Copyright 2011 Tekla Corporation May 2011

Combine Part Marks

1. Purpose and description
This tool allows users to create a combined part mark callout for parts on assembly drawings
where the out of the box combine part marks doesnt achieve the desired result. The user
selects a part in the assembly drawing and the tool will automatically scan through the view
the part was selected in and it will find the quantity of parts with the same part mark that
appear in that view. The user then picks to points which represent the location of the mark
leader and then the placement point of the mark text. The part mark content will then display
the quantity of that part mark found in the view (not the entire drawing), then -, and ends
with the part mark itself.
2. System requirements
Tekla Structures version: 17.0
.NET Framework version: 4.0
Environments: Default, Usimp, Usmet
Languages: English
Copyright 2011 Tekla Corporation May 2011
3. Installation
To install the application:
1. Have Tekla Structures closed during installation.
2. Run the msi installation from the Extensions Download page on the Tekla
Structures extranet.
3. Reopen Tekla Structures once installation is complete and you will see a new
toolbar appear at the upper left hand corner of the screen with an icon similar to
below.
4. Usage
To use the application:
1. Open an assembly drawing where you would like to combine part marks.
2. Start the tool from the new toolbar icon that has been added. This is not a macro
but a drawing plugin so it cant be started from the tools>macros dialog box.
3. You will then be prompted to pick a part in the drawing in order to figure out
which part mark to find the quantity of and create the combined part mark.
4. Then pick the point locating the head of the leader line, and then a point to place
the location of the text of the combined part mark.
5. The user can drag the part mark, or select either of the two input points and
change the position of the part mark after it has been inserted on the drawing.
6. The representation of the part mark and leader is controlled through the drawing
text properties. The user can open the text properties dialog box and set color,
linetype, frame, etc then save away those settings with a name. The user can
then open up the Combine Part Mark properties dialog box and type the name
they save in the text properties dialog box, then modify existing combined part
marks, or press Apply, to apply those settings for new combined part marks that
will be added to the drawing. The tool doesnt read the settings from the part
marks property dialog box, just the text properties dialog box.
7. The combined part mark is parametric and will update the quantity and mark if
the model has changed and the drawing is reopened. The mark may disappear if
the original ID/part instance that you selected to associate the combined part
mark to in the drawing has been deleted from the model.
8. Added v170.2 Mark Format String. The user can add custom text data to the
mark in the Mark Format String text box. For example if the user wanted to see
the format p23 (16 PLCS) they could type MARK (QTY PLCS) in the Mark
Format String textbox. The word MARK (all capital letters) and QTY are special
codes for the tool to intelligently replace with the calculated Mark and Quantity
values. They are English specific only. If you leave the field blank it will default to
QTY-MARK.
Copyright 2011 Tekla Corporation May 2011
5. Additional information
The tool doesnt replace parts marks altogether but is more meant to be a
supplemental tool where the out of the box combine part marks doesnt provide
the desired results.
The tool is primarily meant for shop drawing and only scans the part mark (part
position) property on parts to create this combined part label.
Only the quantity and part mark (part position) property are displayed in the mark.
No other properties about the part can be displayed in the combined mark.
Copyright 2011 Tekla Corporation May 2011
The tool does not automatically delete out existing drawing part marks. The user
must manually delete part marks that are not desired to be on the drawing.
If the original part ID or instance is deleted from the model that the part mark was
associated to on the drawing, then the part mark plugin will be deleted from the
drawing.