detailcenter express editing frm file block drawing number

ProSteel V8i 1 AUG/09

Copyright © 2009 Bentley Systems, Incorporated

Detailcenter Express Editing FRM file Block drawing number

DOCUMENT OBJECTIVES ........................................................................... 1

PRESETTING FOR THE PROJECT ............................................................. 2Presetting drawing information table ................................................................................ 2Presetting detail express Fill out title block ................................................................... 3

EXPLANATION BLOCK DRAWINGNUMBER .......................................... 3First part names .................................................................................................................... 3Second part variables ........................................................................................................... 4Thrid part drawing type names .......................................................................................... 5

CREATING A NEW FRM FILE ..................................................................... 5

SAMPLES FOR DIFFERENT PURPOSES .................................................... 7Single parts using drawing information table .................................................................. 7Sample single part using object types ................................................................................ 8Sample single part using date ............................................................................................. 9Sample group using object types ....................................................................................... 9

CHECKING FILE NAMES USING REVISION CENTER ........................ 10

NUMBERING OF PAGES .............................................................................. 11

USER VARIABLE ........................................................................................... 12

Document objectives

How to define filename, drawing name and drawing number for groups and single parts. Detailed explanations as well as samples. Prerequisites: Knowledge of Detailcenter express. Especially assigning detail styles and using frames.

AUG/09 2 ProSteel V8i


Presetting for the project

Presetting TITLEBLOCK The second block “TITLEBLOCK” in the FRM file is not part of the explanations in this file. But some settings are necessary to get the wanted results. Out of the first block these three entries should be defined as the following: DrawingName=NAME3 DrawingNumber=DNR DrawingPage=PG On the left hand side, for example the drawing name, will be created automatically (explained later). But to get this information into the target frame you need to have an existing attribute. To check for position and availability of attributes you can open a frame file and the containing block using the block editor. Here a screenshot of the standard frame A3.

Marked are the three attributes we are using for the following samples. Presetting drawing information table The content of the drawing information table can be used for file and drawing name. Here the set of information for the samples in this file. Only the marked Numbers can be used for name declaration. But the rest is usable via the title block.



Presetting detail express Fill out title block Important here are the two upper boxes. Both should be activated. The first is for the use of the drawing information table. If this box is not ticked the next page of the detail express dialog gives the options to create this information directly here but that is not our intention. The second option activates the use of the drawing number block in the FRM file. Forgetting to activate that box, no changes of the FRM file will be taken into account and the output filenames follow every time this code: “Pos33(Object name)”.

Page number is explained here. User variable is explained here.

Explanation block DRAWINGNUMBER

This block is shared into three different parts. First part names DrawingNameTemplate= DrawingNumberTemplate= FileNameTemplate= DrawingNameTemplate= here follows the declaration of the wanted drawing name. This name can be used for the title block and will be displayed in the frame via an attribute as described in the first article. DrawingNumberTemplate= here follows the declaration of the wanted drawing number. It can be anything, not only numbers, so it’s like a second drawing name. It can be used for the title block and will be displayed in the frame via an attribute as described in the first article. FileNameTemplate= here follows the declaration of the file names that will be used for each created drawing.



Second part variables ProjectNumberSymbol=$PN$ JobNumberSymbol=$JN$ DrawingNumberSymbol=$DN$ DrawingPageSymbol=$PG$ DrawingIndexSymbol=$DI$ DwgNumberCodeSymbol=$DC$ PositionNumberSymbol=$SN$ GroupPositionNumberSymbol=$GN$ ObjectNameSymbol=$ON$ ObjectTypeSymbol=$OT$ YearSymbol=$YT$ MonthSymbol=$MT$ DaySymbol=$DT$ DrawingTypeSymbol=$DS$ UserVarSymbol=$US$ The variables can be defined as anything, even a single letter. But the $ in front and back makes it easier to put variables and text into one declaration. This block will be the same for all samples, so you can just copy it into your FRM file. Now what does each of them means. ProjectNumberSymbol/JobNumberSymbol/DrawingNumberSymbol/ - This information will be read from the drawing information table. (See there) DrawingPageSymbol - is explained here. DrawingIndexSymbol – not in use yet. DwgNumberCodeSymbol – this information will be read from the frame definition in the FRM file as shown below.

PositionNumberSymbol/GroupPositionNumberSymbol/ObjectNameSymbol/– This information will be based on the single part or group information. YearSymbol/MonthSymbol/DaySymbol – date information read from your system. ObjectTypeSymbol /DrawingTypeSymbol – this information will be read from the next block. It is about the part type such as single part, main part or group and object type such as baseplate, beam or stiffener. UserVarSymbol – is explained here.



Thrid part drawing type names

DefaultObjectType=Object ColumnObjectType=Column BeamObjectType=Beam StiffenerObjectType=Stiffener WebAngleObjectType=Webangle StandardPlateObjectType=Plate ConnectionPlateObjectType=Plate BasePlateObjectType=Baseplate MainPartDrawingType=Mainpart SubPartDrawingType=Subpart GroupDrawingType=Group SubGroupMainPartDrawingType=SG_Mainpart SubGroupSubPartDrawingType=SG_Subpart SubGroupDrawingType=Subgroup SinglePartDrawingType=Singlepart OverviewDrawingType=View AssemblyDrawingType=Assembly This information will be used for the variable ObjectTypeSymbol and DrawingTypeSymbol from the second block. You are free to choose any names or abbreviators. You will find a sample here.

