This form allows all Master Tool Settings to be configured. The form can be opened from Options > Master Tool Settings.
The Settings are arranged as follows:
> 3D
> Cut Palettes
> Database Settings
> Diemaking
> Environment
> General Tools
> Layouts
> Make Ready
> Plotter Machines
> Rubber
> Rule Preparation
> Standards
> Stripper
> Symbol Pattern
Master Tool Settings
This form comprises:
- Folders
- Settings Names
- Details, Customers or Sites
- Toolbar
Some settings may be made customer specific (see Customer Settings) and some may be made user-specific (see Private User Settings). See also Importing and Exporting settings.
Folders
The categories of Master Tool Settings (as listed above) are shown as folders. Any folder which contains sub-categories is shown with a [
]. You can either double click the folder or single click on the [
] to view the sub-folders.
Clicking on a folder that contains settings will show them in the Settings Names area.
You can create your own custom folders; this can be useful if you have a lot of settings of the same type which you wish to organise. Custom folders are shown with blue text.
Right clicking displays a context menu:
- Expand / Collapse - open or close a folder
- New Folder - create a custom folder
- Rename - modify the name of a custom folder
- Translate - translate the name of a custom folder
- Delete - delete all settings within the folder, also deletes the folder if it is a custom one
- Export - export settings from this folder
- Verify - verify all settings in the folder to ensure that none of them reference missing items
- Show dependants - for each setting in the folder list all Master Tool Settings that are referenced in that setting
- Show items with no dependants - list all the settings in the folder that don't reference any other Master Tool Settings
- History - display the history of all settings in the folder
Note that you cannot rename nor delete the standard (non-custom) folders.
Custom folders will be automatically removed if you do not have settings stored within them.
Settings Names
This area shows the settings name, who it is locked by (if another user is currently modifying these settings) and the username and date for the last modification.
Clicking on a settings name shows a summary in the Details area if it is visible.
You can use the Shift or Control keys to select more than one setting. Some operations (like viewing the Details and Change) will not be available if you have more than one settings name selected.
Double-clicking on a settings name opens the settings for modification.
Right clicking displays a context menu:
- Add - create new settings based on the selected settings
- Change - modify the selected settings
- Delete - delete one or more selected settings
- Private User Settings - toggle whether or not this is a private setting
- Print - prints one or more selected settings
- Print To File - dumps one or more selected settings to a text file
- Import - import other settings
- Export - export the selected settings
- Cut - used in conjunction with Paste to move settings into another folder
- Copy - used in conjunction with Paste to copy settings into another folder. This option will also copy the settings name (including the full path) to the Windows clipboard
- Paste - used in conjunction with cut/copy to move or duplicate settings to another folder
- Select (All, None, Toggle, Regular Expression) - used to alter which settings are selected; regular expressions can be useful for selecting multiple settings with similar names
- Verify - verify that none of the selected settings reference missing items
- Show dependants - for each selected setting list all Master Tool Settings that are referenced in that setting
- Show items with no dependants - list all of the selected settings that don't reference any other Master Tool Settings
- History - display the history of each of the selected settings
- Refresh - updates the list; useful when other users may also be adding/changing/deleting settings
Details
Displays a quick summary of the selected settings. You can show/hide this pane using the Details button on the toolbar.
Sites
For multi-site databases, displays all available sites. You can show/hide this pane using the Sites button on the toolbar.
