (or other add-on application) commands, the user can easily assign a shortcut key to an Annotation command interactively at run-time, even though this shortcut may already be defined for a Creo Elements/Direct Modeling command. I.e. in this case it is not necessary to edit .acc files to shadow e.g. Creo Elements/Direct Modeling commands.

UI Layout Files

Creo Elements/Direct Modeling and each add-on application store their actual screen layout to so-called UI Layout files. These files contain information about toolbar positions, toolbar states like docked, floating, visibility or size of all toolbars which can be accessed in this application plus some more information. Such files are written automatically to your personal customization directory and respective application subdirectories every time you switch between activated Creo Elements/Direct Modeling add-on applications and on termination of the main application.

UI layout files allow Creo Elements/Direct Modeling to reconstruct the exact same screen layout of Modeling or any add-on application the next time you start up Creo Elements/Direct Modeling.

By default Creo Elements/Direct Modeling does not ship any UI layout file for any application. The initial look is defined by the steps described here. You as a corp or site administrator can place UI layout files into a corp or site customization directory to preconfigure the initial UI layout for your users. To do so, just layout out the toolbars etc. as you like and copy the UI layout file(s) which were written to your personal customization directory to the site or corp customization directory. This approach has the additional advantage that if your users screwed up their UI they can not just reset the contents of all toolbars but also reset the UI layout to the definition given by site or corp. That means if Creo Elements/Direct Modeling detects a UI layout file in a site or corp directory which fits to the current active application, it enables the button Including UI Layout in the Reset All Toolbars menu.

The UI layout file for Creo Elements/Direct Modeling has the name sd_fluentui_layout.def and may look like this:

  ;; Automatically written on ...

  ;; Application: SolidDesigner

  (docking-filing-revision "20.4")

  (:application :normal (128 77 1664 1005) :screen (1920 1200))

  (:PromptBar
    :visible nil
    :docking :bottom
    :auto-hide nil
    :dock-alignment 32768
    :dock-rowindex 1
    :mru-width 32767
    :float-pos (10 10)
    :float-width 100
    :float-height 100
    :dock-location (1 0 0 34)
    :dock-width 1931
    :dock-height 34
    :docked-size (1920 0)
    :float-size (1513 0)
  )

  (:BrowserBar
    :visible t
    :docking :left
    :auto-hide nil
    :dock-alignment 4096
    :dock-rowindex 0
    :mru-width 32767
    :float-pos (57 57)
    :float-width 150
    :float-height 200
    :dock-location (0 0 0 145)
    :dock-width 150
    :dock-height 711
    :docked-size (150 300)
    :float-size (200 500)
    :hybrid-dockwidth 530
    :hybrid-floatwidth 530
  )

  ...

  ("Standard"
    :application "SolidDesigner"
    :source "sd_t11_standard.tlb"
    :visible nil
    :docking :float
    :auto-hide nil
    :dock-alignment 4096
    :dock-rowindex 0
    :mru-width 32767
    :float-pos (960 569)
    :float-width 421
    :float-height 66
    :dock-location (0 0 0 0)
    :dock-width 0
    :dock-height 0
    :docked-size (0 0)
    :float-size (0 0)
  )
  ...

Because a user, site or corp administrator is not supposed to edit such UI layout files, the contents of such files and the parameter meanings are not explained in detail.

In case a user has created his own toolbars (i.e. a site or corp provided UI layout file does not contain any information about these user toolbars) and the user does a Reset All Toolbars with the button Including UI Layout set, his user toolbars will not be visible in the UI after that. Now, if the user switches one of his toolbars on, this toolbar will appear floating in the center of the application although it may have been docked before he did the reset operation. This information is lost as soon as a UI layout file is reapplied which does not contain information about such user toolbars.
As soon as the user docks his toolbar somewhere and he toggles to a different application or terminates Creo Elements/Direct Modeling, the new location is stored again in the user's UI layout file.

Persistent Data Storage Files (PDS)

Settings within Creo Elements/Direct Modeling like Units which are changed interactively at run-time and which are persistent are stored to PDS files automatically on termination of the main application or on deactivation of an add-on module.

The name of a PDS file is:

  'app-specific-subdir'/app-prefix_data.lsp

These files contain settings which were changed by the user and which don't match the built-in default setting anymore.

