Lesson 3

Choosing catalog items

The catalog is where every object on the sheet comes from, and the data behind it is what the calculation works on. Finding the right item quickly is most of the skill.

Where the tree comes from

The Items tab is built from the Elements folder next to the program: every subfolder becomes a branch, every .gf0 symbol file becomes a leaf. Nothing is hard-coded — if your distributor ships an extra folder of symbols, it appears as a branch the next time the program starts.

1. Narrow the tree instead of scrolling it

   Type into the Filter box above the tree. Branches that contain nothing matching are hidden and the rest open by themselves; clear the box to get the whole catalog back. The tree is not rebuilt while you type — nodes are only shown and hidden, so it stays instant even on a large catalog.

   Two different searches. Filter above the tree searches the catalog. Find element on the toolbar searches the objects already on the sheet, by ID. Reaching for the wrong one is the commonest five-minute loss in this program.

2. Look at the symbol before you place it

   View → Symbol preview opens a small window that draws the selected symbol at a readable size, with its name and its type underneath. With it open you do not even have to click: resting the mouse on a tree entry shows that symbol, and the window returns to the selected item when the mouse leaves the tree.

   It shows the file the object will actually be built from, which is not always the same picture as the Scheme tab of the item card. Put it on a second monitor and forget about it — its position and whether it was open are remembered between sessions.

3. Filter a folder by its parameters

   Right-click a folder and choose Filter…. The Filters window, titled with the folder path, collects the parameters of every card in that folder. The Fixed tab has a list for each text parameter — company, label, model number, element, type, inlet size, flow pattern, material — holding the values that actually occur; the Range tab takes limits for the numbers. Press OK and the tree shows only the items that satisfy all of them; Clear in the window drops the conditions, Close leaves without changing anything.

   This is the difference between "a nozzle" and "a nozzle that will actually do the job": filter first, place second.

4. Keep what you use: Favorites and Recent

   Two groups sit at the top of the tree. ★ Favorites holds the items you marked yourself, sorted by name — right-click an item and use Add to favorites. Recent holds the last ten items you placed, newest first, and Clear recent empties it.

   An item in these groups is a shortcut, not a copy: select it and click on the sheet exactly as in the catalog. Both lists survive a restart. An item that no longer exists, or one outside the folder chosen in the filter, is simply left out, and an empty group is not shown at all.

   Check

   Mark the open pipe from lesson 1 (blowing_tube) as a favorite, restart the program and open the scheme again. The ★ group is at the top of the tree with your item in it.

5. Open the list of replacements

   Open the scheme from lesson 1 and calculate it. Click the pipe and double-click the row ↔ Count of analog Pistols in the Item tab. A list opens: every blow gun in the catalog that gives at least the force of the open pipe, the recommended one first. The list has its own filter by company and material, which is usually what decides the choice.

   The same list opens from the context menu of the object on the sheet, Recommended substitutions…. Choosing an entry replaces the item; its position and its connections are kept.

   The Source list on the toolbar has nothing to do with this: it picks the compressor of the scheme (lesson 2), not the make of an item.

6. Read the card behind the item

   Click an entry in the tree and look at the upper panel: it now shows the item card. The number of tabs is up to the card — as many as its maker put in, usually up to five: General, Scheme, Photo, Tech data, Material (the screenshots were taken before the tab was renamed and still read Sheme). Tech data is the manufacturer data the calculation uses — each row is a value with its unit and a short explanation. A generic element has only General and Scheme: there is no catalog data behind it.

   Everything the calculation needs about the element comes from here, and the card is read once, when the object is created; after that the data travels inside the .gf9 file.

   In the Item tab the same data appears as black rows, which is why they cannot be edited there: to change them, place a different item.

7. Walk through the scheme item by item

   Previous element and Next element make the previous or the next object of the scheme current. It is the quickest way to check the data of every item in turn without looking for any of them on the sheet — the parameter tables follow each step. Find element on the toolbar does the same by ID.

When it does not work

Try this next

• Filter a nozzle folder by flow and place the smallest nozzle that still gives the force the open pipe of lesson 1 gave.
• Replace the open pipe with the recommended blow gun from the list, calculate, and compare Qn and Cs of the compressor with lesson 1.

Related help topics: