Library Designer’s Find and Replace is a powerful and commonly used tool. It is useful for replacing formulas, locating orphaned global variable references, determining if products are referencing a particular global variable, or any time it is important to know that you've found every occurrence of a formula or prompt.
Make a backup copy of your factory database before experimenting with Library Designer’s Find and Replace tool
Library Designer Find and Replace Tool
To access the Find and Replace tool, click the Search button in the General tab of Library Designer.
Fig. 01 – Library Designer Interface – Search
The Find and Replace interface will open.
Fig. 02 – Find and Replace Interface
Search-In Checkboxes
The checkboxes in the upper left allow you to designate which areas of the database to search.
Fig. 03 – Find and Replace Interface – Search In Checkboxes
By default, all checkboxes are selected, providing a complete search of all Library database records. If you prefer to limit the search, first click the UnCheck All button to clear all checkboxes, then select the areas of the Database to focus your search. The UnCheck All button transforms to a Check All button when no selections have been made.
Fig. 04 – Search In Checkboxes
You have the option to search in each of the following categories of records:
Products
Subassemblies
Parts
Hardware
Prompts
Machine Tokens
Drawing Tokens
Subassembly Entries
Match By Any Part, Whole Word, or Entire Cell
Just like in workbook designer, you can match your search inquiry either by Any Part, Whole Word, or Entire Cell. You also have the option to make the search case sensitive using the Match Case checkbox.
Fig. 05 – Find and Replace Interface – Match By Selection
Search and Replace With Text Entry
Input the text you would like to locate in the library into the Search text field.
Fig. 06 – Find and Replace Interface – Search Text Field
Text entered in the Replace With field will replace Search text in the library data.
Fig. 07 – Find and Replace Interface – Replace With Text Field
Use a basic text editor like Notepad to store your text and easily copy and paste into the Search and Replace With text fields
Search
Clicking Search will start the database search process.
Fig. 08 – Find and Replace Interface – Search Button
Typically, the search process is completed quickly. However, you can click the Stop button during the search to abort if needed.
Fig. 09 – Find and Replace Interface – Stop Button
Results of the search are displayed in the tree view on the left side of the Find and Replace interface.
Fig. 10 – Find and Replace Interface – Search Results Tree View
Clicking the plus icon drills down to each individual matched item from the database. Once selected, the entire formula or data value will be displayed in the data display window to the right.
Fig. 11 – Find and Replace Interface – Data Display
Parts, Products, or Subassemblies Using This Item
A list for each of the following entity types is displayed in the lower right corner of the Find and Replace interface:
Parts
Products
Subassemblies
When an item in the tree view is highlighted, all Parts, Products, or Subassemblies using the item are displayed in these lists. Any replaced text will be replaced for all entities listed.
Fig. 12 – Find and Replace Interface – Parent Lists
Alternatively, you can right-click on a selected item then click Show Products/Subassemblies Using Item to show a separate Parent List window.
Fig. 13 – Show Products/Subassemblies Using This Item
Replace Checked Items
Clicking the Replace Checked Items button will replace the matching text of all records currently checked in the tree view with text from the Replace With text field.
Below is a sample exercise that demonstrates how to fix an issue with a formula affecting machining on drawer cabinets with finished ends. This issue has been corrected in newer cabinet libraries.
Microvellum's Library Designer provides users with an impressive amount of power and control over their product data. It's a tool used by engineers to quickly make sweeping changes to groups of prompts, sub-assemblies, parts, products, and more. It's ...
This article provides an example of how Library Designer can be utilized to make Library wide changes affecting many products at once. Before getting started, ensure that the Library Designer database has been configured and test to make sure it's ...
Library Designer is a powerful tool that can be utilized to make Library wide changes affecting many products at once. In this article, we’ll cover Strategy, Tips, and Tricks that will help you get the most out of Library Designer. Before getting ...
The Library Designer Tool is used for editing existing products and NOT for creating new products from scratch. This article provides information for setting up the Library Designer for the first time. For information on working in the Library ...
The following release notes apply to Toolbox build 24.1.1105.641 Nesting Fix Fig. 1: The fatal error that would occur during processing. There was reportedly an issue that occurred when clients attempted to process a work order using the nesting ...
The following release notes apply to Microvellum Foundation Library build 24.1025. Additions Added new global variable “Remove Stop Dado On Bottom Edge” for wood drawer boxes. Check this option to run the dado through at the bottom of the sub front ...
The following release notes apply to Toolbox build 24.1.1030.641 Routing and Profile Fixes Several issues were found with routing and polyline paths: Fig. 1: Horizontal routes off of a part disappearing (left) and appearing correctly (right). When ...
The following release notes apply to Toolbox build 24.1.1010.641 Biesse Winstore Fix Several issues with the Biesse Winstore plugin have been resolved: There was an issue that would sometimes occur wherein materials that were intended to stack wound ...
The following release notes apply to Toolbox build 24.1.1001.641 HBore Toolfile Fix Fig. 1: The location in the Toolfile UI where the error would occur. There was an issue reported with the functionality of the Horizontal Boring Machine setting in ...