An example all_data.lsp PDS file which contains settings valid in all applications may look like this:

  ;; Automatically written on ...
  ;; Module ALL
  (in-package :mei)
  (persistent-data-revision "20.4")
  (persistent-data-module "ALL")
  (persistent-data
   :key "UNITS"
   :value '( :MASS ( :G 1 ) :ANGLE ( :DEG 1 ) :LENGTH ( :INCH 1 ) ) )
  (persistent-data
   :key "STARTUPDIR"
   :value "C:\\temp")

  ...

All PDS files found in SD, corp, site and user directories are loaded on startup of Creo Elements/Direct Modeling or on activation of an add-on module. The most recent setting defined in the above given order wins and becomes the active setting. That way a user can redefine a setting preconfigured by a site or corp customization.

If you as a site or corp administrator want to make specific settings which vary from the default Creo Elements/Direct Modeling settings, the default for your users, copy the required PDS file(s) from your personal customization directory to the site or corp directory. Edit the copied file(s) and remove settings which you don't want to set/change on corp or site level and just leave the statement(s) about the setting(s) you want to change.

Default Setting Files

If you change default settings at run-time by means of the Default Settings Browser those changes are stored on module or latest on Creo Elements/Direct Modeling exit to default setting files in your personal customization directory.

Depending on whether style or global user data are written to the default settings file, the filename and contents looks different. The generated filenames are as follows:

• Global user default settings:
  'app-specific-subdir'/Default_Settings/app-prefix_Global-Defaults.lsp
• Style settings:
  'app-specific-subdir'/Default_Settings/app-prefix_'style-path(without Application)_style-identifier'.lsp

As an example the contents of an Annotation text style file with name am_General_TextStyle_STANDARD.lsp may look like this:

  ;% Automatically written on ...
  ;% Creo Elements/Direct Modeling Revision: 2023 (20.4)

  (oli:sd-set-setting-values
    :application "Annotation"
    :style-path "Annotation/General/TextStyle"
    :style :STANDARD
    :title "Standard"
    :values '("Font" "Arial"
              "Size" 3.2
              "Color" 40959
              "Ratio" 1
              )
  )

For a detailed explanation of this contents and when which files are stored, please see the concepts section of the Default Settings manual.

On startup of Creo Elements/Direct Modeling or one of its add-on modules those default setting files are loaded automatically whenever a module implements default settings. Each individual style or global default value for a specific setting may be overwritten by a corp, site or user definition (in this order).

Viewport Default Background Color Bitmap Files

The Viewport Settings menu on page Background offers the ability to predefine viewport background colors. These predefined colors are defined via bitmap files with specific naming conventions in specific directories. All files which meet the specific conventions which are found in the following directories are loaded upon startup:

• SD/VpBackgrounds/*.bmp
• corp/VpBackgrounds/*.bmp
• site/VpBackgrounds/*.bmp
• user/VpBackgrounds/*.bmp

All BMP files found in these directories are ordered lexically (filename) and this order determines the order presented to the user on the Background page.

Each bitmap file must follow the following conventions:

• Size is 50x50 pixels
• Name is a composition of: some_prefix_color1_color2_color3.bmp
  where:
  • the colors 1 - 3 define the viewport background colors 1 - 3
  • each value is a color integer (see sd-rgb-to-color)
  • color2 and color3 are optional and determine whether the background is a single color or a gradient with 2 or 3 colors

Examples:

• 00_PTC_3758447_6522268_13294049.bmp - compatibility viewport background color used up to versions CoCreate Modeling 17.0 (Gradient of 3 colors)
• 08_Creo_16579836.bmp - Default Creo Elements/Direct Modeling viewport background (single color)

Note:
The upper left pixel of such bitmaps determines the transparent color of the bitmap. In case you want to avoid this transparency, please make sure that the color of this pixel does not occur somewhere else in the bitmap.

Modules Definition File

The contents of the Modules UI is defined in the file

  all_modules.dat

This file can exist in a user, site, corp or SD customization directory. The first file found in this order defines the contents of the UI.

