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Customize the profile catalog

Tekla Structures
Modified: 28 Dec 2022
2023
Tekla Structures

Customize the profile catalog

The profile catalog contains information about profiles, their rules and types, and the analysis and design properties of the profiles. Profiles are shown in a hierarchical tree grouped according to the rules.

By default, the profile catalog contains standard, environment-specific profiles and generic parametric profiles. You can add, modify, import, export, and delete profiles.

You can define your own user-defined profiles, which can be either fixed or parametric. Use the profile catalog to create new fixed profiles, either from scratch or by copying an existing one. Use the sketch editor or .clb files to create new parametric profiles.

Tekla Structures stores the profile catalog information in the profdb.bin file.

Important buttons in the profile catalog

When you work with the profiles, note the usage of the following buttons in the Modify Profile Catalog dialog box:

Button

Description

Saves the changes of a single edited profile to the computer’s memory until you click OK.

Saves the changes in the model folder.

Tekla Structures saves the modified catalog on the hard disk when you click OK to close the dialog box and then click OK in the Save confirmation dialog box.

Closes the Modify Profile Catalog dialog box without saving the changes.

Note that all changes made to the catalog will be lost even if you have clicked Update, because the changes have not been saved on the hard disk. The changes made to the catalog are visible during one session, because the catalog is using the computer’s memory. When you start Tekla Structures the next time, the previous data is restored from the hard disk.

Tekla Structures stores the information of fixed profiles in the profdb.bin file. When you first open a model, Tekla Structures reads the data from the hard disk and stores it in the computer’s memory.

When you select a profile, Tekla Structures reads the data from the computer’s memory and displays it in the Modify Profile Catalog dialog box. This is faster than accessing the data from the hard disk.

How profiles are grouped together

In the profile catalog, the profiles are displayed in a hierarchical tree and they are grouped according to rules , such as the profile type (for example, I profiles) and the profile subtype (for example, HEA). To change how the profiles are grouped in the profile tree, you need to modify the rules.

The order in which you create the rules does not matter, only the location of the rules in the profile tree.

Tekla Structures reads the rules from top to bottom in the profile tree. Profiles are in the highest group where they meet the criteria defined in the rule. For example, a rule that collects All profiles overrides all rules that are below it in the profile tree.

Add a rule to the profile catalog

  1. On the File menu, click Catalogs > Profile catalog to open the Modify Profile Catalog dialog box.
  2. Right-click any existing rule and select Add Rule.
    Tip:

    You can add a next level rule that creates a subgroup under an existing rule. Use the Add Next Level Rule command to add the next level rule.

    The Profile manager rules dialog box appears.

  3. Define the rule properties.
    1. Enter a rule name in the Rule name box.
    2. Select the Profile type to which the rule is applied.
    3. Enter the Name filter string that defines the new rule.

      By default, the wildcard symbol (*) is entered, meaning “all entries”.

      For example, to group all catalog entries with names beginning with A, enter A* in the Name filter string box, or to group all catalog entries with names containing 100, enter *100*. Tekla Structures groups the catalog entries that meet your criteria under the new rule.

  4. Click OK to close the Profile manager rules dialog box.
  5. Click OK to close the Modify Profile Catalog dialog box.
  6. Click OK in the Save confirmation dialog box to save the changes.

Modify a rule in the profile catalog

Profiles in the profile tree are listed in an alphabetical order, and rules are listed in the order you specify. To change the order in which the rules appear, use the Move up and Move down commands.

Tip:

If you want to delete a rule, right-click an existing rule and select Delete Rule.

  1. On the File menu, click Catalogs > Profile catalog to open the Modify Profile Catalog dialog box.
  2. Right-click any existing rule and select Edit Rule.

    The Profile manager rules dialog box appears.

  3. Modify the rule properties.
  4. Click OK to close the Profile manager rules dialog box.
  5. Click OK to close the Modify Profile Catalog dialog box.
  6. Click OK in the Save confirmation dialog box to save the changes.

See also

Add user attributes to profiles

You can add your own attributes to profiles. For example, you can specify paint layer thickness, define the maximum grain size of concrete, sort out different profile types by material, or create profile aliases for converting between imperial and metric profiles.

