Enhanced Form Controls

by Chris Smith

Introduction

Using Inventor iLogic in our designs is a great way to add enhanced functionality to our models and assemblies. With the addition of rules, we can take a single design and create multiple configurations, saving time and effort. To add to the ease of use for other members of our team, we also have the option to create forms; a simple user interface that we can create using the tools available in the iLogic form builder.

Even with the use of iLogic forms it may not be obvious to other users in our team what the iLogic form options are changing in the model, and may rely on the users needing product knowledge to use the form we build effectively.

One option available to the form builder is to add images to the form. This can give a clear representation of what we are configuring with our form, and we can even change the image based on parameter selection.

Adding an image

Adding images to our forms is as simple as dragging the picture tool into our form.

With the node added to the form we point the software to the image we would like to use by editing the node properties.

Give the image node a label in the label field.

Select the image you want to use in the Image field.

Set minimum and maximum size limits.

Choose to show the image label in the form and where the label is displayed in relation to the image.

To take the image functionality to the next level, we can also control what image will be displayed in the form by linking the image to a text parameter using the Behaviour settings. Before we can use this however, we need to set up the different image we want to use. This can be done by adding a Picture Folder from the toolbox and placing our different images inside the folder using the Picture node in the toolbox.

For this example, I have chosen to change the image based on the “Style” parameter, which changes the table leg style and the table top edges/corners. I have also changed the image labels to match the text values in the parameter.

The last change we need to make is to select the Style parameter from the list of available parameters in the original image we placed, which in this case is Table_Style.

Now, when we change the selection under Style in the form, our form image changes to show the different options.

This is a great way of showing the user what will be changed in the model when they apply different values.