tekla template editor

A template consists of some combination of six different parts, a header, page header, row, page footer, intermediate row and footer.. Page footer A page footer is output at the end of t

Template Editor

Copyright© 1992-2003 Tekla Corporation All rights reserved.

This Software Manual has been developed for use with the referenced Software Use of the Software, and use of this Software Manual are governed by a License Agreement Among other provisions, the License Agreement sets certain warranties for the Software and this Manual, disclaims other warranties, limits recoverable damages, defines permitted uses of the Software, and determines whether you are an authorized user of the Software Please refer to the License Agreement for important obligations and applicable limitations and restrictions on your rights.

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Table of contents

Table of contents

1 Using This Manual 5

1.1 Manual organization 5

1.2 Other manuals 5

1.3 Getting help 5

2 About Templates 7

2.1 Table parts 7

2.2 Template objects 9

2.3 Template settings and units 9

2.4 Rules 9

2.4.1 Syntax 10

2.4.2 Functions 11

2.4.3 Examples of rules 12

3 User Interface 13

3.1 Screen Layout 13

3.1.1 Pull-down menu 13

3.1.2 Icons 13

3.2 Dialog boxes 14

3.2.1 Using dialog boxes 14

3.2.1.1 Controls 14

3.3 Selection mechanism 15

3.3.1 Selecting 15

3.3.2 Moving objects 16

3.3.3 Resizing objects 16

3.3.4 Rotating objects 16

3.3.5 Summary of template operations 16

Table of contents

4 Menu Functions 17

4.1 File menu 17

4.1.1 Open template 17

4.1.2 Open report 17

4.1.3 New template 17

4.1.4 New report 17

4.1.5 Save 18

4.1.6 Save as 18

4.1.7 Import DXF 18

4.1.8 Exit 19

4.2 Create menu 19

4.2.1 Template Component 19

4.2.1.1 Template Component properties 20

4.2.2 Text field 23

4.2.2.1 Text field properties 23

4.2.3 Graphic field 27

4.2.3.1 Graphic field properties 28

4.2.4 Line 29

4.2.4.1 Line properties 29

4.2.5 Polyline 29

4.2.6 Circle 30

4.2.7 Arc 30

4.2.8 Filled circle 30

4.2.9 Filled box 30

4.2.10 Filled area 30

4.2.11 Text 30

4.2.11.1 Text properties 31

4.2.12 Symbol 31

4.2.12.1 Symbol properties 31

4.2.13 Line style 33

4.2.14 Font 33

4.3 Edit menu 34

Table of contents

4.3.4 Move 34

4.3.5 Clear 35

4.3.6 Undo 35

4.3.7 Redo 35

4.4 Properties menu 35

4.5 Window menu 35

4.5.1 Zoom 35

4.5.2 Redraw 36

4.5.3 Create zoom 36

4.5.4 Magnifier 36

4.5.5 Delete zoom 36

4.6 Settings menu 36

4.6.1 Line style 36

4.6.2 Font 36

4.6.3 Grid 37

4.6.4 Template 37

4.6.5 Page 39

4.7 Options menu 40

4.7.1 Automatic redrawing 40

4.7.2 Continuous action 40

4.7.3 Partial window picking 40

4.7.4 Multiple picking 40

5 Examples 41

5.1 Graphic template 41

5.2 Report template 42

Table of contents

1 Using This Manual

This is the reference manual for Tekla Corporation’s Template Editor.The following paragraphs explain how the manual is organized, sug-gest different paths for different types of user and describe the othermanuals provided in the package You will also find information tohelp you in case you should encounter any problems with the soft-ware or the manuals

This document describes the functions and use of Template Editorfrom the graphic template point of view The functionality for creatingASCII reports is a subset of the functionality needed for creatinggraphic templates

Chapter 2 includes a brief description of the templates

Chapter 3 describes the general elements of the user interface.Chapter 4 includes a detailed description of Template Editor function-ality

Chapter 5 includes two examples of templates

1 Using This Manual

2 About Templates

What are templates?

