T-FLEX Parametric CAD. Fundamentals. 2D Design

Fundamentals. Two-Dimensional Design
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All standard templates of the T-FLEX CAD documents already contain a list of hidden variables providing
automatic cross-reference between the fields of the drawing format (the title block) and the BOM data. In
other words, the textual strings of these variables are substituted in both the appropriate title block fields and
the respective entries of the BOM data.
Used and used variables
In order that the value of the variable could affect the structure of the drawing (or 3D model) of the given
document, it is not sufficient just to create this variable in the T-FLEX CAD document. The given variable
has to specify a characteristic of the elements of the drawing or 3D model: location of a line or a node, the
radius of a circle, the level of visibility of the image line or 3D bodies, etc.
The variables the values of which take part in specifying characteristics of other elements will be further
called used. Also, the variable is considered to be used, when its value is used for evaluating the value of
another variable.
Consequently, the variables the values of which are not used anywhere on the drawing or in the 3D model
and also upon calculation of the values of other variables are considered to be unused. Such variables, being
equal variables of the T-FLEX CAD document, do not have any influence on its content.
Work in Variables Editor
Window of Variables Editor
The work with the editor can be carried out in two ways. The first way – the work in the main window of the
variables editor, called with the help of the command “V: Edit variables”. The dialog box of the given
window enables to use the entire functionality of the variables editor and possesses a convenient interface.
However, all changes made in the given window will be applied to the model only after closing the window
of the dialog box.
The second way – is to use a special service window of the system – the window “Variables”. This window
offers more limited interface to a user, but it enables to work with the variables in the transparent mode.
In this chapter the description of work with the variables editor will be further presented by taking the
standard window of the variables editor as an example. However, the same operations can be performed in
the window “Variables”. The work with the window “Variables” will be discussed in the section “Working
with variables editor in transparent mode” in a more detailed manner.
To call the main window of the variables editor, the command “V: Edit variables” is used:
Keyboard Textual menu Icon
«Parameters|Variables»
The window of the variables editor contains the list of all variables of the current T-FLEX CAD document
no matter in what way they were created (recall that the new variables can be created not only in the
variables editor). Upon calling this command, the window of the variables editor will be empty if no single
variable has been created in the document.
In the editor window, the variables list is displayed as a table, the form of which can be freely edited by a
user. It is possible to modify the number and content of the displayed columns, the parameters for grouping
and sorting the rows of the table, parameters of the grid of the table.
The variables editor has its own textual menu and the toolbar containing the main commands for working
with the variables.