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      <div class="title_topic2" id="xps10_pagetitle">Part table files overview</div>
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               <p class="para_td">Overview</p>
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               <p class="para_td"><a class="links" href="javascript:void(0)" onclick="top.openFile('routingadmin/table_desc.html');return(false);">How To</a></p>
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               <p class="para_td"><a class="links" href="javascript:void(0)" onclick="top.openFile('routingadmin/pt_best.html');return(false);">Related Topics</a></p>
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      </table><br><p class="para_topic">A Part Table file defines a list of parts available for use in a tabular format. You can reference the table from the Part Library View file, invoking a <b class="uiTerm">Part Family Selection</b> dialog box driven by the part table specified. Each row in the table defines the descriptor characteristics for a specific part or part family member. These descriptor characteristics provide the criteria for part selection in the <b class="uiTerm">Part Family Selection</b> dialog box.
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      <p class="para_topic">Part Table files are text files. They permit Routing to parametrically find NX parts without having to open part files. They also minimize the number of NX parts required to define a large part library by referencing the same NX part when two parts are geometrically the same using the Part Family mechanism. For instance, if the only difference between two elbows is the material type, the same NX part file may be used. The specific material type will be included on each occurrence of the elbow. See  <a class="links" href="javascript:void(0)" onclick="top.openFile('routingadmin/en_level_overview.html');return(false);">Entry Level Part Library Utilities</a> for further information on setting up the relation between a part table and a part family.
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      <div class="title_division">Required columns</div>
      <p class="para_division">Every table must contain a PART_NUMBER column. The PART_NUMBER column must define a unique value for each row in the table. This is a unique identifier that may be used to select a specific part defined by a row.</p>
      <p class="para_division">Every table must contain a PART_NAME column. This column specifies the NX part file, which contains the definition of the part selected by each row in the table. A table may list either the members of a NX part family (see MEMBER_NAME below) or the file names of individual part files. If the table is used to access part family members then all rows must access a family member but each row may come from a different part family. It is the PART_NAME value which determines how the part family template part is accessed.</p>
      <p class="para_division">To access part family members the table must include a MEMBER_NAME column. The MEMBER_NAME column must contain a value that matches a member name of part family template part, designated in the PART_NAME column. That is, the PART_NAME column is used to find the NX part file and the MEMBER_NAME column is used to find a specific member (or row) in the family table contained in the part file.</p>
      <p class="para_division">You will typically hide the required columns described above. You will always see the PART_NUMBER column in the <b class="uiTerm">Matching Members</b> area of the <b class="uiTerm">Part Selection</b> dialog box. Do not hide other columns, such as SIZE, MATERIAL, FINISH and TYPE to give you the appropriate selection criteria.
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      <p class="para_division">The part table defines four members of the family part cndlet_coupling.prt. The four member names are 2061, 2062, 2063 and 2064. The selection characteristics are SIZE, MATERIAL, FINISH and TYPE. BOD_DIA and BOD_LENGTH provide values which drive the geometry of the part family.</p>
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