An
interface to Alias layer objects.
Synopsis
#include <AlLayer.h>
class AlLayer : public AlObject
enum AlLayerPickType { kLayerPickable,
kLayerReference,
kLayerInactive
};
AlLayer();
virtual ~AlLayer();
virtual AlObject* copyWrapper() const;
virtual statusCode deleteObject();
virtual AlObjectType type() const;
statusCode create(const char * = NULL);
statusCode create(int&, const char * = NULL);
statusCode create(int);
boolean invisible() const;
statusCode setInvisible( boolean );
int number() const;
const char * name() const;
statusCode setName( const char * );
statusCode pickability( AlLayerPickType& ) const;
statusCode setPickability( AlLayerPickType );
boolean playback() const;
statusCode setPlayback( boolean );
boolean drawInstances() const;
statusCode setDrawInstances( boolean );
boolean visibleInLayerBar() const;
statusCode setVisibleInLayerBar( boolean );
int color() const;
statusCode setColor( int );
boolean isPicked() const;
statusCode pick();
statusCode unpick();
static boolean startNumber();
static statusCode setStartNumber( boolean );
// Symmetric layer support
statusCode setSymmetric( boolean );
boolean isSymmetric() const;
statusCode setSymmetricOrigin( double, double, double );
statusCode setSymmetricNormal( double, double, double );
statusCode symmetricOrigin( double&, double&, double& );
statusCode symmetricNormal( double&, double&, double& );
Description
Layers provide a way
of organizing models to improve the workflow. The layers have attributes
such as visibility and pickability that apply to all the DAG nodes
which refer to them. The AlDagNode has methods to get the AlLayer
it is in and set to a new AlLayer.
Each AlLayer has a unique
identifying number and a name. By default, the layer gets the unique
name based on its number; however, the user is free to change it
to any name. Layer names provided by the user do not have to be
unique.
The types of layers are:
- Default Layer: There is always a default
layer in the AlUniverse with a number 0. Its attributes can never
be changed. Any object of a class derived from the AlDagNode class
can be assigned to an AlLayer.
- Creation Layer: Any new AlDagNode is
automatically assigned to the creation layer. Any existing layer
can be made into the creation layer, including the default layer. When
a layer is made a creation layer, its attributes such as invisibility
temporarily become ineffective and it gets the same attributes as
the default layer. These attributes become effective again, as soon
as another layer is made a creation layer.
A DAG node (AlDagNode)
can be transferred from one layer to another but can exist on only
one layer at a time. When an AlDagNode is assigned to a non-default
layer:
- all of its children are assigned to the
non-default layer
- all the parents are assigned to the default
layer
- all instances of the AlDagNode are also
assigned to the same layer
- siblings of the AlDagNode remain unaffected.
All attributes in an
AlLayer can be obtained and set with the methods in this class.
By default, all the layers have a corresponding menu in the Alias interface and
are visible in the layer bar in the Alias interface. However,
if you want to work with a partial list of layers you can make them
visible using the visibleInLayerBar() method. The change in visibility
in the layer bar does not change the other attributes of the AlLayer.
All existing layers in
an AlUniverse can be accessed through methods in AlUniverse. The layer
functionality can be temporarily disabled through the static method
setLayersEnabled() in the AlUniverse class. When the layer functionality
is disabled or turned off, all the layer attributes temporarily
become similar to the default layer. However, the layer references
of the AlDagNode are not changed.
Symmetric layers are
also supported in the API. Methods available allow the developer to
turn symmetric layers on, find out if a layer is symmetric, set/query
the origin and normal parameters of the symmetric plane and create
the symmetric geometry. Symmetric layers are specified by a normal
and a point(origin).
Note: creation of symmetric
geometry is done by the AlDagNode class. The complete layer interface
is available in Open Model as well.
AlLayer::AlLayer(void)
Description
Constructs an AlLayer wrapper object.
AlLayer::~AlLayer()
Description
Deletes an AlLayer wrapper
object.
statusCode AlLayer::deleteObject()
Description
This
method deletes the layer.
Return Codes
sSuccess - the object
was deleted
sInvalidObject - the
locator was not valid
AlObject* AlLayer::copyWrapper()
const
Description
Returns
an exact copy of the AlLayer wrapper.