The file contents may look like this:

"
  (:page "Modules" :title "Modules")

  ("-" :title "Included")

  ("CADCAM_LINK"
   :label "Machining"
   :act-fun (load "CadCamAdapter")
   :deact-fun (module-deactivate "CADCAM_LINK")
   :special :demo)

  ("RENDERING"
   :label "Rendering"
   :act-fun (activate-rendering)
   :deact-fun (deactivate-rendering)
   :special :sd-access)

  ...

  (:page "Applications" :title "Applications")

  ("-" :title "Included")

  ("ANNOTATION"
   :label "Annotation"
   :act-fun (activate-annotation)
   :deact-fun (deactivate-annotation)
   :special :demo)

  ("3DDOCU"
   :label "3D Documentation"
   :act-fun (activate-3ddocu)
   :deact-fun (deactivate-3ddocu)
   :special :demo)

  ...

The documentation of every possible entry and parameter is given in the default all_modules.dat file which is shipped with Creo Elements/Direct Modeling. Please see e.g. INSTALLDIR/personality/sd_customize/all_modules.dat for more details.

Note: In this file you can't reference a LISP function in a LISP package which is created in custom code, because the custom code will be initialized after the Modules UI file is loaded. To solve this problem you have two possibilities:

1. Wrap your LISP function call into double quotes.
   Example:

     :act-fun "(my-package::my-module-activation-function)"
   

2. Add the Modules UI button to activate your custom module in a programmatic way at the time your custom code is loaded. To do this, call sd-insert-module-controller-button somewhere in your custom code.

Modules which should be activated right with startup of Creo Elements/Direct Modeling are kept in the PDS key "Startup Modules" in the All application PDS file all_data.lsp. Usually this value is stored automatically as soon as the user modifies the default startup activation sequence using the Module Activation at Startup UI. This entry can be provided in a all_data.lsp PDS file located in a site or corp customization to predefine the modules which should be activated automatically for your group of users.

File Browser and File Manager Customization

All save and load operations in Creo Elements/Direct Modeling are controlled by means of a file manager. The selection of a file type in the file manager not only influences the display of the files but also immediately triggers a command that takes over the control for collecting further user inputs and for carrying out the desired operation.

By contrast, the normal file browser is used as an input tool in a dialog for collecting a file name. Changing the file type merely impacts the display of the files in the file browser.

Project Directories

Both the file manager and the file browser support the specification of any number of user customizable project directories. These directories can be added/modified/deleted interactively by the user and/or can be set up through a corp, site or user specific customization file with name:

   all_filer_project_dirs

The first file found in the order user, site, corp, SD is taken to build the list of project directories.

The user specific file will be written automatically when the user hits the buttons Add current or Edit in the popup menu that changes the current directory. The popup menu appears when right clicking in the combobox to the right of the Look in: (Load) or Save in: (Save) label.

The above files can contain any number of the following project dir specifications:

   "c:/temp"                  ;; Physical directory and display name (nickname) are identical
   ("c:/users/joe_engineer")  ;; same as before (physical = display)
   ("Package Files" "c:/users/joe_engineer/Modeling/pkg_files")
     ;; in this case the physical directory name is hidden from the user
     ;; and the UI will only display its "nickname" here "Package Files"

Above the user defined project directories are three fixed entries:

• Parent - go one level up in the directory tree
• HOME - go to your HOME directory, i.e. usually your personal profile directory.
  If the shell variable SDPROJECTDIRHOME is set to a valid directory, this directory is taken instead of the above mentioned directory.
• Last - go to the directory which was current before this current directory

File Manager Customization

The file types of the file manager can be customized by means of the following file:

   all_load_save_file_types.dat

The first file found in the order user, site, corp, SD is considered to define the order in which the file types appear in the file manager. The above file can also be used to modify the behavior of individual file types.

See File Manager Customization for more possibilities to customize the file manager.

Structure Browser Customization

You as a corp or site administrator can add additional browser views or browser queries (searches and filters) to Creo Elements/Direct Modeling. A user can add new browser queries (or modify existing) at runtime in an interactive way. These new (or modified) browser searches and filters are automatically stored on termination of Creo Elements/Direct Modeling.

Browser Views

During startup of Creo Elements/Direct Modeling files with name sd_browser_views.lsp are loaded automatically from SD, corp, site and user directories if available. These files can contain any number of browser views, configurations and column specifications.

