Context Sensitive Menu Functions

The context sensitive menus in assembly tree and list view contain functions that operate on the assembly structure. The number of items displayed depends on which node type is selected in the assembly hierarchy. The full list displayed at assembly level is shown below.

It is possible to further customize the menu by appending user developed functions to the AssemblyPlanningAddin.uic file.

Report - Hull Material Summary

This report lists the contents of an assembly in terms of Hull elements only. This is a PML developed form meant for further enhancements and customizations and can be invoked from command line too, by

show !!hullreport

Report - Parts List

This reports the data about an assembly plus a full listing of all parts. There are four different options to select the scope of the report.

• Produce a report of the parts that are only owned by the current assembly.

• Produce a report on all of the parts that are included in this assembly including any assemblies below.

• Produce a report on the parts that are owned by this and all of the assemblies below. A separate report is created for each assembly.

• Produce a report on all of the parts that are included in this assembly including any assemblies below, for this assembly and all of the assemblies below. A separate report is created for each assembly.

The same type of report as can be produced during the creation of automatic assembly drawings. Refer to Assembly Parts List for further information. This is a PML developed form meant for further enhancements and customizations and can be invoked from command line too, by

show !!assypartsreport

Weld

Refer to Weld Planning for further information.

Cut/Copy/Paste

User 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.

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 collect design parts will be dissolved. If design part is selected, remove means the part will be decollected 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.

Copy Hull Symmetrical Parts

An ordinary copy operation excludes elements collected to the assembly structure. This special function considers hull parts that are symmetrical and assign the corresponding replica of a symmetrical part to the copied assembly structure.

Collect/Decollect Parts to/from Assembly

Beside the Collect graphical selection below, the way to populate the assembly structure by design part elements is through drag & drop of parts from Design 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 decollected by the Remove function.

A design part cannot belong to more than one assembly. If it is already collected to another assembly the user is 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 Search addin 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.

Set Current Element

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

Verify Naming

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

Make Selection

The operation creates a graphical selection in 3D view from a selection set of items in 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 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.

Make Hierarchy Selection

This function works in the same way as function Make Selection above, but design parts are taken from all sub-assemblies in the hierarchy below the selected assembly.

Collect Graphical Selection

The design part graphically selected in 3D view will be collected to the target assembly. Beside the Collect graphical selection, 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 assembly structure through drag & drop and cut & paste operations within the assembly tree. Design parts are extracted 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 ability 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, see Lexicon).

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 limited set of allowed values, these values are presented in dropdown menus. By 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 defines how the assembly should be oriented during the manufacturing activity. The orientation will determine the view direction in the automatic assembly drawing generation. When the Orientation is set to Specific or Automatic, a base panel must be appointed. For Specific the base panel is selected by the user. For Automatic the base panel is selected as the one with largest area and turned on floor plan with majority parts on upper side. With material on underside, change the material side property accordingly.

Through the assembly properties dialog, when the predefined orientation is set to Specific Panel, it is possible to select among not only planar hull panels but also curved hull panels. However for curved hull panels it is presumed that support jig calculations are made in beforehand. The orientation of the selected hull panel is assigned as the orientation of the assembly.

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...