Customize the custom component dialogs by using a text editor
Each custom component has an input (.inp) file that defines the contents of the custom component's dialog. The dialog input files can be manually customized in a text editor. Be careful when modifying an input file, as errors may cause the dialog to disappear.
Note that the General tab is reserved for predefined general properties. You cannot rename the General tab or add more parameters to it.
Alternatively, you can use the Custom component dialog editor tool to customize the dialogs. For more information, see Customize the custom component dialogs.
Add new tabs
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Add a new tab definition, as
shown below:
The tab definitions are of format tab_page("", " tab_name ", tab_number).
Note:
The fourth tab (General) is reserved for the predefined general properties, so you cannot add your own parameters to it.
Add text boxes
-
Add
parameterelements and enclose them in curly brackets, as shown below:
Add images
-
Add an image definition, as shown below:
(1) y = 100
(2) x = 50
(3) height = 75
(4) width = 100
The image definitions are of format picture("image_name", width, height, x_coordinate, y_coordinate).
Change the order of boxes
By default, variables appear in a custom component dialog in the same order as they were created.
-
Change the last number in the parameter definition.
The boxes are listed from top to bottom, as shown below:
Change the location of boxes
You can define an exact location for each text box.
-
Define the exact location of the box using three values: the x coordinate, y coordinate, and width of the box.
For example:
(1) x = 374
(2) y = 25
(3) width = 160
Example: Add a group of checkboxes in the custom component dialog
This example shows how to add a checkbox for each bolt group in a custom component by modifying the .inp file. When the component is used in a model, you can select which bolts to create by selecting the desired checkboxes.
-
Define a custom component
that contains bolts.
For example, create a custom tee connection that creates one bolt group and three single bolts:
-
Create parametric variables
that control the creation of bolts.
With checkbox groups, the Value type of these variables must be Yes/No. For example, create three variables P1, P2, and P3, one for each single bolt in the custom tee connection.
-
Link the variables to the
Creation property of the bolts.
For example, link the variable P1 to the Creation property of the first bolt, the variable P2 to the Creation property of the second bolt, and so on.
-
Add an image definition.
For example:
If you use a custom image, save it in bitmap (.bmp) format in the ..\TeklaStructures\<version>\Bitmaps folder.
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Add a
toggle_groupelement to define the toggle group origin, that is, the position of the group of checkboxes in the custom component dialog.Use the x and y coordinate values to define the position. For example:
(1) x = 200
(2) y = 320
-
Within the
toggle_groupelement, add a line for each checkbox you want to add.Use the same parametric variables that you created in step 2.
The two numeric values after the variable name are offsets from the toggle group origin. For example, the first definition
"P1", 160, -165, "0"means that the checkbox for the variable P1 is located 160 steps right and 165 steps up from the toggle group origin.Direction
Negative values
Positive values
X
left
right
Y
up
down
(1) offset in X direction
(2) offset in Y direction
-
Close and reopen the model
for the change to take effect.
Now when you select and clear checkboxes in the dialog, the number of bolts changes accordingly in the model. For example:
Note:Tekla Structures automatically adds the Effect in modify label and checkbox for each toggle group you create.