## Working with Inspection Plans

The pane on the left side of the screen is called the Plan window. It houses your inspection plans and all commands contained within each inspection plan. Initially the Plan window will be blank when creating a new .cad file until you choose to create a new inspection plan or import an existing plan.

- Each inspection plan you create can be expanded or collapsed by clicking the + or - keys respectively.

- You can select multiple commands inside of inspection plans in contiguous order by holding down the SHIFT key and clicking on two different command IDs. All IDs between them will be selected. You can also select multiple non-contiguous commands by holding down the CTRL key and clicking each command you want selected. Planner highlights associated features in the Graphics Display window.

- Selecting a plan command in the list highlights features in the Graphics Display window that are associated with that command.

- Feature IDs copied from one plan and pasted into another share the same underlying feature information. Therefore, any change made to the feature ID in one plan is automatically made to all other copied feature IDs, regardless of the plan in which they're located.

- Until inspection plans are "released" for use, they will not be available for import into PC-DMIS, even though they remain embedded inside the .cad file. In this case, the Plan window displays "in process" next to the plan title. To make them ready for use with PC-DMIS, right-click on the inspection plan's name in the Plan window and select Release Plan from the shortcut menu. Next to the Plan name it displays "released". See also "Saving and Releasing Inspection Plans" below.

- You can only open a single .cad file at a time in Planner. As long as one is open, the New and Open menu and toolbar items are inactive. To switch to a new .cad file, first use the File | Close menu item to close the current file. The New and Open items will then be enabled for selection.

Creating a New Inspection Plan

To create a new Inspection Plan, follow this procedure:

1. Open the Plan dialog box by doing one of the following:

- Click New Plan from the Plans toolbar.

- Right-click any existing plan in the Plan list and select the Insert New Plan option from the shortcut menu.

Plan dialog box

2. Type a name for the Inspection Plan in the Plan name box.

3. Click OK to create the Inspection Plan. This adds the specified plan to the list of available plans.

Plan List

By default, when you create a new PC-DMIS CAD file, an Inspection Plan named Plan 1 is created. You can rename any of the Inspection Plan files by selecting it from the list, right-clicking the plan name, and then selecting the Rename option from the shortcut menu. Type the needed name and press Enter.

New Inspection Plans are embedded in the PC-DMIS Planner CAD file.

Saving and Releasing Inspection Plans

When you're done working on your inspection plan, and you want to either save it to your .cad file or you want to release a plan within the .cad file, follow this procedure:

1. Select File | Save, or access the Main toolbar (right-clicking on the toolbar area and select Main) and click the Save button.

2. The Release Plans dialog box appears.

Release Plans dialog box

This dialog box provides you with a list of plans that have not been released and command buttons to easily release or save inspection plans embedded within the cad file.

This buttons are available:

- Release All - This removes all the inspection plans from the list, essentially marking them for release. Once you click the Save button, Planner actually releases the plans with the saved .cad file.

- Release - This removes the selected inspection plans from the list, essentially marking them for release. Once you click the Save button, Planner actually releases the plans with the saved .cad file.

- Save - This saves the .cad file and any changes made to embedded inspection plans. Any inspection plans that you selected to release will be released when you click this button as well.

If this is the first time you've saved your changes, or if you used the Save As menu item, Planner will display a Save As dialog box.

Save As dialog box

The Save As dialog box provides you with the ability to save the .cad file as a different name, in a different location, or in a format that works with supported PC-DMIS versions. Supported versions are listed in the Save as type list. These include:

1. 1. - PCDMIS CAD File (works with the most recent version of PC-DMIS)

      - PCDMIS 2010 CAD File (works with the base release of PC-DMIS 2010)

      - PCDMIS 2009 CAD File (works with the base release of PC-DMIS 2009)

      - PCDMIS 4.3 CAD File (works with any PC-DMIS 4.3 version)

Click Save to complete the Save As operation.

- Cancel - Closed this dialog box.

Importing an Existing Inspection Plan

Select File | Import | Inspection Plan to import an existing .ip file into your current .cad file.

Adding Commands to an Inspection Plan

To add a command to the inspection plan, select where you want the new command to appear in the desired inspection plan, and then insert it into the command by using the Insert menu, by clicking on the GD&T symbols in the Graphics Display window, or by using available toolbars.

See the following topics to add those specific commands:

- Creating Auto Features

- Constructing Features

- Adding Dimensions to Features

- Creating Alignments

- Inserting Comments

Editing an Inspection Plan

To edit an existing inspection plan, right-click on the inspection plan command and select Edit. See "Shortcut Menus in the Plan List".

To edit a specific command, you can either double-click on it in the Plan list or select it and press F9.

