The Catalog Properties accessed from the LCM have extra Categories and Pages which cannot be accessed from the File menu. These are:-

• Pricing > Passwords page
  • and
• Visibility > Visibilities page

Click to view Visibilities page

Show/Hide Filters

Catalog Items

If the Catalog Items check box is ticked (i.e. Show), all used cabinets/items that are a part of the catalog will be displayed (compare images below).

Any cabinets removed from display are simply not shown, not deleted.

The cabinet selection drop list on the Home tab will not make available unticked/disabled cabinets, as shown above left.

Unused Codes

If the Unused Codes check box is ticked (i.e. Show) but the Catalog Items is unticked (i.e. Hide) it will display only those cabinets that will not be made available in the cabinet selection drop list on the Home tab (as shown above right).

This is especially useful when the Insert Unused Based Ons command is implemented after a library update. This command will add newly developed cabinets to your own customised library (.qim). Then you simply tick the Use checkbox ( turns blue) if you want to access them in your drawings. Library updates are regularly made available to customers with a valid Customer Care Agreement.

 Watch the Video A Minute with Mike : Turning on New Cabinets in your Library /  Insert Unused BasedOns 

Items Actions

Create Compound Item

A compound item is a single item made up of two or more distinct parts or sub-items. Creating customised parts/items can be done in either Plan View* or directly in the Library Catalog Manager. 

*For a full discussion on creating, converting and adding to catalog in Plan View, see tutorials on Compound Items and Freeform.

In the following example, we have selected the CM-Parts library (on the Home tab) and then opened the Library Catalog Manager.

  1) Select the items that are required to make your compound item.

• As shown, the Shelf and End Right parts have been selected (in that order).

  To select multiple, non-adjacent items in a list or folder, you can use the Ctrl key - click to view how to.

  1. Select the first item by clicking on it with your mouse e.g. Shelf;
  2. Press and hold the Ctrl key on your keyboard (or Command key on a Mac);
  3. Click each additional item you want to select while continuing to hold down the Ctrl key e.g. End Left;
  4. Release the Ctrl key once all desired items are selected.

  Each item you click will remain highlighted, as shown below, allowing you to perform an action on all of them at once.

  Deselecting an Item : If you accidentally select an item, simply continue holding the Ctrl key and click on that item again to deselect it.

  2) Then from the right click menu or the ribbon command, select 'Create Compound Item'.

• A CompoundItem will be created using the Based on parts, as shown below left. This can be renamed as required by clicking on the Code name.

As shown below, the 'Create Compound Item' command changes to 'Ungroup from Compound Item' to allow you to reverse this process.

If the Use Code checkbox is ticked, the newly created item will be made available for selection for future jobs from the drop down on the Home tab. 

Duplicate Selected Item

You can create a copy of an item by selecting an existing cabinet/item and 'Duplicate' (option also available from the right click menu).

• This can then be customised as required by either selecting Format Catalog Item from the right click menu or double clicking on applicable item.

Example of a duplicated item and right click menu options

The Back part has been duplicated. The item created i.e. Back (copy) and can be renamed and customised (or formatted).

Delete Selection

Deletes the selected cabinet/item from the list. A message will be presented for the action to be confirmed.

The Clear command located on the right click menu (see above example), or the Keyboard Delete button, will produce the same result.

Catalog Actions

Insert Unused Based Ons

Library updates are regularly made available to customers with a valid Customer Care Agreement. Sometimes a new Based on cabinet is added by the library developer which you will want to add to your own customised library (.qim).

This command can also be implemented from the File menu > Prepare options.

 Watch the Video A Minute with Mike : Turning on New Cabinets in your Library /  Insert Unused BasedOns 

Insert Unmodified BasedOn Item

Menu option only: This option is accessed using the right click menu on a selected cabinet/item. 

When new items are added to the base library of the active catalog, they do not automatically appear in the catalog.

You can use the Add Unused BasedOns menu item to add a new catalog item for each unreferenced BasedOn item. So a copy of the new BasedOn cabinet appears in the catalog, ready for you to customise.

Often you make several copies of this BasedOn cabinet and modify each in different ways, to give a little family of cabinets. Now if at some later date you want to add yet another copy of this BasedOn cabinet, and customise it in a different way again, you can use the LCM option to Insert Unmodified BasedOn Item to add another copy of a BasedOn item, ready to be customised.

This is sometimes easier than relying on the Duplicate menu option, which will keep changes you may not want compared to the based-on item.

Catalog Cleanup

The Catalog Cleanup tool is for support use only. The option is greyed out by default and only enabled when the applicable the registry option is enabled. 

There are a number of other registry options that determine the behaviour of catalog cleanups more specifically.

Export / Import

Export

Export to a tab-delimited ASCII (text) or XML file into the current drawing.

The two exporting options are also available from the File menu.

The difference between the two is that a Minimal Size Export does not save the properties that are the same as the in-built default values. For example, if the offset of a section is zero, this line will not be exported because zero is the default. A full export will output every property in a drawing, regardless of its value.

The main differences are, if transferring drawings via Import/Export...

• to different versions of the program, you should use Full Export. This is because the defaults themselves may have changed, and only a full export will explicitly specify each value.

• between programs of the same version, use Minimal Export. The only reason for this is that the exported files are smaller (because they do not contain defaults) and will therefore import quicker. For example, a full export of the SLC Sample library takes around 90Mb while a minimal export is only about 10Mb.

Import

Merge from a tab-delimited ASCII (text) or XML file into the current drawing.

The importing options are also available from the File menu.

The Import from ASCII and Merge from ASCII options are very similar: both load values from a text file and add them to the current drawing. If a property already exists, it is overwritten with the new value.

The main difference is that Import clears the current properties first, so is effectively the same as starting a new drawing (or library) and then using Merge.

Merge is the most common option, as it allows you to add a handful of property values to an existing drawing.

OLE objects cannot be imported into a drawing or library. You will receive a warning when you try to export an OLE object, and you should delete the object then retry the export.

XML or ASCII

ASCII File format

The term "ASCII file" refers to a "text" file that is readable by the naked eye (it only contains the letters a-z, numbers, carriage returns, and punctuation marks). Therefore, any file that one can read with a common editor, like simple Windows Notepad program, is considered an ASCII file.

XML File format

Some benefits of using XML format files are that they :-

• are self-describing, making them easy to read, create, and extend. They are human readable, making it easy to understand how data is interpreted during bulk operations.                        

• contain the data types of target columns. The XML encoding clearly describes the data types and data elements of the data file and also the mapping between data elements and table columns.

• allow for loading of a field that contains a single large object (LOB) data type from a data file.

• can be enhanced yet remain compatible with its earlier versions. Furthermore, the clarity of XML encoding facilitates the creation of multiple format files for a given data file. This is useful if you have to map all or some of the data fields to columns in different tables or views.

• can be used to bulk import data into tables or non-partitioned views and to bulk export data.

Save and Exit

When all changes have been completed, you need to save the Catalog.

• in the LCM ensure that you click the Save Changes and Exit button.
  • To close without making/saving changes, click on the Cancel Changes button.

It is possible to click on other menu tabs but this does not close the LCM. You must use either the Save or the Cancel command to properly exit.

• click OK to the message.

Cancel Changes

Cancel changes if you decide not to save any of the changes made. A message will be presented to ensure that you really want to lose all changes to the Catalog.

Tutorials

Library Basics & Properties