Save size and position of popups

[V.Cebrián_RO]

I am using Creo Parametric Release 8.0 and Datecode 8.0.1.0

Good afternoon,
I would like to ask you if it is possible to save the position and size of the pop-up windows in Creo 8, so that when you close and restart the program, they appear in the same position.

Thank you very much,

Víctor

[tbraxton]

Maybe, it depends on which windows you are referring to. The UI elements available for customization are controlled by a config file named "creo_parametric_customization.ui". It is possible to save this and load it when launching Creo to replicate your preferred configurations. There are multiple versions of this file available for use so if you are not the system admin, check with them to see if they have one already being used when Creo is loaded.

See these articles for reference:

https://support.ptc.com/help/creo/creo_pma/r6.0/usascii/index.html#page/fundamentals/fundamentals/fund_three_sub/about_saving_ui_custom_settings.html 

https://www.ptc.com/en/support/article/CS37185 

[V.Cebrián_RO]

Good afternoon AndrewK,

Thank you very much for your answer.

In this case, I am referring for example to the pop-up window of the measure command, that when you open it it appears in one position and size; after closing the window and measuring again, it reappears at the starting location. Can I customize the position and size of this window and save it in the customization.ui file so that it appears in the same desired position?

Thank you very much.

Víctor Cebrián

Ingeniero de Forja

www.rothenberger.es

[tbraxton]

I don't think you can control that explicitly with the UI customization options. Here are the windows options available in the options tab. I am not aware of any config options that would control this either. You may be able to use one of the APIs to control it with custom software. I am curious what issue you are facing that prompts you to want to control the location?

[V.Cebrián_RO]

The objective is to be able to place these subwindows of the menus in a specific position and size, so as not to have to move them continuously and waste that time (short but very repetitive), to gain efficiency.

I'm sorry but I don't understand when you say use one of the APIs to control it, how does it work?

I would like to suggest this possibility in future versions of the program and apply a facelift to submenus inherited from Creo 2

Thank you very much,

Víctor

[tbraxton]

API is an application programming interface. For Creo this is Toolkit and some other APIs. See this slide deck for more info. It is a bit dated, but the info is still relevant.

[V.Cebrián_RO]

Thank you so much for your explanation.

I'm sorry but I can't open the pdf document (it won't let me click on it) could you please send it attached?

Thanks in advance, best regards

[tbraxton]

The file I referred to above.

[V.Cebrián_RO]

Thank you veru much, I was able to download it.

I will check it and will answer you.

Best regards

[sacquarone · Accepted solution]

Hello @V.Cebrián_RO 

Just for information, please consider first that, from a terminology perspective, the kind of User Interface (Measure: Summary) you show in your snapshot is what we call an Auxiliary Window and not a Popup (see snapshot below for a better understanding). Sharing info with you to introduce what follows next, but also to help you using the good terminology if you would like to pursue your investigation and use the good keywords while searching in our Knoweldge Base or Help Center locations later on.

Related to that, it's unfortunately currently not possible to set a custom default location and size of an Auxiliary Window in Creo Parametric. You can do it after having launched the command, but if the Auxiliary Windows is closed and reopened (even in an ongoing session), it will automatically always come up with default location and size. We officially document this current limitation in our article 216509.

Outside from standard, and investigating this in the direction of developments, using Toolkit or JLink capabilities as introduced to you by @tbraxton (Thanks a lot for this!!), consider that usually, those kind of developments are oriented to:

1. Create New custom User Interaces - akas UIs (with custom actions called in it, but always starting from what is possible to do with standard Creo Parametric Capabilities)
2. Eventually call existing standard UIs (as part of eventual other actions called in the development)
3. BUT NOT to MODIFY standard UIs

Due to point 3 above, I suspect that even usage of development won't be really helpful in the direction you're looking for. Just consider this last part of my explanation with caution, as I'm not an expert in TOolkit development, so that I may have missed something in this direction.

Remains therefore the possibility to approach this with a mapkey. Refer to movie at the end of this post for a better understanding of what I mean.

Regards,

Serge

[V.Cebrián_RO]

Dear @sacquarone,

Thank you very much for your reply, sorry my English is not the most correct and can cause misunderstandings, I see that you have understood my objective perfectly.

I am going to try to create the suggested macro, it seems to me a good solution and I would like to know how I can suggest to the developers of the program to add the possibility of customizing this aspect. Do you know which way I should use to get in touch and transmit my improvement suggestion?

Best regards,

Víctor

[sacquarone]

Hello @V.Cebrián_RO 

Thanks for your confirmation of my initial understanding. I'm glad if suggested approach with mapkeys allows you to reach your objective with current capabilities of Creo Parametric, despite of the current limitation. In order to bring issues to the attention of PTC, as a general rule:

• If issue/request is supposed to be in a supported scope (not here, because it's a limitation which is already officially documented) , but produces unexpected outcome, the process is to proceed as follows:
  1. Open a case to PTC Technical Support
  2. PTC TS tries to reproduce, and if he succeeds without being able to provide good explanation, a SPR is reported to PTC R&D
  3. PTC TS then notifies customer when fix will be posted in a Creo Parametric Datecode by our R&D Department
• If issue/request is NOT in a supported scope (like here), process is to open an idea to the attention of our Product Managers

Regards,

Serge

[V.Cebrián_RO]

Perfect, thank you very much @sacquarone!

I will open an idea as you explain it to me. Let's see if I'm lucky and they can add this customization option in future versions of Creo Parametric.

Best regards and have a great weekend,

Víctor