Further to our release of STAAD.Pro back in September (see the blog post New Release STAAD.Pro V8i SS6 - CONNECT Enabled (20.07.11.45)) which had included the ability to include STAAD.Pro in a CONNECTED project, we have just published a new build with a further enhancement to build on that capability and gain more benefits from making the STAAD.Pro model part of your CONNECTED Project.
With this new build, you will now also be able to help in the coordinated design of the project by associating a set of configuration settings with that project. That means that any one of the team using STAAD.Pro will be set to use the approved unit settings, design codes and even section profiles.
This is done in a few simple stages.
Create a package of STAAD.Pro settings.
Upload these settings to the CONNECT Project Portal.
Set any STAAD.Pro model to that CONNECTED Project.
Additionally there are a number of important issues that have been addressed in this build which are documented in the Revision History document which is part of the ReadMe, but attached to this blog for information.
Note:-
This capability is being release as a Technical Preview with a full commercial release scheduled for early next year.
The specific steps to set up and use the Project Settings are as follows:-
The project manager collates the project settings by simply using STAAD.Pro and arranging the settings as required
Edit the Configuration dialog with the following:-
Base Unit, set to either English or Metric
Default Design Codes, set the default codes to be displayed on any new models created with this project.
Section Profile Table. Select the default database to be displayed when creating new section properties.
Open a model and in the General>Property Page, open the Section Database to display the default database. Click on the View Table button and set the option to ‘Select Sections to Project Database’. Identify any sections that should not be used in the project and click ‘Remove’. These will display faded in the table, but cannot be selected either by a user or the program during a MEMBER SELECT design.
Return to the Start Screen, by closing the STAAD model. Note it is not necessary to save any changes that may have been made in the model.
Return to the Configuration dialog and click on the ‘Settings’ tab. Create a project settings package by clicking on the button ‘Create CONNECTED Project Settings Package’ This creates a zip file DefaultConfig.zip in the user folder:- C:\Users\(user)\AppData\Local\Bentley\Engineering\STAAD.Pro V8i SS6 This needs to be uploaded to the CONNECT Project site.
On the CONNECT project portal select the Application Settings and click on the “Add Setting” button.
Specify the Product as STAAD.Pro and Generation as V8i (CONNECT Enabled)
Click on Browse and navigate to the Zip file created in the earlier step.
Click Upload and wait for confirmation that the file was successfully uploaded.
3. Designers who are using STAAD.Pro and want to make use of this capability need to do two things:-
Ensure that STAAD.Pro is set to use the CONNECT Project Settings. This is set by default when the program is installed, but can be turned on/off on the new Settings page of the Configuration dialog.
Ensure that the STAAD.Pro model is associated with the CONNECT Project.
These models will now download and use the latest prescribed settings when the model is opened and ensure all team members are working together.
We are looking to get feedback on this capability ahead of the formal release so would appreciate any comments you have. Please can you send them either to me, your account manager or to your TSG colleague.