On activation of ModelManager additional views etc. are loaded from files with name mm_browser_views.lsp in subdirectories with name ModelManager within SD, corp, site and user directories.

For more information about the contents of such xxx_browser_views.lsp files, please see Browser Views.

Browser Queries

In addition to Browser Views, Creo Elements/Direct Modeling automatically loads files with name sd_browser_search_and_filter.lsp during startup from the SD, corp, site and user directories if available. These files can contain any number of preconfigured browser filters and searches for the Structure Browser and/or the Clash Analysis Browser.

On activation of ModelManager additional browser searches and filters are loaded from files with name mm_browser_search_and_filter.lsp in subdirectories with name ModelManager within SD, corp, site and user directories.

For more information about the contents of such xxx_browser_search_and_filter.lsp files, please see Browser Queries.

Multi Language Support

Creo Elements/Direct Modeling supports two ways of providing multi-language site and corp customizations:

1. If you want to maintain just one set of customization files (*.cmd, *.pum, *.mub, *.tlb, *.dat, ... files) which contain the messages in all supported languages, wrap each string which you want to provide in different languages in a call like this:

      (ui::multi-lang "Text in English"
            :german   "Text in German"
            :french   "Text in French"
            :italian  "Text in Italian"
            :spanish  "Text in Spanish"
            :japanese "Text in Japanese")
   

   At runtime, Creo Elements/Direct Modeling picks the appropriate string which fits to the current language. Note that all language definitions are optional, so you may provide just the first string and an additional string in e.g. German. If you run Creo Elements/Direct Modeling in a language for which you did not specify a string for, the first string - also known as fallback string - is used. Therefore the first string is most likely the English one.

   If you run Creo Elements/Direct Modeling in a semi-supported language the keyword which matches the language string as passed to the $LANG or $SDLANG system variable can be used to define a multi-lang string in that semi-supported language.
   Example: (ui::multi-lang "Text in English" :chinese_s "Text in simplified chinese")
   

   Warning:

   Files containing calls to (ui::multi-lang) or (oli:sd-multi-lang-string) must be encoded in UTF-8 or UTF-16 and must have a byte-order marker (BOM) at the beginning of the file to make sure that Creo Elements/Direct Modeling can recognize the encoding automatically.

   
   See also sd-multi-lang-string for more information.

2. By setting the system variable

      SDLANGDEPCUSTOMIZEDIRS
   

   to any value (e.g. 1), you can tell Creo Elements/Direct Modeling to look for language-specific subdirectories in user, site and corp directories. That means Creo Elements/Direct Modeling will look in the following directories for corp customization files if Creo Elements/Direct Modeling runs in the following languages:
   • English Creo Elements/Direct Modeling: $SDCORPCUSTOMIZEDIR
   • German Creo Elements/Direct Modeling: $SDCORPCUSTOMIZEDIR/german
   • French Creo Elements/Direct Modeling: $SDCORPCUSTOMIZEDIR/french
   • Italian Creo Elements/Direct Modeling: $SDCORPCUSTOMIZEDIR/italian
   • Spanish Creo Elements/Direct Modeling: $SDCORPCUSTOMIZEDIR/spanish
   • Japanese Creo Elements/Direct Modeling: $SDCORPCUSTOMIZEDIR/japanese

   The same is true for site and user customizations. Just replace $SDCORPCUSTOMIZEDIR with $SDSITECUSTOMIZEDIR or the personal customization directory in the list above.
   This approach mirrors the directory structure that comes with core Creo Elements/Direct Modeling in INSTALLDIR/personality.

Technical Topics

Customization Directories

This section describes the system variables and directories which are considered in an english Creo Elements/Direct Modeling environment. For more details on localized versions of Creo Elements/Direct Modeling, see here.

SD Customization Directory:

INSTALLDIR/personality/sd_customize

Corp Customization Directory:

$SDCORPCUSTOMIZEDIR

Site Customization Directory:

$SDSITECUSTOMIZEDIR

User (Personal) Customization Directory:

Default: $ProfileDir/PTC/Creo Elements Direct Modeling 20.4.4.0/20.4
  (Example: C:/Documents and Settings/joeengineer/Application Data/PTC/Creo Elements Direct Modeling 20.4.4.0/20.4)
Or if set: $SDUSERCUSTOMIZEDIR

INSTALLDIR denotes the installation directory of your Creo Elements/Direct Modeling. Usually this is

C:/Program Files/PTC/Creo Elements/Direct Modeling 20.4.4.0

Note: Corp and Site customization directories are optional. If the respective system variable (see above) is not set, no Corp and/or Site customization is considered.

