How to add "reference calculation" columns in design tables?

Hello

I have created a design table and want to add columns within the table
that DO NOT drive any dimensions but are there as "reference" numbers
to assist any user editing the design table.


eg. a calculated column that tells the user what the maximum dimension

can be for the dimension referenced by the dimension driving cell next
to it.


I think I can recall doing something like this in the past and perhaps
used some syntax that used the term "statement".


Thanks in advance.


Bullman

 

The column you're looking for is $COMMENT

Ken

 

Ah yes it would be Thanks.

Just an extension from this, can I somehow assign a column to the
design table that points to a DRIVEN reference dimension so that it
auto-updates and is used to calculate some other value?

eg. In a very siple case, you may have a sketch with a rectangular
profile defined by the driving dimensions H (height) and W (width), and
a reference driven dimension across the diagnol D. I want the depth of
the extrusion to always be equal to the reference dimension D.

NOTE: in this simple instance the reference dimension can be easily
calculated anyways, but my question is more relevant to driven
dimensions derived from complex geometries.

If you simply just click on a driven dimension it does insert itself in
the design table but it doesn't auto-update at all. Is there some other
workaround for this?

Cheers

Bullman

 

It's been a while since I messed with Design Tables, but I don't
remember ever finding a way to insert a column linked to a driven
dimension. I always added an additional column and repeated the
calculation (same as you stated).

Ken

 

OK. I can understand there would be a limitiation.

Just back on my original question, I understand that you use the
"$comment" notation to create a reference/comment column. However, is
there anything I can do to make the comment column heading more
descriptive of what information that comment column holds as the title
"$comment" doesn't really tell you anything of what information is
being displayed in the cells below?

I thought that "$comment@wxyz" notation wouold allow you to "describe"
the comment column but this doesn't work. My only other work around is
to use the Excel Insert Comment function to tag the "$comment" cell.

Cheers

Bull

 

Bull,
You can add a row under your statement row and dimension names to add a
header row, something like this:

Row 1 - Design Table for: XXX
Row 2 - 'blank' $d1@sketch1 $d2@sketch1 $comment
Row 3 - 'blank' Width Length Heading
Row 4 - First Instance 0.250 1.000 2.000 Max
You can then hide Row 2 and only see the headings.

Hope this helps.

 

And you can add a driven dimension to a design table. Just make sure
that the "allow model updates to update design table" option is
selected when creating the design table. This can be a little strange
and you may need to rebuild each configuration for this to work.

 

Yeah thanks it does....but for some reason not in all the cases I have
tried. In the one case I do want it to work I get the error message
"No valid design table instances found" when I exit out of the design
table. This occurs if I simply insert a new blank row (Row 3 in your
example) below Row 2.

I just can't work out why I am getting this error in some design tables
I try it on while in others it works OK. :-/

 

OK...following on from my last post...I have found a comprimised work
around...if I instead add the "descriptive" row below the last
configuration row entry in the design table, then I found SW seems to
have no problem with the particular assembly I am working with. If I
instead try and insert it directly below Row 2 (in your example) then I
get the error meassage when I exit. This seems very wierd and I am
curious as to what is going on here.

Thanks this does work, however in my case, where I have a design table
relating to an assembly that has several reference dimensions
(annotations) of interest that vary depending on the assembly
configuration, there is a problem. I find that if you add a column
relating to a referenced/driven assembly dimension (eg
RD17@Annotations) SW will NOT correctly fill in what that dimension is
for each of the configuration instances listed in the design table. It
will only use and fill in for all instances in your table, the value of
that dimension that it saw teh last time the assembly was
opened/rebuilt. Seems that listing/using reference dimensions in
design tables are no good if the reference dimesnion changes for each
configuration.