How to create a User Interface - Part 8

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Tekla Tedds Tekla Tedds for Word

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steel_section_tie_force_design_part_8.doc95 KB

steel_section_tie_force_design_part_7.doc91.5 KB

This is the eighth part of a step-by-step guide showing you how to use the Tedds Interface Designer to create user interfaces for your own custom calculations. In this part, you will start with the user interface created in part 7 and add the calculations to carry out the actual steel tie force design.

This guide is written for Word 2007/2010, some of the steps described may be slightly different if you are using a different version of Word.

Writing the calculations

This series of articles has focused on the techniques required to create a user interface for your own calculations, however what you haven't yet done is actual carry out any design calculations. When you start to write a new calculation it's a good idea to start by creating the user interface before you write any design calculations. Starting with the user interface ensures you focus on the information you need from the user before you start thinking about the complexity of the subsequent calculations. If you start with the right input it's then easier to start writing your design calculations bit-by-bit knowing that you already have all of the input variables you need.

Note: this article is not designed to teach you how to write calculations please refer to the Tedds documentation and other articles for detailed help on writing calculations.

Open the document that contains the completed user interface from part 7.
Move the insertion point after the field that defines the user interface.
Enter the Steel tie force design calculations as below:

Design details
Tie force;T_f = ? kN
Effective length; L_e = ? mm
Section; Name = ?
Section properties; A = ? mm²; r_xx = ? mm r_yy = ? mm

Slenderness check
Min. radius of gyration r_d = min(r_xx,r_yy) = ? mm
Actual slenderness λ = Le / r_d = ?
Slenderness limit λ_L = ?

Stress check
Minimum yield strength F_y = ? N/mm²
Actual stress f_a = T_f / A = ? N/mm²
Stress limit f_y = 0.8 * F_y = ? N/mm²

Re-calculate your document, complete the input in the user interface and then click finish, you should now see the calculations and the results in your document.

Choosing the calculations to perform

The final features of the user interface that you haven't yet implemented are the options that determine whether to include the slenderness and shear checks. To do this you must first save those parts of the calculation to a Calc Library, you can then use the Tedds Calc Item field to calculate the saved item but only if the appropriate option has been selected in the user interface.

Select the heading and calculations for the slenderness check.
Save the selected calculations to your Steel section tie design library and name the item Slenderness check.
Delete the selected text from the document.
Select the heading and calculations for the shear check.
Save the selected calculations to your Steel section tie design library and name the item Shear check.
Delete the selected text from the document.

Now that you've saved your checks to a library you can insert the Tedds fields that will calculate the appropriate item.

Select the Tedds tab on the ribbon and then in the Insert group click Tedds Field.
Select the Calc Item tab.
For the Type select Condition.
For the Condition enter _CheckSlender==1.
For the Calc library browse and select the Steel section tie design library.
For the Yes Calc item enter the item name Slenderness check.
For the No Calc item enter blank.

You should be able to leave the input for the No Calc item blank but there is an overzealous validation check in Tedds 14 that won't allow you to leave this input blank, therefore do the following to work around this.

Select the Tedds tab on the ribbon and in the Show group enable the Show fields option.
In your document you should now see the field code that starts =CSC|CALL EvalLibItem.... At the end of this line of text modify the text "blank" to "".

Repeat the above steps to add a second field to calculate the Shear check by using the appropriate _CheckStress variable and the item Shear check. When you re-calculate the document change the output options for the slenderness and shear checks and you should see your selection reflected in the output of the calculation.

Summary

You've now updated your calculation to include the actual design calculations and you've enhanced the user interface so that the user can choose which checks they want to include. You can find out more about creating your own user interfaces by searching for "Interface Designer" in the Tedds help.