Adding all GD&T components to an Inspection Plan

To select all GD&T components and integrate them into an Inspection Plan that can be used to quickly create and perform a 100% inspection, the Select All GD&T feature is used.

Accessing this feature is done in one of the following ways:

- Select Insert | Dimension (Plan) | Select All GD&T from the main menu to display the GD&T Selection dialog shown below.

1. - Click on the Add All button to insert all items into the Inspection Plan.

   - Click on individual items to highlight them, then click the Add button to insert only those highlighted items into the Inspection Plan.

   - Click the Cancel button to return to Planner without changing the Inspection Plan.

- Select the Select All GD&T button from the Dimensions (Plan) toolbar to display the GD&T Selection dialog screen described above.

- Press the <CTRL>-A hot key combination from the PC keyboard to display the GD&T Selection dialog screen described above.

If selected GD&T elements have no geometry features created, they will show up in red. These incomplete GD&T elements cannot be added to the document as is. If you attempt to add any command to the document tagged in this way, a warning message will display stating that the item will not be added.

In addition, GD&T elements that already exist in the document show up as grey in this dialog with an asterisk to the left of each item. If you either click "Add" from that GD&T Selection dialog or do a single GD&T selection in the CAD window, you'll get a warning message saying that it could not create the feature, and then it will open up the appropriate GD&T dialog (FCF dialog, Datum dialog, etc.). At this point, the user can choose an appropriate feature to use, or cancel out of the dialog.

GD&T Callout Multiplier

Some GD&T callouts will have a multiplier signifier which is preceded with a string such as "4 x" or "2 x". This means that it applies to multiple features.

Example of a GD&T Callout with a multiplier signifier

Even though the leader line points to one cylinder, the FCF in the above screen shot applies to all four of the pattern holes (CYL2, CYL3, CYL4 and CYL5).

If the CAD GD&T callout is properly connected to all four holes, the proper four cylinders will be created when this FCF callout is selected.

Often, the GD&T Callouts lack the proper connections to all of the features it is supposed to apply to, and ends up only being connected to the feature that the leader line points to.

If the callout has a multiplier signifier and the GD&T selection is unable to create the proper number of features based on that multiplier signifier, it will bring up the GD&T Multiple Feature Selection dialog.

GD&T Multiple Feature Selection dialog box

Note: The GD&T Multiple Feature Selection dialog only works with cylinders.

The GD&T Multiple Feature Selection dialog displays a list of all of the cylinders in the CAD model that match the diameter of the cylinder that was found. This list is ordered so that the cylinders most likely to be the proper ones are at the top.

When you select a cylinder in the dialog, it will be highlighted in the CAD window. When you have selected the desired cylinders, click the OK button. The dialog to create the appropriate GD&T for the selected tolerance will then be displayed normally.

N ote: The GD&T Multiple Feature Selection dialog will not be displayed if you click the Add All button from the GD&T Selection dialog. The GD&T Multiple Feature Selection dialog is only displayed before the dialog is displayed to create the appropriate GD&T from the selected tolerance.

Updating an Inspection Plan using Change Manager Cad

Note: While the documentation below was written specifically for Inspection Plans, it also applies to updating part program files created from Datalog files as well.

Change Manager Cad

The Change Management capabilities of PC-DMIS allows you to ensure that your part program, created from a previously imported version of your CAD model, is updated with the latest version based on your CAD model.

Double-clicking a feature name from any list will expand the display of parameters for that feature. This allows you to compare values before updating your part program.

To update your part program from a CAD model:

1. Select the File | Change Manager | Cad menu option.

2. The Change Manager Cad dialog box appears.

3. Use the following controls are available to process the differences in the part program and the imported CAD model.

Update Candidates section:

3. - Update: The selected feature is updated into the Existing Plan from the CAD Model when you click this option. Selecting a feature from one list will highlight the corresponding feature from the other list. You can select more than one feature at a time to Update.

   - Ignore: The selected feature is ignored for update into the Existing Plan from the CAD Model when you click this option. Selecting a feature from one list will highlight the corresponding feature from the other list. You can select more than one feature at a time to Ignore.

   - Undo: Available only after Update or Ignore has been processed. Clicking this button will Undo the last change made.

Deletion Candidates section:

3. - Edit: The selected feature from the Deletion Candidates list is can be edited when you click this option. You can select more than one feature at a time to Edit.

   - Delete: The selected feature from the Deletion Candidates list is deleted from the existing plan when you click this option. You can select more than one feature at a time to Delete.

   - Ignore: The selected feature from the Deletion Candidates list is ignored (removed from the list), and will not be deleted from the existing plan when you click this option. You can select more than one feature at a time to Ignore. Any part program feature removed from the list will remain as is in the part program.