Templates are descriptions of forms and tables that can be included

in an X-application The forms may be graphical, for inclusion indrawings as tables, text blocks or drawing headers Alternatively,they may be in ASCII text form for use in reports At run time, the con-tent of template fields is entered by the application that is using thetemplates

A template consists of some combination of six different parts, a

header, page header, row, page footer, intermediate row and footer Not all parts need be present in every template; for example,

a drawing label will usually have only a header Each part of the plate consists of lines, arcs, texts, fill areas and fields Report tem-plates are a subset of drawing templates and include only the itemsthat can be printed to ASCII-file

tem-Header

A header appears only once at the beginning of each template Therecan only be one header in each template

Page header

Sorting of the rows is done by the application using the templates,

sorting keys being defined by specifying sort order values for the

fields in a row

Intermediate row

Intermediate rows can be used to produce additional or alternativeinformation to rows (intermediate sums, for example) There may beseveral different kinds of intermediate row The attributes define theoutput order with rules being used to control the output of intermedi-ate rows

Page footer

A page footer is output at the end of the page (see Page headerabove) and each template can contain several page footers

Footer

A footer is output after the page footer on the last page

Table parts are defined by drawing table part frames around theobjects to be included in the required table part Table parts are notdrawn in WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) form The refer-ence point for horizontal and vertical positioning of table parts is cal-culated by the extremities of the contained objects, not by the tablepart frames The positioning can be controlled with the margin prop-erties and the output of rows and intermediate rows can be controlled

Report tables can only contain texts and fields.

Every table part may include all the types listed above For example,Row may include graphic objects, which will be output with every line

General template properties are as follows:

• The repeat direction, determining whether the table expands upwards

Graphical templates are defined in drawing coordinates using meters as the unit of measurement You can scale the template in theapplication when output has been finished The position of the tem-plate within the drawing coordinates doesn't matter because the size

milli-of the template (width and height) is always calculated using templateobjects such as texts, lines and fields

NOTE: Because the size of a report template is linked to the ASCIIfile columns and lines, it cannot be scaled

Rules are used to control the output of rows and intermediate rows Arule is always one expression

Two comment styles are supported A one-line comment starts with // and ends at the next new line The second style is useful for multi-line comments It starts with /* and ends with */.

Operators and their operands usually conform to normal C tions concerning evaluation order, allowed operand data types, typeconversions and function The few exceptions are:

conven-• '+' also accepts string operands, the meaning being string tion

concatena-• '==', '!=', '<', '>', '<=' and '>=' also support string operands, the ing being string comparison as defined by strcmp()

mean-• '&&' and '||' do not guarantee evaluation only to the point of finding outthe result; instead, they always evaluate both operands

if (curr("PROFILE")!=next("PROFILE")) then do()

else pass() endif

else forw()endif

Select last drawing revision

if (curr("REVISION_NUM")>next("REVISION_NUM"))then do()

else forw()endif

Select parts in current phase

if(curr("SYSTEM")==curr("SYSTEM_ACTIVE"))then do()

else forw()endif

Select workshopbolts (two ways)

if (curr("CLASS") == "BOLT") &&

(curr("BOLT_SITE_WORKSHOP") == "Workshop") thendo()

elseforw()endif

or :

if (curr("BOLT_SITE_WORKSHOP") == "Site") thenforw()

elsedo()endif

Select assemblies to be lotted

if(curr("LOT_NAME")!= "")then do()else forw() endif

3.1.1 Pull-down menu

You will find the menu bar at the top of the menu window Choose afunction by positioning the mouse pointer on an option and clickingthe left mouse button A pull-down menu will appear While still hold-ing down the mouse button, drag the pointer down the menu As thepointer moves, it highlights the button for each available sub-option.Choose one of the sub-options by releasing the mouse button

3.1.2 Icons

The icons are used for fast menu selection By clicking on an icon theappropriate function will be started The icon menu gives you an

3 User Interface

3.2.1 Using dialog boxes

Dialog boxes present the application’s information to the user andallow the user to enter data Three periods after a description (e.g

