Configurations

With a model or sketch in the workspace, open the Configuration panel:

1. Click to the right-side of the graphics area (below the View cube):

   

2. The Configurations panel opens:

   

3. Click (as shown above) to open a table:

   

   By default, the caret to the left of 'Configuration' is expanded (shown above to the right of the blue arrow), click the caret when you are done with a section of the panel to collapse that section.

4. Click in the first row to activate it and enter the names of the input in the Name column. For example, to apply a flange to different sides of a sheet metal part, you might name the rows Top, Left, Right. Use Tab to move from one row to the next.

   

   The active row is indicated by a blue bar to the left of the row.

5. To configure a parameter value for the indicated row, click .
6. Open the feature that contains the parameter (click it in the Feature list) and select the parameter. The parameter is then outlined with a broken yellow line and a new column is created for that parameter in the table.

   For example, to configure the side of the sheet metal part to attach the flange, open the Flange feature and select the Edges or side faces to flange selection. Notice the new column in the table:

   

   The column name defaults to the Feature name (as a top-level heading) plus the field name (as the subordinate-level heading), in this case Extrude 1 is the Feature name and Faces and sketch regions to extrude is the field name.

   Hover over the fields in the feature dialog to see which parameters can be configured. Parameters available for configuration are highlighted in yellow when you hover over them.

7. To edit a configured instance of the parameter:
   1. If the parameter is an entered value, click on the row in the table and enter a new value.
   2. If the parameter is a selection in a dialog, double-click the row in the table to open the feature dialog. For example: click 1 entity in the first row.

      The appropriate field in the feature dialog is highlighted in blue. Make your selection on the model (or sketch) for this parameter.

8. When finished defining the configurations, click the check mark on the Feature dialog to close it.
9. Repeat step 6 through 8 for each row.
10. Repeat steps 5 through 8 to add another feature parameter to the table.
11. To test the inputs with the model, in the Feature list, under Configurations, use the down arrow to select from the menu:

    

The model should update accordingly. If it doesn’t, check the model for design intent and the configurations definition for accurate selection.

Cross referencing configured features

Hover over a feature in the configured table to see the feature in the model space (as shown below):

A Part Studio configuration can contain one or more configuration inputs. The steps above explain how to create a list type configuration input which results in a list of configuration choices when inserting a part into an Assembly or Drawing. You can create more than one of these configuration inputs (to keep one input from becoming too complicated or duplicating parameters) and also create different types of inputs. Other types of inputs you can configure are Configuration variable and Checkbox.

Once you have a configuration input defined (using the steps above), you can either add to that using the button at the top of the Configuration panel, or create additional configuration inputs using the button at the bottom of the Configuration panel:

When creating configuration inputs, you have choices on the type:

• List - Creates a table of feature parameters in the Part Studio and presents as a list of selections when inserting the part (or parts) into an Assembly or Drawing. (This type is explained above.)
• Configuration variable - Creates a variable that can be used in any feature and in FeatureScript. Types of variables include: Length, Angle, Integer, Real, and Text. Enter the value of the variable at insertion time.
• Checkbox - Creates a check box to turn features on or off, like Fillets and Chamfers, and can also be used to suppress or unsuppress features. This type presents a check box to check/uncheck during insertion time. Once created, use the +Configure features button to select the associated feature/s.

Step-by-step instructions follow.

Once a configuration is created, you can use the menu to act on it in the Part Studio:

• Copy table - Copy the entire Input table, you can then paste the table into a spreadsheet for record-keeping or editing. You can likewise paste from a spreadsheet back into a configuration Input table.
• Rename - Select this action to rename the configuration input.
• Edit FeatureScript IDs - This dialog will change the internal FeatureScript identifiers of the input Configuration. Click inside the dialog boxes to change IDs. When finished, select Break reference and change IDs in the lower right corner.

  

  This dialog is typically only useful if you need to build a Part Studio inside a custom FeatureScript feature.

• Delete - Select this action to immediately delete the configuration input; no warning is given.

For all tables, use the context menu (right-click) to operate on rows or columns:

• Switch to - When right-clicking a row that is not currently selected Input, you have the menu item prefaced with Switch to a different Input.
• Set as default - When right-clicking a row that is not currently the default Input, select this to set it as the new default.
• Duplicate row - Create a duplicate row; this is especially convenient when preparing to paste a new table into this one. See Copying and pasting tables into and out of Configuration Inputs below, for more information.
• Move up - Move the selected row up one level in the table.
• Move down - Move the selected row down one level in the table.
• Rename - Rename the Input.
• Delete row - Delete the selected row.

You can click and drag individual column edges in the table to resize them; in the case of stacked column labels, click and drag the bottom label, indicated in the illustration above by the blue arrow.

Onshape has a mechanism for also configuring part properties for each of the configuration inputs and options you have previously defined, directly from the Configuration panel. The properties available to be configured include: Part name, material, appearance, description, part number, vendor, project, product line, title 1, title 2 and title 3. If you have a professional or enterprise account, you can also configure custom properties.

