Analogous to the user-defined properties in the project, configurable, user-defined properties are now also available in the parts management. In the context of this new feature the configuration of the user-defined properties has been extended. This applies for both the user-defined properties in the project as well as for the user-defined properties in parts management.
User-defined properties for the parts management
To create and configure user-defined properties for the part select the menu items [Extras] > Configure properties in the parts management.
Benefit:
The user-defined properties for the parts management behave analogous to the user-defined properties for the project. This supports the consistency of the concept for entry and display of additional information within the EPLAN platform.
The user-defined properties in the parts management offer more setting options than free properties during the configuration. This makes the usage of a configurable displayed name makes the detection of these properties easier. In addition, the translation of user-defined properties can be controlled more easily in comparison to the free properties.
Note:
We recommend using the user-defined properties for the entry and display of additional information in the parts management. The free properties only exist for reasons of compatibility.
The configuration dialog in the parts management corresponds to the dialog for user-defined properties in the project. In contrast to the configuration in the project, the user-defined properties created in the parts management can only be assigned to the object type "Part".
A new user-defined property for the part is saved in the parts database and can be assigned to a part by means of the new User-defined properties tab.
There you can freely select individual user-defined properties via 
(New) or assign a predefined set of user-defined properties via [Assign scheme] for a part. If properties were already assigned, the user-defined properties from the scheme are attached. If a property was already selected and is available in the scheme, its values are not changed during assignment.
The user-defined properties offer, among others, the following options for the parts:
- The identifying names and the values of the user-defined properties can be used as full-text filters for search terms and filter criteria for filtering in the parts management.
- During a later part or device selection the user-defined properties are transferred with the values to the respective main function.
- User-defined properties that are assigned to different parts in the parts management are taken into consideration during the parts synchronization and can be exchanged with other users via the export and import of parts data.
Extensions in the configuration dialog
The menu item for the configuration of the user-defined properties in the project has been moved from the Options menu to another menu. To open the configuration dialog select the menu items Project data > Configure properties.
Other extensions in the dialog Configure properties that affect both configurations are described in the following sections.
New filter and new list view
In the left-hand section of the dialog, the existing, user-defined properties are now also displayed in a list view.
The Filter field is available above the tree and list view in order to limit the number of user-defined properties. In the process the properties are searched for both the identifying name as well as the displayed name.
Description for user-defined properties
You can enter a describing text in the new Description field below the displayed name. This is then displayed to you in the dialogs for the property selection for the respective property. Multi-lingual entry is possible.
Renamed assignment to the objects
To avoid confusion with the usage of a user-defined property, the previous drop-down list Usage has been renamed to Assignment and was moved to the top in the right-hand side of the dialog.
Specify the objects for which the property is to be available in this drop-down list.
Only the new "Parts" entry is available as an assignment for the configuration in the parts management. For such a new part property you can use the new check box Also validate for part references to additionally specify that the new user-defined property is also available as part reference property.
Field type and consideration for the automatic translation
In the past the user-defined properties were always created as multilingual fields. By means of the new drop-down list Field type you specify the characters and the format that are permitted for the user-defined property. Possible field types are, for example, "Bool" (True / False), "Decimal number", "Multilingual text".
Note:
If you want to enter values with units for a user-defined property, select the field type "Value with unit". With the exception of the following situations, this field type behaves like a "monolingual text".
- If during the filtering a value with unit is specified as the filter criterion for a user-defined property (for example "10 kV"), the properties for which this value was specified with a different unit are displayed as search results (for example, "1000 V").
- For values with decimal places, the decimal separators that are set for the operating system are used during the display of the properties in the graphical editor and not the entered decimal separators ("," or ".").
You specify in the configuration dialog which user-defined properties are translated. For multilingual, user-defined properties the new Translate property value check box is available. Activate this check box if the value of a user property is to be taken into consideration for the automatic translation of the project or during the automatic translation in the parts management.
Benefit:
By means of the field type and the check box Translate property value you can define specifically which user-defined properties are relevant for translation. The required work during translation is reduced and the automatic translation of a project or of the parts management runs faster. The translatability of the property values is no longer project-specific. This means that this setting also remains for the case of a data exchange of user-defined properties.
The following new check boxes are available in the translation settings for the parts management so that the other translation-relevant names, descriptions and values of the user-defined properties in parts management are taken into consideration:
- User-defined properties: Displayed name
- User-defined properties: Description
- User-defined properties: Default values selection lists
(A menu path to this dialog is: Options > Settings > User > Translation > Parts management.)
Deleting user-defined properties and checking the usage
Three menu items are available in the configuration dialog below the new button [Extras] to remove and check user-defined properties.
Properties for which the setting Do not use anymore is activated can be deleted with the menu item Remove properties that will not be used anymore. This is not possible though for user-defined properties in the project that are still used in the master data. This is logged in the system messages.
Before you delete user-defined properties, you can check beforehand whether the properties are used. Select the Check usage menu item below the [Extras] button. Subsequently the current numbers of the usage are displayed in the Usage count column of the list view. Properties not used have the entry "0".
During the configuration of user-defined properties in the Project the Insert into list of search results menu item is available in the popup menu of the tree and list view. It enters the found objects into the list of search results. This means that you have the option to jump to the user-defined, used properties in the graphic.
The menu item [Extras] > Set unused properties to 'Do not use anymore' is used to activate the Do not use anymore setting for the unused user-defined properties and then remove these properties via the menu item Remove properties that will not be used anymore.
See also
New Setting for New User-defined Properties from Macros
User-Defined Properties