Copying and Editing Templates

While it is possible to create a template from scratch, a simpler approach is to copy an existing template and make the necessary changes. It is strongly recommended that template files provided by Bentley Systems not be modified; make modifications to copies only.

The template files are located in the Tables directory and have the extension .CMB. Select a template to copy that is most like the template that you want to create. Generally it is best to copy a template that is associated with the same material, if available. This will ensure that the template ID is correct.

An example of a template that uses all five Controls is the IBC 2006 Steel ASD template (RamSteelIBC2006_ASD.cmb). An example of a template that has all Controls turned off is the AISC ASD Steel template (RamSteelAISC_ASD.cmb).

The templates provided by Bentley Systems are write protected. If you copy an existing file using Windows Explorer, you will need to remove the Read Only property before editing the file. If you open the file in a text editor such as Notepad and save it to a new name, the Read Only property will be removed for you.

After a template has been copied, it can be edited using a simple word editor such as Notepad.

Verify that the ID: field is correct, or specify an ID as explained in Section 3.1.1.

Specify a new name for the NAME: field in the template as explained in Section 3.1.2 . This must be a unique Name from that used in any other templates that have the same ID.

Determine which Controls are needed, if any. Ask yourself the following questions.

After the Controls have been established, edit or add the load combinations as explained in Section 3.1.8.

Question: Do any of the combinations that I am going to create use any Factors that might vary from one project to another?

Answer: If the answer to that question is "No", then you do not need any Controls. Set them all to False and you're done with the Controls.

Question: Do I have a factor that could have any of a range of values associated with it?

Answer:

If the answer is "Yes", you want to use Control 1. See Section 3.1.3 for the specifics of implementing Control 1.

If the answer is "No", hide Control 1 by setting it to False.

Question: Do I have a factor that could be one of two or more explicit values?

Answer:

If the answer is "Yes", you want to use Control 2 or 5. See Section 3.1.4 for the specifics of implementing Control 2 or 5.

If the answer is "No", hide Control 2 and 5 by setting them to False.

Question: Do I have a factor that falls into an Either/Or situation (i.e., either apply this value or that value)?

Answer:

If the answer is "Yes", you want to use Control 3. See Section 3.1.5 for the specifics of implementing Control 3.

If the answer is "No", hide Control 3 by setting it to False.

Question: Do I have a factor that varies with the direction of the applied to loads (i.e., the Factor is different for X-direction load cases than for Y-direction load cases), or do I need to access and apply the Redundancy Factor, rho?

Answer:

If the answer is "Yes", you want to use Control 4. See Section 3.1.6 for the specifics of implementing Control 4.

If the answer is "No", hide Control 4 by setting it to False.