Create Toolbar buttons for external iLogic Rules without VBA?

[Anonymous]

I realize I can create an VBA Stub program to launch an external iLogic rule.  Also I can create a button for the Stub and place it in a toolbar.  This is way round about though.  Especially since VBA will be going away sometime soon.

Does Inventor have plans to make external iLogic Rules available with icons for toolbars directly?

I know we can launch them from the iLogic Browser but having to right mouse on the item and select "Run" is just too clumsy when you need to do it many times a day.  (Not to mention docking the browser takes up way too much realestate.)

Or is there a mechanism I can access today?

[MjDeck]

Have you tried docking the iLogic browser underneath the model browser?  If you dock it there then it maintains the same width as the model browser, and you can make it any height you want.

 In a future version we will probably make it easier to launch rules from the iLogic browser.  But we don't have plans right now to add buttons to the ribbon.

[Anonymous]

Two things.

1) Having to use the right mouse button and select run on an item in the Rules brouwer is slow and lame.  If you had a launch button for each line item that would be 1000 times better.  That or put the Edit Rule function in the Right mouse menu and allow double clicking an item to launch the Rule.

2) I never said anything about the Ribbon.  I was talking about allowing buttons to be drag & dropped into a new toolbar the way you can from the macro section in the Customize | Commands dialog.

The point being that when VBA dissapears we will still need some way to launch our custom tools quickly and easily.

[MjDeck]

OK, I hear you.  Can you provide any more feedback about docking the iLogic Browser?

[Anonymous]

What kind of feedback?  Yes I docked it below the browser.

[MjDeck]

You're saying that no matter where you put it, it takes up way too much real estate?

[Anonymous]

Pretty much. 

We create very large assemblies and complex parts.  Because of this the browser panel is tiypically full so we have to scroll.  Shortening the browser panel only makes for that much more scrolling.

I've written and maintain about Sixteen major engineering VBA programs.  Currently a thin vertical toolbar with 16x16 icons on the right doesn't take up much space.  If we translate that into sixteen text items in the Rule browser it robs the browser of area.

Long story short if all we can get is launching rules fromt he browser by double clicking them, we'll make it work and lose the browser territory if we have to but we would rather not.

BTW I am in the process of converting our VBA apps to external iLogic scripts that launch complex VB.NET dlls.

[Anonymous]

This is a test of IE 9 with Compatiblity View On