Context Menus

Probably one of the most underutilised tools available to you in any Bentley package are Context Menus. The most common of these are the right click menus that change depending on the tools and element you have selected. Right click in an empty part of a model and this is what you see:

  

The one difference you may see are the tools at the top of the menu. This is because Context Menus are customisable based on what each user requires. More on this in some upcoming Blogs.

 As mentioned, this menu adapts to where and what tools you have active. If you have element select chosen and hover on a member then right click, this is what you should see:

 

It’s worth taking a little time to have a look at the tools provided in the Context Menus. As an example, Isolate is a great way to pick a series of elements to work with in 3D. This works in a different fashion to Clip Volumes and is not available in Saved Views, but is very handy none the less. To isolate a number of members to work with, simply select the using element select, then right click and choose Isolate:

 

What you should see is all other element disappear, similar to switching off levels.

 

To return the model to the original state, right click again and choose Isolate Clear.

 The only issue I have with Context Menus is that some tools seem to interfere with the right click ability. A good way to get things back to a state where you can use the right click menu is to clear all current tools. To do this, use the keyin:

 Null

 Again, on a function key this is an easy way to clear everything ready to go again.