Ricky Jordan's Blog » Context Toolbar http://www.rickyjordan.com SolidWorks, The CAD Industry, & More! Sat, 07 Jan 2012 14:45:11 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 http://www.rickyjordan.com http://www.rickyjordan.com/images/rjfavcon.jpg Ricky Jordan's Blog SolidWorks Tip: Context Toolbar in Sketches http://www.rickyjordan.com/2008/01/solidworks-tip-2.html http://www.rickyjordan.com/2008/01/solidworks-tip-2.html#comments Sat, 12 Jan 2008 18:28:14 +0000 Ricky Jordan http://74.220.219.56/~rickyjor/2008/01/solidworks-tip-context-toolbar-in-sketches.html
  • SolidWorks Tip: Unabsorb Sketches
  • SolidWorks Tip: Adding a Mate in 2008!
  • SolidWorks Video Tip: Layout Sketches and Planes
  • SolidWorks 2008: FilletXpert
  • SolidWorks 2011: User Interface Enhancements
    • ]]>     SolidWorks 2008 brought about many changes in the user interface.  One of the additions to the UI that has spurred some comments from users (both positive and negative) has been the Context Toolbar.  The Context Toolbar appears when you right click OR left click on certain entities within the software.  (The right click options consists of the Context Toolbar in combination with the “normal” right click menu.)  It is context sensitive in that the tools available in the toolbar depend entirely upon what type of entity you select.  One of the disappointments with this toolbar is that you cannot customize it.  I will say though that SolidWorks did a good job of picking the features to be included.

    Context_toolbar_sketchThe left click Context Toolbar is one that has seen some Cheers and Jeers in some of the online discussion forums.  It took me a little time to get used to it at first, but I am finding myself using it quite often now.  One of the really great applications of this Context Toolbar occurs when you are adding Relations to sketch entities.  I have devised 3 different instance behaviors to show today.  You will want to view the video to fully understand the descriptions of each instance below.

    1. Ctrl selection of individual entities does popup the Context Toolbar but only AFTER you release the Ctrl key.  I did find a few instances where I released the Ctrl key too quickly and the Context Toolbar did not appear.  (Refer to the trick described in #3 below on how to get the Context Toolbar back up.)
    2. Window selection to the left (selects all entities touching the window) immediately pops up the Context Toolbar without the user having to wait on anything.  This is the method I use most often when possible!
    3. When using Ctrl selection in a similar method as #1, the Context Toolbar will disappear if you move too far away from the selected entities.  You CAN bring it back by moving the cursor back to close proximity of the selected entities then push the Ctrl key one time.  This trick does work for #2 as well but it seems that the required position of your cursor for the toolbar to appear is a little unpredictable.  If your cursor isn’t close enough to the entities you will see the Context Toolbar flash on/off quickly on the screen.  This gives you an idea on where your cursor needs to be.

    In case you missed the first link, HERE IS A VIDEO that demonstrates the instance behaviors.

    Stay tuned….more to come!

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    Related posts:

    1. SolidWorks Tip: Unabsorb Sketches
    2. SolidWorks Tip: Adding a Mate in 2008!
    3. SolidWorks Video Tip: Layout Sketches and Planes
    4. SolidWorks 2008: FilletXpert
    5. SolidWorks 2011: User Interface Enhancements

    ]]>     http://www.rickyjordan.com/2008/01/solidworks-tip-2.html/feed 2     SolidWorks Tip: Adding a Mate in 2008! http://www.rickyjordan.com/2007/11/solidworks-tip.html http://www.rickyjordan.com/2007/11/solidworks-tip.html#comments Mon, 26 Nov 2007 23:30:00 +0000 Ricky Jordan http://74.220.219.56/~rickyjor/2007/11/solidworks-tip-adding-a-mate-in-2008.html
  • SolidWorks 2008: “FINALLY!” Features
  • SolidWorks 2008: The New UI
  • SolidWorks 2008: Configurations
  • SolidWorks 2008 Upgrade
  • SolidWorks Tip: Combine Isolate and Show Hidden Components
    • ]]>     Here is a great little tip-off for those of you using SolidWorks 2008.  With previous versions of SolidWorks, you may constantly find yourself venturing from the graphics area towards the Assembly Toolbar or CommandManager everytime you wanted to add a mate to a component in your assembly.  The Edit/Add Mates command is available in the Right Mouse Button Menu but is hidden by default.  On top of that, it seems to be “buried” in the list and is not easily found mostly due to the lack of an icon next to the command.

    MatecontexttoolbarIn SolidWorks 2008, the Mate command is included in the Context Toolbar that pops up anytime you left click on a model entity in the graphics area or item in the FeatureManager design tree.  It also shows up as part of the Right Mouse Button menu.  The “paperclip” icon has now been incorporated so that you can find it easier.    Maybe it’s just me, but this is one of the little things that I really like when working on assemblies in 2008!  If you haven’t tried this yet, test it for yourself!  In the image shown in this post, the cylindrical face of the bolt is selected which brings up the Context Toolbar.  If you select the Mate Command from there, the face that was selected to bring up the toolbar is already in the selection group box in the PropertyManager for the Mate  This is a very nice workflow which I believe improves speed when mating components in an assembly.

    Stay tuned….more to come!

    Pin it

    Related posts:

    1. SolidWorks 2008: “FINALLY!” Features
    2. SolidWorks 2008: The New UI
    3. SolidWorks 2008: Configurations
    4. SolidWorks 2008 Upgrade
    5. SolidWorks Tip: Combine Isolate and Show Hidden Components

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