Chapter 7   HDevelop Assistants

HDevelop contains assistants for specific machine vision tasks. Each assistant provides a user interface tailored to the requirements of its task. Using this interface, you can interactively set up and configure the assistant to solve a specific machine vision problem. When the configuration is working satisfactorily, the assistant can be instructed to generate HDevelop code into the current program. You can also save an assistant's configuration for later use.

Common Features of all HDevelop Assistants

Because multiple assistants can be opened at the same time, assistants of the same type are numbered consecutively, for example, if you open two image acquisition assistants, they are labeled “Image Acquisition 01” and “Image Acquisition 02”, respectively. When you open a new assistant, a menu entry is added to the top of the menu Assistants, from which the corresponding assistant can be restored if it has been closed. The current setup is lost and the menu entry disappears if the associated assistant is exited explicitly. If you want to keep the setup for later sessions, save it to a file.

Different assistants have different menus, usually corresponding to the available tab cards. These menus provide functionality specific to the assistant's task. There are also some menu entries that are available in every assistant.

File Load Assistant Settings...  
Using this entry, a previous configuration can be loaded from a file which has been generated using the menu entry Save Current Assistant Settings....

File Save Current Assistant Settings...  
You can save the configuration of an assistant to a file for later use. The default extension for these configuration files is .das.

File Close Dialog  
The assistant is closed, but the current configuration is preserved. This menu entry performs the same function as the assistant's close button. You can restore a closed assistant by clicking the numbered entry in the menu Assistants which is generated when a new assistant is opened.

File Exit Assistant  
The assistant is quit. The resources used by the assistant are released. The link to the generated code is lost. It is not possible to restore the assistant unless the setup has been saved to a file. The menu entry in the menu Assistants is also removed.

Code Generation Insert Code for Selection  
Insert HDevelop code based on the current settings of the assistant. The code is inserted at the IC. As long as the associated assistant is not quit, you can change the settings and update the code accordingly.

Code Generation Release Generated Code Lines  
The link to the generated code is cut off. The code remains in the program, but can no longer be updated or removed from the (formerly) associated assistant. Nevertheless, you can generate new code with the current settings of the assistant.

Code Generation Delete Generated Code Lines  
The generated code is deleted from the program. Please note that any manual changes to the generated lines are deleted as well.

Code Generation Show Code Preview  
Generate a preview of the code based on the current setup of the assistant. If the program already contains generated code which is linked to the current assistant, the changed code lines can be compared side-by-side in the preview.