Using Extended Entity Data in ProStructures

Extended Entity Data (EED) is a mechanism in ProStructures that allows you to add any number of non-graphical data to both Steel and Concrete parts or groups, such as supplier, fabricator, finish, color, price, etc.

Remember: Only two separate sets of EEDs can be used: one set for parts and a separate set for groups.

What are EEDs used for?

Some important usages:

EED data can be extracted to external B.O.M. mdb and reports.
Steel EED data is available in the "in-drawing partlist".
EEDs can be used in comparing parts during the positioning process.
EEDs are also published to iModels together with other PS3D properties.
EEDs can be viewed with Item Browser in MicroStation, Bentley Navigator, and Bentley i-model Composer.

Optionally, external programs can access or extract the data from the B.O.M. mdb database.

When and where are EEDs used?

EED data can be attached/assigned to any number of PS3D parts and/or groups in a model.

What is required?

There are three prerequisites for using EEDS.

Define the type, form, and format of user EEDs.
To use group EEDs with S4 and later an empty text file UseGroupEedDefinition.txt should exist/created in ProStructures Prg\config Folder.
Add two separate declarations in psappl.cfg (located in \Config\appl) for EED definition files to be used, UserEED=xxx and GroupUserEED=xxx.

Note: We can now Publish the additional properties to IFC.

Explorer dialog

Prefixes are automatically added to the field names in the Explorer dialog:

SingleEED
GroupUserEED

When no group EEDs are defined in psappl.cfg, the single user EEDs are used for group EED definition and the entries will appear in Item Browser in the previously mentioned applications.

Restrictions

Only the set of EEDs referred to in the cfg file can/will be used in the model.
Part EEDs where always available in PS3D, group EEDs are available since S4
There can be a maximum of 128 Fields in an EED definition file.
The same set of part and group EEDs are used on steel and concrete objects.
To be able to view EEDs in ProStructures, EED definition files should be present on the current installation,. Also, psappl.cfg should point to those files.
Note: If a ProStructures model file containing EEDs is sent to another user, EED definition files should be sent along with this file. This user should adjust the configuration file according before opening the model file.