If the default user customization does not exist the first time Creo Elements/Direct Modeling 20.4 starts up it will be created automatically. If $SDUSERCUSTOMIZEDIR is set to a non-existing directory, Creo Elements/Direct Modeling 20.4 tries to create that directory at first startup. If the directory creation fails, Creo Elements/Direct Modeling takes the default user customization directory as fallback.

At runtime go to Edit -> Settings -> UI Settings -> Customizations tab -> Show Directories ... to display the actual used and set SD/Corp/Site/User directories.

Deviations for Creo Elements/Direct 3D Access

SD Customization Directory:

INSTALLDIR/personality/sd_customize

Corp Customization Directory:

$SDCORPCUSTOMIZEDIR/3D Access

Site Customization Directory:

$SDSITECUSTOMIZEDIR/3D Access

User Customization Directory:

Default: $ProfileDir/PTC/Creo Elements Direct 3D Access 20.4.4.0/20.4
  (Example: C:/Documents and Settings/joeengineer/Application Data/PTC/Creo Elements Direct 3D Access 20.4.4.0/20.4)
Or if set: $SDUSERCUSTOMIZEDIR/3D Access

Localized Versions

If you run Creo Elements/Direct Modeling as a localized version in:

• German
• Italian
• French
• Spanish
• Japanese

the following customization directories are considered:

SD Customization Directory:

INSTALLDIR/personality/$LANG/sd_customize

Corp Customization Directory:

$SDCORPCUSTOMIZEDIR

Site Customization Directory:

$SDSITECUSTOMIZEDIR

User Customization Directory:

Default: $ProfileDir/PTC/Creo Elements Direct Modeling 20.4.4.0/20.4
  (Example: C:/Documents and Settings/joeengineer/Application Data/PTC/Creo Elements Direct Modeling 20.4.4.0/20.4)
Or if set: $SDUSERCUSTOMIZEDIR

where $LANG is one of the strings (lowercase) in the list above.

As you can see just the SD directory has changed compared to an english Creo Elements/Direct Modeling. That is because users usually run just one language of Creo Elements/Direct Modeling and not any mixed environment.

If a Site and/or Corp customization wants to support multiple languages they can do so by means of sd-multi-lang-string or ui:multi-lang.

If you want to have language dependent Corp/Site/User directories you can set the system variable:

   SDLANGDEPCUSTOMIZEDIRS

to the value 1. In that case the following directories become active:

SD Customization Directory:

INSTALLDIR/personality/$LANG/sd_customize

Corp Customization Directory:

$SDCORPCUSTOMIZEDIR/$LANG

Site Customization Directory:

$SDSITECUSTOMIZEDIR/$LANG

User Customization Directory:

Default: $ProfileDir/PTC/Creo Elements Direct Modeling 20.4.4.0/20.4/$LANG
  (Example: C:/Documents and Settings/joeengineer/Application Data/PTC/Creo Elements Direct Modeling 20.4.4.0/20.4/german)
Or if set: $SDUSERCUSTOMIZEDIR/$LANG

Note: Creo Elements/Direct Modeling will search for customization files only in the above-mentioned directories. There is no fallback search in the not localized english directory.

Deviations for Creo Elements/Direct 3D Access with SDLANGDEPCUSTOMIZEDIRS set

SD Customization Directory:

INSTALLDIR/personality/$LANG/sd_customize

Corp Customization Directory:

$SDCORPCUSTOMIZEDIR/3D Access/$LANG

Site Customization Directory:

$SDSITECUSTOMIZEDIR/3D Access/$LANG

User Customization Directory:

Default: $ProfileDir/PTC/Creo Elements Direct 3D Access 20.4.4.0/20.4/$LANG
  (Example: C:/Documents and Settings/joeengineer/Application Data/PTC/Creo Elements Direct 3D Access 20.4.4.0/20.4/german)
Or if set: $SDUSERCUSTOMIZEDIR/3D Access/$LANG

Other Locales

If you want to run Creo Elements/Direct Modeling as a localized version in a language which is not provided by PTC (not one of english, german, italian, french, spanish, japanese) some degree of support is provided.

