Display state , current

steve_ulrich290

This maybe a silly question.. but I use the Display state feature often.. but will lose track as to which display state is currently showing... Is there a feature or label somewhere I am missing that shows the current display state?

bruce_williams

I see the OP question could be - which 'display state' did I run last?  The show/hidden 'display state' persists after closing the Display State dialog and then there is no indication as to which one did I use to show these parts? (with the full understanding that more activity of display may have happened since using Display State. )

Might work to at least highlight the last used when you reopen the Display state tool.

victor_hugo_astorga

Dear Steve,

This feature has the sole purpose of establishing groups of instances to show/hide, so it does not have the option to be shown as a grouping of parts but simply as an aid to the display of groups of instances. 

see video here https://www.onshape.com/en/resource-center/tech-tips/tech-tip-how-to-use-display-states-in-onshape

You can always use the forum "Improvement requests" section to request that a tag of this be added in a formal way or see if it is possible to create the Feature through FeatureScripts.

greetings

VH

john_mcclary

When you open the display state dialogue you are able to save a state to a name (as I'm sure you know very well)

But I think you are confusing Onshape's display state with SolidWorks (or others, I'm not sure, I only used DSs in SW)
In SolidWorks you are always actively in a display sate (Usually Default), and you can switch between display states and make changes and switch back and your changes are recorded depending on what state you were editing in, Etc.

In Onshape you are never actively in a display state. It only stores which parts are hidden/shown.
By selecting a display state you are just telling Onshape to go through each part in the assembly and set the current hidden state to what was last saved. That's why you have to manually "update" a display state in Onshape.

Does that make sense?

So your always in Display State "zero" at all times in Onshape.

steve_ulrich290

Thanks John, I did not know how Onshape figures out which display to show.  My issue is some of the differences of my displays are subtle.  When you select the display Icon, it does not show you which display you are currently viewing. It would be nice to have it shown somewhere.  I posted this in the improvement suggestion forumn too.

john_mcclary

That's what I'm failing to explain. You are never in a display state in Onshape, period.
You can keep the dialogue open and 'pretend' you are in a display state by looking at the current selected state (see image).

But it means nothing until you click the update button, to re assign which items are hidden in that display state.

Think of each display state like a macro that changes hidden/shown of all the parts.
you select your display state, it runs a script that toggles each part's hidden state. then quits and waits for another sate to be selected or updated.

When you use a display state in a drawing, it reads the assembly, runs the display state script to hide some parts, then displays the result in the view.

It isn't a work space or environment that you are working in. It is a shortcut to hide/show items.

the one you are currently viewing is what is shown here in the image blow, but again, as soon as you hide or show anything else, even with that dialogue open, then technically that display state is no longer showing. so try not to think of it that way.

it should be named "hidden state memory", instead of display state. But most people already know what a display state is good for (and this works similar to that) so that is where it got its name.

bruce_williams

I see the OP question could be - which 'display state' did I run last?  The show/hidden 'display state' persists after closing the Display State dialog and then there is no indication as to which one did I use to show these parts? (with the full understanding that more activity of display may have happened since using Display State. )

Might work to at least highlight the last used when you reopen the Display state tool.