Adjust your user settings

Open the window by selecting Tools ➔ User Settings...

User settings are reset when you select Reset my account settings checkbox on log-in, and if your user account is deleted or replaced (for example, the account access is changed from read-only to full-function).

General §

Out of office agent §

While you are out of the office, you can select a different user to work on your behalf. Each time you log into the PDXpert client application, your agent is shown in the status bar. Notify the selected person before you leave, and clear your selection when you return.

You can select only a person with a full-function user account.

A system administrator can change or remove your selected agent with the User Management tool.

The agent is a temporary setting. If the user should always have your permissions, the administrator can add the user to your reviewing groups or assign to the user a different role.

  • Your agent can manage all items where you are the trustee. A Product Families Denied list won't affect your agent's access to your items.
  • Your agent receives your task notices. In the Item Explorer's Tasks list, your agent sees tasks that are given to you, and given by you.
  • Your agent receives your change workflow notices, and can review your change forms. When the agent approves or disapproves a change, the agent – not you – is shown as the change reviewer. Your agent may work on change forms where you are the analyst.
  • If you are listed on the Product Team of a Product Families collection member, then the agent is also a temporary member of that product team.
  • If you are an analyst, your agent is also an analyst – even if your agent hasn't been given a role with Is an analyst permission.
  • If you are a system administrator, then your agent is also an administrator. However, if you are the super administrator, your agent is not given the super administrator permissions.
  • Your agent cannot authorize anyone else to work on your behalf. If your agent selects an agent, your permissions aren't passed to that person.
Item Explorer: Recent items tracking limit §

You can specify the number of items that are listed in the Item Explorer's Recent list. If you have a slow network connection, try using a smaller value to reduce data transfers.

Markup list style §

Use font styles and colors to highlight changes in an item's Markup lists. These settings never affect Current lists.

These are your settings, and won't affect how other users see your markups. For example, you may see errors in yellow, but others may not.

After you save new settings, close and then re-open items to refresh their styles.

Add §

On Add rows, all text in each changed field is underlined. Where the entire row is new, all fields are styled; if the row is replacing a removed row, then only changed fields are styled.

While the list is unlocked, the style is not shown in fields that you can edit.

Remove §

On Remove rows, all text in each changed field is italicized. Where the entire row is removed, all fields are styled; if the row is replaced by an added row, then only changed fields are styled.

Errors §

Markup rows with errors have all text shown as bold, with an optional yellow background. The parent item can be locked or unlocked. Errors are shown when:

When a user account is first made or is reset, all markup style settings, except RefDes as + − =, are marked.

  • The row's item has a lifecycle that's incompatible with the parent's lifecycle; for example, a markup contains a Prototype part and a parent assembly is at Production.

  • There are RefDes errors; for example, the number of RefDes values doesn't match the Quantity, or the same RefDes is used on more than one row.

Errors are never shown on Current lists. They are also hidden on released and canceled Markup lists when the Only on Pending setting is marked.

Colors §

When marked, fields that have a style are also shown with text and background colors: Add style, Remove style, Errors style.

RefDes as + − = §

When the assembly part is locked, this setting shows the RefDes differences between the Remove and Add row values at the same Find location. Instead of showing the final list of RefDes values (like R2, R8), the list shows added, removed and no-change reference designators as +count:add −count:remove =count:same, like +1:R2 −2:R4,R7 =1:R8.

This setting shows RefDes changes on your own Markup list only when it's locked. While you're editing, the actual reference designator list – not changes to the removed row – is shown. The actual values are always shown on the Current list after the assembly is released, on standard BOM reports, and in PDX packages. When you add a new Find row, there's no difference to show: when the assembly is locked, the RefDes values are shown exactly as entered.

Only on Pending §

When marked, all markup styles are shown only on an item's pending iteration, and not on the Markup list of a released or canceled iteration.

Add these product families to each new item §

If you design a group of items for a product, or consistently work with a product team, you can specify them here. The listed product families are automatically copied to each new item you make, and you can modify the new item's list. This list is not copied when you revise a previously-released item.

To assign or clear the Product families list on many items, an administrator can use the Product Families import template within the Batch Importer tool.

Use standard Windows cursors §

Some virtualization applications or utilites can use only Windows standard cursors. Custom cursors – showing, for example, a dragged part with its status icon – may be poorly rendered or disappear on the virtual desktop. Mark this setting to replace custom cursors with the default Windows cursors.

Copy me on email notices that I trigger §

As you work with a change form or assign tasks, emails may be sent to other people. You know about these, so the system doesn't normally send these notices to you. However, mark this checkbox to include yourself in the email distribution.

Confirm exit when application is closed §

If you sometimes click on the client application's close box instead of an item window close box, or press Alt+F4 (close application) rather than Ctrl+F4 (close window), marking this checkbox will show a confirmation dialog.

Enable local views §

Mark this checkbox if you want PDXpert to make and maintain a CAD part database on the local client machine. An ODBC application can obtain part data faster from the client's local database than from the server-side database. The local database contains a limited set of views for parts, parts with custom attributes, source part relationships, and file names (principally for links to manufacturer websites); user-defined views are limited to the data contained in these starting views.

For details about connecting your CAD tool, see the Make an ODBC connection help topic.

The Enable local views option is available only when the user has been given a Roles collection member that includes the Allow local views on user computer permission. If local views are not permitted or enabled, then the client machine's local views database is not made or, if previously made, is no longer refreshed.

When the PDXpert client is open, the local database is refreshed every 10 minutes. New items and items with modified summary data (owner, number, description) are also copied to the local views database whenever the PDXpert client requests any data from the server (for example, running a search or opening any record).

When the PDXpert client is closed, the local database isn't refreshed. However, your ODBC application can use the previously-copied data.

There are two client-side ODBC database options available:

  • Using SQLite database: When you enable local views, PDXpert installs a SQLite 3 database. Choose this option if you want PDXpert to always use SQLite, even if SQL Server LocalDB is installed on the client computer. You must separately install a SQLite 3 ODBC driver for your ODBC client application, and use SQLite syntax in your user-specified views.

  • Using SQL Server LocalDB: Install LocalDB when SQL Server compatibility, performance and multi-session access are important. LocalDB supports some CAD applications that can't be used with SQLite. The PDXpert website's Installation Guide may have more detail about installing the LocalDB and ODBC driver on the client computer.

    If your computer doesn't have LocalDB installed, then PDXpert updates the SQLite database instead. For example, your office computer may have LocalDB installed, but your preference is ignored if your home computer does not. To support both SQLite and SQL Server LocalDB, use generic SQL syntax that's compatible with both, write distinct user-specified views for each, or use your ODBC client application to query the public views.

Task workdays §

When you add a new task to an item, the Task workdays setting calculates the default due date. The task due date uses the number of available workdays from today (holidays are not considered). After the task's due date is calculated, you can adjust the date to any date, even if the workday is not set as active.

  • The Default workdays is the period that is automatically added to today's date to get the task's due date. If you specify zero, then the due date is today, even if today is not an active workday.

  • Set the active workdays (Sunday through Saturday) to match your workweek.

    When all workdays are active: The Default task period (workdays) is added to today's date without adjusting for weekends.

    At least one workday must be active: If you clear the only marked workday, then the following day is automatically marked.

When a user account is made or reset, all days except Sunday and Saturday are marked, and the default period is 5 workdays.

The Administrator override user setting has been moved to the Tools menu: Administrator Override command.

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Help Guide Contents [as PDF]