Browsing a Catalog Using the Catalog Browser  

This task explains how to preview and navigate through catalogs using the Catalog Browser.

The Catalog Browser provides interactive commands to browse a catalog. It is available in several workbenches, e.g. Assembly Design, Part Design, Generative Shape Design and Drafting, and it enables you to instantiate components. (For more information on component instantiation, see Instantiating Catalog Components.)
 

  1. In the Start menu, open the Generative Shape Design workbench.

  2. Open the Catalog browser dialog box by clicking the Catalog Browser icon from the Tools toolbar or by selecting the Tools -> Open Catalog... command (note that some workbenches use the Tools -> Catalog Browser command).

  3.  Click the Browse another catalog icon .
    The File Selection dialog box appears.

Depending on the document environments you allowed in the Document settings, an additional window may simultaneously appear to let you access your documents using alternate methods.
These methods will enable you to browse, for instance, catalogs created using the SMARTEAM CATIA Integration product (provided that you have the required license) or catalogs already opened in your current Version 5 session as you could do it respectively with the former "SmarTeam Catalog" and "Select document" icons.
For detailed information, see Opening Existing Documents Using the Browse Window.
 
You can also access catalog favorites by clicking the Look in selection button and selecting the desired catalog from the proposed list. To configure catalog favorites, see Customizing Component Catalog Editor, Catalogs, Catalog Favorites.

 
 

  1. Select the SCREWS.catalog catalog and click Open.
    The SCREWS.catalog  is opened in the browser.
     

Note the following:

  • The current catalog name is displayed in the title bar and the current chapter name is indicated at the top of the drop-down list. This drop-down list gives you access to the last five catalogs selected.
  • The icon with an ascending arrow returns you to the previous chapter selected.
    You can also double-click an icon to directly open a chapter. By default, the catalog content is displayed with small icons but you can switch from small to large icons by clicking the corresponding button.
  • The Launch button will be activated when the catalog contains a Supporting Document. For more information about Supporting Documents, see Associating a Supporting Document to a Family or Component.

  1. To create a filter, there are three methods:

  • enter your search string in the Filter field, e.g. x.DESIGNATION.Search("FHC")>=0, and hit Enter , or
  • enter a string xxx to filter all objects having at least one keyword value containing the string xxx, or
  • click the Search icon , enter the search parameters in the Filter dialog box and click OK.

The results appear in the Catalog Browser.
For more information about how to query catalogs, see Creating a Simple Filter.

If one of the catalog objects does not point to any element, its description appears in red and the word "Broken" is added at the end between brackets. An error icon is also displayed if no preview can be found.

Select the desired catalog from the list then click OK to open the catalog in the browser.