freesewing/markdown/dev/howtos/code/shared-dimensions/en.md

title	for	about
Share dimensions between pattern parts	developers	Shows how to share dimensions between similar pattern parts

See this example in our source code

• packages/aaron/src/shared.js
• packages/aaron/src/front.js

When you have different pattern parts that look similar -- like the front and back of a garment -- you may find that there's a lot of dimensions shared between them.

The example below is from Aaron where dimensions are shared between the back and front part.

Aaron has a file called shared.js that looks like this:

export function dimensions(macro, points, sa) {
  macro('hd', {
    from: points.cfHem,
    to: points.hem,
    y: points.hem.y + sa * 2.5 + 15
  })
  // more dimensions here
}

In both front.js and back.js we use this code to add these shared dimensions:

import { dimensions } from './shared'

// ...

  if (paperless) {
    dimensions(macro, points, sa)
    // ... specific dimensions 
  }

Since our shared dimension method is a so-called named export we need to import it with the syntax you see above.