Designing a Title Block

The scenario described below shows you how to design a title block using properties defined in the database.

This task is divided into the following stages:

The properties used for these tasks have already been mapped by the administrator between CATIA and SmarTeam (see Defining Property Mapping for the Title Block).

Creating the Title Block on a New Drawing

  1. Create a new CATDrawing document.

  2. In the New Drawing dialog box that appears, make sure the default values (ISO in the Standard field and A0ISO in the Format field) are specified and click OK.

  3. Design your title block as shown below:

    For more information about the title block, see "Sheet" in the CATIA - Generative Drafting User's Guide.

Defining the CATIA Formula Property for Each Attribute from the Database

  1. In the CATIA session, click on the Formula icon.

    The Formulas: Drawing dialog box appears.

  2. Select String in the New Parameter of type list.

  3. Click the New parameter of type button.

  4. In the field on the left specifying the name of the current parameter, change the name to Type.
    Remember that the mapping property name has already been defined in Defining Property Mapping.

  5. In the field on the right specifying the value of the current parameter, enter <Type>.
    Remember that this reflects the value of the attribute in the database.

  6. Click on the Apply button.

  7. Repeat steps 2 through 6 for all mapped properties.

    Here is a list of the properties defined in the title block and that are still to be mapped:

    Property Name in CATIA

    Property Value

    Property Type

    Type

    <Type>

    String

    Designer

    <Designer>

    String

    Date

    <Date>

    String

    Drawing_Title

    <Drawing Title>

    String

  8. Locate the Scale property i.e. Sheet1\ViewMakeUp.1\Scale and rename it to Scale as shown below:

  9. Click OK.

Creating the Text Attributes in the Title Block

Here is what you will obtain at the end of this task: 
 
For more information see "Adding Attribute Link to Text" in the CATIA - Interactive Drafting User's Guide.

  1. Select Insert > Annotations > Texts > Text .

  2. Click inside the drawing to indicate where you want to display the drawing type. (If necessary, refer to the title block design.)
    A text editor window appears.

  3. Enter Type in this window:

  4. Right-click on the appropriate location in the title block and select Attribute Links.

  5. In the specification tree of the drawing, click on the Drawing.
    The Attribute Link dialog box appears.

  6. Select Type in the attribute list:

  7. Click OK.
    The value of the property i.e. <Type> is now displayed in the Text Editor dialog box:

  8. Click OK.

  9. Repeat steps 1 through 8 for all texts.

Saving the Document in SmarTeam

  1. Click the Save icon or select SmarTeam > Save.

    This declares the document and saves its properties in the database. In the SmarTeam profile card corresponding to the document, you can see that the fields are completed:

Updating a CATIA Property in SmarTeam

  1. Open the SmarTeam: Documents dialog box.

  2. Right-click on the document and select Update.
    The profile card is now ready to be changed.

  3. Modify the values of Drawing Title and Type.

  4. Click OK.
    The property has been modified in the SmarTeam database.

  5. Back in CATIA, select SmarTeam > Properties > Load from Database.

    Still in CATIA, you can now see the new values attached to the Drawing title block.