The text in a text object cannot be driven by a user parameter

[rickL3JJC]

I'm creating a lot of parts, and they need to be labeled because the differences between the parts can't easily be determined by eye. So I add a text object. The critical content of the text object needs to be the circumference of the part, which is driven by a master value in a user parameter. But text doesn't accept user parameters for the text content. 😞

I suspect there may not be simple fix for this. Two issues come immediately to mind. The first is converting a number to text. Fusion may store the expression I type in for a user parameter, so that's probably a decent starting point for the literal text. Showing (or not showing) units may be something that needs to considered, as would text concatentation. (e.g. "evaluate <this parameter> and combine it with <this literal text.>" Second is that I haven't seen any other places in the UI where there is a syntax for differentiating intent between "evaluate this string" and "use this literal text," which syntax would be needed for this fix.

In any case, the text content field in a text object won't evaluate user parameters, and that makes it much harder to create labeled parts efficiently.

This is the third of a series of three bugs I'm posting for text in Fusion 360. They are:

- Dimensions and constraints are deleted when text in a text object is modified
- Text allows user parameters in fields, but does not remember them
- The text in a text object cannot be driven by a user parameter

Some context: I'm creating a series of very similar parts that are completely parameterized from a master part, and vary in size. The parts need to be labeled to allow consumers to differentiate one size from another. Fusion has allowed me to create a very competent master drawing, but the only thing I can't parameterize is the text, which necessitates editing the content, position and angle of the text by hand for 30-plus parts.

Thanks!

Rick Levine
rick@xoab.us
+1 303 589-6700

[FrankCao]

Hi rick,

Thanks for reporting this issue. Your idea of making sketch text's content parametized looks very interesting. Currently Fusion seems not support such kinds of String parameter. One concern here probably,  is if you input a string in the "text" field, there would be confusion that whether this is a parameter name which points to a string value or it is just a plain string value. To support the string parameter, we may need redefine how we reference parameters, maybe like the excel format "=xx". And this perhaps needs a project. 

Anyway, I think your idea is valuable, you can try raise it to Idea Station if possible. We can then evaluate the idea to see if there is anything we can improve.

Thanks,

Frank 

[rickL3JJC]

Hi Frank! Thanks for the quick response.

You're correct that there's missing syntax - that's what I was alluding to in my post; apologies if I wasn't clear.

The good news is that best practices around this kind of text handling in equations have been evolving for a long time, since the days of Multiplan and 123.

One simple solution, rather than adding syntax around parameter names, would be to assume that anything in quotation marks is a literal string. The backwards compatibility housekeeping would be slightly involved, but shouldn't be too painful. Given robust data version management (which it seems like Fusion has) it would probably involve rewriting the contents of older text objects to be quoted. Anything moving forward after the update not in quotes is a parameter to evaluate.

That change, and letting us overload "+" (or maybe adding "&") as a concatenation operator would go a long way towards making text usable for identification and labeling of parameterized parts.(And lots of other things. Ask the FDM and laser cutter folks. 🙂

Rick

rick@xoab.us
+1 303 589-6700

[FrankCao]

Hi rick,

Your idea of use quotation marks to represent a literal string is also an interesting idea. But this way will also needs some changes in Fusion's parameter parsing code. Today in sketch text we can even recognize the quotation mark itself as contents of the text. And you could extrude the text representation of quotation mark to be 3d objects 🙂  Same is with the "=" sign.

Anyway the idea of parametizing text content itself is good. You could try raise the idea in idea station in following address:

http://forums.autodesk.com/t5/ideastation-request-a-feature-or/idb-p/125

Thanks,

Frank

[brianriordan]

Yes!  Exactly my problem right now (except it's a slot width parameter instead of circumference).

[damien.swampcastleautodesk.com]

We don't need to reinvent the wheel here.

Programming languages have had to deal with for decades.

Numerical value

n=5

String

S$="text"

Convert numerical to text

n$=str(n)

Convert a number in text format to a numeric value

s$="5"

s=value(s$)

If you want to put text equal to the measurement you would use...

