Example: Calculate and report areas based on object type and project status in Organizer

Tekla Structures
2021
Tekla Structures

Example: Calculate and report areas based on object type and project status in Organizer

In this example, you will create property categories based on the project status. During the project you will move the objects between the categories to reflect the current status of the objects. You will also create property categories to report the area calculations for the selected object groups.

You will combine the properties that the project status and area calculation property categories add to the objects. The report will not show any values for the areas of the objects that are early in the delivery chain, but it shows object type-specific areas for the rest of the objects that are in the later phases in the delivery chain.

To report area values, you will set up two conditions for special area reporting:

  • Do not show the area of the objects if the project status is Approved for production, but show the area if the project status is something else.
  • Calculate the area based on a predefined categorization of the objects.

  1. To open Organizer, click Manage on the ribbon and then click Organizer.
  2. Set up the rules for project status.

    First create property categories to define the project statuses of the objects. Then create a property that you will add to these categories to define whether certain report fields get values.

    1. Create a property category for the project statuses.

      Add all model objects, or a smaller set of objects, to the root-level category, and then create subcategories according to the project statuses.

      You can use object or assembly type of categories according to your needs. To use assemblies, select the Include the highest assembly level in the model option in the category properties.

    2. Create a property for the calculations.

      Open the Settings dialog box in Organizer,

      and create the property using the following settings:

      • Name: Quantity_output
      • Property: Quantity_output
      • Unit type: No unit
      • Data type: Number without decimals
      • Property type: UDA

    3. Add the created property to the Project status categories to write the values to the model objects. You can then use the values in further calculations.
      • Add the Quantity_output property in the category properties of the root-level Project status category.

        Search for the property in Object properties, select it, and click Modify.

      • Add a value of the property in the category properties of each lowest-level subcategory.

        In the Value box, add value 0 where you do not want to have any output, and add 1 where you want to have output. You have to set the value in each lowest-level subcategory.

  3. Set up the rules for area calculation.

    First you will create property categories to define the group of objects that need different area calculations. Then you will create formulas for the area calculations, and finally you will add the formulas to the corresponding categories to write the formula results to the model objects.

    1. Create a property category for area calculations.

      Add to the category the same model objects that you have added to the Project status category. Create subcategories according to the area calculation types. Use the same type of category, object or assembly , as in the Project status category.

    2. Create a property to report the calculated areas.

      Open the Settings dialog box in Organizer,

      and create the property using the following settings:

      • Name: Area_calculated
      • Property: Area_calculated
      • Unit type: Area
      • Data type: Number with decimals
      • Property type: UDA

      Add the property to the property template you are using to show it as a column in Object Browser, and click Modify.

    3. Create separate formulas for all the different area calculations.

      If you do not need special calculations for every object type, you also need to create a simple formula using the default area property of the objects.

    4. Add the Area_calculated property and the formulas to the category properties of the Area definition categories to write the values to the model objects.
      • Add the property in the category properties of the root-level Area definition category.

        Search for the property in the Object properties, select it, and click Modify.

      • Add a value to the property in the category properties of each lowest-level subcategory.
        • Type: Formula
        • Value: Select a formula you previously created.

  4. Add the area calculations to the Project status categories.

    Create a formula that uses the Area_calculated property written to the objects from the Area definition categories, and the Quantity_output property written to the objects from the Project status categories.

    Add the new formula to the property template you are using to show it as a column in Object Browser, and click Modify.

    The formula calculates a property value that is shown in the Area_for_project_status column in Object Browser. If the Quantity_output in the formula is 1, a property value is shown in Object Browser. If Quantity_output is 0, Organizer does not add a value to the object property. When the Quantity_output value is 0, the Area_for_project_status formula equals Area_calculated/0.

  5. Synchronize Organizer to calculate the new UDA values and write them to the model objects.

    You can either synchronize Organizer, or only the property category tree.

  6. View the report in Object Browser.

    In the image below, the five objects selected in Object Browser have the area values calculated based on the definition in the Structural area category.

    In the Approved for production category, the objects have no area values in the Area_for_project_status column, so the total sum is 0.

    Note:

    To show the categories as groups, select the Separate categories option on the Object Browser menu.

    The UDAs added by Organizer are also shown in the Inquire object dialog box.

Was this helpful?
Previous
Next