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 Configuration 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 an input value for the indicated row, click .
6. Open the feature that contains the input (click it in the Feature list) and select the input. The input is then outlined with a broken yellow line and a new column is created for that input 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 inputs can be configured. Inputs available for configuration are highlighted in yellow when you hover over them.

7. To edit a configured parameter:
   1. If the input is an entered value, click on the row in the table and enter a new value.
   2. If the input 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 input.

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 (input).
10. Repeat steps 5 through 8 to add another column (parameter) to the input.
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 inputs) and also create different types of inputs. Other types of inputs you can configure are Configuration variable and Checkbox. You can also paste inputs from another Part Studio or Assembly in the current document or an external document.

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

When creating configuration inputs, you can specify the type of input to add:

• List - Creates a list of feature inputs 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.)
• Checkbox - Creates a checkbox to turn features on or off, like fillets and chamfers, and suppress or unsuppress features. This type presents a checkbox to check/uncheck during insertion time. Once created, use the +Configure features button to select the associated feature/s.
• 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.
• Paste inputs - Paste inputs from another Part Studio or Assembly in this document or another document. See Copying and pasting inputs.

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

• Copy table - Copy the entire configuration input, You can then paste it into a spreadsheet for record-keeping or editing. You can likewise paste from a spreadsheet back into a configuration input. See Copying and pasting input values and parameters
• Copy input - Copy the input and values (rows). You can then paste it into another Part Studio or Assembly's Configuration panel, and add parameters using the Copy table command. See Copying and pasting inputs.
• Copy all inputs - Copy all the inputs and values (rows) in the Configuration panel. You can then paste it into another Part Studio or Assembly's Configuration panel, and add parameters using the Copy table command. See Copying and pasting inputs.
• Move up/down - Reorder the input in the Configuration panel.
• Rename - Rename the configuration input.
• Edit FeatureScript IDs - This dialog will change the internal FeatureScript identifiers of the configuration input. 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.

• Exclude from properties - See Excluding configurations from affecting properties.
• Visibility conditions - See Setting visibility conditions.
• 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 the currently selected input, the menu item is prefaced with Switch to a different input.
• Set as default - When right-clicking a row that is not currently the default input, set it as the new default.
• Duplicate row - Create a duplicate row; this is especially convenient when preparing to paste a new input 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 row.
• Move down - Move the selected row down one row.
• 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.

You can adjust the conditions under which a configuration input is visible.

Consider a part with two configuration inputs: Height and Width.

By default, a part of any height can have any width. But let's say the Extra Wide width is only available for the Tall height. In that case, we can set the conditions under which the Width input is visible.

1. In the Configuration panel, click the configuration's three-dot button, and select Visibility conditions from the menu.

   

   The Configuration visibility conditions dialog opens. The right panel shows a preview of the currently selected configurations. You can change the selected options directly in this panel to preview your settings.

   

2. Click Add condition.
3. Click the first dropdown, and select the input that should control the visibility of this input. In this example, we'll select the Height input.
4. Click the second dropdown, and select the conditions under which the input is available. In this example, the Width input is only available for the Tall height. The preview on the right updates to reflect your selections. You can see that the Width input is no longer available for the Short height in the image below.

   

5. Click Save. Now, the Width input is only visible when the Tall height is selected, and the Width input table displays the Visibility conditions icon .

   

   

   

   

Setting multiple conditions

Configuration conditions are additive; if we add a third configuration to the above example and set the conditions shown in the image below, the Large Fillet option will only be available for parts that have both the Tall height and Extra Wide width inputs.

When the Default width is set for the Tall height, the Fillet configuration is hidden.

Configuration inputs can only control the visibility of inputs that appear below them in the Configurations panel. In our example, the Width input can be controlled by the Height input, but not by the Fillet input.

Tips

• The visibility conditions you set are available in all Insert dialogs (i.e., when inserting a configured part into an assembly).

• Hidden inputs always have their default value. In the example above, Short and Medium height parts have the Default width, even though no width options are set.

• (Parts and Part Studios only): Configuration inputs that have been excluded from properties can only control the visibility of other inputs below them that have also been excluded from properties. In the example below, if Width is excluded from properties (indicated by the icon), it can only control the Fillet visibility if Fillet is also excluded from properties.

  

  

• Use the Inputs dropdown in the Configuration visibility conditions dialog to view other inputs. You can select All inputs to view all inputs available.
• You can use the preview section of the Configuration visibility conditions dialog as a playground to test your configurations.
• Select the Show hidden inputs checkbox to show grayed-out inputs in the Configuration visibility conditions dialog.

  

• Click in the Configurations selector to open the Configuration visibility conditions dialog for all inputs. Click in the Configurations panel to open the dialog for that input.

• Changes made to visibility conditions are automatically reflected in all existing documents that reference the configured element.

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 configuration 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, click .
9. Select a new configuration parameter 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 configurations.

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:

Some configuration tables can be excluded from properties. This is useful when you don't want to repeat configuration inputs 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 individually add each input to the Configured properties table and specify the part number for each.

Part number set for each configuration possibility.

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

Compression configuration table 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 configuration's three-dot button, 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 configuration's three-dot button, 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.