AlObjectType AlLayer::type()
const
Description
Returns
the class identifier kLayerType.
statusCode AlLayer::create(
const char* name)
Description
Creates
a new layer
Arguments
> number - the number
of the new layer
< name - the name
of the new layer
Return Codes
sSuccess - the layer
was created
sFailure - the layer
was not created because either the maximum number of layers were already
created or the layer functionality is turned off
sAlreadyCreated - the
object has already been created
statusCode AlLayer::create(
int& number, const char* name)
Description
Creates
a new layer.
Arguments
> number - the number
of the new layer
< name - the name
of the new layer
Return Codes
sSuccess - the layer
was created
sFailure - the layer
was not created because either the maximum number of layers were already
created or the layer functionality is turned off
sAlreadyCreated - the
object has already been created
statusCode AlLayer::create(
int number)
Description
Create a new layer with
the given number
Arguments
> number - the number
of the new layer
Return Codes
sSuccess - the layer
was created
sFailure - the layer
was not created because either the maximum number of layers had already
created or the
layer functionality is
turned off.
sAlreadyCreated - object
has already been created
boolean AlLayer::invisible()
const
Description
Checks
if the layer is invisible. Note that if an invisible layer is made
the creation layer, it temporarily becomes visible while it is the
creation layer.
Return Values
true - the layer is
invisible
false - the layer is
visible or the object is invalid or layer functionality is turned
off
statusCode AlLayer::setInvisible(boolean
invisible)
Description
Changes
the visibility of the layer. If a creation layer is made invisible,
the default layer becomes the creation layer.
Arguments
< invisible - a value
of true makes the layer invisible and false makes it visible
Return Codes
sSuccess - the layer
visibility attribute was set
sFailure - the attribute
was not set (perhaps the layer functionality was turned off)
sInvalidObject - the
object is not valid
statusCode AlLayer::pickability
(AlLayerPickType& pickType) const
Description
Checks
the pickability of the layer.
Arguments
> pickType - shows
whether the layer is inactive, reference or pickable
Return Codes
sSuccess - the layer
pickability attribute was found
sInvalidObject - the
object is not valid.
statusCode AlLayer::setPickability
(AlLayerPickType pickType)
Description
Changes
the pickability of the layer. If a creation layer is made referenced
or inactive, the default layer becomes the creation layer.
Arguments
< pickability - kLayerInactive
makes the layer unpickable and unsnappable, kLayerReference makes
the layer unpickable but snappable, and kLayerPickable makes the
layer both pickable and snappable.
Return Codes
sSuccess - the layer
pickability attribute was set
sFailure - the layers
have been turned off
sInvalidObject - the
object is not valid
int AlLayer::number() const
Description
Gets the number of the layer. This
number is fixed and unique. It cannot be set to another value.
A value of 0 is returned
if this is the default layer. -1 is returned if the object is not
valid.
const char * AlLayer::name()
const
Description
Returns
the name of the object.
statusCode AlLayer::setName
(const char *newName)
Description
Sets
the name of a layer. By default the name of the layer is determined
by its number. For example, a layer with a number 3 is named layer#3
by default
Arguments
< newName - the new
name of the layer
Return Codes
sSuccess - the name
was set
sFailure - the layer
is a default layer or the name length exceeded 255 characters, or
the layers functionality is disabled.
sInvalidArgument - newName
was NULL
sInvalidObject - the
object is not valid
boolean AlLayer::drawInstances()
const
Description
Returns
true if the instances are drawn in the modeling windows and false
otherwise. False is also returned if the layer is invalid.
statusCode AlLayer::setDrawInstances
(boolean draw)
Description
Sets
the drawability of instance nodes in the Alias modeling windows.
Arguments
< draw - a value of
true enables the drawing of instances and a value of false disables
it
Return Codes
sSuccess - the drawing
of instances was set
sFailure - the layer
is a default layer or the layer functionality is disabled
sInvalidObject - the
object is not valid
boolean AlLayer::playback()
const
Description
Returns
true if the layer can be played back and false otherwise. False
is also returned if the layer is invalid.
statusCode AlLayer::setPlayback
(boolean enablePlayback)
Description
Sets
whether or not a layer can play back.
Arguments
< enablePlayback -
a value of true enables the layer to play back; false prevents it
from playing back
Return Codes
sSuccess - the playback
setting was enabled
sFailure - the layer
is a default layer or the layer functionality is disabled
sInvalidObject - the
object is not valid
int AlLayer::color() const
Description
Returns the color index for inactive
modeling in the Alias interface. Color indexes are defined
in AlUserColors.h.
