Drawing Tables

This chapter describes how to create, modify, move, delete, store, and retrieve drawing tables in Drawing mode. Topic
Creating Drawing Tables Using the Pop-Up Menu Modifying Tables Manipulating Rows and Columns Moving and Deleting Tables Storing and Retrieving Tables

Creating Drawing Tables

A drawing table is a grid of rows and columns in which you enter text. It has justified text, cells in which you type text, and a specified number of characters and lines per cell. The text in a drawing table has complete drawing text functionality; you can modify it using the MODIFY TEXT menu commands. You can enter dimension symbols and drawing labels as well, and the system updates them as you modify the model or drawing. You can include a drawing table in drawing formats, drawings, and layouts. The following is an example. Example of a Drawing Table

How to Create a Drawing Table

1. Choose DRAWING > Table > Create. 2. From TABLE CREATE menu, choose one of these commands: o Descending--Assigns the first row as the top of the table.

Ascending--Assigns the first row as the bottom of the table. Rightward--Expands the table to the right. Leftward--Expands the table to the left. By Num Chars--Defines table cells by specifying the number of characters and lines to appear in a cell. o By Length--Defines table cells by specifying the width and height in drawing units. 3. Locate the table by clicking on the drawing. If you chose Descending and Rightward, the system uses the position to indicate the upper-left corner of the table. 4. A scale of numbers appears. The system displays these numbers according to the current text height in the drawing setup file. Mark off the width of each column (the number of characters that the row can contain at the current text height) by selecting a number. Choose Done when you have finished.
o o o o

Creating Columns

5. Mark off the height of each row (the number of lines of text that the row can contain at the current text height) by selecting a number. Choose Done when you have finished.

Creating Rows

Depending on whether the table was defined as Leftward or Rightward, it grows to the left or to the right. Leftward and Rightward Tables

Adding Text
When you modify text in a cell or add new text, the system overwrites the text contents of the entire cell. In table text, you can include special symbols, as well as parameter names and dimension values. As with notes, when you include a dimension, the system removes it from its original location. When you add text to the table, the system sets its height according to the drawing setup file option ``drawing_text_height.'' To override the current setting, or to modify the parameters of the existing table text, use commands in the MODIFY TEXT menu (see Modifying Note Text). To add text to or edit text in a drawing table, choose Enter Text from the TABLE menu. Select a cell and type the text. You can type multiple lines. If you set the configuration file option ``symbol_palette_input'' to ``yes,'' a palette window appears listing special characters available with Pro/ENGINEER. To use the palette, first select a cell; then select characters from the palette. To finish, press ENTER twice.
Note: You can place drawing tables on a layer by choosing Dwg Table from the LAYER OBJ menu. Text in the table has the same display status as the table.

Copying the Contents of a Cell

Using the Copy command in the TABLE menu, you can copy the contents of a cell into another (empty) cell or create a copy of the entire table in the drawing. How to Copy a Cell

1. Choose TABLE > Copy > Copy Cell. 2. Select a cell to copy. Note: If the destination cell contains any text, clear the cell before you copy text into it by choosing DETAIL > Delete. 3. Select destination cells. The system copies the contents of the highlighted cell. Click the middle button to exit.

How to Copy a Table

1. Choose TABLE > Copy > Copy Table. 2. Click inside the table to highlight the original. 3. Using a command in the GET POINT menu, select a point on the screen to locate the origin of the new table.

Using the Pop-Up Menu

Using the Pro/ENGINEER pop-up menu, you can modify and manipulate drawing tables in the following ways:

Move them to another location on the drawing sheet. Edit cell text and text style as you would a note, with one exception. When you choose a cell belonging to a repeat region, you can enter a Pro/REPORT symbol. Remove the contents of the cell or the entire table. Change the size of the row or column of the selected cell in either drawing units or text height/length units. Rotate the table 90 degrees about its origin. Specify a new origin for the table (you can only select a corner of the table segment of the active cell).

For more information about the pop-up menu, see Modifying Items Using the Pop-Up Menu.

Modifying Tables
Using the TABLE MODIFY menu, you can modify tables in the following ways:

Merge cells in the table.

Restore cells after you have merged them. Change the origin of the table. Rotate the table by 90 degrees. Blank and display lines in the table, and modify the line style.

How to Merge the Cells of a Table

1. Choose TABLE > Modify Table > Merge. 2. From the TABLE MERGE menu, choose Rows and Columns or Rows & Cols. 3. Select the opposite corners of the range of cells to convert by selecting within the cells.

Example of Merging Cells

When merging cells, keep in mind the following restrictions:

The columns or rows you are merging must be similar. The cell containing text must be positioned properly with respect to the origin of the table. For example, in a rightward, descending table, a cell with text must be at the left (upper) end of the range of cells you are going to merge, with the empty cell at the right (lower) end of the range. Only one cell in the range can contain text.

Merge Restrictions

Merge Restrictions on Cells with Text

How to Remesh the Rows and Columns of a Table

1. Choose TABLE > Modify Table > Remesh. 2. Select the range of cells to remesh by selecting the opposite corners of the range of cells. Only the first cell in the range can contain any text.

Remeshing Cells

How to Change the Origin of a Table

1. Choose TABLE > Modify Table > Origin. 2. Locate the fixed corner of the table by selecting within the corner cell. The system changes the table origin. The default table origin is the upper-left corner. The specified corner now remains stationary when you add rows or columns to the table.

