Keyboard shortcut to collapse browser tree?

[robmccune]

I am migrating into Inventor from SolidWorks, which had a keyboard short cut for collapsing the parts tree in the browser.  Is there a similar command for IV?

[mcgyvr]

I'm not aware of one (doesn't mean there isn't one) but you can always just right click inside the model tree area and select collapse all or collapse all children if you right click over a comopnent with open levels

[prachu]

Looking for the same thing and this thread is all I can find on the subject. I guess it can't be done at this point.

[blair]

As posted, RMB inside the Browser Window and select "Expand All" or "Collapse All"

[prachu]

RMB is not a keyboard shortcut.

[blair]

No, don't know of a Keyboard short-cut, I use a mouse and 3D motion controller. The less time I have to take my hands from my devices, the more efficient Inventor is.

[mcgyvr]

yeah if they had a space pilot with a number pad I could just about throw my keyboard in the trash..

[SteveMDennis]

You cannot do this today because those commands are not "real" commands per se. Only full blown commands can have shortcuts.

We have noted this in our database for possible inclusion in future releases.

[jeanchile]

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@SteveMDennis wrote:

... those commands are not "real" commands per se....

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I LOVE this! Are they not real because you don't use them? I'm with you on this one and I should be able to do this easier. Inevitably every time I right click in the browser I hit a file and then it's not in the menu. Then I have to select somewhere else in the browser and try again.

That being said, I am "this close" to enacting a rule with all of my employess that when they're done editing or creating a model they are required to return to the home view, zoom extents, collapse the browser, then close the file.

I was thinking that an iLogic rule on a file close would be the trick? Perhaps somehow tied to a view rep? I think Curtis told me in his book that view reps control the browser view as well (I'll have to go back and check that, it was from a while ago). Either that or program it into everyone's space pilot somehow.

Anyway, if me and my CAD Manager can just find the time to learn iLogic it will be the first rule we write! Too bad we're stuck in that too busy gettin' some work done to get some work done phase right now.

[Curtis_Waguespack]

Hi jeanchile,

I think what steven.dennis means by not "real" is in terms of how these tools are organized in the API. From memory, the collapse and expand browser commands are only accessed through rather special methods. This means they're not available in the collection that is exposed in the Customize keyboard list, and therefore can't have a shortcut assigned using the out of the box method. But I think it'd be pretty easy to create a macro to expand/collapse the browser and then assign a keyboard shortcut to that macro.

As for your idea of doing this via iLogic, that is very do-able (I remember playing around with this at one point in the past). If I have a chance I'll try and work up a rule to include the list of tasks you mention, as I think I could make good use of it as well.

I hope this helps.
Best of luck to you in all of your Inventor pursuits,
Curtis
http://inventortrenches.blogspot.com

[SteveMDennis]

Jean,

 I was not trying to be coy!  "real" in my response was a loose technical term that other Inventor developers would understand.  Curtis has it mostly right from an external viewpoint. Internally we have multiple ways in which different commands are implemented and I look at something like Ground as real and viewing commands (that change the UI) as non-real.  I am not trying to skirt your issue.

As I said, I have taken this down as a possible future improvement. We are listening.

[jeanchile]

Ha Ha! I figured that from your post, I just thought the terminology used was funny! I just remember a blog post from Rob Cohee where he talks about if one more person asks him for a center point rectangle he's going to explode. That AD is too busy coming up with real productivity tools (e.g. the cloud crap that never works, etc. ) to mess around with that junk and your comment reminded me of that. I just wish that AD would recognize that adding 100 little improvements to IV would be a lot more productive to some "small company" users like myself than adding another 6 programs to the suite, that's all.

And thanks Curtis for the explanation as always. Please do not feel obligated to develop iLogic code for our use though, because I wouldn't even know how to load it right now. iLogic is the one thing I am the most excited about learning as soon as I can find some more time. I am intrigued by it's apparent capabilities and look forward to improving our processes with it. I just need to complete a few processes before I can improve a few processes !

[prachu]

" I just wish that AD would recognize that adding 100 little improvements to IV would be a lot more productive to some "small company" users like myself than adding another 6 programs to the suite, that's all."

Reminds me of a Solidworks new version presentation a few years ago. The one thing that people actually broke out in applause for when they announced it was something as simple as the ability to make centerpoint rectangles and centerpoint slots. (something Inventor still can't do)

[mcgyvr]

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@prachu wrote: the ability to make centerpoint rectangles (something Inventor still can't do)

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http://blogs.rand.com/manufacturing/2010/12/inventor-add-in-center-point-rectangle.html

Excellent add-in!!!!

[SteveMDennis]

Jean,

 To your point about "100 little improvements" I think it was mentioned on this board somewhere else, my primary job this release and going forward for the foreseeable future is to concentrate on that exactly. For the 2013 release I spearheaded (technically anyhow) a small team that did 20-30 small customer driven improvements.  You may have heard of these mentioned as JDI (Just Do It).

We are continuing along those lines for the next release(s).

I've worked on Inventor since pre-R1 but my presence here on the newsgroup (active or just reading) is much greater in the last 6 months or so trying to ferret out these nice nuggets to add to our list.  That doesn't mean that everyone's nugget will get worked on but we see how many folks request it, is it on the AUGI wishlist, etc. and we make a list and march down it.

As I said, we are listening.

[jeanchile]

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@SteveMDennis wrote:

... my primary job this release and going forward for the foreseeable future is to concentrate on that exactly.

We are continuing along those lines for the next release(s).

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I did not know that and I am excited about this. Thank you for helping us out!

And for the record, I have an add-in that I got from this forum somewhere for the rectangle tool (which I don't believe works in 2012) and I use iFeatures for the slots.

I just hate having all this stuff go missing when we upgrade. When I moved to 2011 it was a 4 week process just to get a **** cloud tool re-installed and working. Turns out you had to use the add-in from 2010 for it to work. Something like that should just be a working part of the stupid software, not some thing I have to download from some dude's blog and install (thanks again Mark!).

Sorry to hi-jack the thread Rob, I was just trying to convey my shared frustration about some of these little features.

[Curtis_Waguespack]

Hi jeanchile,

I posted some iLogic code at this link for the list of chores you mentioned, including the collapsing the browser:

http://inventortrenches.blogspot.com/2012/01/autodesk-inventor-ilogic-sort-browser.html

As it turned out I had all of this inside another rule I was already running, and I'd kind of forgotten it was there because it runs automatically, which is the point I suppose. Anyway, when you get around to implementing iLogic into your bag of tricks, you can look back at that link. In the mean time I hope others will find it useful.

I hope this helps.
Best of luck to you in all of your Inventor pursuits,
Curtis
http://inventortrenches.blogspot.com

[jeanchile]

Curtis,

Your presence on this forum, and your printed works, are both invaluable assets to the Inventor community.

Thank you very much for your timely and thorough assistance with this, and all the other, issues on this forum.

[robmccune]

No worries, it drew attention to a problem I have had with Inventor since I switched from SW.  If they do add in the keyboard shortcut, it should probably be "Ctrl+C" for the sake of continuity.

[prachu]

Curtis, I tried your ilogic code and it gives me an unknown error. The AppForceIsoCmd seems to be causing it. If I change that to AppIsometricViewCmd or AppViewCubeHomeCmd it works fine. (2012 SP1)