About Design Tables

A design table provides you with a means to create and manage component families. These components can be for example mechanical parts differing in their parameter values.

This page discusses:

See Also
Generating a File From a Design Table

A design table:

  • Is a tool mainly intended to ease the definition of mechanical parts. It is provided to all users. A design table can be created from a document, the document data is then exported to the design table. It can also be applied to a document, the document data is then imported from the design table.
  • Is designed to drive the parameters of a document from external values. These values are stored in the form of a table either in a Microsoft Excel file on Windows or in a tabulated text file. When using a design table, the trick is to associate the right document parameters with the right table parameters. The design table columns may not all correspond to your document parameters and you may decide to apply only part of the design table values to your document. By creating associations, you declare what document parameters you want to link with what table columns.
  • Becomes a more powerful tool when it is used with Enterprise Knowledge Language (EKL). You are provided with functions to read the design table parameters. These design table functions can be used when programming your checks and rules in Engineering Rules Capture. Using these functions spares you all the association operations.

Design Tables Formats

You can work with different formats.

Notes:
  • Microsoft Excel must be installed on your computer. However you can also use text (.txt) files to create the parameter table.
  • Only Excel sheets created with Excel 97 and subsequent versions up to Excel 2016 are supported.

Excel Sheet Format (under Windows)

The values mentioned in the sheet cells have to be expressed in appropriate units. Otherwise, the right values will not be associated with the document parameters.

If no unit is mentioned within a cell, the unit taken into account is the one mentioned in the first row. If no unit is specified in the first row, the unit taken into account is the relevant SI unit.

Warning:
  • The design table width is determined by analyzing the first row of the Excel sheet. It is necessary to ensure that the first cell (A1) of the Excel sheet is not empty.

  • It is highly recommended that you choose the General format and not the Cells format in Excel. The format you choose in Excel impacts the number semantic. Design tables use the representation of the number as it appears in Excel and not the number itself. So, if you do not want your numbers to be rounded up to the nearest number, we recommend that you use the default options in Excel.



Tabulated Text File Format

Below is an example of a tabulated file format. You can use your favorite text editor to create this design table. Unit rules are the same as for the Excel sheets.



Design Tables Status

When loading models containing design tables linked to an external files (excel file or tabulated text file), the system tries to resolve the links to provide access to these external files.

To ensure this, you need to define different link resolution strategies in Me > Preferences > 3DEXPERIENCE Platform Common Preferences > General > Document tab, Linked Document Localization area. With no strategy defined or improper strategy, the design table is unable to locate the external file. This results in the following behavior:

  • You can add or edit parameters values which are not defined in the table.
  • Every time you modify the parameters, the Knowledge Report warning message appears, insisting you define a strategy under Linked Document Localization.
Note: If you want to be sure that the link is resolved, activate the option Folder of the link in the Linked Document Localization.

Design tables can have different statuses:

Icons Explanation
The design table is copied into the model (Duplicate data in model checked) and the data stored in the model are synchronized with the content of the file.
The design table is copied into the model (Duplicate data in model checked) and the data stored in the model are not synchronized with the content of the file. (The .xls, .xlsx, .xlsm or .txt file was modified outside CATIA.)
The design table is deactivated. The associated parameters are not driven by the design table any longer.
The design table is KO because it cannot be used to valuate the associated parameters (data cannot be accessed because the file is lost or there are 2 columns with the same name).
The filter is not compatible with the current configuration, or if the current configuration value does not correspond to one of the rows of the file.
The document cannot be found because the link to this document is broken.
Note: Checking the synchronization status of the design table is very CPU consuming. The check is therefore delayed by a timer that performs the check twenty seconds after the design table has been loaded.

About the Parameters that Cannot be Inserted into a Design Table

Only parameters which are not already constrained by any other relation or by any other design table can be used to create a design table. If a parameter is already constrained, it does not appear in the Parameters to insert list in the design table dialog box.

Tips about Selecting the Parameters to be Inserted into a Design Table

The Filter Name and Filter Type filters can be used to restrict the display of a parameter list.

If you specify x in the Filter Name box of the Select parameters to insert dialog box, you will display all the parameters with the letter x in their name (xA, xB, xC, xD, xE). If you select the Renamed Parameters from the Filter Type list, you display all the parameters you have renamed in the Formulas Editor (yA, xB, xA, yC, xC, yB, yD, xD, yE, xE, TangE). Parameters to be inserted can be multi-selected. You just have to keep on pressing the Ctrl key when you select parameters. If you do this, the group of multi-selected parameters will be carried forward onto the Inserted parameters list in the order in which they are displayed in the initial list. When the design table is created, the rank of the columns fits the rank of the parameters in the Inserted parameters list. If you want to have columns ordered in a given way in the design table, you must insert the parameters one by one.

Tips about the Access Functions to the Design Table

In the formula (rule or check) editor, select the Design Table item in the dictionary, the list of the methods that can be applied to a design table is displayed.

Select a method, then click F1 to display the associated documentation.

About the Broken Status

When the active configuration does not fit the set of configurations resulting from a query operation, you get a message prompting you to deactivate the filter (uncheck the filter box) or change your configuration. If neither action is undertaken, your design table takes on a broken status. In the tree, a broken or invalid design table appears.

Other Information

Design tables cannot handle Excel files containing translated parameters values of Boolean type (for example Falsch instead of False.)

  • When creating your design table in Excel, select Text in the Format Cells window and not General. This way, your values will not be automatically translated.
  • UTF-8 characters can be used in text files designed to be imported into a resource table. If the design table based on the UTF-8 file is modified, the result is written in UTF-8.
  • Do not use commas as separators in design tables. Only periods are supported.