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      <title>Reference Characteristics</title>
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      <div class="title_topic5" id="xps10_pagetitle">Reference Characteristics</div>
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               <p class="para_td"><a class="links" href="javascript:void(0)" onclick="top.openFile('routingtools/parts_overview.html');return(false);">Parts Overview</a></p>
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               <p class="para_td"><a class="links" href="javascript:void(0)" onclick="top.openFile('routingtools/part_set_level.html');return(false);">How To</a></p>
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               <p class="para_td">Options</p>
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               <p class="para_td"><a class="links" href="javascript:void(0)" onclick="top.openFile('routingtools/parts_quality.html');return(false);">Related Topics</a></p>
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      </table><br><p class="para_topic">You may assign a port a <b class="uiTerm">Reference Characteristic</b>. &nbsp;A <b class="uiTerm">Reference Characteristic</b> is a characteristic that has a value that is a reference to the value of another characteristic. &nbsp;The referenced characteristic may be one assigned to that same port, a characteristic that is a part attribute of the prototype part to which the port belongs, or a characteristic assigned to the occurrence of the part to which the port belongs.
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      <p class="para_topic">One use of a <b class="uiTerm">Reference Characteristic</b> is to manage cases where one port has a different size associated to it than the rest of the part. A reducer is one example, a tee with a smaller branch diameter than the main body is another example. The sample metric part library provides examples using the reducers and the reducing tees. In these examples, the part table defines a characteristic titled NPS_BRANCH.&nbsp;In the tee part, for example, the system assigns the port with the smaller diameter the characteristic NPS as a reference to the characteristic NPS_BRANCH.&nbsp;When the system requests the NPS value of a main line port, it finds the NPS characteristic value.&nbsp;When the system asks for the NPS value of the branch port, it finds the value of NPS_BRANCH through the reference of the Port NPS to the value of the characteristic NPS_BRANCH.
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      <div class="title_division">Use of reference sets</div>
      <p class="para_division"><b class="uiTerm">Reference Sets</b> may be used with Routing parts to manage the amount of part content to be included when a component is added to an assembly (see <a class="links" href="javascript:void(0)" onclick="top.popUpPage('assemblies/index.html?goto=assemblies/an_replace_ref_set.html&vars=-aux,-home','linkInter','menubar=yes,status=yes,resizable=yes,toolbar=yes,scrollbars=yes,location=no,directories=no');return(false);">Assemblies Reference Set</a> documentation). When using Routing <b class="uiTerm">Place Part</b> or <b class="uiTerm">Replace Part</b>, the active reference set may be chosen.
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      <p class="para_division">The capability of Routing to offer placement solutions when adding a part to an assembly is dependent on the objects included in that reference set. Ports and anchors are used to determine how the part may be attached to the selected destination object and the desired orientations. If these objects are not included in the active reference set, Routing cannot determine the suitable placement options.</p>
      <p class="para_division">If a Routing component includes a <b class="uiTerm">Built-In Path</b>, then the curves defining the built-in path must also be included in the <b class="uiTerm">Reference Set</b> in order to be processed when the part is placed.
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      <p class="para_division">When defining a reference set for a Routing component, <b class="uiTerm">Ports</b>, <b class="uiTerm">Anchors</b>, and <b class="uiTerm">Built-In Paths</b> curves should always be included. <b class="uiTerm">Reference Sets</b> that exclude these objects should not be used when placing a part using Routing tools.
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