Toolbar
The toolbar buttons are:
- Close - quits this form
- New Folder, Rename Folder , Delete Folder - see the description of the context menu in the Folders area
- Refresh, Add Settings, Change Settings, Delete Settings, Print, Select, Cut, Copy, Paste - see the description of the context menu in the Settings Names area
- Verify (All settings, Settings in selected folder, Selected settings only) - verify that none of the settings reference missing items
- History (All settings, Settings in selected folder, Selected settings only) - display the history of the settings
- Site Filter (Any Site, Unassigned, Your site, Other Sites...) - only display the appropriate settings for the chosen site(s)
- Import, Export - see Importing And Exporting, below
- Details - hides/shows the Details Pane
- Metric/Imperial - see Metric/Imperial settings, below
- Reset - see Metric/Imperial settings, below
- Customers - hides/shows the Customers Pane (see Customer Settings, below)
- Sites - hides/shows the Sites Pane
Importing And Exporting
Master Tool Settings can be exported to, and imported from, IPS files. Each file can contain one or more settings, but always of the same type (so, for example, you cannot export database settings and die-making settings in the same IPS file).
These settings IPS files are used for transferring settings to another database or simply backing up your settings.
To Export: select the settings of interest and click Export on the toolbar. In the Export Settings form, simply move the names you want to export to the right-hand list and press Ok. Finally choose the location for the IPS file.
To Import: click Import on the toolbar (it doesn't matter which settings folder you are currently in, as the contents of the file determines where the settings are to be initially stored). Locate the IPS file. In the Import Settings form, simply move the names you want to import to the right-hand list and press Ok. If settings of this name already exist, then the names are suffixed with a number (for example "MySettings_1").
TIP: Import and Export capability is also available on the right-click context menu, when selecting any master tool setting.
Smart Importing and Exporting
Some Master Tool Settings reference other items, such as symbols or other settings. From the right-click context menu you can either choose Standard or Smart when exporting settings. Standard simply does the normal export, whereas Smart will create a ZIP file containing the settings together with all other referenced items. This ZIP file can then be imported, and all the items in that file will be imported automatically.
Customer Settings
For certain categories of settings, you can assign one or more settings to a customer, as "preferred" settings. To do this, you must first enable the option in the Master Tool Settings section of Impact Options - Environment, under Environment, General Tools. Once this is done, a Customers button appears when you are in an appropriate category (for example Dieboard settings) - pressing this causes the Customers Pane to be displayed (instead of the Details Pane).
The Customers Pane shows a list of all customers - drag any settings names onto the customer name to make the assignment (drag the settings back into the Settings Name Pane to de-assign them). If the setting in the Customer Pane is not wanted, you can right-click the settings name to remove it, or right-click the customer name to assign All, Selected or None of the settings.
When you are running the tool you can choose to see the customer-specific Master Tool Settings listed, or the global settings. (For the Dieboard tool this option is displayed in the Dieboard Creation form, but for many of the tools where the settings appear on the Design Bar, there is a button beside the list of settings names.)
Choosing Customer Specific Settings on the Dieboard Creation Form
Choosing Customer Specific Settings on the Design Bar
Private User Settings
For certain categories of settings, users may store Private User Settings, which other users may not use. For these categories (for example Appearance Settings) whenever you save a setting you are asked whether you want to make it your own private setting. Answer No if you want the setting to be generally available. Private settings are shown in the Settings Names list with a different icon.
Dual Units
In general, Master Tool Settings values that describe distances can be stored internally in both Metric and Imperial units separately. For example, a bridge width might be entered as 5mm in Metric but 13/64" in Imperial. The appropriate value will then be automatically used depending on which units are currently selected for Impact.
Metric/Imperial Settings
Press the Metric/Imperial button to toggle the display of units in the Master Tool Settings. This does not affect the units in which Impact is operating.
Press the Reset button to recalculate all the settings that describe distances. If you are currently displaying Metric units, then all of the Metric settings will be recalculated to be exactly equal to the corresponding Imperial value of that setting. Conversely, if you are currently displaying Imperial units, then these will be recalculated to be equal to the corresponding Metric values.
Sites
This option is only available if the current database supports multiple sites (see Options - Database Installation - Sites) and the user has the appropriate privileges (see Database Settings - User Privileges).
All available sites will be displayed in the Sites Pane.
Related topics: Options - Master Tool Settings, Master Tool Settings, Dual Units