List manager

Not version-specific

Tekla Structures

Environment

Not environment-specific

The List manager is a generic application for managing objects that enables you to keep track of the parts in your model. You can list objects from filters, drawings, or manual selection, and create reports of them.

The tool is designed to detect changes in the number of model objects in the lists, and provides a good solution as an issuing & reporting tool.

The List manager can be found on the Tekla Warehouse.

Tool logic

Most objects in the list are arranged according to their position or pour number.
The bolt grouping is based on the bolt name instead of their position number.
Changes that are shown in the lists reflect the quantity of the position numbers, and pour numbers and bolt names. This means that, when you delete multiple assemblies but you add the same assembly afterward somewhere else in the model, List manager detects this difference as a change.

Online and offline usage

If the Tekla Structures model is connected to a Trimble Connect model, the List manager will be started in the online version. In the online version, all the data will be stored in the Trimble Connect model, and it can be easily accessed by other users who are working in the same model when the model is shared. If there is no Trimble Connect model assigned to the Tekla Structures model, List manager will start in the offline mode and it will store all the data directly in the Tekla Structures model folder.

List manager dialog

The List manager dialog box has 4 sections

Ribbon
List table
Object table
Assigned reports
Offline switch

Ribbon

Option	Description
Load	Load the model data from the Trimble Connect model or the Tekla Structures model folder.
Save	Save the model data to the Trimble Connect model or the Tekla Structures model folder.
Creation method	Create lists. You can create 3 types of lists: filter, drawing, or selected parts.
Revision	Give your list a new revision mark and revise issued lists.
Report	Create the reports from the current model objects in the lists.
Issue	Issue the list. You can decide if the list needs to be issued together with other lists or that you want to issue the list separately.
Refresh all	Refresh all the selected lists. If no lists are selected, all lists will be refreshed.
Number list	Renumber the selected lists according to the applied numbering settings.
Select model objects	Enable and disable the selection of model objects.
Hide or show rows with 0 value	Select whether the rows that have 0 as value are shown in the object table list or not.

List table

In the list table, all lists and their statuses are visible.

Column	Description
Image	Icon of the creation method (filter, drawing, or selection).
Image	Marks if the list contains changes since the last issue.
Name	Name of the list.
Object types	Additional filter that shows which object types are included in the list.
Filter	The name of the main filter used in the list.
Drawing	Shows the marks of the drawings in use.
Revision	Shows the current revision status.
Date	Creation date of the list.
Image	Marks if the list is issued.
Issue	Marks the number of the issue.
Issue Date	Marks the date of the latest issue.
TITLE 1,2,3	The value of Title 1,2,3 will be used in the report creation. These can be used as user-specific fields to be used in the reports.

When right-clicking in the list table you get the following options:

Column	Description
Refresh	Refresh the objects in the list to the current up-to-date model objects.
Report	Create the reports of the current model objects in the list.
Revision	Give your list a new revision mark.
Unissue	Remove the list from the previously created issue.
Open issue folder	Open the folder of the issue.
Add selected objects	Add the selected issues in the model to the selected list.
Edit drawings	Edit drawings opens a dialog where you can add or remove drawings from existing object groups.

Object table

In the object table, all the objects in the list are shown. Changes in the list and in the model are also visualized in the table after refreshing the lists.

Column	Description
Image	Icon of the object type.
Image	Marks if the quantity of the objects has increased or decreased.
Position	Position number of the model object.
Number	Quantity of the objects in the list.
Changes in list	Change of the quantity of the objects in the list since the last revision.
Total in model	Quantity of the objects in the model.
Changes in model	Change of the quantity of the objects in the model since the last revision.

Assigned reports

In Reports, you can see the reports that are assigned to the lists and you can open the issued or current reports of the lists.

Column	Description
Image (upper right corner)	Opens the dialog box for assigning reports to the lists.
Image	Opens the already created list from the issue folder.
Image	Opens or generates a report of the model objects of the current list state.
Report name	Name of the report that is assigned to the list.

Offline switch

With the offline switch you can define whether to save and load from cloud or hard drive. The switch is only available when there is a Trimble Connect model.

Creating a new list

To create a new list, click the Creation method button in the ribbon, and select which list type you want to create. There are 3 types of lists:

Filter lists
Drawing lists
Selected parts lists

Filter list

A filter list is a list based on the selection filters in the Tekla Structures model. Each time the list is refreshed it will take the latest model objects from the model that are selected by the selection filters.
A list based on filters can be used to make lists of model objects with certain conditions in a workflow without drawings.

Drawing list

A list based on drawings will use the parts visible in the drawing. When the selected drawing is updated, you can refresh the list to see the changes of the drawing reflected in the list.
You can create a list based on one or multiple drawings from Document manager. To create a list you need to open Document manager and select the drawings you want to use in the list, once selected you can click the drawing option in the Creation method pulldown.
A common use case for drawing lists are GA rebar drawings. By using List manager on a GA drawing containing reinforcing bars it is easy to create reports of the reinforcement and keep track of the changes.

