Help Manual

User Tools: Extract Design Parameter List from STAAD

Created by Surojit Ghosh for User Tools version 1.0

This document provides guideline to use the excel based tool to extract the design
parameter information from STAAD.Pro model to excel file.

Description:

This is an excel based OpenSTAAD macro which can extract design parameter
values directly from STAAD model. If you open any complete STAAD model with design
parameters assigned under a design block and run this excel macro, then depending on
the selected inputs, design parameter values are extracted in the excel for selected or
all members with specific material.

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This User Tool can extract design parameter values for –

• Selected design block

• All or selected members
• Default and user defined parameter values are extracted.

Pre-requisites:

1. You need MS Excel to open and run this macro.

2. This macro is supported only in STAAD.Pro CONNECT Edition V22 or higher
version. It is locked for all other STAAD.Pro versions.
3. Before using this user tool, check whether a single STAAD model is opened or
not. If multiple STAAD files are opened, then from the first instance of STAAD,
design parameters will be extracted. If no STAAD model is opened, then process
terminates with error message.
4. At least one design block must be present in the model with design parameters
assigned to one or multiple members. If no design block is added in the model,
then extraction process terminates with warning.
5. OpenSTAAD functions work with Base unit setup. Check and select Base unit
from STAAD for the unit of extracted parameter values.

Download and Configure:

You can download this user tool from the User Tools Gallery using the following
link –

https://communities.bentley.com/products/ram-staad/m/ram-staad-api-solutions/275175

Save the file in any local drive of your computer. As this is a macro enabled excel
file, make sure that your anti-virus and firewall system allows this file. You can go
through the following video to know more about linking excel file with STAAD.Pro.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DV24Q-0ax2Y

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How to Use:

Step 1: Open a STAAD.Pro model first.

a. If multiple instances are opened, then results will be extracted from the first
STAAD model.
b. If no STAAD model is opened, then an error message will be reported.
c. Use only STAAD.Pro CONNECT Edition V22 version. This file is locked for all
older version of STAAD.

Step 2: Open the Design Parameter Table_v1.0.xlsm file (macro enabled excel file). If
prompted, enable the macro, and enable the content –

Click on Enable

Step 3: Tools interface will look like the following figure –

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 1.Input block 3.Command Block

2.Output block

First provide the inputs in the Input Block, then click on the Get Design Parameter
tab to extract all the design parameter values from a specific design block.

You can clear the extracted results before the next run using Clear Results tab.

Details of the User Tool:

Input Block:

This block is used to provide user specific inputs which are used in this tool to
extract the results.

Design Brief:

You need to provide the design block/set number for which you want to extract
the parameter list.

For steel design, this number denotes the parameter number. For example, if
there are multiple parameters like PARAMETER 1 and PARAMETER 2, and you want to
extract parameter values from first parameter, then specify the brief number as 1.

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 For concrete design, this is the sequential number of the design block.

Following is an example of Design Brief input --

Design Brief input = 1

Design Brief input = 2

Design Brief input = 3

Member Selection:

Design parameter list is extracted for each member and this input is used to
inform the program about the number of members. There are three options available.

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All Member:

Design parameter value for all members present in a STAAD model will be
extracted.

You can use this input if a single material or same types of material is assigned in
the model – for example, STEEL and STEEL50. If different types of materials are used in
the model like STEEL and CONCRETE, then this option might extract un-useful data as
design parameter name and values are different for different types of material.

All Member with Material:

You can select all the members with a specific material assigned to it using this
option. For this input, you must specify the material name in the next field.

Material Name must be

specified in same format as
specified in STAAD model.
Example: STEEL, CONCRETE

This input is useful if you have multiple materials assigned in the model, like
STEEL and CONCRETE and you want to get the design parameter for all STEEL
members.

Selected Member:

You can select one or multiple members in the STAAD model manually and use
this option to extract the design parameter list for those selected members only.

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 For example, you can select all the members for which check code command is
assigned in that design block. This will extract the design parameter list for those
members only which you want to design in that design block.

Output Block:

Depending on the inputs, design parameters assigned to a member are reported

in this table. The name of the design parameter is automatically extracted depending on
the design code. If any user defined value is assigned to any member, then that will be
reported. If no user defined value is assigned to the member, then the default values will
be reported in the table.

Note that, if you try to extract the design parameter list for a steel design code
and include a concrete member or vice-versa, then default value of each parameter for
that design code will be reported in the table for that member.

Known Issue:

I have noticed a problem with the OpenSTAAD function used in this tool. For
some design codes for some design parameters, no value is extracted if default value is
used. In such cases, “Default” term is reported in the table. If any user defined value of
that parameter is assigned to that member, that value will be extracted correctly.
I will update once the issue is fixed.

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Command Block:

There are three control buttons present in this tool –

Get Design Parameter:

This button starts the process and extract the parameter values from STAAD.Pro
model depending on the user inputs. Results are reported in the output table and once
the process is completed, following message will pop-up to indicate the end of the
process.

Clear Results:

This button clears the extracted parameter values from the output table. Before
the next run, you should clear the results.

Help:

If you need any help related to this user tool or want to check the version and
update information, you can click on this Help button. The following window will pop-up

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 From here, you can check

a. the version number of this user tool

b. open and watch the video tutorial file
c. download the help manual for this tool
d. contact the author
e. check whether any updated version of this code is published or not.

Check the following video tutorial to know more about this code and about different
inputs and output values.

https://youtu.be/oPP9KGtFp-s

Warnings:

Several warning messages have been included in the code to inform the user
about any possible incorrect input values. Check the warning and accordingly specify
input values or modify STAAD model.

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Note that, if any incorrect inputs are provided, then extracted parameter values will be
incorrect.

User Tools Revision History:

Version 1.0 – Publish date 29th June 2021.

Disclaimer:
This macro is not a part of the standard Bentley implementation process and has not gone through the
standard QA procedures. This macro has been created by technical team for their own purposes and
sharing for the benefit of the Bentley Structural Users. User of this tool should validate the results
produced by the macro with their own test cases and responsibility of results produced by this macro
does not rest with the technical team.

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