Viewer Configuration
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Visual Collaboration supports viewing of file content in a variety of common formats. Different viewers with capabilities uniquely suited to the different file formats are provided. Options for configuring the behavior of the viewers are described in this section.
Aras Innovator provides five different viewers, depending on the type of file being viewed. Viewers are accessed from the sidebar of the item window. The following configuration steps are necessary for files to be accessible on the sidebar:
- The ItemType must be enabled for Secure Social (see section 3)
- A FileSelectorTemplate must be defined, and set to include in the IDs of desired FileTypes in the Filter property (see section 4.3)
- A file with the specific FileType must be added to the Item at the Reference location as specified on the FileSelectorTemplate
Table 11 describes the viewers that are provided and support the listed FileTypes.
Provided viewers
| Sidebar Display | Viewer | FileType(s) | FileType(s) | Extension(s) |
| 3D | HOOPS Stream Cache Single Model | HOOPS Stream Cache Single Model | scs | |
| PDF Document | PDF Document | |||
| Image | JPEG Image | JPEG Image | jpg,jpeg | |
| Image | PNG Image | PNG Image | png | |
| Image | GIF Image | GIF Image | gif | |
| Advanced Image | TIFF Image | TIFF Image | tif,tiff | |
| Advanced Image | BMP Image | BMP Image | bmp | |
| Comparison | Special viewer created dynamically when using the Compare function on PDF or Advanced Image files | Special viewer created dynamically when using the Compare function on PDF or Advanced Image files | Special viewer created dynamically when using the Compare function on PDF or Advanced Image files | |
| Simulation | wCAX VCollab WEB | wcax | wcax |
Any of the discussed FileTypes can be supported for viewing on any Aras Innovator ItemType, given the proper configuration.
The use of the 3D viewer requires conversion of native 3D CAD models to the format used by the viewer (hwf). This is done using the Aras 3D CAD to PDF Converter, which runs inside the Aras Conversion Server. This converter takes any standard native 3D CAD files as input and runs a conversion process in the background. In the typical case, these input native 3D CAD files are coming from an Aras CAD Connector.
By default, the Aras 3D CAD to PDF Converter will produce as output the following set of files, which will be set to the listed properties on the CAD Document Item.
Supported FileTypes
| FileType | Extension | CAD Property | Purpose |
| HOOPS Stream Cache Single Model | scs | native_file > fr_representation > fr_representation_file > related_file | Viewing within Aras Visual Collaboration |
| PNG Image | png | thumbnail | Thumbnail image |
| 3D PDF Document | viewable_file | Viewing within Adobe Reader | |
| PRC Model | prc | monolithic_model_file | Neutral 3D representation |
Note that unlike the Aras PDF viewer, the 3D viewer does not view the 3D PDF file directly. The 3D PDF file is made available for other purposes, such as sending outside the company to those without direct access to Aras Innovator, for viewing in Adobe Reader. If the requirement is just to view 3D inside Aras Visual Collaboration, the generation of the 3D PDF file can be disabled. See the Aras 3D Visualization CAD to PDF Converter Setup Guide for details. This also means that 3D viewing in Visual Collaboration cannot be achieved just by attaching a 3D PDF file to an item. The 3D viewer requires the scs format, which must be generated by the converter. Please contact Aras Support with any questions regarding the ability to convert and view 3D models.
Setting the Proper FileType for 3D PDF Files
The Aras PDF viewer is only designed to view “standard” PDF files and not 3D PDF files. Therefore, it is important that 3D PDF files be set as a separate FileType in Aras Innovator, because otherwise the PDF viewer will attempt to view them. The two standard FileType definitions exist in Aras Innovator, both with the .pdf extension. 3D PDF files generated by the Aras 3D CAD to PDF Converter are automatically set to the 3D PDF Document FileType. However, if a 3D PDF file is manually attached to an item, it will be set to the PDF Document FileType. Administrators should be aware that files manually attached in this way may show up in the sidebar as an available PDF file for viewing. Users will see only a static image of the 3D model in this case.
PDF FileTypes
| FileType | Description | Ext. |
| PDF Document | Adobe Acrobat PDF Document | |
| 3D PDF Document | Adobe Acrobat 3D PDF Document |
Browser Compliance Check for 3D Viewing
The 3D viewer is only supported on HTML5-compliant browsers including Firefox, Edge, and Chrome. Since Aras Innovator is supported on some browsers that do not meet this requirement, the system checks for the browser compliance when the user attempts to use the 3D viewer.
There are two cases where this check is made:
- When the user clicks on a file in the 3D viewer tab in the item window sidebar.
- When the user clicks on the View button when a markup snapshot is active in the viewer.
In each case, the user sees an error message that displays: This web browser does not support 3D viewing. Please use a supported browser to view this file.
Both the PDF Viewer and Advanced Image Viewer provide a Measure command. Within this command is a selector to pick which measurement units to use. This list is based upon the entries specified by “Measurement Units” as found in Contents --> Administration --> Secure Social. By modifying these Items, you can control the entries in the list, their order, and the default.
All viewers support two styles of toolbars:
Basic: has only a few commands to make it easy to use for occasional users.
Standard: provides all available commands.
Both types of toolbars are configurable based on the Aras “Command Bar” modeling capability. With this ability, the content of the toolbars can be configured based on the user’s Identity as well as item Classification. This can enable some important behaviors, such as:
- Force users to only use one or the other style of viewer toolbars (remove “Switch to Standard” or “Switch to Basic” commands).
- Remove user’s ability to download and print files, restricting them to access only in the Aras web client.
- Removal of any viewer command for any user or set of users.
The PDF, Image, and Advanced Image viewers provide a Printable View command which allows the user to easily view and then print the file. This command uses any available client-side PDF viewer and will use whatever is configured for the web browser in use. The quality of client-side PDF viewers varies significantly, and content displayed in some of these viewers may not match the quality of the display provided from within the Visual Collaboration PDF viewer. As a result, Aras recommends setting the browser’s PDF viewer add-on to Adobe Reader or Adobe Acrobat for best results when printing. Please consult your specific web browser’s help documentation for information on setting the PDF viewer add-on.
The Simulation Viewer can be configured to view files with the .wcax extension. A WCAX file must be generated using VCollab products (https://www.vcollab.com/).
The following steps describe how to configure the viewer for the Document ItemType; the same steps would work for any other ItemType.
- Login to Aras Innovator as an administrator.
- Go to Contents --> Administration --> ItemTypes.
- Open the Document ItemType for editing.
- Go to the Secure Social tab.
- Right-click the DiscussionTemplate and click Secure Social --> Open in the context menu.
- Click Edit in DiscussionTemplate.
- Click the FeedTemplate tab.
- Right-click the FeedTemplate and click FeedTemplate --> Open in the context menu.
- Click Edit in the FeedTemplate.
- Click the FeedSelectorTemplate tab.
- Right-click the FileSelectorTemplate and click FileSelectorTemplate --> Open in the context menu.
- Click Edit in the FileSelectorTemplate.
- In the Filter dialog box, add the item ID after the or operator for the FileType: wCAX 3D Model, which is: CE9280AD70194769A2A7B12BF8C3B32D.
- When wCAD 3D Models with the .wcax extension are added to Documents, the Simulation Viewer will appear in the sidebar.
- Click the Simulation Viewer button in the sidebar to view the attached file in the viewer.
Click
and
on the FileSelectorTemplate, FeedTemplate, Discussion Template, and ItemType (Document) toolbars.
