OpenNest/docs/post-verification.md

Verify a nest before posting

Docked desktop validation

Choose Nest > Validate Nest... to inspect all plates without running the cut planner or selecting a post processor. It opens the editor's read-only side panel in Validate Nest (live programs) mode, distinct from the panel's unapplied Plan Cutting proposal. The validation panel checks overlapping material, missing lead-ins, rapid crossings in the existing placed programs and cutting order, and parts closer than the plate's part spacing. Findings identify plate and part sequence numbers in a read-only grid; incomplete or failed checks are never reported as clear. Select a row to switch the main plate view to that plate and focus the finding. A colored headline gives the warning count by kind (or says the check is incomplete or clear), a single line explains the selected marker, and the grid retains every result. Plan Cutting marks its overlap and route findings with the same overlay. While a finding is selected, its named parts retain their normal colors; other parts use muted gray fills and visible gray outlines, lead-ins, and marks. Selecting another finding updates the emphasis. Clearing the finding or closing validation restores normal rendering without changing drawing colors or selection.

Overlaps use the same magenta material shading as View > Overlap Check. A DPI-scaled ring expands and fades continuously while the finding is selected; both its color and contrasting halo fade as it grows. For overlaps the ring marks a point inside the largest shared patch; for missing lead-ins it marks the contour start; for part spacing it marks the middle of the closest gap. Rapid warnings pulse the offending orange dashed segment continuously and mark its contacts with the completed contour using fixed-screen-size magenta crosshairs with white halos. Contacts use native lines/arcs and the rapid check's existing numerical tolerances; shared vertices and tangencies get one marker, and travel along an edge marks the contact span endpoints. Start-only departure is excluded. Travel entirely inside a contour has no boundary contact markers. Incomplete findings use the part center when available; findings without a usable location do not invent a marker. Closing the inspector clears the highlight and restores the original plate, zoom, and overlap display mode.

Validation does not change placements, programs, lead-ins, or cutting order, save the nest, or write CNC output. It includes material overlaps with active clamps and cut-off or rapid crossings of their footprints, but does not check minimum spacing to clamps or plate edges, or whether parts lie within the plate boundaries. It does not verify a post processor's final output. Posting still runs its own fresh verification and consent flow.

Finish or cancel active nesting/fill operations before validating. The panel is exclusive with editing and other side-panel actions while it owns the nest. The main plate view remains available for wheel zoom, middle-button pan, and F or middle-button double-click to fit. The plate header's zoom buttons and the Ctrl+Plus/Ctrl+Minus shortcuts also stay live; its plate navigation buttons stay locked. Panel X, Cancel or Escape requests cancellation and waits for the worker to stop before restoring editing controls. Switching to Plan mode also waits for any validation worker; it does not promote a live validation report into a plan check. Closing the editor or main window joins the worker before continuing the close. Posting while inspection is open is refused; close the panel and use the fresh posting review. The former floating validator window is retired; non-editor checks remain available through the shared PostVerificationAnalyzer without an editor UI dependency.

Posting workflow

The desktop's Nest > Post > (post processor) workflow checks every plate after post settings are accepted and before asking where to save CNC output. The review shows the first three check categories, even when there are no findings:

