In this dialog, you can specify certain user settings for your work with part selection and parts management.

Overview of the main dialog elements:

Part selection with scheme selection:

If you select this check box, a new selection dialog will open whenever you start a part selection; select a scheme from a drop-down list and click [...] to view / edit the settings. This will allow you to fill the device list with data from different data sources, for example.
If the check box is not selected (default setting), there is no further selection.

Scheme:

Select the scheme that you wish to use or edit from the drop-down list. You can also use the adjacent toolbar for this purpose.

EPLAN:

Select this option here in order to then interactively select a database file in the EPLAN format (*.alk) via . You can use the subsequent dialog to also select an old parts database in the Access format (*.mdb) for the migration.

You can use the Insert path variable popup menu item to branch to the dialog Select path variable where you can select one of the available path variables.

Or click (New) in order to generate a new database in the subsequent dialog.

The current database is then displayed in the title bar of the Parts management dialog.

SQL server:

Select this option and click [...] to specify the settings for using an SQL server in the SQL server setting dialog.
Or click (New) in order to generate a new database in the subsequent dialog.
Or you select the desired SQL database from the drop-down list of the 15 ones last used. In it the databases used last are listed at the top. When a new database that is not yet contained in the list is opened / generated , the lowest database may be removed from the list. The list can be emptied with the exception of the database currently being used via the popup menu item Delete entries.

The currently selected server is then displayed in the title bar of the Parts management dialog.

Use SQL Server full-text search:

Only available for the SQL Server option. If this check box is activated, the full-text search integrated on the SQL Server is used for the Find field in the parts management. This accelerates the search, but different results are achieved compared to the "normal" search in SQL databases. This also applies for the search in the part selection, in the part master data navigator and for the search for part properties in the Insert center.

If the check box is deactivated, no full-text search is used for the search in SQL databases.

API:

Click [...] to open the Settings: API part selection dialog. It is there that you specify which parts properties should be used from the external database and which should be saved in the project.

eSTOCK collection:

Select this option if you want to use parts from the central database EPLAN eSTOCK in the EPLAN Cloud. Select the desired eSTOCK collection from the drop-down list.

The parts from eSTOCK can not be changed in the parts management of the EPLAN Platform.

The currently selected eSTOCK collection is then displayed in the title bar of the dialog Parts management.

Several menu items are available in the Parts management dialog in the popup menu or below [Extras] to upload a part from other database sources in eSTOCK, to open parts of an eSTOCK collection in eSTOCK and edit them, or to update the data in the parts management with the modified data from eSTOCK.

Further information on EPLAN eSTOCK is available in the eSTOCK Help.

Extend parts data using:

If the EPLAN-specific technical parts data are to be supplemented by commercial data from coupled systems such as PMS, you can achieve this by using the table of the subsequent dialog Extend parts data that is opened by using the [...] button. So when you select a scheme for part selection, not only can you determine a data source (Scheme field in this dialog), but you can also select other data sources that must also be defined as schemes.

Tree configuration:

Select the scheme to be used for displaying the tree in parts management and part selection from this drop-down list. Click [...] to edit an existing scheme or create a new scheme using the Tree configuration dialog.
If different tree view are desired for part selection and parts management (e.g. one for project design and one for master data editing), you can create several schemes with different tree configurations in the part settings and easily switch between the tree views by selecting a scheme.

Break up assembly:

If this check box is selected, assemblies are broken apart, and the part numbers of the individual components of the assembly are assigned to the device.
If the check box is deselected, the part number of the assembly is assigned to the device.

The check box is deselected by default. You can then decide, when creating reports, whether assemblies should be broken down, and e.g. the bills of materials should show the part and order numbers of the assembly or of the individual parts.

Up to level:

If you have selected the Break up assembly check box, then enter the number of hierarchical levels of assemblies that should be broken down here.

Modification allowed during selection:

If this check box is selected, existing parts in the parts management module are modified and new parts are created when you select a part on the Parts tab of the Properties dialog for components. In the case of an outdated parts database a query is then also placed for updating at the part selection.

If the check box is not selected, parts can only be selected. They cannot be created or edited.

Placeholder object / Macro box: Adopt part number without synchronizing parts:

If this check box is activated, the Conflict dialog is not displayed for the value set assignment via a placeholder object / macro box, and no data are transferred from the parts management.

If the check box is deactivated the Conflict dialog is displayed and you can decide which data to retain and which will be overwritten.

Update device data after the storing of parts:

If the parts in the project are older than in the parts database, the newer data is stored in the project during a parts database synchronization.

If this check box is activated, the newer device data is also transferred to the main functions that use these parts, in addition to the parts data synchronization. Only the data from the function templates are transferred to the main functions. Further data of the parts is not transferred since the part reference data at the main functions has been deliberately changed.

If the check box is deactivated, no device data is updated in the project.

For further information on this topic please refer to the section "Updating part and device data".

[Other]:

Click this button to open the dialog Settings: Parts management.

See also

Parts Management