Picture data options

Go to Admin > General > Picture data options to enable use of crosshairs when viewing picture data such as phase diagrams in MI Viewer.

Select Enable crosshairs to enable orthogonal crosshairs.

To turn on isometric crosshairs for specific types of pictures, additional configuation is required.

Additional configuration for isometric crosshairs

By default, crosshairs in MI Viewer are orthogonal. However, for some pictures, such ternary phase diagrams, isometric crosshairs are preferable.

Example shows finding the phase at 30% Cu, 20% Au and 50% Ag:

Pictures for which isometric crosshairs are required may be identified using a regular expression ('regex') that matches specific words in the picture Attribute name.

Regular expressions are a very flexible and powerful way of expressing a search pattern, and can be used to describe both simple and very complicated patterns. A comprehensive tutorial on regex syntax is beyond the scope of this documentation, but there are numerous resources online: the reference to the regex engine used in MI Viewer can be found in Microsoft's .NET Framework documentation (external link), and you may also find Regular Expression Language - Quick Reference (external link) to be a useful resource.

Usage notes

  • The regular expression is case insensitive, so Phase Diagram is the same as phase diagram in a regex.
  • Unless specified otherwise, a regex will match a string if the search pattern is contained anywhere within the string.  For example,  the regex diagram will match the strings Diagrams and Phase diagram.

  • Special characters must be escaped. The following 12 characters have special meanings in regular expressions and must be escaped (preceded with a ‘\’ character) in a regex:

    • ^ - caret
    • + - plus sign
    • [ - opening square bracket
    • $ - dollar sign
    • ? - question mark
    • { - opening curly brace
    • * - asterisk
    • ( - opening parenthesis
    • \ - backslash
    • , - comma
    • ) - closing parethesis
    • | - pipe

    For example, a regex to find the string image(22) in a string has to be written as image\(22\

  • The caret ^ represents the start of the string, for example, a regex of ^diagrams will match diagrams but not Phase diagrams.
  • The dollar sign $ represents the end of the string.
  • The vertical bar or pipe symbol | separates different search patterns that may be matched. For example, the regex Snap|Press will match both Snap fit and Press fit.

Example: identifying ternary phase diagrams using a regex

This example shows how phase diagrams can be identified by matching a string or strings in the picture Attribute name using simple regular expressions.

If you have only a few Attributes that need to use isometric crosshairs, write a regex that matches exactly those Attribute names by using the vertical bar or pipe symbol |; for example to match only Ternary Liquidus Projection Phase Diagram and Ternary Solidus Projection Phase Diagram, use the following regex:

^Ternary Liquidus Projection Phase Diagram$|^ Ternary Solidus Projection Phase Diagram$

(Note the use of the ^ and $ symbol to specify start and end of the string. This means that even if an Attribute called Another Ternary Liquidus Projection Phase Diagram was added, it would not match.

The examples below show how different regex can be use to identify images that should have isometric crosshairs. Attributes marked with match the regex and a will have isometric crosshairs, and those marked with a do not match the regex and so will have standard orthogonal crosshairs.

Regular expression Matched image Attribute name

phase diagram

(Note: the search is case insensitive)

Binary Phase Diagram

Ternary Isothermal Section Phase Diagram

Ternary Liquidus Projection Phase Diagram

Ternary Solidus Projection Phase Diagram

Ternary Vertical Section Phase Diagram

Ter

or

Ternary

Binary Phase Diagram

Ternary Isothermal Section Phase Diagram

Ternary Liquidus Projection Phase Diagram

Ternary Solidus Projection Phase Diagram

Ternary Vertical Section Phase Diagram

Isothermal|Liquidus|Solidus

Binary Phase Diagram

Ternary Isothermal Section Phase Diagram

Ternary Liquidus Projection Phase Diagram

Ternary Solidus Projection Phase Diagram

Ternary Vertical Section Phase Diagram