Condition. ) indicate that a new dialog box will be displayed whenyou click the item

3 User Interface

This applies the dialog box properties to the default values withoutclosing the dialog box

This closes the dialog box without applying the dialog box properties

to the default values

This modifies the selected object(s) according to the propertiesdefined in the dialog box, but does not apply any values Modifiedproperties are filtered with the check boxes positioned to the left ofthe corresponding dialog box fields When a check box is ticked thecorresponding value will be changed

This functionality provides the possibility to modify, for example, onlyone property of several objects all of which have different properties.This fills the dialog box attributes according to the attributes of theselected object The Modify Switch check boxes in front of the fieldsdefine which attributes will be given the values

Within any given dialog box, the All values On/Off button toggles all the Modify Filter check boxes onand off

• Clicking means that you press and release the mouse button once,while keeping the mouse pointer in the same place

• Dragging is used to move an item to another location First, point to theitem, then press and hold down the mouse button While still pressingthe mouse button, move the pointer to another location, dragging theselected item with it; then release the button

To abort a dragging operation, press another mouse button

3.3.1 Selecting

First, select a primitive that you want to resize Next, start to resize it

by moving the cursor over one of the handles which will have becomevisible at the edge of the selected object Drag the handle to thedesired position When more than one object has been selected, onlythe one which was dragged by a handle will be resized; the others willonly be moved

3.3.4 Rotating objects

You can only apply this operation to primitives Select the primitivesyou want to rotate, then start rotation by pressing Control and drag-ging with the middle mouse button If you start with the pointer on aselected primitive you can also use the left mouse button

3.3.5 Summary of template operations

4 Menu Functions

4.1.5 Save

This function saves the currently open template under its existingname Accordingly, Template Editor checks that all the objects areinside table part frames If this is not the case, Template Editor willgive you the following warning

Any objects located outside table parts are not handled when theapplication uses templates

NOTE: Using templates that have been saved with this warning maycause unexpected results

4.1.6 Save as

This function saves the currently open template with a new name.Accordingly, Template Editor checks that all the objects are insidetable part frames Template Editor also makes the new template intothe current template

4.1.7 Import DXF

Use this function to read DXF files into templates In this case, onlylines and texts will be read and texts will be converted to use Tem-plate Editor fonts This function opens the Import dxf File dialog boxthat you will use to select files

4 Menu Functions

4.1.8 Exit

The Exit function stops the Template Editor without saving the rently open template Before stopping the program you will see thefollowing confirmation dialog box

4.2.1 Template Component

A template component is a rectangular area used to define whichobjects belong to different template components Template compo-nents also defines the type and output condition of template compo-nents Within any given template, all objects should be placed inside

a template component Objects outside all template components arenot handled in applications using templates Objects having someother conflict (for instance, those belonging to several template com-ponents) are also discarded

The template component rectangle is only visible in Template Editor.Any application that uses templates will only use the properties con-

4 Menu Functions

Template components are created by clicking the opposite corners of

a rectangle A template component can either be created aroundexisting objects, or before creating template objects Template com-ponents cannot be stretched To achieve the same effect, first get theproperties of the template component, then apply them Finally,delete the template component before creating a new one

4.2.1.1 Template Component properties

When a template component is created it acquires the current erties from the Template Component Properties dialog box This dia-log box also lets you modify existing template components

prop-Template component

The combo box defines the type of template component For the ferent template components, see the section titled “Table parts” onpage 7

dif-Summary rows order

This field defines the plot order and output of intermediate rows Thenumbering is expected to be unique When a template includes sev-

4 Menu Functions

Print on

This field lets you specify where page headers and footers will beprinted You can use this function to specify whether headers andfooters will appear on odd pages only, even pages only, or on allpages

Spacing and Indentation

The size of a template is defined by the box surrounding the objects

in it, not by the template component frame You can use Spacing andIndentation fields to define additional margins, specifying values inmillimeters for drawings, or in lines or columns for reports Chapter 5gives an example to demonstrate the use of margins