Tips & Tricks - HELiOS 2016 and older

The result list filter configuration options for ToDo lists have been enhanced (as of HELiOS 2016 SP2). Here you will find a new option allowing you to display all objects created by the group of the logged-on user (i.e. not only those that were created by the user him-/herself, but also those that were created by other members of his/her group). This will also provide you with an overview of all outstanding tasks of the complete user group.

When creating new article masters in HiCAD, the settings in the file Hicad-HELiOS_TS.dat (in the HiCAD sys directory) will be evaluated. If the parameter 

Apply part attributes to part master when creating new part master? 1=Yes, 0=No

is set to 1, the attributes will be applied as follows: 

If desired, you can also export the HELiOS attributes shown in the ICN when performing an (automatic) 3-D interface export (Step, 3D-PDF) via Plot Manager or the HiCAD Spooler.

For this to happen, you need to adjust the system file brw_3dinterface.hdb in the \sys\ directory of your HiCAD Spooler installation as follows:

If using BIM, it is currently necessary to deactivate the option shown in the following screenshot:

If this option is not deactivated, it is possible to find problems about released parts.

As of HELiOS 2015 SP1 the standard result lists for parts, documents, objects, folders etc. can be expanded by further, company-specific result lists. For instance, you can define special result lists showing only particular document types (e.g. all PDF files or all Beams). Clicking the filter Symbol  at the top of the result list opens the usual HELiOS search mask - with the difference that you can now click an button at the bottom of the window to apply a search filter to the currently open result list. Search filters can also be saved as search templates (workstation-specific or company-wide).

Use the new search filter options and result list templates of HELiOS 2015 SP1 to customize the search criteria and displayed attributes for each of these result lists, to assign unambiguous headings to them and save them as reusable templates.

This enables you to conveniently switch between various, frequently used search configurations.

A similar principle applies to detail mask tabs. If the current focus is on a tab, you can not only use the arrow keys to switch to the next tab on the left or right, but also use the Home and End keys to jump to the first or last tab.

Before HELiOS 2014 SP2 it was possible to right-click an entry in a document search result list, select Display document and open a preview window for the selected document. If you then scrolled through the list using the arrow keys, the preview window was automatically adjusted according to the currently selected item.

As of HELiOS 2014 SP2, this behaviour can be activated or deactivated via the HELiOS Options. If the Show new contents in same window checkbox is active on the Display tab of the HELiOS Options dialogue window, an opened detail window will always display the contents of the currently marked document in the result list, and will adjust its contents automatically when you scroll through the list. If this checkbox is deactivated, the detail mask will always statically show the contents of the object that has been called with a double-click in the result list.

In the new HELiOS Desktop (as of V 2014) you can change the headings of columns in result lists. Right-click on the desired heading, select Change title in the context menu and enter the new heading.  The new heading initially only applies to the current HELiOS session. If you want to change the heading permanently, right-click the column heading, select List display in the context menu and select Save. Use Reset to reload the default setting again.

If you use the local version of the HiCAD or HELiOS Help (docu folder of your HiCAD 2013 or HELiOS 2013 Installation), it may occur that only empty frames instead of the start page are displayed. Downloadable files for the elimination of this problem are available at Product know how > Documentation.

Like HELiOS, the linked CAD systems are constantly enhanced and adapted to the latest technology. Service Pack 2 provides you (amongst other things) with Addins for AutoCAD® 2014, Autodesk Inventor® 2014 and SolidWorks® 2014.

In this context please also note the information given in the Compatibility Matrix.

The following rules apply to the designation of the HiCAD attributes:

For all HiCAD attributes specified in the system file brw_3dteil.hdb, the attribute name in the TEXT-SHORT column of the system attributes in the standard parts directory must be used; the table of the system attributes can be displayed via the Catalogue Editor (CATEDITOR.EXE), in the System Settings

catalogue. For all HiCAD attributes which are not defined in the system file brw_3dteil.hdb, the attribute name in the NAME column of the system attributes is used. The designation of the HELiOS attributes can be directly taken from the product structure attributes in the HELiOS Attribute Editor.

The Update sub-part index function belongs to the PDM functions for active parts. This function is important if a release (for one or several assemblies containing the part with the new revision index) exists and you do not want to create a new index for all structure elements.

You can find the function on the HELiOS PDM tab at HELiOS PDM functions for active part > Product structure.

The function updates all sub-parts of the (referenced) part with the newest revision index, with no indices to be required for super-ordinate elements. The updating affects only the geometry, not the drawings of the CAD construction.

Please note:

• To be able to perform the update, you need to save the last change to the drawing file in HiCAD beforehand. 
• As of Version 2012 (SP1) the function also works in conjunction with the Vault Server.
• You can also find the function in the context menu (RMB) for parts, under HELiOS.

When working with Projects, please bear the following in mind:

• The activating or deactivating of projects in the HELiOS Desktop has no effect on the settings in the HiCAD, i.e. the project will only be active/inactive in the HELiOS Desktop (but not automatically in HiCAD as well).
• After restarting the HELiOS Desktop, the project that was last activated in the HELiOS Desktop will be suggested as the active project in the PDM login window. If you want to activate a different project or work project-independent, you can change the settings already in the login window accordingly. For a subsequent change in the HELiOS Desktop, select the desired project from the Active projects listbox in the Projects function group of the Data tab. If you want to work project-independent, click the Work project-independent icon.

When exporting documents from HELiOS, the name of the exported file can, through a corresponding definition in the system file hel_fileexport.ini, automatically be composed of HELiOS attributes and fixed texts; for each part of the name a new line is created in the file, the taking over of HELiOS values takes place via the keyword "ATTR"; fixed values are defined via "FIX".

The entry

• ATTR = HEL_DOKUNUMMER
• FIX = -
• ATTR = HEL_BLATT
• FIX = -
• ATTR = HEL_INDEX

leads to a file name [Document number]-[Sheet number]-[Index].

If you want to transfer a Bills of Materials to Excel via a template file in the 64Bit version of HiCAD or HELiOS, but this option is deactivated (greyed out) in the Report Manager settings, you need to download and install the Microsoft Access Database Engine 2010 Redistributable components in the 64Bit version. The installation of these components must be executed with the option /passive, i.e. the call for the installation is AccessDatabaseEngine_x64 /passivec

If you want to use the BIM functionality in conjunction with an existing HELiOS database, you need to configure it accordingly.  For this purpose, use the HeliosBIMConfig.exe tool in the HiCAD EXE directory (V 1601).

The detection of similar parts is one of the regularly performed, rather time-consuming tasks in product development. Although it is frequently known that such parts exist in the company, it is still a difficult task to identify their names and exact locations. Besides the well-known search options via designation, type, class, etc. HELiOS provides a simple and convenient alternative for similar part detection: If a new part was created via drawing derivation, you can explicitly search for similar parts via the “Origin“ or “Based on“ fields in the Find documents mask. If you use the document number for the search criterion “Origin”, HELiOS will find all variants derived from the originally created part. If you use the “Based on” search criterion, only the last created variants will be found.

HiCAD/HELiOS can be installed via a network connection, the installation files need however be provided to the client via a network drive connection; connections via UNC paths are insufficient.

The programs and tools for HiCAD and HELiOS can be utilised, without requiring any special settings, on a 64Bit operating system. Please note however that the ODBC data source for HELiOS needs to be set up via the ODBCAD32.exe program in the SysWOW64 directory of the Windows installation. If you use the functionality from the Control Panel, the data source is not found.