1. CREATE FEATURES FROM TEMPLATE
3DCS Rapid Modeling Enhancements DCS Use Case #05
Copyright © 2006 Dimensional Control Systems, Inc.
All rights reserved.

2. OBJECTIVE
Requirement: The software shall be able to create feature(s) in a particular geo by reading pertinent data from a template file. The file shall have been previously setup in a predetermined format for this purpose (e.g., MS Excel). Editing this form shall allow a user to define point(s), feature(s), tolerance(s), move(s), and measure(s) for a particular geo-box. For instance, a user may define a particular hole in a form by its diameter, depth, X-Y location, Operation (number, face, orientation of table).

3. SOLUTION
Utilizing the current Read/Write Excel functionality, the requirement can be fulfilled by extending it so that feature creation can be performed. A new worksheet will be added entitled ‘Feature Creation’ in addition to the ‘Points’, ‘Tolerances’, ‘Moves’, ‘Measures’, and ‘GD&T’ worksheets that currently exist.

4. SOLUTION (cont’d)

5. PROCESS OVERVIEW User selects ‘Write to Excel’ icon in 3DCS
User adds features in the ‘Feature Creation’ worksheet in Excel
User selects ‘Add New Features’ from the Excel worksheet or the ‘Read from Excel’ icon in 3DCS

6. PROCESS OVERVIEW (cont’d)
The currently existing worksheets (for points, MTMs, and GD&T) will continue to have the same format only they will now allow for the creation of new objects in the model in addition to editing.
The ‘Create Features’ worksheet will require a specific format for the different feature types.
Optionally the user may open an existing Excel File (.xls) that already has worksheets properly titled and columns properly formatted to update the model with. (The existing Excel file can have other worksheets & cells beyond what 3DCS requires. –em 6/16/06)
An additional worksheet entitled Feature Examples will also be added to demonstrate how to properly utilize the Feature Creation functionality with working example cells as well as descriptive references.

7. PROCESS OVERVIEW (cont’d)
The common columns for creating features will be feature type and parent name, for instance:
-Part, parent name, new part name
-Line, [IGNORED], pt1 name, pt1 parent name
pt2 name, pt2 parent name
-Dynamic Point, [IGNORED], pt1 name, pt1 parent name, dynamic point name, dynamic scale
-Circle, [IGNORED], pt name, pt parent name, diameter, direction, tole active, random
-Slot, [IGNORED], pt1 name, pt1 parent name, diameter, direction, tole active, random
pt2 name, pt2 parent name, dynamic point name, dynamic scale
-Hole, [IGNORED], pt1 name, pt1 parent name, diameter1, direction1, tole active1, random1
pt2 name, pt2 parent name, diameter2, direction2, tole active2, random2
-Direction is always: dir type, dir I, dir J, dir K
-Random is always: Distribution, Range, Offset, Min Trunc, Min Flag, Max Trunc, Max Flag, Sigma Num, HLM Level, Scale
-Points, Moves, Tolerances, and Measures maintain the format that has always been used for Excel Linking with the exception that the first column is reserved for the type, i.e. “Point”, “Move”, “Tolerance”, or “Measure”.

8. EXAMPLE - INPUT This example input produces the contents shown in the following page

9. EXAMPLE – DISPLAY

10. MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS FOR INPUT
The keywords for ‘Type’ do not have to be fully typed in some cases and are always case insensitive:
PART: the beginning of the input string is compared with “Part” and “Geo”
POINT: the beginning of the input string is compared with “Point” and “Pt”
MOVE: the beginning of the input string is compared with “Move”
TOLERANCE: the beginning of the input string is compared with “Tole”
MEASURE: the beginning of the input string is compared with “Meas”
LINE: the beginning of the input string is compared with “Lin”
CIRCLE: the beginning of the input string is compared with “Cir” and “Cr”
HOLE: the beginning of the input string is compared with “Hole”
SLOT: the beginning of the input string is compared with “Slot”
DYNAMIC POINT: the beginning of the input string is compared with “Dyn”

11. CONCLUSION
Expanding the implementation of 3DCS’ Excel Linking feature provides the necessary functionality to satisfy the requirement to create features in 3DCS from a template file format