The design file browser is a means of quickly locating a particular design in a design library by navigating
through the library directories and displaying the designs in miniature on the browser design panels.
The browser is split into a top and bottom panel showing information or providing normal dialog buttons,
and a left and right main panel showing the main browser facilities. The left panel displays the directory
navigator for selecting a directory in a directory tree structure. The right panel has two tabs - 'Designs'
and 'Files' each showing a list of the files in the directory currently selected in the navigator. The 'Design'
tab shows images of the design files in the current directory. The 'File' tab shows the designs in the
current directory listed as file names as with a normal file locator dialog. Selecting a file on either tab
highlights the file (or design) and also selects it on the other tab.
The path of the currently selected file is displayed on the top status panel, together with the file wild card
currently used to determine the file list. The wild card works in exactly the same way as for a normal file
browsing dialog.
To select a file as the result of the browse either click the open button on the bottom panel to select the
currently highlighted design, or double click a browser design panel or file name.
Hovering over a design with the mouse displays its description (if it has one) or the file name as a hint. A
parametric file has a description. The 3D CAD design files don't have a description so the file name is
displayed in the hint.
The right hand side of both the file list and browser panels has a scroll bar to scroll through all the designs
in the current directory. Page up and Page down keys can be used as normal with the scroll bars to search
through all the files in the directory. The dialog box has a menu with commands and options.
Changing Design View
The View menu allows the current view of all the designs in the design panel to be changed. The usual 2D
and ISO views are available.
Design Display Form
The 'Design' menu allows designs to be welded and displayed in welded form, or displayed in outline form.
Options
The options allows the number of designs in the design panel to be adjusted.
Tips
Parametric designs usually load fairly quickly b3cause they generally have only a few objects. On the other
hand 3D CAD designs can be large with many objects. In this case it is often better to use the normal file
opener rather than the graphical browser, because the time taken to load the designs is prohibitive.