Entering your first Order

So far you have printed an order which was already in the program. Now you are going to make your first order.

You left the program. Now, double-click on the program icon to enter the program again.

Choose Order->New Order or press F4.

The order header window will appear.

Select the Project Code field with the mouse.

If you prefer the Imperial System type 1 in the Project Code field.

If you prefer the SoftMetric System type 2 in the Project Code field.

If you prefer the European Metric System type 3 in the Project Code field.

Press the Load Project button with the mouse. The project data will appear on the window.

As you see the Order Code field has been informed with the code of the new order.

Fill the Order Description field with the description you prefer.

Fill the Order Number field with the number you prefer.

Fill the Type field if you wish. It is not necessary to fill it.

Fill the Module field if you wish. It is not necessary to fill it. It indicates the module the order belongs to. A module is a subdivision of a project. A project has several modules, and a module has several orders.

You see you have information on the measuring system, measuring units and format that you are going to use in this order. These are inherited from the project. Even if you made changes in the Measuring System Setup to measuring units and their format, these changes won't be reflected here because this an old project, which keeps measuring units and format throughout its duration. They will be reflected when you create a new project. We'll do that in another chapter.

Press the OK button.

The order detail window will appear. As it is a new order it only has one empty line.

The cell in the first row, second column (under the Location caption ) has its border highlighted with small yellow points. That means that cell has the focus and it will receive the keyboard input, is the one we are working with.

If you want to pass the focus to another cell you can do so by clicking once with the mouse pointer on it. You can also do it with the movement keys.

It may happen in some cases that no cell has the focus. This happens when you change to another windows task, choose a menu option or whenever another window becomes active.

So now the cell in the first row, Location column is active. This column is intended for the location, unit, entity, etc.. to which the piece belongs. It is a subdivision of the order.

Type UNIT 1 . Press Enter.

Now you are in first row, fourth column ( Mark caption ). This column is for a mark or number assigned to the pieces on the plan. If you are not interested in recording that mark or number, it is better to leave it empty. We are going to leave it empty.

Press Enter.

The Members column is for the number of members. Type 1.

Press Enter.

The Bar/Members column is for the number of bars in each member. Type 3.

Press Enter.

The following Column shows the caption Size (for bar size) in the Imperial and SoftMetric Systems and Dm (for diameter) in the European Metric. Type 8 if you are working with the Imperial System or European Metric and type 10 if you are working with the SoftMetric System.

Press Enter.

Now you are in the Model column. Type 45.

And Press Enter. Once you have pressed Enter, you go to another window with a drawing of model 45, and begin editing the first bending length of the piece, which in this case is a hook. You see that the 90º hook has already been informed with the standard 90º hook for this bar size, and you can change it if in this case it is not the standard hook length. You can also change the standard hook lengths so that from now on, it proposes a different hook length for this bar size and hook type. How to do that is explained in chapter Measuring Systems: Imperial, SoftMetric and European Metric. You can also tell the program not to propose a hook length, so that you always have to inform it. You learn how to do that in chapter Order Edit Setup.

Before we go on, a short explanation on bending length measuring units.

