Phase Numbering

Purpose and description

This tool finds all of the phase numbers in the phase manager, and allows the user to associate an assembly and part number series start number for parts based on that phase number. The reason for this is to allow users to keep assembly and potentially part marks separated by Phase number. The tool will automatically in the model set the assembly and part (part is optional) start number based on the setup in the dialog box.

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System requirements

Installing Phase Numbering

To install the application:

1. Close Tekla Structures
2. Install the installation package downloaded from Tekla Warehouse.
3. Open Tekla Structures
4. Open the model you wish to export.

Using Phase Numbering

To use the application:

1. First, make sure you have setup all of the phase numbers in the phase manager for the project and also set all of the parts and components to be in the correct phase.
2. Before version 2016: A new toolbar icon which will launch the tool should now be visible when a model is opened. For 2016 version and newer: a new thumbnail  in the Applications and components side pane will appear.

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3. Press the “Get Phase” button to tell the tool to find all of the phases in the phase manager and create a default Start Number which will be the phase number multiplied by the Start Multiplier value in the dialog box. You can manually change the numbers inside of the start number field for each phase as needed.
4. Once the start numbers are set, press the “Set Start Numbers” button. This will scan through all of the parts in the model and set the Assembly Start number to be that defined in the PhaseNumbering tool. If you check the “Include Part Numbers” option then the part start numbers on the part will also be changed. The tool will only modify the part if it finds that the current number in the model doesn’t match the number in the PhaseNumbering dialog box.
5. As the tool scans through the parts in the model it will show a processing counter in the Tekla Message Prompt at the lower left hand corner of Tekla Structures.

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6. After the export is completed a status prompt similar to below will appear in Tekla Structures.

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7. Using an object representation setup, we can check and verify that all of the start numbers have been changed and match the corresponding phase numbers.
8. Press the “Refresh” button if you want the tool to completely remove your existing settings, read the phases from the model again, and set default start numbers for each phase.

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Additional information

• This tool will create two files in the attributes folder:
  • PhaseNumbering_Phases.txt
    • This stores the settings input into the tool.  If the user makes changes in the tool and closes the tool by clicking “Close” the current values will be written to this text file and loaded the next time the tool is launched.  If the user closes the tool by clicking the “X” in the top right corner then the settings in the tool then not be written to the text file.  Clicking the “X” effectively cancels any changes made in the tool.
  • PhaseNumbering_<user>_settings.xml
    • This stores the Start Multiplier setting that the user has defined.  If the user makes changes in the tool and closes the tool by clicking “Close” the current values will be written to this text file and loaded the next time the tool is launched.  If the user closes the tool by clicking the “X” in the top right corner then the settings in the tool then not be written to the text file.  Clicking the “X” effectively cancels any changes made in the tool.
• The tool may take a while to scan through the model and change the properties if the model is very large.
• The tool does not set the start number on Assembly objects in the model. (meaning if you are using Multi Level Assemblies this won’t work)
• Make sure before using this tool you know that you have accounted for a large enough start number for each phase to prevent number overlapping. For example if you set phase 1 to start at 100, then phase 2 at 200, and there were more than 100 piece marks in phase 1, then phase 1 marks will start to overlap with phase 2 marks.
• Parts inside of components may potentially lose their start number if that component is modified or rerun. This means that if you do changes to components in the model after you have already run this tool, you will need to run this tool again to update the start numbers.