Guided Tour

A guided tour takes you through your first design a step at a time, in the app itself. Each step dims the window but for the control it is about, rings that control, and says beside it what to do there. Do the step yourself and the tour sees it done and moves on, or press Do It for Me and the tour does it for you.

Starting a tour

Help › Guided Tour… lists the tours, one for each industry, with yours chosen. Choose one and press Start Tour.
On the start page, Guided tour in the Learn row starts your industry's tour.
In the command palette (Ctrl+K), type tour: each industry's tour is listed.
The first time you choose your industry, ParametrIQ offers its tour. Not Now offers it again next time the app opens; tick Don't show this again to stop that. Once you have taken a tour it isn't offered again (Help › Guided Tour… is always there).
After an update, ParametrIQ offers the What's new tour of the new version, once.
When you finish a tour, ParametrIQ offers the next one: the What's new tour if you haven't taken it, another tour for your industry, or another industry's tour. Not Now closes the offer.

Taking a tour

The callout beside the ringed control shows:

Step 3 of 9, the step's title and what to do;
In the menus: where the command is, when the step is about a menu item (the menu it is in is ringed);
Waiting for you to do this… while the step waits for you, then Done, and a moment later the next step.

Its buttons:

Button	What it does
Back	The step before.
Do It for Me	Does the step for you: runs the design, opens the panel, changes the size, folds the drawing, runs the command.
Next	The next step, whether or not this one is done (Finish on the last step).
Skip Tour	Closes the tour. What you have done is kept: the tour starts at the next step when you take it again.
Start Again	Shown when a tour starts where you left it: goes back to its first step.

Only the callout takes the mouse: the rest of the window works as usual, so you use the real menus, panels and drawing. If the control a step is about isn't on the screen (a panel you closed, say), the callout sits in the middle of the window and says where to find it.

The tours

Tour	Industries	What you make
A carton, folded in 3D	Packaging (and drawings for no industry)	The ECMA Straight tuck end carton: run it, change its length, fold it in 3D, play its fold steps, Make It.
Start from a product	Packaging	Six bottles packed with New from Product: what its pages ask, the wizard gone through, the drawing it makes looked at in 3D and page by page, Check Design, Make It.
A bent part, folded in 3D	Sheet metal	The Enclosure tray: run it, change its length, bend it up in 3D, play its bends, Make It.
What's new in this version	Everyone, once after an update	No design: a look at the start page, Simple mode, the command palette, Make It and Fix it, each where it is.
Your industry's design	Every other industry	A design from the industry's library (a Shaker door, a rug, a gasket, a sign panel …): run it, change a size, look at a line in Properties, Make It.

Making your own tours

Tours are JSON files in the Walkthroughs folder of an Extensions folder: the app's own are in Extensions/Walkthroughs beside the app, and you can add your own in your Extensions folder's Walkthroughs folder (a file of yours with the same name as one of the app's is used in its place). An extension package can bring tours in a Walkthroughs folder of its own. Comments (//) and trailing commas are allowed.

{
  "id": "my-tray",                       // unique, lower case: also the start of its strings' keys
  "order": 10,                           // where it is listed (lowest first)
  "title": "{designName}",               // English; the placeholders below may be used
  "variants": [                          // the industries it is for, each with its design and the variable it changes
    { "industry": "Packaging", "design": "Packaging/Self-locking tray", "variable": "L", "label": "Length" }
  ],
  "steps": [
    { "id": "welcome", "title": "Make a tray", "text": "You'll make a {designName}." },
    { "id": "design", "title": "Run it", "text": "Choose File › Run Parametric… and pick {designName}.",
      "targets": ["name:StartLibraryButton", "menu:MenuRunParametric"], "done": { "design": "{design}" } },
    { "id": "length", "title": "Change {variable}", "text": "Give {variable} ({label}) a new value.",
      "targets": ["panel:Variables"], "done": { "variableChanged": "{variable}" } },
    { "id": "steps", "title": "Watch it fold", "text": "Choose 3D › Folding › Play Steps.",
      "targets": ["menu:MenuPlaySteps"], "doIt": { "command": "PlayFoldSteps" } }
  ]
}

A tour with a "version" ("version": "26.11") is a What's new tour of that version of the app: it is offered once when ParametrIQ first opens after an update to that version (not the first time ParametrIQ is used), and Help › Guided Tour… lists it by its title alone.

Targets are the controls a step points at; the first one on the screen is ringed:

Target	What it is
`menu:MenuFoldIn3D`	A menu item, by its label's resource key: the menu it is in is ringed, and the callout says where it is.
`panel:Variables`	A panel: `Variables`, `Properties`, `Layers`, `Points`, `ToolOptions`, `Help`, `Interactive`, `Parts`.
`name:MakeItButton`	A control by its name or automation id (`MakeItButton`, `StartLibraryButton`, `Workspace` …).
`tool:Line`	A tool's button on the toolbar.
`drawing`	The drawing worked on.

Checks (done) are what a step waits for; without one it waits for Next. Do It for Me does what the step waits for, or what doIt says:

Check	Done when
`{ "design": "Packaging/Sleeve" }`	The drawing worked on was made from that library design.
`{ "panelOpen": "Variables" }`	The panel is open.
`{ "variableChanged": "L" }`	The variable's value differs from when the step began.
`{ "foldPage": true }`	A 3D page is shown.
`{ "flatPage": true }`	A flat page is shown.
`{ "tool": "Line" }`	The tool is chosen.
`{ "selection": true }`	Something is selected.
`{ "command": "MakeIt" }`	The command has run (`MakeIt`, `FoldPage`, `PlayFoldSteps` …).

Placeholders in titles, text, targets and checks take the variant's values: {design} (the design's path in the library), {designName} (its name), {variable}, {label} and {industry}.

Translations go in the strings folder beside the tours, a file per language (es.json, zh-Hans.json), with keys <tour>.title, <tour>.<step>.title and <tour>.<step>.text:

{
  "my-tray.welcome.title": "Haga una bandeja",
  "my-tray.welcome.text": "Hará un {designName}."
}