Selected parts list

A list of selected parts can be used when you do not want to use filters or drawings to create a list. You can afterwards add more objects to the list by using the ‘add selected parts’ option.
Refreshing the selected part list will remove the parts from the list that are removed from the model.

List creation

Once you have selected the list type, the following dialog box is displayed. In this dialog box, you have set the name of the list, which filter should be in use, which object types should be considered, and more. After the list is created you can change the values in the ‘list table’.

Report settings

The report settings are predefined reports that can be set in the ‘Assign reports’ section of the tool. The setting files can be read from the system, firm, project, and model folder. To change the reports after the list is created, read the chapter “Assigning reports”.

On/Off

This button switches all the object type switches on or off to improve usability.

Assigning reports

Reports can be assigned to a list by using the Report settings when a list is created or afterwards by going to the ‘Assigning reports’ section of the tool.
To assign reports to the lists, or to make additional report settings, select a list and click the Assign report button.
In the report dialog box, you can simply change the reports by selecting another report selection or you can manually pick the report that you want to assign to the list.

Add reports

Select the available reports in the list and add them to the in use column. Available reports are all the reports in the environment, firm, project, or model folder. You can also customize the output file name in the same dialog by adding the available elements in the lower dialog field to the in use column.

Save report settings

You can save the set of reports to be used in other lists. Enter a name and save.

The reports setting will be saved in the model’s attribute folder as a .rslm file. You can add this file to the firm or project folder to use it in other models.

Updating lists

Refresh

Once a list is created and changes happen in the model you can refresh the list to reflect the latest version of the model. When you refresh a list, the changes will be visible in the object table.

Add selected parts

If there are objects in the model that are not in the filter, drawing, or among the previously selected parts and therefore not in the list, you can use the ‘add selected parts’ option. This option can be found when you right-click on the list.

Changing name or other values

Names, object type selection, filters, and titles can be changed in the list table. When you refresh a list, the changes will be visible in the object table. by double-clicking on the cell.

Issuing of lists

To issue a list you can use the button on the ribbon or right-click on the list and select ‘issue’. You can select in the small dialog box that is displayed whether the list should be part of a previous issue number or whether it should be a new issue. The issue number and the issue date are shown in the list table.

When a list is issued you cannot issue it again. To reissue a new version of the list you can revise it and issue it again under a new revision number. If you made a mistake when issuing, you can also unissue the list.

Note: an issue in List manager is a folder in the reports folder. It contains all the reports from the lists that are issued with this specific issue number. The issue number can be useful to keep track of which documents are sent out together.

Once an issue is created the reports of the lists are created and stored in a specific folder with the specific naming of the list, revision and report name. The folder will automatically open or it can afterwards be opened by right-clicking on the list and selecting ‘Open issue folder.’

Issuing a list can be useful in some scenarios.

When you have reports , e.g. rebar schedules, that need to be issued along with the drawings.
When you have a certain order that you want to keep track of.

Revising lists

Revising a list is normally done to make a new issue. To make a new revision select the list and click on Revision. In the small dialog box that is displayed, select the new revision mark. The new revision of the list will be visible in the List table and it can also be used in the reports by using List manager custom properties (Read more about this in the chapter of custom properties).

Custom properties

CUSTOM.LM.LISTNAME
CUSTOM.LM.REVISION
CUSTOM.LM.DATE
CUSTOM.LM.ISSUE
CUSTOM.LM.ISSUEDATE
CUSTOM.LM.OBJECT_STATUS
CUSTOM.LM.POS_STATUS

List related custom properties

Custom property	Return value
CUSTOM.LM.LISTNAME	Returns the name of the list.
CUSTOM.LM.REVISION	Returns the revision of the list.
CUSTOM.LM.DATE	Returns the creation date of the list.
CUSTOM.LM.ISSUE	Returns the issue number of the list.
CUSTOM.LM.ISSUEDATE	Returns the date of the last issue of the list.

Limitation: When the object is in multiple lists, it will return the name of the list that was created first.

CUSTOM.LM.POS_STATUS

The property will return a value of the status of the position number quantity in the list itself from the previous issue. When there has not been an issue, there is no change..

Return value	Explanation
0	The quantity of the position number has not changed since the last issue of the list. Or when there has not been an issue yet.
1	The quantity of the positioning number has decreased or increased since the last issue of the list.

CUSTOM.LM.OBJECT_STATUS

The property will return a value of the status of the object in the list from the previous issue. When there has not been an issue, there is no change.

Return value	Explanation
0	The object has been in the previously issued list or the list has not been issued yet.
1	The object is new to the list since the previous issue.

Limitations

Custom properties

When an object is in multiple lists, the custom properties will only take the values of the list that was created first. This means that if you use custom properties in the report template when an object is in multiple lists, the output may be incorrect.
Custom properties like CUSTOM.LM.OBJECTSTATUS and CUSTOM.LM.POSSTATUS can be used to show changes in object rows in reports. However, if an object is totally removed from the list, it cannot be shown in reports as a deleted row. This is because this is a limitation in the Template editor.

Data storage

There is no version control on the data being saved in the Trimble Connect model. Last saved data will be used.