Link Entity Browser

The Link Entity Browser displays all of the links that are connected using the connectors in the model.

Note: If a connector uses an element-type link, the component containing the element is also listed in the Link Entity Browser. Isolating this link displays the whole component instead of the single element. In the browser configuration window, activating the Show Primary Links Only option, for example, will list only real component links in the component link view.

The information displayed in this browser can be used to quickly locate certain links and appropriate connectors in the graphics area.

Parts of the model are separated into the following three categories that are based on the link selection:

1st link entity: Selected links
linked connectors: Connectors which reference at least one of the selected links
2nd link entity: Links which are referenced by the linked collectors

Note: In this case, connectors and their realizations are treated as being a separate category from their links, in order to prevent unpredictable cross-references.

HyperMesh only uses this type of categorical separation when one of the view options are active and you select the show, hide, isolate, and isolate only options from the context menu. No other functionality uses this categorization at all.

The base features in the Link Entity Browser can be changed from the Link Entity Browser configuration window.

View Option Toggle Buttons

The Link Entity Browser is a tool to easily examine the connections between the different parts of a model. One strategy to do that is to start the investigation on one part or a certain group of parts, so each action in the Link Entity Browser starts with a selection of parts. Parts can be considered as links.

These view options determine the entities that display when you select and then show, hide, or isolate a link.

Each button is modal, that is, you click it once to activate it, and click it again to deactivate it. Active buttons remain active until you specifically deactivate them, so you do not need to worry about them "resetting" after you perform an action such as isolate.

The following model illustrates the effects of these search options.

Note: The highlighted component; this component is the starting point for the following examples.

In each example below, the selected component has been isolated using only the relevant view option.

Option	Name	Effect
	Linked connector entity	If this linked connector entity view option button is active all connectors linked to the 1st link entities will be taken into account for the action. It does not matter if the 1st link entity view option button is active or inactive, its connectors will still be located. This determination has nothing to do with any display states. This means that in case of the isolation, only the connectors which are referenced by the selected links (1st link entity) are isolated. Figure 3.
	Realization	When this option is active, all realizations belonging to the determined linked connector entities will be taken into account for the action. Figure 4.

Cumulative Effect of Multiple Options

These options work accumulatively, for example, when both the 1st link entity and 2nd link entity buttons are active, then selecting and isolating a component link displays both it and all of the components connected it. If you had realization, 1st link entity, and 2nd link entity active when you isolated the same component link, then the model would display all of the component links connected to the selected one, as well as graphical representation of the realizations of each connector linking those component links together.

Context Menu

Right-click on an empty space or right-click on an entity to access the context menu. The options in context menu vary accordingly.

Right-clicking in empty space displays the following:

Option	Description
Create	Create a new Connector Group.
Reorganize	Auto Reorganize Organize connectors into connector groups based the settings defined in the Auto Reorganize Settings dialog. Auto Reorganize Settings Access settings used to reorganize connectors into Connector groups. Organize Only Connector(s) from Model Only reorganize connectors from the Model. Connectors that are present in other Connector Groups will not be reorganized. Delete Cleared ConnectorGroup(s) Delete previous Connector Groups which become empty after connectors are organized into new Connector Groups based on the reorganization schema setting. Reorganization schema Choose one of the following: Select Create one group per link combination to organize connectors by creating new Connector Groups based on their connector link information. For example, if connectors are connecting components with ID 1 and 2, then a new Connector Group will be created with the name “Comp1_Comp2”, and all of the connectors that connect those two components will be organized in to this newly created Connector Group. Select Create one group per include to organize connectors by creating new Connector Groups based on the Include file to which the connectors belong to. For example, if connectors belong to the Include file with ID ‘10’, then a new Connector Group will be created with name “Include10”, and all of the connectors will be organized in to this newly created Connector Group.
Show All	Turn on the display state of all entities.
Show None	Turn off the display state of all entities.
Reverse	Reverse the display state of all entities.
Configure Browser	Opens the Configuration Window dialog.

Context menu options change when you right-click on entities. The context menu options vary based if you right-click on a Connector Group or Component Link/Property Link/Part Link. Right-clicking in empty space displays the following:

Option	Description
Duplicate	Create a new, empty Connector Group. If Duplicate is used on a Connector Group that has the name “Connector_Group_1”, a new, empty Connector Group with the name “Connector_Group_11” is created.
Rename	Rename a Connector Group.
References	Open the Reference Browser and review a list of all Connectors Groups and Connectors that belong to that Connector Group.
Delete	Delete selected entity. In the Confirm dialog, select the Retain Connectors and move to Model checkbox to only delete the Connector Group, and move the connectors that belong to the deleted Connector Group to the Model. By default, both the Connector Group and all the connectors that belong to the Connector Group are deleted.
Empty	Open the Delete Entity dialog, from which you can choose which empty Connector Groups to delete.
Configure Browser	Opens the Configuration Window dialog.

