Pretty PLI/BOM annotation

[trevorsandy]

Subject

Add LEGO style annotation formatting

Environment

Version of LPub3D - 2.3.7
Operating system - All

Solution

Part List (CSI) Annotation Options

Display Part List (PLI) Annotation - globally enable or disable annotations or individually enable Title, Free Form, both Title and Free Form, or the new annotation type Fixed, which include axles, beams, cables, connectors, hoses and panels.

Enable Annotation Style - present fine-grained options to enable or disable annotation style for Title, Free Form or Fixed annotations. Title and Free Form annotations uses the Extended style, for BOM parts, the Elements style is used. The remaining styles are used by Fixed annotations. All annotation styles use one of three shape configurations - square, circle, or rectangle. Element and Extended annotation styles use the Rectangle shape configuration. Axle and Panels use the Circle shape configuration and Beams, Cables, Connections, and Hoses uses the Square shape configuration

Default Text Format - present the default annotation text attributes.

Part List (PLI) Annotation Edit Styles

Select Style to Edit - Each shape configuration can be configured with unique style settings.

Background - Style background color

Border - Style border attributes

Text Format - Style text attributes

Size - Style shape width and height dimensions

The following steps present nominal part list annotation setup and execution flows:
Default settings - no extended annotation style configuration

PLI annotation - fixed panel and title brick annotations

Change annotation font context menu

Font settings

Local option

Changed font

Bill Of Material (BOM) Annotation Options

Enable Annotation Style - for BOM parts, there is an additional Fixed annotation type, Elements for part element identification annotation.

Bill Of Material (BOM) Annotation Edit Styles

Select Style to Edit - for BOM parts, there is an additional annotation style, Element. Each shape configuration can be configured with unique style settings.

The following steps present nominal bill of material annotation setup and execution flows:
Bill of materials without annotations

Menu item

Annotations options - display default settings without part element identification

Bill of materials with annotations configured without part element identification

Annotations options - display default settings with part element identification

Bill of materials with annotations configured with part element identification

Annotations edit styles - add border to Element style

Bill of materials with part element annotation style configured with border

ADVANCED SETUP
The Part Annotation Style Reference matches LDraw parts to the predefined style round (1) and square(2) with the part category axle(1), beam(2), cable(3), connector(4), hose(5), and panel(6). These values are initially hard coded in LPub3D. However, when Edit Part Annotation Style reference is selected from Configuration, Edit Parameter Files, the reference list is exported to a text file and presented to the user for editing.

For this and other parameter lists, LPub3D's logic will look for an existing disk file, with the appropriate header information and valid regular expression used to import the file contents. If no valid file is found, the hard-coded internal values are used instead.

The framework described above allows users to 'export' and edit the default settings at which point LPub3D will load and use the exported/external settings. Of course it goes without saying that modifying content is this way can be harmful to the smooth running of LPub3D so it is advised to undertake these steps if you are confident about what you are doing.

Here are the steps to export and edit the Part Annotation Style Reference:

NOTE in v2.3.8, the wrong Part Annotation Style Reference regular expression is exported.
Replace line: # The Regular Expression used is: ^([^\t]+)\t+\s*([^\t]+)\t+\s*([^\t]+).*$
With line: # The Regular Expression used is: ^(\b[^=]+\b)=([1|2])\s+([1-6])?\s*([^\s]+).*$

Menu item

Export status and file location information.

Exported list automatically opened in LPub3D parameter file editor

[jacovandermolen]

OK, so I am playing around a bit with this feature.
I seem to miss the annotation styles for technic bricks?
Beams and Axles seem fine, but when I want to change the font, LPub3D crashes.

[trevorsandy]

Hi Jaco,

I've added some content to the initial ticket post that describes this enhancement setup and execution.

Cheers,