Customizing Command Properties

You can assign keyboard shortcuts or icons to commands so that they are easier to use.

Before you begin: This does not apply to icon boxes which cannot be customized.
Related Topics
About Toolbar Icons

  1. Select Tools > Customize... or right-click any icon in any toolbar then select Customize.



  2. In the Customize dialog box, access the Commands tab.

    The available commands are listed:



    The grey frame below the Categories and Commands lists gives you information on the selected command. When there are more than two lines of text, the arrows displayed to the right are grayed out to let you scroll up or down.

    Important: All Commands lists all commands available for the workshop you are working in as well as global commands (e.g. Open, Propagate).

  3. Select a category (menu name), then double-click a command, or select it and click Show Properties....

    The Command Properties frame is added to the bottom of the dialog box:



  4. Optional: Enter a new name for the command in the title box.

  5. In the User Alias box, enter the alias to be assigned to the selected command.

    After closing the Customize dialog box, you just have to type c:alias_name in the power input box to run the command.

    For example: enter cap in the User Alias box, then type c:cap in the power input box and press Enter to start the Capture command.

  6. Click Ctrl, Shift and Other to include them in the shortcut displayed in the Accelerator box.

    Important:
    • It is recommended to start the shortcut with a special character such as Ctrl, Shift or any function key. Otherwise, the shortcut will work on UNIX only and not on Windows.
    • If the command you are customizing is not represented in a toolbar, a menu bar, etc., the Accelerator box is grayed out to prevent you from defining a new accelerator or from using an already existing accelerator. In that case, simply drag and drop the command onto any toolbar to activate the Accelerator box.
    • When switching from one workbench to another in the same workshop, note that the accelerators available in the previous workbench are also available in the new workbench, even though the command launched by the accelerator does not exist in the new workbench.

  7. To use another key, click Other....

    The list of available keys is displayed.

  8. Select a key then click Add, or double-click a key.

    Whichever method you use, the corresponding choice is displayed in the Accelerator box, for example like this: Ctrl+.

  9. Click ... to the right of the Icon option (bottom right).

    The Icons Browser lets you access all the graphic icons installed with the V6 software:

    By default, only V6 icons are displayed in the Icons Browser.

  10. Optional: To be able to pick customized icons, proceed as follows:

    Important:
    • Bitmap images exceeding 24 bits per pixel are not supported.
    • It is recommended to provide command icons in two different sizes which are to be stored into the corresponding directories (as explained above):
      • Small: 16x16. This size is always used in menus. It is used in toolbars if the Large Icons check box is cleared in the Options tab.
      • Normal: 22x22. This size is used in toolbars if the Large Icons check box is selected in the Options tab.
    • The color applied in background is the color of the pixel in the top left corner.

    Note that if the customized icon you select is too big, it is replaced by a default image in the Command Properties frame:



    1. Create a directory ending either with ...\icons\normal or ...\icons\small (e.g. "e:\users\icons\normal").
    2. According to the size of your icons, put them in the appropriate directory.
    3. Access the Environment Editor (see Installation and Deployment Guide for more information) and valuate the CATGraphicPath variable with the beginning of the path to the directory you created but without mentioning "\normal" or "\small": in our example, you simply enter "e:\users\icons".
    4. Click OK to validate then re-access the Icons Browser: your customized icons are displayed and you can associate them to commands.

  11. Select an icon then click Close (if you used the Icons Browser).

    The icon is now displayed for the command in the Commands tab, and Show Properties... changes to Hide Properties... as shown below:



  12. Click .

  13. In the File Selection dialog box, browse your file tree to select your own icons.

    If you want the selected icon to be taken into account in V6, you need to access the Environment Editor and valuate the CATGraphicPath variable with the path to the directory containing the icon. Otherwise, you will still be able to select the icon in the File Selection dialog box but it will not be taken into account in your session.

  14. Click Open.

  15. Click Reset... to access the reset options. You can:

    • Restore the original settings of the present command
    • Restore the original settings of all commands in the present category.

  16. Optional: Click VR Button Customization then in the Button Customization dialog box, assign any command or macro to a device button.

  17. Click Close to exit the Customize dialog box.