Basically the same mechanism as described above including support of SDLANGDEPCUSTOMIZEDIRS apply to other locales as well. The language specific subdirectory which is searched in user/site/corp/sd directories corresponds to the language string which you passed to the $LANG or $SDLANG system variable (in lower case).

For example if you set $LANG="chinese_s" for simplified chinese, the following customization directories are searched (with SDLANGDEPCUSTOMIZEDIRS set):

SD Customization Directory:

INSTALLDIR/personality/chinese_s/sd_customize

Corp Customization Directory:

$SDCORPCUSTOMIZEDIR/chinese_s

Site Customization Directory:

$SDSITECUSTOMIZEDIR/chinese_s

User Customization Directory:

Default: $ProfileDir/PTC/Creo Elements Direct Modeling 20.4.4.0/20.4/chinese_s

Note: If Creo Elements/Direct Modeling finds the file sd_avail_cmds.cmd in the SD Customization Directory INSTALLDIR/personality/$LANG/sd_customize this directory will be used as exclusive SD customization directory (no fallback load in non-localized english directory).
If this file could not be located in that directory, the normal english SD customiztion directory is taken: INSTALLDIR/personality/sd_customize.
That means, if you want to provide a factory (SD) customization for a semi-supported language, you have to copy all contents of the english customization directory to that language directory (and localize messages in these files to your needs), otherwise Creo Elements/Direct Modeling will startup with an almost empty UI.

The language strings accepted by $LANG or $SDLANG which are supported to some degree can be inquired from your local PTC support on request.

Version-dependent Customization Directories

Usually only the default user customization directory is dependent on the Creo Elements/Direct Modeling version. If you want to have version dependent Corp/Site/User directories you can set the system variable:

   SDVERSIONDEPCUSTOMIZEDIRS

to the value 1. In that case the following directories become active:

SD Customization Directory:

INSTALLDIR/personality/sd_customize (no change)

Corp Customization Directory:

$SDCORPCUSTOMIZEDIR/20.4 (directory must exist)

Site Customization Directory:

$SDSITECUSTOMIZEDIR/20.4 (directory must exist)

User Customization Directory:

Default: $ProfileDir/PTC/Creo Elements Direct Modeling 20.4.4.0/20.4 (no change)
  (Example: C:/Documents and Settings/joeengineer/Application Data/PTC/Creo Elements Direct Modeling 20.4.4.0/20.4)
Or if set: $SDUSERCUSTOMIZEDIR/20.4 (will be created if not existent)

If you set SDLANGDEPCUSTOMIZEDIRS in addition to SDVERSIONDEPCUSTOMIZEDIRS you need to add the $LANG specific subdirectory to each directory described above.

Deviations for Creo Elements/Direct 3D Access with SDVERSIONDEPCUSTOMIZEDIRS set

SD Customization Directory:

INSTALLDIR/personality/sd_customize (no change)

Corp Customization Directory:

$SDCORPCUSTOMIZEDIR/3D Access/20.4 (directory must exist)

Site Customization Directory:

$SDSITECUSTOMIZEDIR/3D Access/20.4 (directory must exist)

User Customization Directory:

Default: $ProfileDir/PTC/Creo Elements Direct 3D Access 20.4.4.0/20.4 (no change)
  (Example: C:/Documents and Settings/joeengineer/Application Data/PTC/Creo Elements Direct 3D Access 20.4.4.0/20.4)
Or if set: $SDUSERCUSTOMIZEDIR/3D Access/20.4 (will be created if not existent)

If you set SDLANGDEPCUSTOMIZEDIRS in addition to SDVERSIONDEPCUSTOMIZEDIRS you need to add the $LANG specific subdirectory to each directory described above.

Load Order

Creo Elements/Direct Modeling distinguishes between two types of files loaded from one or more customization directories:

1. Files which add/modify customizations done by SD/corp/site
   These files are searched and loaded in the following order:
   • SD
   • Corp
   • Site
   • User

   So, each file found in any of these directories is loaded in the above-specified order. That way, a Site file can overwrite a setting done by a Corp customization without the need to duplicate the complete Corp customization.

