In addition to being able to edit parts on the IPL, you can modify the image from this location. The types of modifications that are typical:
- Add an image
- Replace an image
- Hot spot reference numbers on the image
When you create an IPL, you will have the opportunity to add an image. If you elected not to add one at the time of creation, you can add one at any time. In the Edit IPL screen where the image field and parts list are shown, click on the Change Image icon in the image tool bar.
Add/Replace Image
Upload New
In the resulting window, you can upload a new image from your file system by clicking on the Choose File button . Browse the file system to locate the image to be used, select it and click on the Open button . The name will default to the file name and can be changed if needed. The memo field can be used to supply search terms to locate this image later on.
Select Existing
To use an image that has already been uploaded to the Data Manager RT server, choose the Select Existing tab. From the resulting screen, you can search for an image name or memo. Filters allow you to limit results several ways. Checking the box labeled Show Images Attached to IPLs will limit the results to images that match your search terms and have been used with IPLs. The check boxes referring to models and parts would have a similar effect.
It may also be useful to supply a model name (or partial model name) if the image being sought is used on a companion model. Typing a string in the model name field will limit results to images attached to models matching that string.
Once the desired image has been located, click on the Select button to attach that image to the IPL.
Drag and Drop
Images can also be dragged from your file system to the image area of Data Manager RT. The image will be examined to see if it matches an already existing image. If it does, you will be informed that the file is an exact match and the existing image will be used automatically. If it’s a new image, you will be prompted to name the image and provide memo information about it.
Image Tool Bar
When looking at an IPL, the toolbar above the image contains the following icons:
- Image Info – Used to get details about the image (file name, size, where used, etc.)
- Auto Zoom – Used to resize an image to fit horizontally in the space available
- Zoom In – Used to magnify the image for better visibility. While zoomed in, the mouse can be used to click and drag the image to move it to a desired location within the image display area
- Zoom Out – Used to reduce the magnification
- Actual Size – Used to show the image full size
- Change Image – Used to upload or select an existing image
- Paste – Used to insert an image that has been copied from elsewhere in the catalog
- Remove Image – Used to remove the image from the IPL (this will not delete the image from the database)
- Toggle Hot Spotting – Used to enable “hot spotting mode.” Clicking on the icon again exits hot spotting mode. When in hot spotting mode, there is a bar across the top of the work area that can also be used to exit hot spotting mode
- Show Hot Spots – In hot spotting mode:
- Auto Hot Spot Image – Used to “read” the image and match up reference number with parts list automatically
- Clear All Hot Spots – Used to remove all hot spots.
Hot Spotting
To create hot spots on the diagram, click on the Toggle Hot Spotting icon to switch to hot spotting mode. To create a hot spot, you will create a rectangle around the area you’d like to hot spot by clicking once in the area, dragging the rectangle to cover the area you wish to be hot spotted, then clicking again to set the area. The OCR tool will attempt to link the hot spot to items on the parts list. Adjust this if necessary. Once complete, the numeral in the first column of the parts list will indicate how many hot regions on the diagram have been linked to that part.
If you click on the diagram inadvertently and start a hot spot unintentionally, simply right click anywhere on the diagram or hit the escape key, and the hot spot will disappear.
To remove a hot spot, double click on the hot spot and click the Remove button in the resulting window.
Holding the mouse over a hot spot will highlight the corresponding row(s) in the parts list. Conversely, clicking on a row in the parts list will highlight the hot spot(s) associated with that row.
To exit hot spotting mode, click on the Save and Exit button or the Exit button on the blue bar at the top of the work area. You can also Save the hot spot and select another IPL to be hot spotted using the IPL name drop down above the image.
Using the Auto Hot Spotting Function
When in hot spotting mode, you can also link call outs in the diagram with parts on the parts list with Auto Hot Spotting. This presumes no hot spots are already present. To automatically create hot spots for an image, click on the auto hot spot icon in the image tool bar. The resulting screen will indicate regions of the diagram that the auto hot spotter thinks fall into two categories: correctly identified and questionable. Adjustments can be made by using the Accept and Reject icons. Hot spot areas can be modified by using the up and down arrows for the coordinate values or editing those by hand. The Reference number to which the link will be made can also be edited. Click on Submit to generate the links. Review the links by holding the mouse over hot spots on the image to see that they were linked to the proper rows on the parts list.
SVG Images
Many companies’ engineering departments use computer aided design (CAD) systems that can easily create Scalable Vector Graphics – SVG images. These files, in addition to the image of the parts, may contain part information and even links between the image and the parts. Data Manager RT has been developed to take advantage of this information.
Dragging and dropping an SVG file to an IPL can populate the image, parts list and hot spot links if the image contains part information and links. If the SVG file has been created without this information, the image portion of the file can still be brought in to serve as the image portion of the IPL.
In Catalog Settings, you can configure specific traits about SVG files to aid in interpreting parts lists on the SVG file.