Right-clicking on a Component Link, Property Link, or Part Link opens the following context menu options:

Option	Description
Convert Links(s)	Convert existing link type on connectors to: Part, Comp, or Prop. Connector link conversion requires a clear 1:1 relation between a component and a property, otherwise the conversion is not unique and cannot be performed.
Remove From Connectors	Remove links from connectors. This option works on selected/displayed/all connectors. Use the update layer option to automatically update layers once links are removed.
Find / Find with FE	The selected links and all connectors referencing them are isolated in the graphics area. The links as well as the linked connectors are highlighted in their browsers. This Find operation considers only the realization and fit view buttons. When the realization button is active, Find changes to Find With FE.
Find Attached / Find Attached with FE	The selected links, all connectors referencing them, and all links referenced by these connectors are isolated in the graphics area. All the found links as well as the linked connectors are highlighted in their browsers. This Find Attached operation considers only the realization and fit view buttons. When the realization button is active, Find Attached changes to Find Attached With FE.
Find Between / Find Between with FE	The selected links and connectors that link them together are isolated in the graphics area. All the found links as well as their shared connectors are highlighted in their browsers. This Find Between operation considers only the realization and fit view buttons. When the realization button is active, Find Attached changes to Find Attached With FE. Note: The type of connector to find by this action can be set in the options tab of the Link Entity Browser Configuration dialog. By default, a connector which references at minimum two of the selected links is treated as a "between" connector.
Show	Shows selected entities.
Hide	Hides selected entities.
Isolate	Displays only the selected entities, turning their display state to on and turning all other entities of the same type off. Isolate works locally within a specific entity type – for example, if component(s) are isolated, then all display states of other displayable entities, such as load collectors, remain untouched. Tip: Only show the isolated links in the browser by selecting (last_celink_review) from the query build drop-down menu.
Isolate Only	Works like Isolate, except that it also affects entity types different from the matching, selected entities. Thus, it turns off ALL displayable entities, regardless of type, except for the selected one(s).
Column Visibility	Opens the Column Visibility dialog. Checkboxes are used to control, which columns should be shown in the browser.
Configure Browser	Opens the Configuration Window dialog.

Configuration Window

In the Browser Configuration dialog you can alter the columns that display in the Link Entity Browser, and change how special features, such as the find between, operate.

Access the Browser Configuration dialog by right-clicking in the Link Entity Browser and selecting Configure Browser from the context menu.

Local Options

Max Link Column Viewed

Only display the specified number of columns, regardless of how many links are available in a connector. The maximum number of supported columns is 30.

Show Primary Links Only

By default, both primary and secondary links are displayed in the Connector Entity browser. To only display primary links, select the Show Primary link only checkbox.

By default, a node link is also displayed as a component link in the Component link view. For example, components are shown as a link when a node that belongs to an element belongs to a component, an element belongs to a component, or a surface belongs to a component.

When Show Primary Link Only is selected, the Part link view only displays real part links and the Component link view only displays real component links. Use the table below to determine which link types will be interpreted as a component or park link based on view you are using.

Link Type	Component Link View		Part Link View
	Show Primary Links Only: off	Show Primary Links Only: on	Show Primary Links Only: off	Show Primary Links Only: on
Nodes	yes	no	yes	no
Elements	yes	no	yes	no
Components	yes	yes	yes	no
Assemblies	yes	no	no	no
Parts	no	no	yes	yes
Properties	no	no	no	no
Surfaces (geom)	yes	no	yes	no
Tags	no	no	no	no

Consider Geometry

Consider geometry along with elements while using Show/Hide/Isolate operations.

Consider HAZ Elements

Consider HAZ elements while using Show/Hide/Isolate operations. When this option is on, and if connectors are isolated, HAZ elements are also isolated along with connectors and their links.

Available for Connector Configure browser options.

Find Twin Connectors

Select how two connectors are found:

Minimum two links: Find only the connectors that have two or more matching links.
Exact links: Find only the connectors that have the same links. For example, if you start with a connector that has two links, than another connector with three links will not be found even if its first two links matched.

Find Connectors Between With

Select how connectors between selected links are found:

Minimum two selected links: Only connectors that link to at least two selected entities will be affected. Connectors with only one link to any of the selected entities will be ignored.
Exact selected links: Only connectors that link to the selected entities will be affected. This can vary from the Minimum two selected links option, because connectors with three or more links which link two selected entities with at least one unselected entity, would still be found by the Minimum two selected links option but not by this one.
All selected links: Any connector shared by the selected entities will be found.
Note: Connectors which link selected entities to any unselected ones will not be found, as they are not located between the selected entities.

Filter Links To

Choose which links to filter when performing search/isolation functions.

Projection Components: Isolate the entire link component.
Projection Elements: Isolate only the elements on which a projection falls.
Projection and Attached Elements: Isolate only the elements on which the projection falls and the elements which the connector FE connects.

Filter Links To	Projection Components	Projection Elements	Projection and Attached Elements
Spots	Figure 9.	Figure 10.	Figure 11.
Seams	Figure 12.	Figure 13.	Figure 14.
Bolts	Figure 15.	Figure 16.	Figure 17.

Global Options

Autocolor Visualization Mode: With this mode activated, the Connector Browser takes over the control of the element visualization mode. Elements will be colored by component, by property, or by part, depending on which connector link view is activated.
Live-filtering: Filter items in real time.