Overview of Annotation Features
This section describes how to access annotation features for special customizations. It provides specific functions for creation, access, and modification of annotation features and elements.
An annotation feature is a new feature available in Pro/ENGINEER Wildfire 2.0. It is composed of one or more "annotation elements". Each annotation element is composed of references, parameters and annotations (notes, symbols, geometric tolerances, surface finishes, reference dimensions, driven dimensions, and manufacturing template annotations). The annotation feature allows annotation information to have the same benefits as geometry in Creo Parametric models, that is, parameters can be assigned to these annotation elements, and missing geometric references can cause features to fail in some situations.
The feature type PRO_FEAT_ANNOTATION represents an annotation feature. Functions referring to annotation features use the structure ProAnnotationfeat, which is identical to ProFeature.
Functions referring to annotation elements use the structure ProAnnotationElem which is identical to the structure ProModelitem and is defined as
typedef struct pro_model_item
{
ProType type;
int id;
ProMdl owner;
}ProAnnotationElem
Like other ProModelitem derivatives, each annotation element has a unique id assigned to it in the model.
Annotation elements may belong to annotation features, or may also be found in data-sharing features (features like Copy Geometry, Publish Geometry, Merge, Cutout, and Shrinkwrap features).
Creo TOOLKIT does not expose the feature element tree for annotation features because some elements in the tree are used for non-standard purposes. Instead, Creo TOOLKIT provides specific functions for creating, redefining, and reading the properties of annotation features and annotation elements.