• Overlapping parts and clamps: shared material between placed parts, including containment, and physical material overlapping an active clamp. Holes are subtracted; placing a part inside a sufficiently large cutout is not itself an overlap. The same review also warns if a nominal manual cut-off line crosses an active clamp, even when its regenerated cut is currently trimmed; a line contact has no material-overlap area. Removed clamps on that sheet are not checked. The placed cut-off program is checked too, so a definition edited without regenerating its cut still warns where the posted cut would cross a clamp (one warning per cut-off and clamp). Clamp zones are compared in the plate's quadrant frame. A missing or malformed clamp zone makes the clamp checks incomplete (a warning), never a clear result. This uses clean drawing geometry, not added lead-in/out paths.
• Missing lead-ins: cutting contours without an actual, nonzero lead-in in the placed program. Applying a lead-in to only one contour does not clear the other contours. Scribe-only work and scrap cutoff lines do not require lead-ins here. The cutting planner supports direct contour piercing without lead-ins; that does not suppress this pre-post review warning or grant posting consent.
• Rapid crossings: direct XY moves crossing closed, already-cut, untabbed contours in cutting order, or an active clamp's physical footprint. This includes earlier holes within the same part and previously cut parts. A future cut is not an obstacle yet. Actual uncut gaps are respected; enabling tabs in settings alone is not evidence that a gap exists. A cut that runs on past its own start along its first cut (a converted program's seam overcut, matched within the 1e-6 seam tolerance) is closed at its seam; the rapid leaving its overcut end ignores contact within that tolerance of the departure. Clamp-rapid warnings are conservative: head height/retracts are not modeled, so inspect the emitted route and machine setup. A clamp whose footprint covers the program start point warns on every posting attempt by design; there is no exemption for the first rapid and no persisted bypass.
• Fixed leads: Plan Cutting accepts fixed emissions as given and only warns (see cutting planner), so posting checks them again: every lead-in and lead-out of a locked program, and of each contour a part's active drawing pins fix, against the clean material of every part on the plate (its own included) and against active clamps. A pinned contour counts as applied only where the placed program cuts it exactly as the pin's own emission, motion for motion, with the part's cutting settings. A part with active drawing pins that its program does not apply (never planned, hand-edited, locked lead-ins overriding the pins, or a pin that no longer matches the geometry) warns "Drawing pins not applied"; pins switched off for that part are not reported. A part whose clean material cannot be captured makes the check incomplete for leads near it. This line appears in the summary only when there is such a finding.
• Part support: on a plate with a support bed, a part set for support tabs that the bed cannot hold level and whose outside cut leaves no tab that keeps it level; the marker is its center of gravity. See support tabs.
• Part spacing: two parts closer than the plate's part spacing without sharing material (overlapping pairs are reported only as overlaps). Candidate pairs come from each part's clean nesting material (leads excluded) tested exactly as Auto Nest's layout check tests it, with the shared SpacingOutline and SpacingSlack, so a layout Auto Nest accepted stays clear. That outline circumscribes arcs by more than the slack, so each candidate is confirmed on its native contours flattened 20 times finer than the slack. The review warns only when that gap falls short of the spacing by more than SpacingSlack, which lets interactive fills that place arcs exactly at the spacing pass. On curves it is therefore slightly more lenient than Auto Nest's check, never stricter. Zero spacing allows contact. A part inside another's cutout is held to the spacing from the hole edge. Cut-offs, the plate edge and clamps are not spacing-checked. The finding gives the measured gap; this line appears in the summary only when there is such a finding.
• Nested parts: a part whose perimeter lies strictly inside a cutout of another part (its host), proven on clean material exactly as Plan Cutting proves its inner-before-host prerequisite. Nested part order warns when the nested part comes after its host in the placed order, because cutting the host's cutout releases the slug it is cut from. Nested part leads warns when an actual lead-in or lead-out of the host (typically its enclosing hole's lead, including a hole cut through a subprogram call at its placed pose) contacts or enters the nested part's material, or a lead of the nested part enters the host's material. Leads already reported as fixed leads are not reported again. A pair whose containment cannot be established (touching or crossing boundaries, uncapturable material) is incomplete, never clear. Each line appears in the summary only when there is such a finding. Auto Nest commits cutout inserts before their frame, so an unedited plate has no order finding; leads keep their own checks. Plan Cutting's Ready result for the plate cuts nested parts first with leads that clear them; this review checks the live programs again before posting.
• Pierce zones: with a PierceDiameter in the part's (or else the plate's) cutting parameters, every lead-in pierce of every placed program must keep half of it from all part material; see pierce zones. This line appears in the summary only when there is such a finding.

Findings identify the plate and part's position in the cutting sequence. Read the scrollable report, cancel to fix the nest, then post again to rerun verification. Uncheckable geometry is reported as incomplete, not passed. The overlap check reads clean drawing programs made of the built-in instructions only; a missing instruction list, any other instruction type, or a hole stored as an absolute-mode subprogram (OpenNest writes them incremental) makes that part's check incomplete.

Open cuts, such as a cutout cut in several pieces around tabs (with or without leads, as PEP programs often are), pass only when they provably release nothing. Within the part, each open piece and its leads may touch another cut only at their own ends, and together they may form no loop, counting each closed contour with its leads as one point. A lead at an open end must also stay out of the gap beyond it: a lead-out never reaches ahead of the end it leaves, and a lead-in never behind the start it enters. Anything else (pieces that meet exactly, a lead that bridges or curls into a tab, cuts from edge to edge) is reported as incomplete, needing manual review. Kerf, tab strength and other parts' cuts are not modelled. Plan Cutting runs the same proof, so its own tabbed cutouts (pieces without lead-outs) pass, but keeps its stricter rule and does not certify its own tabs followed by a lead-out. A program that still has a tabbed cutout's Tab motions (never planned) is incomplete: a post may cut through them.