Creating a new FRM file

The FRM file is loaded on the page “Single Sheet output”.



Opening the button to choose the FRM file, a dialog opens and the standard file “pro_st3d.frm” should be available. Copy the file and give it a new name “pro_st3d_single_parts.frm”.

Next step is to open the file via the context menu – edit, and overwrite the DRAWINGNUMBER block with the one below. [DRAWINGNUMBER] DrawingNameTemplate= DrawingNumberTemplate= FileNameTemplate= ProjectNumberSymbol=$PN$ JobNumberSymbol=$JN$ DrawingNumberSymbol=$DN$ DrawingPageSymbol=$PG$ DrawingIndexSymbol=$DI$ DwgNumberCodeSymbol=$DC$ PositionNumberSymbol=$SN$ GroupPositionNumberSymbol=$GN$ ObjectNameSymbol=$ON$ ObjectTypeSymbol=$OT$ YearSymbol=$YT$ MonthSymbol=$MT$ DaySymbol=$DT$ DrawingTypeSymbol=$DS$ UserVarSymbol=$US$ DefaultObjectType=Object ColumnObjectType=Column BeamObjectType=Beam StiffenerObjectType=Stiffener WebAngleObjectType=Webangle StandardPlateObjectType=Plate ConnectionPlateObjectType=Plate BasePlateObjectType=Baseplate MainPartDrawingType=Mainpart SubPartDrawingType=Subpart GroupDrawingType=Group SubGroupMainPartDrawingType=SG_Mainpart SubGroupSubPartDrawingType=SG_Subpart SubGroupDrawingType=Subgroup SinglePartDrawingType=Singlepart OverviewDrawingType=View AssemblyDrawingType=Assembly



For all following samples you need only to change the first three lines of the DRAWINGNUMBER block. You can use as many different FRM files as you like. It is at least recommended to have one file preset for single parts and another one for groups.

Samples for different purposes

Single parts using drawing information table

Change the first three lines of the DRAWINGNUMBER block using this sample: DrawingNameTemplate=$DN$-$PG$ DrawingNumberTemplate=POS$SN$ FileNameTemplate=P$PN$-J$JN$_POS_$SN$ Opening one of the created drawings, you should find the result shown below.

Checking the list of variables you will find that the drawing name is a combination of drawing number and page number; the drawing number contains of the text POS plus the position number. And the file name as following: P (short for project number) then the project number –J (short for job number) then the actual job number and then POS and the actual position number. You can combine any text (except restrictions by Windows) with any variable. List of created single part drawings: To get to this list see “checking file names using revision center”.



Sample single part using object types

Change the first three lines of the DRAWINGNUMBER block using this sample: DrawingNameTemplate=$DS$-$ON$ DrawingNumberTemplate=POS$SN$ FileNameTemplate=$OT$-POS_$SN$ Opening one of the created drawings, you should find the result shown below.

Checking the list of variables you will find that the drawing name is a combination of drawing type and object name; the drawing number contains only of the text POS plus the position number. And the file name is a combination of object type plus text POS plus position number. List of created single part drawings:



Sample single part using date

Change the first three lines of the DRAWINGNUMBER block using this sample: DrawingNameTemplate=$DS$-$ON$ DrawingNumberTemplate=POS$SN$ FileNameTemplate=$DT$.$MT$.$YT$-POS_$SN$ Compared to the last sample, only the file name declaration has been changed. The result is a file name that starts with the date and ends with the part position number.

Sample group using object types As the syntax for groups is almost the same as for single parts here only one more sample. Please note that the variable for the group position number is different to the one for single parts. So as mentioned earlier you should use a second FRM file for creating group drawings. Change the first three lines of the DRAWINGNUMBER block using this sample: DrawingNameTemplate=$DS$-$ON$ DrawingNumberTemplate=POS$GN$ FileNameTemplate=$OT$-POS_GR$GN$ Opening one of the created drawings, you should find the result shown below.



Checking the list of variables you will find that the drawing name is a combination of drawing type and object name; the drawing number contains only of the text POS plus the group position number. And the file name is a combination of object type plus text POS_GR plus group position number. List of created group drawings:

Checking file names using revision center

Since V8i the new feature Revision Center has been integrated. You can directly open it from the Detail Center as shown below.



The first time opening the Revision Center all to the main drawing related documents will be shown in one list. To change that, the two options “With Pre-sort” and “No empty Folder” within the Settings for display should be activated.

Numbering of pages The starting number has to be defined in Detail Center Express on the page “Fill out title block”. This example starts with 1:

The automatically created page number is available for the name declarations via the variable DrawingPageSymbol=$PG$.



User variable

This is a simple way to have information put into the name declaration (that could be change depending on the task or project) without changing the FRM file each time. First the name declaration, here a sample for the file name, should consist of the variable UserVarSymbol=$US$. For example: FileNameTemplate=$US$-$DT$.$MT$.$YT$-POS_$SN$ Then the user variable needs to be defined in Detail Center Express on the page “Fill out title block”.

This way the user variable will be at the start of the file name and could be changed every time before creating a new set of drawings.

All together editing the FRM file can be a powerful tool that has a lot of options for a lot of different name declarations.

detailcenter express editing frm file block drawing number

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