   Examples:

   • Customize files like Creo Elements/Direct Modeling customize file sd_customize
   • Available command files like Creo Elements/Direct Modeling file sd_avail_cmds.cmd

2. Files which replace customizations done by site/corp/SD
   In this case the first file found is loaded from the directories in this order:
   • User
   • Site
   • Corp
   • SD

   Examples:

   • Quick Access Toolbar, Command Mini Toolbar, Toolbar and Context Menu files
   • Modules UI definition file (all_modules.dat)
   • File Manager file types file
   • Project Directories file

The Integration Kit supports these two concepts by providing two functions:

• sd-load-customization-file
• sd-get-customization-file

If you start Creo Elements/Direct Modeling in verbose mode (-v command line option) you'll see in the console window which customization files are loaded from which directory.

Note: The system variable SDCORPISADDITIVE is set to 1 by default since OneSpace Designer 2005 (= 13.00). So, by default Corp customizations don't replace factory customizations but rather add or modify Creo Elements/Direct customizations.

If you really want to replace any Creo Elements/Direct customization with a Corp customization (this was the default before OneSpace Designer 2004) you need to set SDCORPISADDITIVE=0.

Filenames and Directories

Customization filenames and directories follow a unified naming convention.
Filenames have a specific module/application prefix and are located in a specific module/application subdirectory:

    'Directory Name'/'Prefix'_'Filename'

At startup of Creo Elements/Direct Modeling a README.txt is written automatically to your personal customization directory. This file contains a table which maps the module/application name to its specific customization subdirectory and its specific filename prefix.

A few examples:

  Product Name            Subdirectory           Prefix  (Internal Name)
  ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
  Modeling                                       sd      (SolidDesigner)
  Annotation              ANNOTATION             am      (Annotation)
  Sheet Metal             SheetAdvisor           sha     (SheetAdvisor)
  3D Documentation        3D_DOCUMENTATION       d3d     (3D Documentation)
  ...

With this table you can easily determine from which customization subdirectory (relative to any SD/Corp/Site/User directory) a module/application specific customize file is loaded with which filename prefix.

Example:

The Annotation customize file is loaded from all following directories if available
(assuming english Creo Elements/Direct Modeling 20.4 version and no SDUSERCUSTOMIZEDIR set):

1. INSTALLDIR/personality/sd_customize/ANNOTATION/am_customize
2. $SDCORPCUSTOMIZEDIR/ANNOTATION/am_customize
3. $SDSITECUSTOMIZEDIR/ANNOTATION/am_customize
4. $ProfileDir/PTC/Creo Elements Direct Modeling 20.4.4.0/20.4/ANNOTATION/am_customize

Note: Customize files which are valid in Creo Elements/Direct Modeling and in all add-on modules/applications have the prefix all_ and are loaded from the Creo Elements/Direct Modeling subdirectory (i.e. no subdirectory).

Filename Conventions

Customize File:

'prefix'_customize - no file suffix, no .lsp

Available Commands File:

'prefix'_avail_cmds.cmd

Toolbar Files:

See here

Context Menu Files:

'prefix'_'name'.pum

Ribbon Customization Files:

See here

Command Mini Toolbar (CMT) Files:

See here

Quick Access Toolbar (QAT) Files:

See here

Keyboard Accelerator and Command Abbreviation File:

'prefix'_shortcuts.acc

UI Layout File (automatically written to user customize dir):

'prefix'_fluentui_layout.def

Persistent Data Storage File (automatically written to user customize dir):

'prefix'_data.lsp

File Load Sequence

The following table illustrates which customization files are loaded when and from where during startup of Creo Elements/Direct Modeling:

Note:

You can't reference a LISP function in a customization file earlier than the definition of that LISP function. This will lead to startup errors especially if the function is defined in a LISP package which is created later in the startup process.
To fix this problem you need to either define the function earlier than referenced or you need to take other precautions like wrapping your function call in double quotes if used as action of an available command or as e.g. module activation function.

Image Files

Image files to be used as images for the Fluent UI must be of BMP or PNG format. Buttons displayed in the Fluent UI appear in 3 different sizes: small, medium and large.