To configure a part property:

1. With an existing configuration input in the Configuration panel, click at the top of the panel (shown below to the left of the blue arrow):

   

   

2. Click .
3. Select the part property you wish to configure (custom part properties are included in the list). (This example uses Appearance.)

   A table is created with the previously selected configuration input in the first column and the part property in the second column:

   

4. In the Configuration column, use the down arrow to select from the list of configuration options.
5. In the Appearance column (part property), double-click to open a dialog from which to select the value (in this case, the Appearance editor).
6. Select or specify the value and the table is populated with your choice:

   

7. Click to close the property dialog and accept the value.
8. To add more part properties for another configuration option, click .
9. Select a new configuration option from the first column.
10. In the Appearance column (part property), double-click to open the dialog from which to select the value.
11. Select or specify the value and the table is populated with your choice.
12. Click to close the property dialog and accept the value.

    

13. Repeat as necessary to configure the part properties for the necessary configuration options.

Note that when configuring part numbers and you have automatic part number generation turned on (through your Professional Company settings > Numbering schemes or Enterprise settings > Numbering schemes), you can right-click in the column and select Generate next part number:

You are able to use the configuration inputs you create in the Part Studio to test the results and use that information to tweak design intent. However, the main point of creating configuration inputs is to provide options for the parts you use during production workflows like creating Assemblies and Drawings.

To test configurations in Part Studios, use the Configurations area at the top of the Feature list to select configuration input parameters to see how they affect the parts in the Part Studio:

Example of the Configurations section of the Feature list in a Part Studio on browser

Example of the Configurations section of the Feature list in a Part Studio on an Android device with the dropdown open

Example of the Configurations section of the Feature list in a Part Studio on an iOS device

When inserting parts into Assemblies or Drawings, select the desired inputs directly in the Insert dialog during the insertion process, on all platforms (browser, iOS and Android):

Browser insert dialog, above

Android insert dialog, above

iOS insert dialog, above

In an Assembly, configured parts are indicated by the icon in the Instances list:

You can copy and paste into and out of a configuration input table, to aid in entering or editing input values.

To copy a configuration input table:

1. Open the menu in the upper right corner, next to +Configure features.
2. Select Copy table:

   

3. Once you have copied the table, you can paste it into a spreadsheet:

   

Note that the column names also come in with the table, as shown above. Now you can edit the table and copy/paste it back into Onshape:

1. Select just the rows and columns with data (not the column names or headings), as shown in blue below:

   

   You can also pad your table with extra empty rows, if you wish. Just include the extra rows in the spreadsheet when selecting for the copy command.

2. Issue a Copy command.
3. In the Onshape Configuration table, click the top, left cell of the table.
4. Issue a keyboard Paste command:

   

Onshape automatically replaces whatever data was in the rows and columns of the configuration input table with the data that was copied. Onshape also includes the default units for each input parameter, automatically.

Note that if there are more rows copied from the spreadsheet than are in the Onshape configuration input table, those rows are included in the paste. Onshape creates the rows on the fly.

However, if there are more columns copied from the spreadsheet than are in the Onshape configuration input table, those columns are not included in the paste. Onshape does not yet create columns on the fly. You can, however, create additional columns (configured features) in the configuration table before pasting.

Some configurations can be excluded from properties. This is useful when you don't want to repeat configuration options in the Configured properties table. Excluded configurations are treated as always having their default values.

For example, consider a spring. Configurations are available for both the spring's diameter and height.

Whether or not the spring is compressed impacts geometry, but not part number; it is the same part when it's compressed and uncompressed. To specify that all part numbers should be assigned irrespective of spring height, you would have to add each configuration option to the Configured properties table and specify the part number for each.

Part number set for each configuration possibility.

If you instead exclude the height configuration from the properties, you can specify part numbers based only on diameter:

Height configuration excluded from the Configured properties table. Part numbers will be set regardless of spring height.

Excluding a configuration from the part's properties

1. In the Configuration panel, click the three-dot button next to the configuration, and select Exclude from properties from the menu. The Excluded from properties icon appears next to the configuration's name.

   

Adding an excluded configuration back to a part's properties

1. In the Configuration panel, click the three-dot button next to the configuration, and select Include in properties from the menu.

   

Inserting a configured part into an assembly

When inserting a part with excluded configurations into an assembly, you'll see the Excluded from properties icon next to the part.

Releasing a part with excluded configurations

When releasing a part that has excluded configurations, you'll see the Excluded from properties icon in the Create Release candidate dialog.

Notes

• Excluded configurations are treated as always having their default values. Release packages and revision references will always use those default values.
• Parts that only differ in excluded configurations will be treated as the same part by the Bill of Materials (BOM) and release management.
• If something with an excluded configuration is released, it is considered released for all values of that configuration.
• Excluded configurations will still be included in:
  • Geometry calculations
  • Computed properties
  • The Mass Properties tool
• If you see discrepancies between the mass provided in the BOM and the mass provided in the Mass Properties tool, it is likely due to some configurations being ignored in the BOM.