Knowledge Fusion Training

Introduction

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Knowledge Fusion Language

Key Characteristics
Interpreted
Object oriented
Multi-inheritance; polymorphism
Declarative rather than procedural
Rules can appear in any order
Knowledge Fusion determines the order in which the rules are evaluated
Analogous to Spreadsheet

Demand-driven evaluation scheme

Non-child rules will not be evaluated until they are required by another
required rule
Child rules are always evaluated

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Source File

DFA files
Source code for user defined classes and functions
File extension is .dfa
Every NX2 DFA start with
#! UGNX/KF 2.0
Single Line Comments #
# Rest of line is a comment
Multi-Line Comments
Starts with #+
Ends with #-
After editing a DFA file while UG is running, the updated
definition needs to be reloaded

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KF Language Elements
Class
Basic Class Syntax
Object
Child rule

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Class

What is a Knowledge Fusion Class?

A class is the logic for creating an object

A class is a collection of rules

A class has parameters that receive values

KF classes are similar to C++ and Java classes

Classes are instantiated to create KF objects (instances)

Classes can instantiate other classes forming an object tree

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Basic Class Syntax

Class Marker Class Name Mix-Ins Parameter Attributes

DefClass: Door (ug_base_part);

(Number Parameter) door_height: 84;
(Number Parameter) door_width: 36;
(Child) block_1:
{
Child Rule Class, ug_block; Default Values
height, door_height:;
width, door_width:;
}; Child Rule
Input Values

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Object

What is a Knowledge Fusion Object?

Different than a UG object

An object is an instance of a class

An object is sometimes called an instance

An instance has unique values for the classs parameters

A class can be instantiated multiple times yielding multiple unique

instances

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Child Rule Syntax

Attribute Type Attribute Name First name must be Class or Design

Class name is second

(Child) block_1:
{
List of Parameter Class, ug_block;
Name and Value height, door_height:;
pairs width, door_width:;
};
Semicolons
or comas
Parameter names
Parameter values
(No colons)

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Attribute
Syntax
Data types
Behavioral flags
Referencing

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Attribute

What is a Knowledge Fusion Attribute?

Much different than a UG attribute (totally unrelated)
An attribute is basically a named value
Closest thing in programming world is a Variable
Can be a floating point number, an integer, a string, a
point, a vector, an instance, a list of other attributes, etc.
KF does not have arrays, but it has lists, which allows
mixed data types within one list

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Attribute Syntax

Data Type Behavorial Flags(s) Attribute Name Rule

(end of statement marker)

(Number Parameter) door_height: 84;

Rule containing a Reference

(Number) door_width: door_height: / 2;

Required Space

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Attribute Data Types

Commonly Used Types

Type Example
Integer 22
Number 3.14
Point X,Y,Z coordinates
Vector I,J,K direction
List { 12, 3.14, Test }
Frame Is a KF coordinate system
Boolean True or False
String Example
Instance Instance of any class
Name ug_block

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Set Range Limit

(Number Parameter Modifiable) Length: 10;

(Number) Length_min: 5.0;
(Number) Length_max: 100.0;

Maxium
Minimum

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Behavioral Flags

To explicitly control the way KF interprets and

stores the values of attributes

Commonly used behavior flags:

Parameter
UnCached / Cached

Others discussed later

Canonical, Lookup, Method, Modifiable, Child List

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Behavioral Flags Parameter, Uncached

Parameter Tells the system that this attribute is a

parameter to the class and might receive a value when
the class is instantiated
(Number Parameter) door_height: 84;
UnCached - Tells the system not to store the value. It
will be recomputed every time it is referenced (Default is
cached)
(Number UnCached) door_volume: rule...;
No behavioral flag is typical 95% of the time
(Number) door_height: 84;

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Attribute and Class Names

Can contain any alphabetic character, numeric

character, "_" and "?, as well as the special character
"%"

Not case sensitive

Must begin with an alphabetic character or _ or %

depth, isSolid?, front_wall, point3, correct%

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Hidden Classes/Attributes

Hidden Classes
If the a class name starts with a %, it will not appear in the KF
Navigator
Use this to hide classes from the user that are not supposed to
be instantiated manually

Hidden Attributes
An attribute name starting with a % will not appear in the KF
Navigator, unless the attribute is created interactively using the
KF Navigator

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Attribute Referencing

When referencing an attribute, always suffix it with a

colon. (Referencing means use its value in the rule.)

(Number) Rad: Dia: / 2;

Colon means use value of attribute Dia

(Number) Rad: Dia / 2;

No colon means use the name Dia, which results in

a run-time error if a name was not expected. KF
does not check the data type until the rule is
evaluated, which depending on logic, might not
happen.

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NX KF Environment

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KF Toolbar

Applications KF Debug

Adopt Existing Object Part Inspector

Reference by Select Update Now

DFA Manager Delay Update on Edit

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KF Navigator

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Nodes MB3 Pop-up Dialogs

Root node Instance node Attribute node

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Preferences

C:\KF_Library\dfa\debug
C:\KF_Library\dfa\Design
C:\KF_Library\dfa\CAM

Directories storing DFA files

of customer created classes

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KF Related Environment Variables

UGII_KF_CLASS_DIR
Dont change!!! Its for system classes

UGII_KF_USER_CLASS_DIR
Where system looks for customer created DFA files.
Path entries separated by a colon (UNIX) or semi-colon (WNT)
To take effect, must set the following entry in ug_metric.def or ug_english.def

UG_kf_modifiable_search_directories: no

UGII_USER_DIR or UGII_SITE_DIR
Point to a directory with four sub-directories:
dfa, application, udo, and startup
application sub-folder is where system looks for Open API dynamic linked library files

UGII_LIB_PATH
Where system looks for Open API dynamic linked library files

UGII_KF_DOC_DIR / UGII_KF_DOC_URL
Where system looks for documents for customer created classes
Examples:
UGII_KF_DOC_DIR = D:\kf_docs\%s.txt
UGII_KF_DOC_URL = http://doc_server/kf_docs/%s.html

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Custom_dirs.dat

A text file located inside UGII_ROOT_DIR/menus

Multi-entries
Each entry points to a directory structures
Each directory structure comprises of three sub-folders
dfa for KF dfa file
application for UI Styler dialog and Open/API dynamically
linked library
startup for MenuScript files
MenuScript, UI Styler dialog and DFA are all needed
$UGII_CUSTOM_DIRECTORY_FILE to control the
actual location of this file

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End

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