DATABASE PROMPTS

Width

Depth

DRAWING PROMPTS

ELVNODIM:

Setting a value to “1” will suppress the dimension of the product in 2D elevation view. Setting to zero or missing from the workbook, Toolbox will add a dimension annotation in the 2D elevation view. 

ELVNOOUTLINE:

Setting a value to “1” will suppress the outline of the project in 2D elevation view. Setting to zero or missing from the workbook, Toolbox will add an outline of the product in 2D elevation view. 

ELVPRODUCTDESCRIPTION:

Used to display the product description, catalog number, or other product identifier. The value should contain desired text to show in the product 2D elevation view. Most MV libraries allow this to be turned on/off in the Global Variables or through the product prompts.

ELVWHD:

Used to display the Width, Height, and Depth of a product in elevation view. Most MV libraries allow this to be turned on/off in the Global Variables or through the product prompts.

FloorPlanCoordinates: Used to display the 2D floor plan of the product. Most modern MV libraries now use 2D Plan View Instruction tokens instead for greater control.

SUBASSEMBLY PROMPTS

Subassembly_X_Origin

Subassembly_Z_Origin

Subassembly_Z_Rotation

PerfectGrainIndex

Subassembly_Comment (only one that can contain a String value).

CONTROL OF ITEM NUMBER

Enter formula or value to position the product's 2D elevation item number in X.

ItemNumberZ2DElv:

Enter formula or value to position the product's 2D elevation item number in Z.

ItemNumberX3D:

Enter formula or value to position the product's 3D item number in X.

ItemNumberY3D:

 Enter formula or value to position the product's 3D item number in Y.

ItemNumberZ3D:

Enter formula or value to position the product's 3D item number in Z.

 MISC

Enter formula or value to position the product a set distance from the floor to the top of the product. 

Is_Buyout:

Setting a value to “1” will cause all parts, edgebanding, and hardware to be considered “buyout”, meaning the parts will draw, but be omitted from the work order and not manufactured. If set to "1” on a subassembly prompt, then only those subassemblies, like a drawer, will be considered a buyout. 

UseAsSubassembly:

Setting a value of “0” will cause Microvellum to NOT include the Subassembly when making the subassembly report.

ProductCode

See Library Data Codes document for more information.

 Prompts to change the properties of a product

ProductName:

The prompt that gives users an opportunity to change the name of the product at the project level. This will update the product list.

ProductDescription:

Same as ProductName (above) however Microvellum will not overwrite any formulas should they be found.

ProductMaterialfileName:

Microvellum will populate the Specification Group Name.

ITEMNUMBER

ProductQuantity

ProductAngle

If any of these prompts are present in a product, their values will update the corresponding properties of the product. Since formulas can be used for the values of these prompts, logic can be built into your products to modify these properties using the Wizard, global variables, or other criteria.

These Prompts can both modify a property or return it.  It will populate the prompt if it was changed from the property or in the Product List interface.  Otherwise, it will update the property from the prompt value if it wasn’t changed from the property.

CutParts_Name:

Microvellum will populate the name of the Specification Group’s CutParts component.

Edgeband_Name:

Microvellum will populate the name of the Specification Group’s Edgebanding component

LibraryName:

Only used when the command "Rebuild Products from Library" is used.  This prompt should be populated with a hard-locked value that matches a library products name.  If this prompt is found in a product that value will be used to find a matching library product instead of the current product name.  This prompt is best used when using formula driven names for the "ProductName" system prompt.

WallOffset:

This feature allows the user to specify a distance to offset the product from the wall. This is useful when needing to allow for scribe or other wall furring that might be applied to the wall prior to cabinet installation. The feature is controlled on an individual product basis by adding a prompt to the product named WallOffset. You can use Library designer to add the prompt to an entire category of products or the entire library. You can also add any number of global variables to provide different offset values to different categories of cabinets.

STARTER/DESIGNER PRODUCTS

 The presence of certain defined prompts triggers the Opening Calculator:

 PRICE BASED ESTIMATION*

 *Not used in the Foundation Library

 COST BASED ESTIMATION*

 *Not used in the Foundation Library. Functionality moved to a Costing Report

 HIDDEN EXTRUDED PROMPTS 

 There are two special hidden prompt structures used for products that are extruded along a polyline path. They create a two-way means of communication between the spreadsheet and AutoCAD. Since a polyline can consist of multiple segments of straight and curved lines, it is often necessary to find the point where two segments intersect when the polyline is offset by a certain amount. Since calculating these points is complex, Microvellum has devised a mechanism to provide the information to the spreadsheet. The user can then use the values passed to the spreadsheet to create formulas for plate parts and machining required to build the product.

 Offset_x:

x being an incremental number that allows you to use more than one Offset prompt. The value of Offset_x is the offset distance from the polyline path that you are looking for. Use a positive number for a left offset and a negative number for a right offset.

 There are four more Prompts required to complete the offset structure:

LX_x

LY_x

RX_x

RY_x

 On the next page is a diagram that should help explain how the program is going to populate the Offset structure with helpful information. Let’s say that you wanted the first offset structure to calculate the countertop depth. In the prompt “Offset_1” you would type a formula similar to this:

  =-Depth

  In this example the variable “Depth” is equal to 24. If you were to extrude the product along the polyline below, here is how the offset structure would be populated by the program.

 CurvedPart_x:

“x” being an incremental number that allows you to use more than one CurvedPart prompt structure. As the name implies, this prompt facilitates the task of drawing a part containing a routing path to make it a curved part. Die wall plates and countertop decks are two examples of where you might use this prompt structure. The value of CurvedPart_x consists of two numbers separated by either a pipe or a comma. The two numbers represent two offset points from the polyline part. Use a positive number for a left offset and a negative number for a right offset.

 LXA_x

RXA_x

RYA_x

LXB_x

LYB_x

RXB_x

RYB_x

BULGEA_x

BULGEB_x

PANELWIDTH_x

PANELLENGTH_x

BASEPOINTX_x

BASEPOINTY_x

LEFTANGLE_x
RIGHTANGLE_x
CENTERPOINTX_x

CENTERPOINTY_x

Left_Angle

Right_Angle

Previous_Width

Next_Width

Previous_Bulge

Bulge

Next_Bulge

Previous_Center_Angle

Next_Center_Angle

This prompt structure works very similar to the offset structure that was previously described. In fact, the first eight prompts provide the same coordinate information described in the offset structure.

The two special prompt structures make creating these extruded products much easier.

The best way to learn how to build your own extruded product, is to study some of the extruded products already built by Microvellum.