Parameter for the dimension

CircleDiameter=50

Text field for the Text object

str(CircleDiameter)

[autodesk]

Chiming in with the same issue and the same wish. I've got a simple part which has small variations in the design, all driven by a key parameter which is not directly measurable anywhere on the part itself, and it'd be great to have that key dimension reflected in the text on the part.

Rendering a string vs. a variable is something programming languages have done for a while, but I do understand that implementing  it might be non-trivial. Still, having the ability to call variables or even macros would be really valuable.

[chrisplyler]

All the coding details are certainly way above my head, but couldn't you just add a Text parameter type?

I'm used to Revit, and its parameter types include one for Text. I don't have to put my text in quotes or do any other special formatting or anything.

[david.antliff]

---

Aside: I'm not sure how to "exit" quote mode when trying to add text after a quote (entering blank lines after the quote just extends the quote markup), so the quote will need to be at the end of this post. Jump ahead and then come back here to read on.

<IMAGINE QUOTE IS HERE>

The problem isn't identifying the value based on the parameter type, it's parsing the input field to detect that there's a parameter named there. If the text is "hello, world" and a parameter called "hello" exists, then the parser needs to make a decision whether to insert the value of the parameter, or use the literal "hello" text.

Also, sometimes one wants numerical parameters to appear in text, so in that case the parameter wouldn't be a text type anyway.

I'd like to vote for this feature, somehow - is there an existing feature request that I can somehow indicate my support for? I design a lot of experimental features and the ability to dynamically update their labels would be practically very useful.

@chrisplyler wrote: couldn't you just add a Text parameter type? 

[william-c-anderson]

This is really a requirement for additive construction (e.g. 3D-printed parts). It is a trivial feature to add - I wonder if such a simple parser can be implemented in a Python add-in? I love the clean, logical interface and responsiveness of Fusion 360 as compared to S*lidw*rks, for example, but is is very immature in comparison.

[andrei_an]

And I am chiming in here due to needing this feature. 

Sometimes I do what I call a "bracketed print", stealing photography jargon, for printing multiple copies of the same part with a range of tolerances, so I can see which one fits the best. I'd like to emboss the diameter as text into the part so I can tell which one is which. (Even better would be an addition to the "pattern" tool to automatically generate the bracketed instances, but one step at a time.)

As far as implementation goes, programming languages use an "escape character" , usually backslash, to insert the values of variables into strings. For example, if there is a variable named width, one can format a string in Swift like this: "The thingy is \(width) millimetres wide." 

Adding this to the text tool in Fusion wouldn't break the other existing places where a backslash is not required to use a parameter.

[JYZMT]

As above, I'm commenting because I think this is a much needed feature.

We have a few work arounds to identify part numbers. Either using a pattern array of tiny holes, which is driven by parameters  (this has proved unsatisfactory for us), or a series of clock like dials milled into the surface in a discrete location. They are driven by a sketch, where the angle of rotation of the dial is linked to a parameter. 

A similar thing exists on the under side of an ikea plastic tub. 

But parameters that control text object would be infinitely more useful please.

[rickL3JJC]

*chuckle*

Except the mold daters are thoroughly old-school analog. It'd be nice to bring custom labeling tech into the latest century!

(For more on mold dating, try these: https://www.dme.net/mdi, http://www.pcs-company.com/viewcategory/Mold-Components/Mold-Date-(amp)-Recycling-Inserts or https://www.avantech.com/shop/date_code_wheels.shtml)

[JYZMT]

Yep, its old school! but it works. The good thing here is because its the same geometry but rotated, the Cam setups work without problem.

Our little stylized dial symbols are a bit cooler than the ikea ones, and they look quite intriguing neatly milled in the corner.... but I'd switch to text in a second if I could.

I've voted up as many versions of this request as I can find on the ideas station. But without mass votes, this rarely seems to work. 

Anyway, maybe it will help you. 

[rickL3JJC]

Here's the idea posting to vote on for this feature:

https://forums.autodesk.com/t5/fusion-360-ideastation/parameters-in-text/idc-p/8546393

(And yes, parameterized text appears in other threads in the idea database - this one seems to have gotten the most attention. I'm not sure who aggregates or collates similar feature request threads, if anyone does.)

Go there and vote. Tell your friends.

Rick