The image is only referenced by its base name "image-name" without any size specification. One image file must exist without size specification. The real size of this image, if it is one of the 3 above mentioned sizes, is not important. The other image files are optional. Images of size 16x16 and 32x32 are used for ribbon user interface, images of size 24x24 are still referenced in toolbars. If only one image is available the necessary sizes of images to be shown in the Fluent UI are created by automatic scaling of the image. If all 3 files exist no scaling is necessary. The look and feel of the user interface is much better.

To ensure a transparent background of the image on a button

• specify a color with the RGB values 192,192,192 for red, green, and blue for .bmp image files or
• set the transparent property for the background for .png files

For an indepth explanation of where image files are searched in which order see the description of the :image parameter of an available command definition.

An example of where to put an image file for your own available command:

Suppose you have defined the following available command in your personal sd_avail_cmds.cmd file:

(:Application "SolidDesigner")

(:Group "My Group" :title "My Group")

("Create Cube"
 :title       "Create Cube"
 :action      "create_workplane :new complete rectangle 0,0 100,100 extrude :distance 100 complete"
 :description "Creates a 100x100x100 cube."
 :image       "SolidDesigner/My_Group/create_cube"
 :ui-behavior :none)

For this command you need to create a BMP (or PNG) image of size 16x16 with name "create_cube_16.bmp" and put this into the following directory:

   $ProfileDir/Application Data/PTC/Creo Elements Direct Modeling 20.4.4.0/20.4/bitmaps/bmp/commands/SolidDesigner/My_Group

An easier way to create new commands with toolbar images is to use the New ... functionality from the Customize menu to create user defined commands at run-time.

Environment Variables

A summary of environment (system or user) variables which can be set via Control Panel -> System Properties -> Advanced -> Environment Variables to tweak Creo Elements/Direct Modeling:

Note: Any as value for a variable means that this variable is defined and true. If you want this variable set to false you have to delete the environment variable.

Troubleshooting

Customizations don't appear as expected

Clean Environment

To be sure to get the stock Creo Elements/Direct Modeling customizations or the customizations which your site or corp administrator has defined for you, do the following:
(Note that you will loose all your personal customizations with this!)

• At runtime of Creo Elements/Direct Modeling go to Edit -> Settings -> UI Settings -> Customizations tab -> Reset Settings ...

Alternatively you can manually rename/remove your personal customization directory by doing these steps:

• Exit Creo Elements/Direct Modeling

• Move your personal customization files to a backup place.
  I.e. rename the following directory:

     $ProfileDir/Application Data/PTC/Creo Elements Direct Modeling 20.4.4.0/20.4
  

  to something else.
  If you've set the system variable SDUSERCUSTOMIZEDIR you would need to move the contents of this directory to a backup place.

• Restart Creo Elements/Direct Modeling

Toolbar (etc.) entries appear in a different language as expected

You might have started Creo Elements/Direct Modeling in a different language before and in this session you customized the toolbar (etc.). If you now restart Creo Elements/Direct Modeling in a different language, your toolbar (etc.) will appear in the language of your previous session.

If you frequently work with mixed languages, consider setting the system variable SDLANGDEPCUSTOMIZEDIRS to avoid these kind of problems.

Unexpected Error Messages

LISP error: NIL is not of type NUMBER.

You might see this error message after invoking a command from a toolbar or popup menu. In this case the command dialog can't handle :relative user interface behavior. Change the command ui behavior to either :default or :none.

LISP error during startup of Creo Elements/Direct Modeling

This may have several reasons.

The most likely reason for this is that you added LISP forms to a customization file like sd_avail_cmds.cmd, toolbar and popup menu files which contain LISP syntax errors. You might have forgotten a closing parenthesis, opened a string without closing it again with another double quote and things like this. Please check you customization files in respect to these potential errors.

Another reason why Creo Elements/Direct Modeling might end up in a LISP error during startup is that you defined a LISP form as action for an available command definition which refers to a symbol in a package which is not present at the time the sd_avail_cmds.cmd files are loaded. Avoid this by wrapping the available command action in double quotes.

Known Restrictions and Defects

Restrictions:

Missing image for given command

Creo Elements/Direct Modeling does not provide a separate image for each command. Optionally, you can create your own icons for use with commands.

Defects:

No known defects