Context Sensitive Menu Functions

New Assembly

This function creates a new child assembly below the selected assembly in the tree view. If this function is entered in the assembly tree view, the new child assembly becomes selected, if entered in the list view, the parent assembly remains selected. This can be significant for efficient multiple assembly creation, either hierarchically or creation at the same level.

Insert Assembly

This function extends the assembly hierarchy by insertion of an assembly in between existing assemblies. Items selected, design parts, assemblies or a part folder at entrance to the function will be put into the created assembly.

Remove

By this function the selected assembly and its sub-structure will be removed and references to collected design parts will be dissolved. If design part is selected, remove means the part will be de-collected from assembly.

Rename

This function is used to change the name of a local assembly node.

Copy and Move Assembly

Move and copy operations are performed either by Cut & Paste or Drag & Drop operations in the assembly tree and list view. You can put restrictions on what type of assemblies that can be owned by other type of assemblies utilizing sub-typing based on UDETs. These restrictions are considered when using these functions to prevent creation of prohibited structures through copy and move operations.

Collect/Decollect Parts to/from Assembly

Beside the Collect Selected Parts below, the way to populate the assembly structure by design part elements is through drag & drop of parts from Model Explorer into target assembly in the assembly tree or assembly list view.

The type of design part elements considered during a collect operation is configured by the Collect Rules function above. Design parts already collected can change location in assembly structure through Drag & Drop and Cut & Paste operations within the assembly tree. Design parts are de-collected by the Remove function.

A design part cannot belong to more than one assembly. If it is already collected to another assembly you will be asked to continue the collect operation of reassigning the part to a new assembly.

For temporary arrangements, not part of the design like, for example eyebolt, a general catalogue item of type GPART can be assigned to assemblies. Unlike design parts a general part from the catalogue can be collected to several assemblies. The Catalogue Explorer is a convenient source for browsing GPARTs intended for assembly collect operations. GPARTs that are not possible to visualize display a message when collected, "not a usable item". This message can be ignored. A GPART collected to an assembly can be applied with a quantity via the Properties dialog.

Set Current Element

The assembly or design part element selected in an assembly tree or list view is made current element (CE) by this function.

Verify Name

The function is meant to report assemblies with identical names throughout the current MDB.

Select All Parts of First Level

The operation creates a graphical selection in 3D view from a selection set of items in the assembly tree or list view. If the items are not available in the 3D view they will be added automatically. When the items become marked as selected in the 3D view you can then use general graphical tools like, for example, Zoom to Selection. You can compose your selection set of multiple selected design parts and assemblies. For assemblies, design parts directly collected to them are selected.

Select All Parts of All Levels

This function works in the same way as the function Select All Parts of First Level above, but design parts are taken from all sub-assemblies in the hierarchy below the selected assembly.

Collect Selected Parts

The design part graphically selected in 3D view will be collected to the target assembly. Beside the Collect Selected Parts the way to populate the assembly structure by design part elements is through drag & drop of parts from the Design Explorer into a target assembly in the assembly tree or assembly list view. The type of design part elements considered during a collect operation is configured by the Collect Rules function above. Design parts already collected can change location in the assembly structure through Drag & Drop and Cut & Paste operations within the assembly tree. Design parts are de-collected by the Remove function.

Collapse All

The function collapses all nodes in the entire assembly tree.

Show Sequence

The function reveals, in 3D view, each member of the assembly one by one by fading them from transparency to opacity. If the member is a design part, the part it faded. If the member is a sub-assembly, all design parts in that subassembly's sub-tree is faded.

When you enter this function the user interface changes mode and the assembly tree is hidden and the list view for the assembly acts as a control facility for the sequence animation. The toolbar also changes to the one controlling the animation. You have the possibility to play, pause and restart the animation. Consecutive revealed parts are marked on the list. By changing the selection mark, with mouse or keyboard, you can step to any point in the sequence animation.

Click the Settings button to open a settings dialog on which you can change the speed of the animation. To quit the animation mode, click the Close button.

Properties

Through a properties dialog box it is possible to edit the attributes of an assembly. It is also possible to change the type of assembly among the assembly based user defined types (UDET, refer to Lexicon User).

The properties dialog has full automatic support for UDAs. If an assembly has valid UDAs they are displayed in the grid in a separate category. All types of UDAs are supported including text, integers, reals, booleans, references and arrays of those types.

The properties dialog also has full automatic support for USDAs based on the attributes DESC, ASWLOC, ASDEST, ASBUIL and UDAs. This means that if any of these attributes have USDA definitions with a limited set of allowed values, these values are presented in dropdown menus. Sub-typing assemblies based on UDETs and connecting them to customized variants of attributes through USDAs, is a way to put restrictions on attribute values for certain assembly types. The sub-typing based on UDETs also enables for making restrictions in the assembly hierarchy of what type of assembly can be parent/child to other types of assemblies.

The predefined orientation ASORI defines how the assembly should be oriented during the manufacturing activity. The orientation defines the view direction in design to represent a floor plan view of the assembly in workshop. In the properties dialog the value of ASORI is expressed in formatted string via the ASORIS attribute. The format is controlled by a general command: coord XYZ alternatively coord ENU. Any arbitrary orientation can be specified when 'manual' is selected. Legacy data with predefined orientations specified as 'automatic' or 'specific' are no longer in use. These are managed as 'manual'.

Set as Root

If the assembly tree hierarchy is very large this function reduces the tree temporarily. The function Collapse All retains a complete tree.

User Columns Setup

Additional number of columns for the list view can be defined through the Column Setup dialog. This is invoked by using the context sensitive menu in the List view and clicking User Columns Setup...