Customizing Standards for Layers and Filters

The Standard Definition dialog box lets you interactively define standards that will then be saved in a .xml file.

1. Select Tools > Standards... to access the interactive standard editor and check that the General category is selected:

   
   
   

2. From the File list, select the CATStdLayersAndFilters.xml file.

3. Click the plus sign next to the CATStdLayersAndFilters node then repeat this step for each node.

   The complete XML tree structure with the values defined by your administrator is displayed.

   As you can see in the picture below, standard properties have been defined for the following instances:

   
   
   • Current layer and filter
   • 2 layers named General and Basic geometry. See Assigning Objects to Layers for more information about layers
   • 2 filters named All and Current. See Using Visualization Filters for more information about layer filters.

   More precisely, our example shows that the layer Basic geometry has been assigned number "1" without any comment:

   
   
   

   Now let's suppose you want to add a new layer.

4. Select the Layers List node from the tree structure then click Add to the right.

   This creates a new instance in the tree structure which is named "NoNameDefined" by default.

5. Select the created instance, i.e. "Layer2" then assign a number (the value must be comprised between 0 and 999) to the layer, a name of your own choosing as well as a comment (if necessary) in the corresponding boxes as shown below:

   
   
   

6. To create a new filter, select the Filter List node then click Add.

7. Select the created instance ("Filter001" in our example) then enter the name of your choice and the layer's visibility status:

   
   
   

   Tip: You can modify any box value anytime simply by selecting the desired instance then entering the new value in the corresponding box.

8. Optional: If you are not satisfied with an instance, select the node under which you want to remove an instance then click Remove.

9. Optional: In the Layer Remove dialog box, select the instance to be deleted then click OK to validate.

   The selected instance is removed.

10. When finished, you can:

    • Click OK to save the modifications in the CATStdLayersAndFilters.xml file. A pop-up message will inform you that the modified standard file has been saved in the directory specified when setting the CATCollectionStandard variable.
    • Click Save As New to save the modifications in a new .xml file. Clicking this button opens the Save As dialog box which places you in the directory you specified when setting the CATCollectionStandard variable. This new file will then be accessible from the File list.

    Warning: You cannot change the default name of standard files included in the General category. For these files, the Save As New button can only be used to generate a new file in another directory but still with the same name.

Standard files are stored in a format called XML (EXtensible Markup Language) used to exchange data very easily. XML files can be customized in a simple way, for instance to add new layers and filters, provided that you respect some syntax rules.

The CATStdLayersAndFilters.xml is taken as an example but the method is identical for editing the CATDftStdLayersAndFilters.xml file which is also available in the General category.

Be careful not to edit the CATStdTypeLayerAndFilter.xml file since it contains the layer and filter type definition used in the CATStdLayersAndFilters.xml file:

1. Open the CATStdLayersAndFilters.xml file in your XML editor.

   This file is made up of the following parts:
   

   • XML starting tags indicating the format as well as the name and type of the file:

     
     
     

   
   
   • Data related to the "Current" layer and filter, i.e. the layer to which objects are assigned and the visualization filter set as current. We recommend that you leave these data unchanged to avoid any trouble or misunderstanding. In our example, the value "-1" corresponds to the layer "None" which means that there is no current layer:

     
     
     

   
   
   • The list of layers declared in this standard file. This list is surrounded by <std:node name="Layers"> at the beginning and </std:node> at the end. Two layers have been defined in our example, each layer definition containing a Number and a Name (a Comment may be added, if necessary):

     
     
     

   
   
   • The list of layer filters. This list is surrounded by <std:node name="LayersFilters"> at the beginning and </std:node> at the end. Three filters have been defined in our example, each filter definition containing a Name and a Value:

     
     
     

   
   
   • The file ends with the tag </std:node>.

2. To declare a new layer, add a <std:typeval name="CATLayer"> ... </std:typeval> sequence to the "Layers" node.

   For instance:
   
   

   Note that the layer number must be comprised between 0 and 999.

3. To declare a new filter, add a <std:typeval name="CATLayersFilter"> ... </std:typeval> sequence to the "LayersFilters" node.

   For instance:
   
   

   As you can see it in the above example, a filter must be created using a layer number. However, neither filter value nor filter definition needs the layer to be declared.

   For instance, you can enter:
   
   

   even if "Layer 100" does not exist.

   You can even use more complex expressions such as "Layer=0 + (Layer>50 & Layer<100)" but the simpler, the better.

4. When finished, save the modified .xml file.

The new standards for layers and filters are applied to any documents you create from now on.