• If you chose project 1 (Imperial System), then the measuring unit is inches. You can type bending lengths either in decimal format or in feet'inches" format, the program will convert this value to the format which is setup for this project. For Instance, you can either type 15.5 or 1'3 1/2" or 1'3 1/2 or 1-3+1/2 or 1-3+2 or 1.29' or 1.29- , as you prefer. Once you press Enter the value will be shown as 1'3 1/2" if when this project was created the bending length in the Imperial System setup was set to feet'inches" format ( which is the default, see chapter: "Measuring Systems: Imperial, Softmetric and European Metric" ), and will be shown as 15.5 if it was set to decimal format. If you choose to type values in feet'inches" format, such as 1'3 1/2", please be careful to leave a blank space between 1'3 and 1/2". If you prefer to use only the numeric pad you can type 1-3+2 instead. The minus character (-) is equivalent to '. If you type 1-3 it is converted to 1'3". If you type 0-3 it is converted to 3". On the other hand 3+2 is converted to 3+2/4" which is 3 1/2". This is so if the measuring system taken by this project is set up to round bending lengths to 1/4". If it was set up to round bending lengths to 1/8", for instance, then 3+2 would be converted to 3+2/8" which is 3 1/4". If you prefer to type data in decimal format, then you can either type 15.5 or 1.29- or 1.29' . All of them producing the same result: 1'3 1/2". As you guess 15.5 is the value in inches and 1.29 the same value in feet. In this help guide, when we tell you to type a bending length value, we'll usually give the value in decimal format, so that it is also understandable for those who use softmetric or metric systems, but you can type them in feet'inches" format if you wish.
• If you chose project 2 (SoftMetric), then the bending length measuring unit should be in millimeters, which is the default unit for the SoftMetric System, ( although you can also setup the SoftMetric System to work with meters or centimeters, as is explained in chapter "Measuring Units, Weights and Bending Gains"). In this help guide everything has to be explained for the three measuring systems and the values given may seem ridiculous in mm, so when we tell you to type a bending length value, you could add a 0. For instance, when we tell you to type 10 , you could type 100 instead, because a bending length of 10 mm is ridiculous.
• If you are using the European Metric System in centimeters, just type what you are told.

Please, take into account that in the examples below not always the same measuring system is used.

Now let's go on filling the bending length values.

We are still in the first field, the hook length. You can change the hook value which has been proposed or just press Enter or cursor down to keep it.

And the editing focus goes to the second value of the piece. Type 25 or 2-1 in it. (type 250 instead if you are using SoftMetric in mm ) (if you are using Imperial you can type 25 or 2'1" or 2'1 or 2-1 or 2.083- or 2.083' )

Press Enter, and the editing focus goes to the third value of the piece. Type 40 or 3-4 in it. (type 400 instead if you are using SoftMetric in mm ) (if you are using Imperial you can type 40 or 3'4" or 3'4 or 3-4 or 3..33 or 3.33- or 3.33' ).

Press Enter.

Now there is no other value to edit and you can see the resulting piece: value 25 (or 2'1") on the left side has been copied to the right because both have the same length, and value 40 (or 3'4") on the bottom side has been copied to the top. The graphics that have been shown in this example use a feet'inches" format. In the next example a graphic with decimal format will be shown.

Press Enter again.

You are back in the order detail window. You see you have to press Enter twice to go back to the order detail window.

You see that ten more blank rows have been added to the browse, and the active cell is in second row, Location column. You also notice that in the first row the Length column has been automatically filled with the total bar length and the Weight column with the weight.

So you know how to add blank rows at the end of the order: Just go to the last column of the last row and press Enter, and 10 new blank rows will be added, which you can then fill with data. Don't worry if some are left blank, as they won't be saved when you save the order.

In the second row, Location column, type UNIT 1 and press Enter.

Press Enter to skip the Mark column.

You are in the Members column. Type 3.

Press Enter.

The Bar/Members column is for the number of bars in each member. Type 4.

Press Enter.

In the Size (or Dm) column type 10 and press Enter. That means bar size 10 (Imperial and SoftMetric) or 10 mm in diameter (European Metric).

In the Model column, type 101 and press Enter.

You are now in another window with a drawing of model 101, and editing the first value of the piece. Type 80. Press Enter.

As you have seen now the editing focus has gone to the second value of the piece. Type 70 and press Enter.

Now you are editing the third value. It is not a value of the piece itself, but of an auxiliary measurement. Type 50. This time the graphics shown supposes a decimal value setup, so it will differ from what you see if you are working with the Imperial System and feet'inches" format.

And Press Enter.

Now there is no other value to edit and you can see the resulting piece: the angle has been calculated from the second and third value.

Press Enter.

In the third row, Location column, type UNIT 2 and press Enter.

Press Enter to skip the Mark column.

You are in the Members column. Type 2.

Press Enter.

The Bar/Members column is for the number of bars in each member. Type 4.

Press Enter.

In the bar Size/diameter column type 10 and press Enter.

In the Model column, type 103 and press Enter.

You are now again in the drawing window with model 103, and editing the first value of the piece. Type 80. Press Enter.

When you press enter the focus doesn't go to the second member of the piece, but to an auxiliary measurement. Type 70 and press Enter.

