Create a property category in Organizer

Tekla Structures
2021
Tekla Structures

Create a property category in Organizer

You can create property categories to add properties to model objects. You can use existing user-defined attributes (UDAs) in the categories and add values to them, or you can create UDAs as custom properties in Organizer and use these in the property categories.

Note:

If you have several property categories, you can use a certain UDA in only one root level property category. This ensures that other categories do not overwrite the UDA.

  1. To open Organizer, click Manage on the ribbon and then click Organizer.
  2. In Categories, select a property category at the root category level, right-click and select Properties.

  3. Add content to the category.

    Properties are added to the objects that are in the category. You can add the category content manually by selecting objects in the model and inserting them to the category, or by defining rules that automatically insert objects to the category.

    You can also add subcategories to the category. Subcategories can be added manually or automatically based on a property. The property values are written to objects from lowest level categories.

    Select the Do not delete empty automated subcategories check box to keep all subcategories at synchronization. If you do not select the check box and change the model so that some, or all of the subcategories do not contain any objects, the empty subcategories are deleted when you synchronize the root category or the whole Organizer.

    Select the Include the highest assembly level in the model option if you want to ensure that only highest level assembly objects are inserted to the category.

  4. Under Object properties, select a custom property or an existing UDA. You can add more than one property.
  5. Define the property settings:

    1. Select the value type from the Type list and define the value in the Value box.

      The type determines what kind of values you can use.

      Type of UDA Type Value
      String Text Enter text or a number.
      Category name

      Organizer adds the name of the category to the Value box automatically.

      Combined category names

      Organizer adds the names of the categories to the Value box automatically.

      Integer Number without decimals

      Enter a number.

      Double Number with decimals

      Enter a number with decimals.

      Formula

      Select a formula from the Value list. Formulas are defined in Organizer Settings.

      Date Date

      Enter a date or select it from the calendar.

    2. Select a unit for the value from the Unit list.

      Only the possible unit options are available for the property:

      • The units of the properties are defined in contentattributes_userdefined.lst or object.inp files.
      • The units of custom properties that are created in Organizer are defined when creating the property.
    3. Modify the properties in the subcategories if you want the subcategories to have different property values for the same property.
      • If you want a property to use the property value defined on the higher property category level, select the Inherit value check box after the property name.
      • If you have selected the Inherit value check box but select a type in the Type box or enter a value in the Value box, the Inherit value check box is cleared automatically.
      Note:

      The property values are written to the objects from the lowest level subcategories.

      When you write the custom properties you have created in Organizer to the model, you can use these properties as any other UDAs in the model.

      When the properties are written to the model, you can use them in visualization and IFC export, for example. You can also view the properties in object dialog boxes and share them with Tekla Model Sharing.

  6. Clear the Update category at synchronization check box if you do not want to update the category when you synchronize the whole Organizer with the model.
  7. Click Modify.

    Organizer creates an Uncategorized category for the objects that are not included to the lowest level categories yet. If the same objects would belong to more than one subcategory based on the category rules, Organizer creates a Clashing category for these objects. You need to modify the category rules to empty the Clashing category.

  8. Click to synchronize Organizer, or select any category in the property category tree, right-click and select Synchronize category.

    Properties and their values are written to the model objects when Organizer or the category is synchronized. Uncategorized and Clashing categories do not modify the existing UDA values.

    You can inquire the properties written to the model and report them as any other properties.

Note:

If you delete a property category and its subcategories, the properties that have already been written to the model are not removed.

UDAs with options

If you add UDAs with options to a property category when writing properties to the objects, you have to use the UDA - <property name> format.

To get the correct report result in Object Browser, you can use the same property without UDA - in the name.

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