How to Report Grid Locations on Creo Drawing

[McCormickN]

Good Afternoon All,

I am trying to link the zone location of an annotation or view on a Creo drawing. I have my location grid defined in the format with the columns and rows referencing the proper values ( columns=1-8 and rows=A-D). I can toggle the display of this location grind on or off in the format or a drawing created from that format. However, I would really like to create annotation that can be moved around and report it's current location into a different annotation.

Example:
I have a "flag note" that is located on Sheet 2, Zone 3A on a drawing. In the general notes on Sheet 1 of the drawing I would like to reference the location of the "flag note" and have this update if the flag note happens to get moved around.

My specific question is:
What parameter or syntax do I need to use to call out the location of an annotation (note/symbol) or view?

Any help would be greatly appreciated. I searched the forum and found some references to this topic, but nothing that answered my question. There is apparently a good PTC lesson about this topic on their website. Unfortunately, our maintenance just expired and I do not have access to PTC support.

Thanks for your help!

Sincerely,
Nat McCormick

 

[patrickstapler]

Nat, Here is the info from the PTC Portal. This pertains to drawing views. Do you happen to know if this can be applied to BOM Balloons?

Using Location Callouts



Product: Pro/ENGINEER and Creo Elements/Pro
Release: Wildfire 5.0
Technical Area: DETAIL














Overview

Location Callouts can be defined by creating location grids within the format. This location grid is then used to locate drawing views using parametric notes to indicate both the sheet and drawing location of a view. Parametric location callouts allow for intelligent notes to be added to drawings to indicate the location of a detail or section view, saving time and preventing out-of-date notes.

The location notes will update upon regeneration if the view is moved on the drawing and into a different grid location. If the view is erased or moved outside of the grid, the value of the location callout changes to ***.





This document is broken into two tasks:

Task 1 - Define Location Callout Grid

Task 2 - Showing Location Callouts









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Task 1 - Define Location Callout Grid

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1. Click Open Main Menu: #File > #Open and retrieve the a_size.frm format.

2. From the Main Menu, click File > Sheet Setup. The LOCATION GRID menu manager will appear.

3. Click Define. The Grid Outline will be automatically created equaling the paper size.

4. Click Grid Origin to specify the grid origin.
•Select the top-left corner of the grid outline. This will follow the top to bottom, left to right order of the grid.
•A yellow X will appear, indicating the selected location of the grid origin





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5. From the DEFINE GRID menu manager, click Columns to specify the columns of the grid.

6. Click By Number to specify the number of columns by entering in number.
•Type in 5 into the input window.
•Press ENTER

7. If necessary, click Numbers to specify the grid labels by numbers, and then click Done/Return.

8. Next, click Rows to specify the rows of the grid.

9. This time, specify the number of rows by picking points in the graphics window.
•Click By Pick Points > On Entity
•Select the small horizontal line entities of the format outline as shown
•Click OK from the SELECT dialog box, and then click Done/Return.

10. Click Done/Return > Done/Return to complete the Location Grid.

NOTE: The grid will disappear when exiting the Location Grid menu.









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Task 2 - Showing Location Callouts

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1. Click Open Main Menu: #File > #Open and retrieve the location_callout.drw drawing.






Location Callouts are created using the following syntax:
•View Location - &pos_loc:view:<view name>
•Sheet of View - &sheet:view:<view name>
•Note Location in Parent View - &pos_locarent_note:<view name>
•Sheet Location of Note - &sheetarent_note:<view name>

For example, if Detail A is located at A4 on the location callout grid with view name of "detail_a", the syntax would then be something like: See Detail A at &pos_loc:view:detail_a

The text would display as: See Detail A at A4







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2. Edit the "SEE DETAIL" note to include the location of the detail view.
•Select the Annotate tab from the Drawing Ribbon.
•Select the "SEE DETAIL B" note, Right-Click > Properties.
•Type in LOCATED AT &pos_loc:view:b under the existing text as shown.
•Click OK from the NOTE PROPERTIES dialog box when finish.

The note will update and show that the detail view B is located at "14C" which is Sheet 1, location position 4C.






The Drawing Option pos_loc_format controls the default format of the location callouts. The default value is "%s%x%y, %r" which will display the sheet number (%s), the location in the x direction (%x), and the location in the y direction (%y). The %r means to repeat the substring from the first special character to the last. This is not applicable in regular drawings because it is used to call out multiple objects with the same name, such as in Pro/DIAGRAM connectors.

Any additional text/characters can be added into the format value to customize the format. For example, if the pos_loc_format was changed to "PTC %x-%y", the note would then be displayed as "PTC 4-C".







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3. Edit the detail view note to include the location of the parent view note:
•Select the Annotate tab of the Drawing Ribbon if necessary. Select the detail view note, Right-Click > Properties.
•Type in PARENT NOTE AT &pos_locarent_note:b as shown.
•Click OK from the NOTE PROPERTIES dialog box when finished.

The note will update to show the location of the parent note is located at "12A", which is Sheet 1, location position "2A".





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4. Select the bottom-left view and notice the view will highlight in the Drawing Tree. Take note of the view name "bottom_1".

5. Create a location callout note.
•Select the Annotate tab of the Drawing Ribbon if necessary. Click Note Annotate > Note from the Insert group.
•Accept the default settings and click Make Note.
•Pick the note location as shown.
•Type the following into the Enter NOTE input window: &pos_loc:view:bottom_1
•Press ENTER twice to complete the note, and then click Done/Return from the menu.

The note will be displayed as shown.





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6. Edit the position location format to not show the sheet location when calling out a view location.
•From the main menu, click File > Drawing Options.
•In the OPTIONS dialog box, type pos_loc_format into the Option field.
•Enter in a value of: %x%y
•Click Add/Change > Apply > Close.

7. Click Repaint and notice the location callout format now only displays the X and Y values of the location grid.





This completes the procedure.

 

[McCormickN]

Patrick,

Thank you so much for posting this reply!

I will do some research on my end and see if I can find a way to apply this to BOM balloons. I will get back to you...

Thanks again!

- Nat