User Attributes

Description

The User Attributes command provides an interface for the manipulation of user-defined attribute dictionary objects. Furthermore, a dictionary object can be assigned to database corner points, boundaries, quilts, and models for custom Glyph scripting applications.

These attributes allow for fine-grained control over the mesh generation process and they supersede any global parameters where applicable. They can be assigned via the following attribute hierarchy:

• Private Attributes: These attributes are assigned directly to a database entity. Furthermore, each entity gets its own unique copy of each attribute. Even if the names of two attributes are the same, they are indeed different attributes. This means that changing the attribute "attribute_A" assigned to a given database entity "entity_1" does not affect the attribute with the same name assigned to another database entity named "entity_2". Note that private attributes are internally stored in named dictionaries of key-value pairs of attributes.
• Shared Attributes: These attributes are defined inside Parameter Sets (see below) and they exist independently of any database entity. In fact, zero or more database entities can be assigned to a given parameter set. There are two main things to keep in mind when working with parameter sets: each attribute can exist only once inside a given parameter set and changing one attribute in a parameter set will affect all the database entities associated with that set (if any). Note that parameter sets (and their shared attributes) are internally stored in named dictionaries of key-value pairs of attributes. Furthermore, the names of a dictionary and its corresponding parameter set are the same.

The User Attributes panel (shown below) provides all the tools you will need to create and delete private attributes, parameter sets and their shared attributes, and to assign those attributes to the appropriate database corner points, boundaries, quilts, and models.

Parameters

The Parameters frame provides controls to manipulate private and shared attributes. The first thing to notice is that this panel requires the selection of at least one database entity (boundary, quilt, and/or model) or one parameter set (see Parameter Sets below) in order for the commands in this panel to become enabled.

When at least one database entity with private attributes assigned to it is selected, the pull-down list in the top left corner of the Parameters frame becomes populated with all the named dictionaries with attributes assigned to the selected entity (or group of entities). In the figure above, the named dictionary PrivateParams_Model has been selected from the list. In these circumstances, the New and Delete buttons next to the pull-down list will become enabled. The New command can be used to create a new named dictionary to be assigned to the selected entity (or group of entities). On the other hand, the Delete command can be used to delete the currently selected named dictionary assigned to the currently selected entity (or group of entities).

Note that some commands in this frame become enabled when one parameter set (see below) get selected. In this case, the pull-down list will contain only one named dictionary: the one containing the parameter set data. In these circumstances, neither the New nor the Delete commands become enabled. This is due to the fact that named dictionaries cannot be added to existing named dictionaries.

Once a named dictionary is selected from the pull-down list, the table in the Parameters frame becomes populated with the private or shared parameters stored in the selected dictionary. In the figure above, the PrivateParams_Model dictionary contains three private key-value pairs defining the attributes assigned to one or more database entities: Model_Param_1, Model_Param_2, and Model_Param_3 with associated values value1, value2, and value3 respectively.

The Add and Remove buttons in this frame become enabled when at least one database entity is currently selected; they can be used to add and delete key-value pairs from the selected named dictionary. To delete a given key-value pair, simply select the appropriate row from the table and click the Delete button. On the other hand, to add a new key-value pair element to the named dictionary, simply click the Add button and populate the cells in the new row in the table with the desired attribute name and corresponding value.

Parameter Sets

The Parameter Sets frame provides controls to manipulate parameter sets. The table in this frame lists all the available parameter sets in your current project. Note that selecting a parameter set from this list will highlight the database entities assigned to it (if any) in both the Display window and the List panel.

The New and Delete buttons are used to create a new parameter set in your project and to delete an existing parameter set from your project respectively. After creating a new parameter set, a new row will be presented in the table; edit the appropriate cell in the Name column to define the name of the new set. Then, use either the Display window and the List panel to select the database entities (boundaries, quilts, and models) to be assigned to the new set and click the corresponding check box in the Set column in the table.

The Add to Selection command in only enabled when a parameter set is selected from the list. This command adds to the current selection any database entities assigned to the selected parameter set. This selection remains active until the User Attributes panel is closed.