Shelves

Shelves are floating windows that contain tabs. Each can display a toolbar, list the contents of a file directory, or hold other items.

A	Select a tab.
B	Click for options.
C	Tab contents appear here.

Creating and Editing Shelves

To create a custom shelf

Choose View New Custom Shelf from the main menu.

A new empty shelf is displayed.

To name a custom shelf

Click the Options icon (to the left of the tabs) and choose Rename, then enter a new name and click OK.

The name of the shelf appears on the View Toolbars menu as well as in the shelf's title bar. Spaces are allowed.

To save a custom shelf

Click the Options icon and choose Save or Save As.

You are automatically prompted to save a shelf when you close it if there are unsaved changes.

Defining Tabs

To add a tab

Click the Options icon and choose an item from the Add Tab menu.
- Folder tabs display files in a specific directory. You can drag files from a folder tab onto objects and views in Softimage. See Working with Folder Tabs.
- Toolbar tabs hold buttons for commands and presets. You can drag items to a toolbar tab of a shelf as described in Custom Toolbars.
- Driven tabs can be filled with scene elements such as clips by using the object model of the SDK. See Working with Driven Tabs.

To name a tab

Right-click on a tab label, then choose Rename and enter a new name.

To delete a tab

Right-click on a tab label and choose Delete.

To reorder tabs

Drag and drop a tab on a new position.

To change the tab position

Click the Options icon and choose an item from the Tab Position menu.

Working with Folder Tabs

Folder tabs display the files in a directory, for example, saved presets. You set the directory and other properties when you create the tab, but you can change them at any time.

In addition, you can control the display of folder tabs as described in Display Options for Folder and Driven Tabs.

To set the directory and other properties

Right-click on a tab label and choose Properties. The Folder Tab Preferences dialog box opens.
Set the Directory and other options as desired.

Working with Driven Tabs

You control the content of a driven tab by using the object model of the SDK.

If the shelf is in a relational view, you can define a relationship and use a filter or function to specify a collection of elements to display. For more information about defining relationships in views, see Defining Relationships.

If the shelf is standalone (that is, not in a relational view), you must get a pointer to the shelf and set its targetcontent attribute in a script or compiled plug-in.

For example, the following VBScript code creates an instance of a Thumbnail Shelf and fills it with the image clips found in the scene. (The Thumbnail Shelf is a private shelf that can be found in the Application\toolbars subdirectory of the factory location, but is not listed on the View Toolbars menu.)

Dim nodeList, clipList
set nodeList = SIFilter( "Clips.*",,,3)
set clipList = CreateObject( "XSI.Collection" )
for each itm in nodeList
	if typename( itm ) = "ImageClip" then
		clipList.Add itm
	end if
next
set vw = desktop.activelayout.createview("Thumbnail Shelf", "tt" )
logmessage clipList.GetAsText
vw.setattributevalue "targetcontent", clipList.GetAsText

See the SDK Guide for more information about the objects and methods shown here.

Display Options for Folder and Driven Tabs

To change the display of items

Right-click on a tab label and choose one of the following options:
- Thumbnail Only
- Thumbnail + Text (driven tabs only)
- Text Only (folder tabs only)

To set the thumbnail size (driven tabs only)

Right-click on a tab label and choose an option from the Thumbnail Size menu.

To set the scrolling direction of a single tab

Right-click on a tab label and choose Horizontal Scrolling or Vertical Scrolling.

To set the scrolling direction of all driven and folder tabs

Click the Options icon and choose Set all Horizontal or Set all Vertical.

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