Tech Tuesday is a weekly blog that addresses some of the most common questions and concerns that I hear throughout the previous week from users of BobCAD’s CNC software. Both customers and future customers are more than welcome to leave a comment on what they would like to see covered for the following Tech Tuesday. If you missed last week’s Tech Tuesday, click here.
Who likes to have things their way? I know I do. One of the best things about BobCAD-CAM is the amount of customization that can be done by the user to make it feel more personal. The defining feature of a docking pane is that it has the flexibility to be docked, i.e., snapped, or placed, in various predefined positions by you! Today I will be introducing you to the different components of the docking pane and how to use docking. Besides the wizards and dialog boxes, every pane in the software can be docked. These include the following:
The Data Entry Manager
The CAD Tree Manager
The CAM Tree Manager
The BobART Manager
The BobCAD Live Manager
The UCS Manager
The Posting Manager
The Layers Manager
The Components of a Docking Pane
The most obvious features of a docking pane are the header and the content as seen below.
The panes also have a few other features at the top right corner, as seen in the images below. These include the pin/unpin button and the close button.
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Lastly, when the pane is docked into the same position as another plane, they will each be tabbed, as you can see in the image below.
How to Use Docking
To move an individual pane from its current position, you can left-click and drag its tab. Once you begin to move your mouse, the docking arrows should appear to show you where the pane can be docked. If you release the left-click button prior to highlighting one of these arrows, you will leave the pane floating right where it is, which can be seen in the image below.
Besides leaving the pane to float, you can, of course, dock the panes as well. When docking a pane, you can dock into the main application or with another pane. When docking with the main application, you can choose between left, right, top, or bottom. When docking with another pane, a middle dock option will appear. Using the middle dock option on a pane will place the pane in the same position as the pan being docked with, and the panes will then be tabbed so you can choose between them.
Note: Panes can also be moved by clicking and dragging the header, but when two or more panes are together, you will be relocating all panes when moving from the header.
There you have it. Now that you have a better understanding of how to manipulate your docking panes, you can customize software that is more personal and accessible. If you are curious about adding or removing certain panes, I suggest you
read this short Tech Tuesday. Thank you very much for reading; see you next week!
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BobCAD-CAM has provided CAD-CAM CNC Software products to the global manufacturing industry for over 30 years. BobCAD-CAM software can be found to increase CNC productivity for many applications in aerospace, automotive, production manufacturing, mold making, general machining, woodworking as well as the medical manufacturing industry, consumer products, musical instruments, custom fabrication, defense industry and many others due to the products ability to automatically generate NC programming code for such a wide variety of CNC controllers. BobCAD-CAM software is also found in educational institutions throughout the world as well as independent hobby home use. Products include machining technology for 2, 3, 4 & 5 Axis CNC Milling, Routing, Waterjet, Plasma and Laser machines as well as 2 Axis CNC Lathe. BobCAD-CAM is modular allowing shops to start off at a reduced technology level and add technology as it is needed including an add-on, BobART, for artistic machining. Unique technology includes adaptive high-speed machining multiaxis milling and routing which is a first in the world of CAD-CAM software. BobCAD-CAM also provides a variety of quality training products that include regional and online training classes or private sessions tailored to specific applications. Professional certification and multi-tiered support solutions are available. Contact BobCAD-CAM directly for more information at 877-262-2231 or 727-442-3554.