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3.10 Calculation Container list

Calculation of the container list - new workflow

As with other lists, the calculation must be configured in advance. This is done via the button Calculation config. ... As of version 30, the container list has its own setting for the calculation configuration. This is independent of the setting for the production list calculation of the normal components. To ensure that a sensible setting for the calculation configuration is available when the new container list is used for the first time, the setting for the production list is copied to the setting for the container list when an older file is started. To be able to use the full range of functions, the setting for the container list should still be actively configured. This makes it possible, for example, to use different comparing criteria for the container list than for the production list.

In the Compare/Sort tab, the list of comparing criteria is tailored to the containers and shortened accordingly.

In the Extra Settings tab, you can define the container number prefix. The container numbers are stored in a separate number range..


However, the external representation starts with the number 1, as with other components. A prefix is used to distinguish between container number and component position number or wall number. A global or element-specific prefix can be selected. The definition of the element-specific prefix refers to an attribute. Each container receives the value of the selected attribute as a prefix. If no element-specific prefix is selected, the global prefix is always used.

In the lower part of the dialog, the elements to be taken into account for the container list calculation are defined analogous to the production list. The following image shows the comparison of these settings for the production list and the container list.


In this case, different calculation configurations are used for both lists. In the production list, among other things, the CA are also taken into account. They are therefore taken into account in the comparison and receive corresponding position numbers.

The calculation set used for the container list does not take the connector axes into account. Since different connector axes are used for each connection detail, the production list calculation results in different production numbers for the connector axes.


The resulting holes in the steel parts all have the same diameter. This means that the steel parts are also geometrically identical and receive identical production list numbers. The container list is to be used to determine the number of welded steel parts and their order. Since all steel parts are geometrically identical, the connector axes used is irrelevant for this purpose. For this reason, the connector axes were excluded from the calculation configuration for the container list. As a result, all containers receive the same container number. The resulting penetrations of drillings, connector axes and MEPs are nevertheless always taken into account in the geometry comparison.

After starting the calculation, the familiar dialog is displayed in which, for example, the containers to be taken into account can be selected (visible or active). At this point it is still possible to branch into the calculation configuration before the actual start of the calculation.


Following the calculation, the number of positions determined is displayed in another dialog. In addition, the areas that already contain container numbers are listed. On this basis, the starting number for the newly calculated containers can be determined. The configuration dialog for assigning the prefix can be opened via the settings button highlighted in the dialog. In this example, the global attribute Name is selected, so the name of the respective container is placed in front of the container list numbers.


Calculation of the container list - previous procedure

Up to version 29, the item numbers for containers and other components were calculated together via the Production list option. This procedure is also possible with version 30, but the procedure is adapted to the different number ranges for containers and other components. The first adjustment is found in the start dialog of the calculation. If containers and normal components are shown together, the option "Calculate containers only" is missing. If only containers are to be calculated, this must be started via the new calculation option Container list. A prerequisite for correct numbering of the containers is that a production list calculation has been carried out for all assigned components beforehand.


With the old procedure, production and container lists are always calculated together. Whereas previously the same calculation configuration was used, in version 30 there is a separate calculation configuration for both lists. This results in much greater flexibility, as already described above using the example of the steel details. Before starting the joint calculation of the production and container lists, both calculation configurations can be defined. For this purpose, both setting options are available at this point, which branch out into different configuration dialogs.

The second adjustment can be seen in the newly designed dialog for determining the start numbers following the calculation.


The internal procedure is the same as before. First the normal components are calculated and then the containers. Since normal components and containers are managed in different number ranges, the start numbers must also be defined separately. The dialog contains two columns for this purpose. The left column deals with normal components, the right column takes the containers into account.

Modifying the container numbers

Like every position number, the container number can also be modified manually. However, due to the separation of the number ranges, the container number can only be changed via the Container List option.