   - Undo: Available only after Add, Delete or Map has been processed. Clicking this button will Undo the last change made.

Miscellaneous sections:

1. - Display Only Changed Parameters check box: When you select this option, only the parameters that have changed will be displayed for expanded features in the lists of the Update Candidate area.

   - Tolerance Zone: Type tolerance values by which features will be evaluated. Features that are within tolerance, will be listed in the CAD Model and Existing Plan (Program) lists. The following feature dimensions are evaluated:

   - Tolerance zone location: Provides the tolerance for location evaluation.

   - Tolerance zone size: Provides the tolerance for size evaluation.

   - Tolerance zone angle degrees: Provides the tolerance for angle evaluation.

   - Recalculate: Click on this button to recalculate the Inspection Plan with the changes.

   - OK: Accepts all the current changes, writing the changes into the current part program. The dialog box is also closed.

   - Cancel: Exits the dialog box, disregarding all the changes made.

Updating an Inspection Plan using Change Manager Plan

Note: While the documentation below was written specifically for Inspection Plans, it also applies to updating part program files created from Datalog files as well.

Change Manager Plan

The Change Management capabilities of PC-DMIS allows you to ensure that your part program, created from a previously imported version of your Inspection Plan, is updated with the latest version of your Inspection Plan.

Double-clicking a feature name from any list will expand the display of parameters for that feature. This allows you to compare values before updating your part program.

To update your part program:

1. Select the File | Change Manager | Plan menu item.

2. The Change Management Plan Open dialog box appears. Navigate to the Inspection Plan to update to from the dialog box, left-click on it to highlight it then click the Open button to open it.

3. The Change Manager Plan dialog box is displayed.

The following controls are available to process the differences in the part program and the imported plan.

Update Candidates section:

3. - Options: Displays the Change Management Options dialog box.

3. - - Display Only Changed Parameters check box: When you select this option, only the parameters that have changed will be displayed for expanded features in the lists of the Update Candidate area.

     - Keep existing plan name check box: When this option is selected, feature names in the existing plan will be retained. Otherwise the feature name would be replaced with the feature name from the imported plan.

     - Tolerance Zone: Type tolerance values by which features will be evaluated. Features that are within tolerance, will be listed in the New Plan and Existing Plan (Program) lists. The following feature dimensions are evaluated:

     - - Tolerance zone location: Provides the tolerance for location evaluation.

       - Tolerance zone size: Provides the tolerance for size evaluation.

       - Tolerance zone angle degrees: Provides the tolerance for angle evaluation.

     - Number of Decimal Places: When comparing features with the same name, PC-DMIS evaluates the tolerance within 3 decimal places for millimeter and 4 decimal places for inches.

   - Update: The selected feature is updated into the Existing Plan from the New Plan when you click this option. Selecting a feature from one list will highlight the corresponding feature from the other list. You can select more than one feature at a time to Update.

   - Ignore: The selected feature is ignored for update into the Existing Plan from the New Plan when you click this option. Selecting a feature from one list will highlight the corresponding feature from the other list. You can select more than one feature at a time to Ignore.

   - Undo: Available only after Update or Ignore has been processed. Clicking this button will Undo the last change made.

Candidates section:

3. - Add: The selected feature from the Addition Candidates list is added to the bottom of the existing plan when you click this option. You can select more than one feature at a time to Add.

   - Delete: The selected feature from the Deletion Candidates list is deleted from the existing plan when you click this option. You can select more than one feature at a time to Delete.

   - Map: Available only when one feature is selected from both the Addition and Deletion Candidate lists. Clicking Map will replace the selected Deletion Candidate feature with the selected Addition Candidate feature. This does not allow multiple selections. You can map both like and unlike feature types (e.g circle to a point, or point to a point).

   - Ignore: The selected feature from the Deletion Candidates list is ignored (removed from the list), and will not be deleted from the existing plan when you click this option. You can select more than one feature at a time to Ignore. Any part program feature removed from the list will remain as is in the part program.

   - Undo: Available only after Add, Delete or Map has been processed. Clicking this button will Undo the last change made.

Miscellaneous

1. - OK: Accepts all the current changes, writing the changes into the current part program. The dialog box is also closed.

   - Cancel: Exits the dialog box, disregarding all the changes made.

Deleting Inspection Plan Elements

Select any plan or command from the Inspection Plan and remove it by doing one of the following:

- Press the Delete key on your keyboard.

- Click Delete from the Main toolbar.

- Select the Edit | Delete menu item.

- Right-click on the item and select the Delete option from the shortcut menu.

For each of these options you will be prompted to verify that you really want to delete the item. Click OK to delete the item or Cancel to keep it. Deleted items cannot be restored and would have to be recreated if needed.