General

In the general tab the Variant is use to link a tool to an ExternalDictionary. When a tool is link to an ExternalDictionary the tool has multiple named configurations. The configurations are transparently changed when the Value of the Dictionary is set.

Setup

• Add - adds new element in dictionary
• ID - sets index for selected element
• Default - sets selected element to Default
• Current - set the selected element as the current variant
• Paste - paste image to image
• Load - load image from file
• Clear - remove image and description

Results

• Value - the current value - Note: SetValue will only accept a value that is defined in the Dictionary
• ID - the ID of the current value
• Dictionary - python dictionary for complete Dictionary

Note 1: Track changes of an ExternalDictionary tool using the ToolVariantChange system event

Note 2: Use eval to convert Dictionary to a python dictionary

dict = eval(GetValue('ProductType.Dictionary'))

or

dict = GetResultValue('ProductType.Dictionary')

Commands

ExecuteCmd - More information 
 

Command	Parameters	Return values	Comments
Set	Object=IMAGE;Name=<variant>;Value=<filename> Object=IMAGE;Name=<variant>;Value=CLIPBOARD	ok,None	sets the named variants image from clipboard or file
Get	Object=IMAGE;Name=<variant>;Filename=<filename> Object=IMAGE;Name=<variant>;Filename=CLIPBOARD	ok,None	copies named variants image to file or clipboard
Set	Object=DESCRIPTION;Name=<variant>;Value=<text> Object=DESCRIPTION;Name=<variant>;Source=CLIPBOARD	ok,None	sets the named variants description from file or clipboard
Get	Object=DESCRIPTION;Name=<variant> Object=DESCRIPTION;Name=<variant>;Destination=CLIPBOARD	ok,description	get the description for named variant

Example: Write variant V1's image to a diskfile

tool = GetTool('Variant')
tool.executeCmd('Get','Object=IMAGE;Name=V1;Filename=c:\v1.bmp')

Examples

Add a variant from script

def AddProduct(p):
  pdict=GetResultValue('ProductType.Dictionary') # retrieve dictionary
  l=pdict.keys()
  pdict[str(int(p))]=len(l)+1 # adds product with index equal length +1
  print pdict
  SetResultValue('ProductType.Dictionary' , pdict)