List Elements

Lists are a temporary collection of elements on which operations can be performed that affect all the members of the list. Lists only last for the duration of Design session unless Forms & Display are saved.

The current list is displayed on a pull-down on the Default toolbar:

If there is no current list defined the pull-down will display No list. The pull-down also lets you select the current list if more than one list has been defined in the current session.

1. To display the Lists/Collections form, do one of the following:

   • Select Utilities > Lists from the main menu .

   • Click the Create/Modify Lists icon from the Default toolbar.

   

2. The first step is to create a list by selecting Add > List from the form menu bar.

   A Create List form is displayed that allows you to give a Description to the list. The Description of the list will appear in the List pull-down on the form.

3. Elements may be added to the list by using the Add menu on the form.

   

The Add menu allows you to select members to add to the list. The options are

One or more element types, for example SCTN, PANE, may be entered in the Selection text box to filter the elements you wish to add to the list.

The selection may be further refined by adding a valid PML expression to the with Rule text box.

Examples of with Rule might be.

• SPREF EQ /DIN-SPEC/HE300A will add all HE300A sections in the selection source to the list.

• GTYP NE ‘ANG’ will add all SCTN elements whose Gtype is not equal to ANG in the selection source to the list.

The source of the selection is made by clicking one of the following radio buttons:

The selection may also be made by specifying a volume, either explicitly or with a 3D cursor, and selecting whether part of or the entire element is within the volume by checking the appropriate check box.

Whatever method is chosen to select the items to add to the list, the selected items will appear in the main window of the Lists / Collections form.

The format of the displayed list is controlled by the Format pull-down. The list may be displayed as element Name only, Description only or Name + Desc.

The elements in the list may be highlighted in the graphical view by checking the Highlight check box at the top of the form.

Commands may be directly applied to the list by entering valid syntax in the text box at the bottom of the form and clicking the Action option. It is recommended that you use this option only if you have a good understanding of syntax, otherwise use the list in conjunction with the appware. Examples of entries in the Action text box might be

BY X 600 will move each element in the list by 600mm.

SPREF /DIN-SPEC/HE200A will change the Specification Reference of all SCTN elements in the list to /DIN-SPEC/HE200A.

The contents of the list may be manipulated by removing elements from it. Selecting Remove from the Lists/Collections form menu bar gives you the same options as the Add menu described previously, with the following additions:

Choosing the Selection option from the menu displays the Remove from List form that operates in the same way as the Add to List form described previously.

List may be used where element selection is available on the appware forms, usually via an options box. For example, the Position By form, allows you to select a List as an option to apply the repositioning to.

The entered distances would be applied to all members of the current list, which is selected from the Lists pull-down box on the main toolbar.