In the next value, also of an auxiliary measurement, type 60 and press Enter.

The angle and the second member of the piece have been calculated from the values in the auxiliary measurements. You can now change the calculated value or just press Enter to confirm it. Press Enter again to exit the drawing window.

This model 103 and the previous 101 can be used to obtain the same type of piece, but the way to enter the values and the way they are calculated are not the same. Models 100, 102 and 104 are also similar. This means that for each type of piece you can have several models in your database and use the one which is better in each case. You will learn in further chapters how to enlarge your database of models by creating your own ones. When you create a new model you will decide which values are to be entered by the user and which are to be calculated.

Press Enter.

In the fourth row, Location column, type UNIT 2 and press Enter.

Press Enter to skip the Mark column.

Type 1 in the Members column and press Enter.

Type 20 in the Bars/Member column and press Enter.

Type 10 in the Size column and press Enter.

In the Model column, type 800 and press Enter.

You are now again in the drawing window with model 800, and editing the first value of the piece. It is the radius of the circumference. Type 40. Press Enter.

Now you are editing the value of the small extra length which is used to close the circumference. Type 10. Press Enter.

Now you can see the resulting piece: the circumference perimeter has been calculated from the radius.

Press Enter.

You see that the value which appears in the Len column is the addition of the circumference perimeter plus the extra length. It's the total piece extent.

In the fifth row, Location column, type UNIT 2 and press Enter.

Press Enter twice to skip the Mark column.

Type 1 in the Members column and press Enter.

Type 5 in the Bars/Member column and press Enter.

Type 10 in the Size/Dm column and press Enter.

In the Model column, type 1010 and press Enter.

You are now again in the drawing window and as you can see a model can consist of several pieces. Type the values you choose and press Enter in the end to go back to the order detail window.

In the sixth row, Location column, type UNIT 3 and press Enter.

Press Enter to skip the Mark column.

Type 2 in the Members column and press Enter.

Type 14 in the Bars/Member column and press Enter.

Type 10 in the Size/Dm column and press Enter.

In the Model column, type 0 and press Enter. Something like _______[1:1L]_______ appears in the Values column.

This model represents a straight bar. [1:1L] represents its length. Maybe you are surprised to see that you don't immediately go to the drawing window. You are still in the order detail window and the active cell is in the Values column. When this model was created it was defined that the values would be entered in the order detail window itself, without going to the drawing window. This can be done in any model, but it is only recommended in the most simple ones. The advantage of course is that you don't lose time going to the drawing window and back to the order detail window. In some cases there is a model defined with order detail window input and another with drawing window input for the same type of piece, so that the user can choose which one he prefers. In the Printing Models ( Bend Types, Standard Shapes and Structures) chapter you will learn how to tell which of the existing models enter data in the order detail window, and in Using the Mask to Enter Data and Print you will learn how to decide this in the new models you create and how to change it in the existing ones.

So in the Values column, type 6-5+3 if you are using the imperial system, or a decimal value like 140 if you are not. When you type this, the previous content of this cell _______[1:1L]_______ disappears, and the only which is left in the cell is what you have just typed:

So now you are still in the Values cell. Press Enter.

As you see the program has rewritten the Values cell, taking what you have typed as the value which was lacking. The graphics shown in this case and in the following examples are in feet'inches"; in Softmetric or European Metric it would of course be shown in decimal notation.

In the seventh row, Location column, type UNIT 3 and press Enter.

Press Enter to skip the Mark column.

Type 1 in the Members column and press Enter.

Type 2 in the Bars/Member column and press Enter.

Type 10 in the Size or Dm column and press Enter.

In the Model column, type 65 and press Enter.

Again you see that you remain in the order detail window and the active cell is in the Values column, which has the following written in it:

[1:1L] |______[1:2L]_______

You see it has already informed the default 90º hook for bar size 10, but we are going to change it.

Type the following in the Values column: 140 15

If you are working with the imperial system you can type: 11-8 1-3

Only one space is necessary between these two values, but you can leave several of them if you wish.

Press Enter.

As you see the program has rewritten the Values column, taking 140 (=11'8") and 15 (=1'3") as the values which were lacking.