Explicit override

With any warning, Post Anyway is disabled until the user selects:

I understand the listed risks, including possible head crashes and machine or material damage. I choose to bypass these warnings and continue posting this nest.

Consent applies only to that posting attempt. Unchecking disables posting again; opening another review always starts unchecked. Cancel, Escape, and the window's close button do not write CNC files. Cancel is the default button. A clear report still requires Continue Posting. An unexpected verification failure blocks posting rather than allowing an override of an absent report.

The editor is modal during verification and posting dialogs. Posting is refused while auto-nesting, interactive fill, or a busy plate action can still change the nest. Cancellation keeps the modal dialog open until its worker has stopped. No automatic repair, resequencing, lead-in insertion, or tab insertion is performed.

Console

--post prints the same report. Warnings prevent CNC output (including overwriting an existing file) and return exit code 1. After reviewing them, explicitly pass --acknowledge-post-risks to accept the risks for that invocation. The switch does not skip verification and is not persisted. When --post is requested, verification must pass or be acknowledged before either nest saving or CNC writing. Nest-save and CNC destinations must differ; collisions are refused even with acknowledgment. Without --post, ordinary nest saving is unchanged; --no-save skips that save.

The raw IPostProcessor plugin interface remains a low-level writer. Third-party callers must apply their own review/consent flow using PostVerificationAnalyzer; the gate is installed at OpenNest's desktop and console posting entry points.

Selected post and cut order

Cincinnati CI Fiber preserves the placed part/contour order and pierce positions used by this check. Cincinnati CL keeps placed part order, including cut-offs, but puts etch features before cut features and can add subprogram routing moves; Gravograph builds and optimizes separate tool passes. Those two posts, and unknown plugins, therefore show an additional incomplete final rapid sequence warning requiring acknowledgment even if the nest-level checks have no findings. This change does not silently alter their existing CNC output order.

Limits and maintainer contract

These checks are warnings, not a machine safety certification. They inspect the nest's placed programs and direct XY travel, not a simulation of final NC output. A post processor or controller may change routing, cutting order, lead-ins, retract height, or parking moves. They check planar clamp footprints but not clamp height, actual head clearance, tipping, slats or tab strength. Review the generated CNC program and machine setup before cutting, even when this report has no warnings.

OpenNest.Core/Diagnostics/PostVerificationAnalyzer owns the cross-platform logic; its report exposes findings, display text, and CanPost(risksAcknowledged). Use AnalyzeForPost at posting entry points so unknown post ordering is not silently certified. IPostVerificationSupport.PreservesPlacedProgramOrder is an opt-in contract, not a machine-safety claim; only declare it after verifying the writer's part order, contour order, and pierce positions. The WinForms dialog renders the report and enforces per-attempt consent. New callers must keep inputs stable until analysis completes, honor cancellation, and never treat incomplete analysis as a clear result. Keep analysis out of paint handlers. The overlap diagnostic's documented numeric/tessellation limits also apply.

Future hardening should inspect a shared post-specific emitted motion stream, including controller retracts and final parking, rather than pretending direct XY geometry proves physical head clearance. The cutting planner reuses these motion/completion checks and provides the desktop preview and Apply workflow; applying a plan does not replace fresh posting review.

Verification on Windows

The core/console tests run cross-platform. Dialog tests and actual desktop behavior require Windows; Linux cross-compilation is not runtime verification.

1. Run dotnet test OpenNest.WinForms.Tests/OpenNest.WinForms.Tests.csproj.
2. Post a nest containing two overlapping parts and a part without lead-ins. Verify the report lists the plates/parts, shows all check categories, and disables Post Anyway until consent is checked. Uncheck it to verify disabling again.
3. Cancel with the button, Escape, and X on separate attempts; none should open the output save dialog. Reopen the review and confirm consent is reset.
4. Use a sequence that cuts a closed untabbed part, moves to its far side, then rapids back across it. Verify a crossing warning. Change the sequence so the perimeter has not yet been cut, then assign a real tab gap and recheck the appropriate control cases. Include a hole crossed later in the same part.
5. Acknowledge the warnings and post through both a single-file and multi-file post. Confirm output and normal overwrite prompts. Post a clear, leaded nest with Cincinnati CI Fiber and verify the report still appears without requiring a risk override.
6. During a large verification, cancel; the editor must stay disabled until the worker exits, with no output. A fill still finishing after its progress dialog closes must prevent posting until it has completed.

For failures, record the menu action, nest fixture, selected post, visible report, and exact exception text.