  1. On the File menu, click Catalogs > Profile catalog to open the Modify Profile Catalog dialog box.
  2. On the User attributes tab, click Definitions.

    The Modify Profile Properties dialog box appears.

  3. Click Add to add a new row.
  4. To define a user attribute, click each item on a row.
    1. In the Profile type list, select a profile type to which the user attribute is applied.
    2. In the Quantity type list, select the type of information that the user attribute contains, for example, weight, area, ratio, or string.
    3. In the Order list, define the order in which the user attributes are shown in the dialog box. Larger values are shown first.
    4. In the Property name list, define a name for the property.

      The name is saved in the catalog and can be used in reports and templates. When Property name is used in a template, PROFILE.PROPERTY_NAME indicates where the property name appears. For example, PAINT_LAYER_THICKNESS.

    5. In the Symbol column, define an abbreviation that can be used for the property, such as Ix or ct.
    6. In the Label column, define a label for the attribute.
  5. Click Update.
  6. Click OK to close the Modify Profile Properties dialog box.

Example: Add a user attribute to a profile and use it in a rule

You can add your own attributes and their values to profiles. The user attributes can then be used, for example, in profile filtering.

This example shows how to add a user attribute for the rule for I profiles.

  1. On the File menu, click Catalogs > Profile catalog to open the Modify Profile Catalog dialog box.

  2. On the User attributes tab, click Definitions.

    The Modify Profile Properties dialog box appears.

  3. Click Add to add a new row, then select the row and modify the properties as follows:

    • Set Profile type to I profiles.

    • Set Quantity type to String.

    • Set Property name to HISTORICAL_PROFILE.

    • Set Symbol to Hist.

    • Set Label to Historical profile.

  4. Click Update, then click OK.

  5. In the profile tree, select I profiles, then select HEA.

  6. Right-click and select Add Next Level Rule.

  7. In the Profile manager rules dialog box, set the rule properties as follows:

    • Set Rule name to Historical profiles.

    • In Profile type, clear the All profiles check box and select the I profiles check box.

    • Enter HEA* in the Name filter string box.

    • Set User attribute to HISTORICAL_PROFILE and Equals, and enter Yes in the box next to the two other boxes.

  8. Click OK.

    Historical profiles appears in the profile tree.

  9. Select the required historical profile, such as HEA120, in the profile tree.

  10. On the User attributes tab, and change the Value field for Historical profile to Yes.

  11. Click Update.

  12. Click OK to close the Modify Profile Catalog dialog box.

  13. Click OK in the Save confirmation dialog box to save the changes.

The next time that you open the profile catalog, the profiles appear under Historical profiles in the profile tree.

Associate profile types with a certain material

You can define which profiles are available for steel parts, concrete parts, or both. The associated profile type affects which profile types are shown in the Select Profile dialog box when you change the material of a part.

  1. On the File menu, click Catalogs > Profile catalog to open the Modify Profile Catalog dialog box.
  2. Select a profile type, for example, L profiles.
  3. To associate the profiles with steel, right-click and select Material > Steel.

    A check mark next to Steel indicates that the profiles are available for steel parts.

  4. To also make the selected profiles available for concrete parts, right-click and select Material > Concrete.

    If needed, you can remove the check mark by clicking the material again.

  5. Click OK to close the Modify Profile Catalog dialog box.
  6. Click OK in the Save confirmation dialog box to save the changes.

See also

Delete a profile from the profile catalog

  1. On the File menu, click Catalogs > Profile catalog to open the Modify Profile Catalog dialog box.
  2. Select the profile that you want to delete.
  3. Right-click and select Delete Profile.
  4. Click OK to close the Modify Profile Catalog dialog box.
  5. Click OK in the Save confirmation dialog box to save the changes.

Tekla Structures continues to show parts that use the deleted profiles in model views until you modify the parts or reopen the model. After that, parts that have profiles that are not available in the profile catalog, are shown as sticks without a profile.

If the deleted profile used a custom cross-section definition, delete it separately to remove the cross-section from your model.

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