Calculated properties

About Calculated Properties

Calculated properties are pseudo-parameters that serve statistical purposes. For example:

• Parameters that calculate the inside and outside size of a box.
• A parameter that computes the Box Compression Test (BTC).
• A parameter behind the Bundle Height Factor.
• A property related to the production workflow of the product.
• A property that extracts a special distance from the structure marked with a dimension.

Using calculated properties

You can use calculated properties:

• As output in cost models and design frames.
• In integrations with external software.

Calculated properties: Technical characteristics

Calculated properties:

• Do not affect the drawing.
• Are calculated after it has been resized.

IMPORTANT: The thing to remember here is that the value of the dimension extracted through the objsize() function will always be up to date.

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Calculated properties: Where to find them

Location

EngView displays calculated properties in the Parameters tab, below the list of parameters:

NOTE: In the parameter list, editing the parameters in the upper section actually modifies the drawing. The properties in the Calculated Properties section get calculated after the drawing has been modified and only reflect its current state. They cannot be used to modify the drawing but serve a purely statistical purpose.

Displaying the calculated properties section

If you do not use calculated properties, you can hide their section. Click the navigation icon, and then check View Calculated Properties.

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Creating/editing calculated properties

1. Local calculated property

To create/edit а calculated property in a project

1. Do any of the following:

• Click the Calculated Properties icon, and then click New Parameter.
• In Calculated Properties list view section, right-click, and then click New Parameter.

The New Calculated Property Create dialog box appears. It is functionally identical with the one for creating a parameter.

2. Fill in the dialog box in the same way as when you create a parameter, and then click OK.

The property appears in the list.

Editing calculated properties

1. To edit a calculated property, right-click it in the table, and then click Properties. Then, in the dialog box, modify the property as you need it.

2. Default calculated properties

You create default calculated properties in the Calculation Properties tab of the Edit Parameter Template dialog box. Calculated properties created here are applied to all parametric templates that use the respective template.

To create a default calculated property

1. On the Tools menu, click Preferences, and then click the Parameter Templates section.
2. Select the parameter template in which you want to create a calculated property, and start editing it (pictured).

3. Follow the steps for creating a parameter.

Specifics

Mandatory properties are added automatically

If you mark a property as Mandatory, it will appear in all the projects that use the parameter template. When you start a new project, it will get populated automatically in the Calculation Properties section.

Non-Mandatory parameters must be loaded by hand

If you leave the Mandatory check box empty, you create a non-mandatory calculated property. These properties are part of the template but are not added automatically to a project. You can add them by using the Append default template parameters command.

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