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The Properties are used to store the reference data of the SOLIDWORKS documents into the CUSTOMTOOLS database. The Drawing Properties the Properties scoped to the SOLIDWORKS drawing documents.
When you are building up a new CUSTOMTOOLS Profile starting from scratch, the Drawing Properties node in the Profile Options looks a bit different and has the different options than a profile that was created based on the Machinery Design template or, a profile that was imported from a CUSTOMTOOLS Profile file (*.ctprof). In case of that, please refer to the Easy Implementation section on this page.
The Drawing Properties options are located in the CUSTOMTOOLS Profile Options.
Select the desired CUSTOMTOOLS product from the CUSTOMTOOLS Products box to display the further and the product specific instructions to find the Drawing Properties options.
| CUSTOMTOOLS Products: |
| Add Group | Create a new group for custom properties. Grouping of custom properties eases the management of existing properties. |
| Add | Starts the Property Wizard for creating a new custom property. The Property Wizard starts from the Basic Information page. |
| Edit | Starts the Property Wizard for editing the selected custom property. The Property Wizard starts from the Basic Information page. |
| Delete | Deletes the selected property. When you have selected a Property group and then click Delete, the whole group and all the custom properties inside of it are going to get deleted. |
All the Property Groups must have at least one Property. If the Property Group is empty when you are exiting the CustomOptions, you are prompted to created at least one Property under the empty group.
You can select the properties' information show in the properties list. Most of the following items are hidden by default. Right-click any of the properties list headers and select the desired item from the context menu to show it in the list. Right-click any of the properties list headers and clear selection of the desired item from the context menu to hide it from the list.
| Attribute Name | The attribute name used to direct the reference data into the correct place in the database. |
| Label | The caption used in the Properties pane to regonize the different properties. |
| Type | Type of the custom property. The type determines what kind of input is used to set the value for the property. |
| Scope | Shows the document type which the Property is scoped for. The Properties which scope is Model, are assignable for the parts and assemblies. |
| Read-only | Shows whether the property is set as read-only. Read-only properties' are usually linked to the external data source for example so their value cannot be modified by the user. |
| Hidden | Shows whether the property is visible in the Properties pane. |
| Visibility Property | Name of the property selected to control visibility of the selected property. |
| Visibility Value | Value of the property selected as the Visibility Property to make the selected property visible in the Properties pane. While the value of the property selected as the Visibility Property is anything else than the one defined as the Visibility Value, the property stays hidden in the Properties pane. |
| Required | Shows whether the selected property is mandatory. The mandatory properties have to have value assigned if they are visible in the Properties pane in order to save changes made in the Properties pane. |
| Tooltip | Tooltip text of the property. The tooltip text appears on the property when you hover the mouse pointer over the property field in the Properties pane. |
| Before Function | Shows the Before Function selected for the property. |
| After Function | Shows the After Function selected for the property. |
| Button Function | Shows the Button Function selected for the property. |
| Data Function | Shows the Data Function selected for the property. |
| Dictionary | Name of the dictionary used for selecting value for the selected property. Using a dictionary to determine value for the property allows you to make multilingual properties for translating for example SOLIDWORKS drawings into another languages defined in the CUSTOMTOOLS Translation Options. |
| Target Language | Shows the language in which the property's value is translated to. |
| Source Property | The source property which the selected property's value is generated based on. |
| Combination | Name of the Drawing Combination to generate value of the selected property based on. |
| Database Search Group | Name of the Database Search Group the selected property is linked to. |
| Database Column | A column in the Database Search Group to retrieve value to the selected property from. |
| Enable in Search | Shows whether the property is enabled in the CUSTOMTOOLS Search feature. Properties Enabled in Search appears in the CUSTOMTOOLS Search pane for using them as the search conditions while looking for some specific files from the CUSTOMTOOLS database. |
| Exclude from Item Search | Shows whether the property could be used as a search condition while linking value to the property from an external data source defined as the Database Search Group. |
| Format | A format string of the property. By the format string, you can determine how for example the Date value appears to the associated property, in the Properties pane. If the property Type is Checkbox, the Format value determines the value written to the property. |
| Format for Unchecked | If the property's Type is Checkbox, the Format for Unchecked determines the value written to the property while the checkbox associated to the property is not selected in the Properties pane. |
| Max Length | Shows the maximum length allowed to write to the property. |
| Copy as Model Prop | Shows whether the property value from another than the Model scope is copied to the Model scope. |
| Copy as Drawing Prop | Shows whether the property value from another than the Drawing scope is copied to the Drawing scope. |
| Clear on Save As | Shows whether the property value is cleared on the Save and Save As operations. |
| Uppercase | Shows whether the the value of the property is written using the uppercase letters. |
| Track History | Shows whether the value history tracking is enabled for the property. |
| Display in Print/Convert | Shows whether the property and its' value appear to the document list in the Batch Operation dialog box. |
| Display in Design Tree | Shows whether the property and its' value appear in the document's Design Tree view in the CUSTOMTOOLS Viewer. |
| Display in Copy | Shows whether the property and its' value appear to the document list in the Copy feature. |
| Enable Changing in Print | Shows whether the property's value could be overwritten in CUSTOMTOOLS Batch Operations like batch printing or batch file conversion. |
| Allow Scripting | Shows whether the property could be managed by the CUSTOMTOOLS script add-ins. The script add-ins could be used to provide extended functionality for the Properties feature. Please note that the script add-ins have to be ordered separately and the price of the script add-in you need, depends on the requirements of your project. For more information about the script add-ins, please contact the CUSTOMTOOLS Sales. |
| Lookup List | Name of the CUSTOMTOOLS Lookup List used for selecting value for the property from. |
The following options are available in the Drawing Properties options when the CUSTOMTOOLS Profile does not have any Properties already defined for the SOLIDWORKS Drawing scope.
| Launch Wizard | Click the Launch Wizard button to open the Easy Proeperty Wizard. Using the Easy Proeperty Wizard you can setup Properties into your new CUSTOMTOOLS Profile by an existing source of definitions. |
| Create Manually | Click the Create Manually button instead, to create the desired properties manually by the traditional way, by which the Model Properties have been created in the previous CUSTOMTOOLS versions, and still in the profiles that already has at least one Drawing Property defined. |