How to Rotate a Table 90 Degrees

1. Choose TABLE > Modify Table > Rotate. 2. Select inside the table. It rotates by 90 degrees in the counterclockwise direction about its origin. 3. Continue selecting inside the table; each time that you select, the table rotates 90 degrees.

How to Blank or Display Lines in a Table

1. Choose TABLE > Modify Table > Line Display. 2. From the TABLE LINE menu, choose one of the following commands: o Blank--Blanks the selected line segment. o Unblank--Redisplays the selected line segment in the table. o Unblank All--Redisplays all blanked lines in the table. Note: In a region, when you attempt to blank a line at the end of an element that falls between elements of the same range, you must confirm that you want to blank the selected line even at the end of the range.

You can modify the line font, color, and width of a table grid the same way you would modify geometry. The changes apply to all grid lines in the table. For more information, see Creating and Modifying Line Styles

Manipulating Rows and Columns

Using the ROW/COL OPTS menu, you can manipulate rows and columns in a table in the following ways:

Insert a row or a column. Remove a row or a column. Change the height of a row and the width of a column. Modify the justification of cell text.

How to Insert a Row or a Column

1. Choose TABLE > Mod Rows/Cols > Insert. 2. Do one of the following: o Choose Row and select a horizontal line in the table. The system displays a new row between the two rows that border the selected line. o Choose Column; then select a vertical line in the table. The system inserts a new column between the two columns that border the selected line.

How to Remove a Row or a Column

1. Choose TABLE > Mod Rows/Cols > Remove. 2. From the ROW/COL OPTS menu, choose Row or Column. 3. Select inside the row or column to remove.

How to Resize Rows and Columns

1. 2. 3. 4. Choose TABLE > Mod Rows/Cols > Change Size. From the ROW/COL OPTS menu, choose Row or Column. Select inside the row or a column. Type the new height for the row or the width for the column.

How to Justify Text in a Column

1. Choose TABLE > Mod Rows/Cols > Justify. 2. From the HOR JUST TXT menu, set the horizontal justification by choosing one of these commands: o Left--Left-justifies the text o Center--Centers the text o Right--Right-justifies the text o Hor Default--Horizontally justifies the text using the default setting (left) 3. Set the vertical justification by choosing one of these commands: o Top--Justifies the text to the top of the cell o Middle--Justifies the text to the center of the cell o Bottom--Justifies the text to the bottom of the cell o Ver Default--Vertically justifies the text using the default setting (top) 4. Select columns to justify. The system justifies any text you add subsequently, as you specified. Note:

To clear a table cell justification after typing text, choose DETAIL > Delete and select the text.

How to Modify the Justification of Individual Table Text

1. Choose MODIFY DRAW > Text > Text Style. 2. Using the GET SELECT menu, select text. Choose Done Sel. The Text Style dialog box appears (see Modifying Note Text for more information). 3. Do one of the following: o Specify the horizontal justification by selecting a value from the Justify Horiz list. o Specify the vertical justification by selecting a value from the Justify Vert list. 4. Click Apply. The system changes the justification of the text as you specified. To reset the text to the old style, click Reset Settings.

Moving and Deleting Tables

Using the TABLE menu, you can move a table within a single sheet of a drawing or delete it from the drawing entirely. How to Move a Table Within a Single Sheet of a Drawing
1. Choose TABLE > Move. 2. Select one of the corners of the table to move. 3. Select a new position for that corner.

To move a table to another sheet, choose Switch Sheet from the SHEETS menu (see Moving Items to Another Sheet). How to Delete a Table
1. Choose TABLE > Delete. Note: This command deletes the entire table, not just a row or column. 2. Select the table to delete. 3. Type [Y] to confirm.

Storing and Retrieving Tables

Using the Save/Retrieve command in the TABLE menu, you can store a table and then retrieve it into any drawing. You can store or retrieve a table in Drawing, Layout, Format, Report, and

Diagram modes. If you retrieve a table into a drawing that is not the same size as the drawing in which it was stored, it retains its absolute size, that is, the size that it was when it was created. How to Store a Drawing Table
1. Choose TABLE STORE > Store. 2. Select anywhere within a drawing table. 3. Type a name for the table. The system saves it to a file in your current directory and informs you that it has saved ``tablename.tbl.'' It gives the filename a unique version number to prevent overwriting tables with the same name.

How to Store the Table Text

1. Choose TABLE > Save/Retrieve > Store Text. 2. Select the table. 3. Type the name of the file (without an extension) where you want to store the table text. The system creates a file with the name ``filename.1.'' It increments the file extension by 1 whenever you specify a name that another text file in your directory already uses. Note: The location of text entries in the text files corresponds to that in the drawing table except when column strings exceed column width. When column entities have more characters than the column width allows, the file output expands the column width to display all characters in the string.

How to Retrieve a Saved Drawing Table into the Current Drawing

1. Choose TABLE STORE > Retrieve. 2. Type the name of the table or type [?] to select the table from a namelist menu of stored tables. 3. The table's outline appears with its upper-left corner attached to the pointer. Place the table by selecting the location for the upper-left corner.

Using the List command in the TABLE STORE menu, you can display an information window listing all tables stored in the current working directory, pro_format_dir, and sys_format_dir.