A Design Table:
ExampleYou can practice with screws which are a good example of mechanical parts that can be described by a design table. To simplify, imagine they are all described by four parameters: the head width, the head height, the body width and the body height. The sets of four parameter values that can be assigned to a screw can be easily regrouped in a design table. This design table has as many columns as screw parameters and as many rows as sets of parameter values. In a design table, a set of parameter values is called a configuration and it is registered in a row. Note:
Design Tables FormatsYou can work with different formats. Excel Sheet Format (under Windows)The values mentioned in the sheet cells have to be expressed in appropriate units. Otherwise, the right values won't be associated with the document parameters. If no unit is mentioned within a cell:
Here is an example of an Excel sheet: Tabulated Text File FormatHere is an example of a tabulated file format. You can use your favorite text editor to create this design table. Use the Tab key to skip from one column to the other. Unit rules are the same as for the Excel sheets.
Note: Under UNIX, it is possible to change the default design table editor. To do so, type: export CATTextEditorDT=... (indicate the path of the editor.) Design Tables StatusWhen loading CATIA document containing design table linked to an external file (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 Tools > Options > General > Document
tab, Linked Document Localization area. For more information
on this setting, see CATIA Infrastructure's User Guide: Customizing: Document. With no strategy defined or improper
strategy, the design table is unable to locate the external file. This results in the following behavior:
Note: If you want to be sure that the link will be resolved, activate the option Folder of the link in the Linked Document Localization. Design tables can have different statuses:
Other InformationDesign 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. |