The sequence in which the values are to be entered, that is if you must enter 140 15 or 15 140, is chosen when the model is created, as we will see in further chapters.

In the eighth row, Location column, type UNIT 3 and press Enter.

Press Enter to skip the Mark column.

Type 1 in the Members column and press Enter.

Type 4 in the Bars/Member column and press Enter.

Type 10 in the Size/Dm column and press Enter.

In the Model column, type 65 and press Enter.

As you see, when you type a model code which has already been used in the same order, it inherits the values previously entered, except for the hook, which is recalculated. Suppose that in this case we accept 1'10" as it is, we now want a 1'10"|______12'3_______ piece.

You could type:

( Or for instance 147 22 if you are not working with the imperial system)

But it is enough if you type 12-3

( Or for instance 147 if you are not working with the imperial system)

Press Enter, and you see the result:

You are now in the ninth row.

Choose menu option Edit->Copy lines from another order. ( This is one of the options which are only available to registered users.)

Type 1 in the Order Code field if you are working with Imperial.

Type 2 in the Order Code field if you are working with SoftMetric.

Type 3 in the Order Code field if you are working with European Metric.

Press Load Order.

Press OK.

Now you are in front of the Rows to copy window.

Type 1-9999 in the Rows field and press OK. (9999 is just a number you are sure is bigger than the number of rows in the order, so you make sure that all the rows are copied).

As you see all rows from the order have been added.

You are in the ninth row.

From the menu choose Edit->Delete one line.

As you see the ninth row has disappeared and the other rows have been renumbered.

Go to row 4. You can do this by clicking on it with the mouse or with the navigation keys.

From the menu choose Edit->Insert.

Now you are in front of the Rows to insert window.

Type 5 in the Rows field.

Click on Insert before current row.

Press OK.

As you see 5 empty rows have been added. You could fill them with data but now we are going to delete them.

From the menu choose Edit->Delete several rows.

Now you are in front of the Rows to delete window.

Type 4-8 in the Rows field and press OK.

As you see rows from 4 to 8 have been deleted and the rows below have been renumbered to fill the gap.

You will see that some models in the initial collection automatically calculate some bending lengths from other bending lengths, taking into account trigonometric relations. In these calculations the result is seldom an integer value, and has to be rounded. How the program rounds the result depends on the project. When you create a new project, you choose which of the three measuring system you are going to use in this project, and the format and rounding information are taken from the Measuring System setup, and will be kept throughout the duration of the project. Changes of format or rounding in the measuring system setup will only affect new projects which choose this Measuring System.

For instance in project 1, the sample imperial project, rounding is setup to 1/4". If you would like rounding to be 1", 1/2", 1/8", 1/16" or 1/32" instead, you must change the Imperial Measuring System setup at General->Measuring Units, Weights and Bending Gains and then create a new project in which you choose the imperial system. When you enter orders in the new project you will see that this new rounding setting is used, whereas it is not taken into account if you enter orders in the old project 1.

Please read the chapter "Measuring Systems: Imperial, SoftMetric and European Metric" for more information.

So far, when editing orders, the columns displayed have been: Row, Location, Mark, Members, Bars/Member, Size, Model, Values, Length and Weight.

Some of these columns are optional, and you can choose whether they are displayed or not. If you don't need the Members column, for instance, you can remove it, this way you can enter orders faster. The optional columns are: Row, Machine, Mark, Members, Bars/Member, Length and Weight. There is also a column, called "Machine", that by default is not present and can be added. Even if you don't need to enter the machine number you may find it useful for other types of data. The interesting point about this column is that it can be used to filter what rows are printed from the order ( bar list ) and what labels are printed. For instance when you print the bar list or labels you can tell the program to print only rows with machine column informed with a determined value. You can learn how to choose what columns are to be displayed in chapter: Order Edit Setup

In chapter Printing Models ( Bend Types, Standard Shapes and Structures ) it is explained how to print a list of models, so you know which shape is associated to each code.

In further chapters you will learn how to create your own models. You will also learn how to modify, copy, delete or change the code of existing ones.

You will learn how to calculate straight and bent varying bars.