Configuration

Here you select the source of the variant file. Default setting is via file system. If HELiOS is active, you have two additional selection options, with DB, via document master, and with DB, via part master.

This field displays the current working language. Click the icon to open the Select language dialogue window. Here you can select your working language.

The Select language dialogue window

Please note:

The assigned language will only be saved together with the variant if the Designation field is not empty. For each further language, the pre-setting <text_input_n> will be entered (n is an internal ID referring to the index of the text). You can simply overwrite this entry, so that a corresponding can be entered.

An example: You load a variant. In the Languagefield, a language ID is displayed, but the Designation field is empty. If you want to add further languages and save this assignment together with the variant, you need to fill in the Language field for at least one language. If required, the designation <text_input> will then be assigned to the other languages.

Here you can switch between the two fields of industry, Standard Plant Engineering and Air ducts.

The third, option is meant for non-Plant Engineering variants and do not contain any part type- and industry-relevant information. For these variants, the buttons for part type, article number and constant attributes will be inactive, as these data will be industry-dependent.

When creating and editing variants in Plant Engineering, please only use the industries Standard Plant Engineering and Air ducts.

Here you select, for structured variants, the variables group that you want to load into the table for editing. The selection options depend on the structure description of the base variant belonging to the current variant. These definitions are contained in the base variant description file.

This field displays the name of the currently loaded variant (this field is locked against entries for base variants!). When you derive a new variant, the name is initially "Unnamed". You can simply overwrite this entry with the desired name.

This field indicates the type of the current variant:

• HiCAD variant in case of a simple variant
• Derived from <Name of base variant> in case of a structured variant which is no base variant,
• Base variant in case of a base variant.

The part type within the selected industry can be selected with a click on the button.

Constant attributes that are preset for the part type and are to apply to all data records can be edited. Click the button to display a list of these constant attributes.

Attribute assignment

If any lists with suggested value lists, or selection lists exist for the displayed attributes, the corresponding values can be chosen from a selection box. Please note however that this is only possible if the Variant Editor can access HELiOS.

The fields for article number and variables are locked here. These will be edited separately via the button or the Variables +Attribute button, respectively.

Please note:

If you want further attributes to be displayed in the Attribute assignment dialogue window, you can achieve this by expanding the corresponding file

nnnnnnn.CatSearchAtt.txt

in the PlantParts\CatSearch of your HiCAD installation. nnnnnnn stands for the Part type ID.

For example, if you want the attribute ZUBEHOERSATZ (=Accessory set) for flanges (Part type ID 5100010) to be also displayed in the Attribute assignment dialogue window, you need to expand the file 5100010.CatSearchAtt.txt accordingly, i.e. add the entry

D:ZUBEHOERSATZ

The result will look as follows:

An overview of the Part type IDs can be found in the anbtlken*.DAT files in the HiCAD Sys directory.

Changes to the CATSEARCHATT files should only be made by experienced users. In particular, these files must not contain any blank lines!

Taking over attributes for all languages

When you change attribute assignments via the A button and then click OK without having adjusted the attribute in all languages, the following message will be displayed:

If you choose Yes, the attribute from the first language, in which it has a value, will be transferred to the corresponding fields of the other language; otherwise, the current content of the field will remain unchanged.

If you choose No, the text <text_input> will be entered in the corresponding fields of the other languages.

This field is used for the definition of the constant attribute BENENNUNG (=DESIGNATION).

The article number can be configured via the button .

This button enables the configuration of the attribute value for the Article number attribute. (when performing a part data synchronisation with the HELiOS Database, the content of this attribute will be assigned to the HELiOS part attribute BESTELLVERMERK (=ORDER_NOTE).

Article number configuration

When you click the Select attribute button in the Article number configuration dialogue window (appears after clicking the button), a list of the following attributes will be offered for selection:

• Attributes that have been assigned in the Variables + Attributes dialogue, and
• constant attributes, i.e. Designation and attributes displayed at the click of the button.

If you double-click a row or mark the row with a left-click and select OK, the corresponding attribute name will be inserted in <> brackets at the current cursor position in the input field of the Article number configuration dialogue. The name is the placeholder for the actual attribute value.

If you click Save (or press CTRL+S), the content of the input field will be saved as an article number configuration to a file, provided that this sequence of characters does not exist yet.For each part type, a corresponding file exists in the subdirectory PlantParts\CatSearch, e.g. 1010011.DesignationConfig.txt.

You can select yet another of the article number configurations that are saved for the current article number configurations. Click Load (or press CTRL+L) ,then double-click a row or mark the row with a left-click and select OK. The corresponding configuration is then entered in the input field.

When you then click Apply, you will be asked whether you want to save the article number configuration entered in the input field, if it has not been saved yet.

If you now click the button for constant attributes, you will see that the article number configuration that you have just applied has been entered in the list. The corresponding input field is now greyed out.