Return Values
kUserInactiveModelColor
- the layer does not have a color and it uses the default Alias colors
kUserInactiveLayerUser1,
kUserInactiveLayerUser2, ..., kUserInactiveLayerUser15 - the color
index of the Alias inactive modeling colors
-1 - the object is invalid
statusCode AlLayer::setColor
(int colorField)
Description
Sets
the layer color by colorField, as defined in AlUserColors.h. The
valid color indices vary from kUserInactiveLayerUser1Color to kUserInactiveLayerUser15Color,
providing 15 valid colors which can be set for the layers. The definition
of these colors can be changed with AlUniverse::setUserPrefColor().
Arguments
< colorField - kUserInactiveLayerUser1Color
to kUserInactiveLayerUser15Color - the layer uses colors 1 through
15, depending on which value you specify, or kUserInactiveModelColor
- the layer uses the default Alias model color
Return Codes
sSuccess - the color
was set
sFailure - the layer
functionality is disabled
sInvalidArgument - the
color index was out of range
sInvalidObject - the
object is not valid
boolean AlLayer::isPicked()
const
Description
Returns
true if the layer is picked. FALSE is returned if the layer is not
picked or if the object is invalid.
statusCode AlLayer::unpick()
Description
Unpicks
the layer.
Return code
sSuccess - the unpick
was successfully
sFailure - the unpick
operation failed because layers have been disabled
sInvalidObject - the
object is not valid
statusCode AlLayer::pick()
Description
Picks
the layer.
Return code
sSuccess - the pick was
successful
sFailure - the pick
operation failed because layers have been disabled
sInvalidObject - the
object is not valid
boolean AlLayer::visibleInLayerBar()
const
Description
Determines
whether or not the layer is visible in the layer bar in the Alias window
statusCode AlLayer::setVisibleInLayerBar
(boolean visibility)
Description
Sets
whether or not the layer menu should appear in the layer bar.
Arguments
< visibility - a value
of true makes the layer bar visible and false makes it invisible
Return Codes
sSuccess - the visibility
in the layer bar was set
sFailure - the layers
functionality is turned off
int AlLayer::startNumber()
Description
Provides
the number of the layer which will be added with the create() method.
statusCode AlLayer::setStartNumber(int
newStart)
Description
Sets
the number which a new layer created with create() method will get.
Further create() invocations will increment the number by one for
each new layer. Once the layer is created its number cannot be changed.
Also if the layer by that number already exists, the number is incremented
until a layer by that number does not exist.
Arguments
< newStart - the new
layer will get the layer of this number. newStart can range from
1 to 65,023.
Return Codes
sSuccess - the layer
start number was set
sFailure - the layer
could not be set
sInvalidArgument - the
number was outside the range of 1 to 65,023
statusCode AlLayer::setSymmetric(boolean
symm)
Description
Sets this layer to be
symmetric or turns layer symmetry off.
Arguments
< symm - true if symmetry
is required, false to turn symmetry off
Return code
sSuccess - the method
was successful
sFailure - the method
failed
sInvalidObject - the
layer is invalid
boolean AlLayer::isSymmetric()
const
Description
Returns TRUE if this
layer is symmetric. FALSE will be returned if the layer is not symmetric
of if the method failed.
statusCode AlLayer::setSymmetricOrigin(double
x, double y, double z)
Description
This methods sets the
location of the origin of the symmetric layer.
Arguments:
< x,y,z -coordinates
of the symmetric layer’s origin
Return code
sSuccess - the method
succeeded
sFailure - the method
failed
sInvalidObject - the
layer is invalid or is not symmetric
statusCode AlLayer::setSymmetricNormal(double
x, double y, double z)
Description
This method sets the
normal of the symmetric plane.
Arguments:
< x,y,z - the normal
of the symmetric plane.
Return code
sSuccess - the method
succeeded
sFailure - the method
failed
sInvalidObject - the
layer is invalid or is not symmetric
statusCode AlLayer::symmetricOrigin(double&
x, double& y, double& z)
Description
Returns the symmetric
origin of the layer.
Arguments
> x,y,z - components
of the symmetric origin
Return code
sSuccess - the method
succeeded
sFailure - the method
failed
sInvalidObject - the
layer is invalid or is not symmetric
statusCode AlLayer::symmetricNormal(double&
x, double& y, double& z)
Description
Returns the symmetric
normal of the layer.
Arguments
> x,y,z - the components
of the normal
Return code
sSuccess - the method
succeeded
sFailure - the method
failed
sInvalidObject - the
layer is invalid or is not symmetric
