Design Table

A design table is a table of configurations for one part, such as Small, Medium and Large. Each row is one configuration, and each column is one of the part's Global Variables. Press Use on a row and every variable it names takes that row's value at once. The sketch follows through the same sketch solver that holds every other dimension, and one Ctrl+Z takes the whole change back.

When to Use It

Keep the sizes of a family of parts in one place: a bracket in three widths, a plate in four thicknesses
Switch a part between a few known sizes without typing every value again
Paste a size list straight from a spreadsheet, and copy it back out to share
Check that every size of a family still fits the sketch before you send it out

Step by Step

Open a sketch and make two global variables, for example Width = 4 in and Height = 2 in (see Global Variables). Use them in dimension formulas.
On the Sketch tab, click Edit, then Design table.... The Equations window opens. The Design table section is under Global variables.
Type a name such as Small in the box beside Add configuration and click it. A row is added holding the values the variables have now.
Add a second row called Large. In its Width cell type 8 in and press Enter or click away. Leave a cell blank to leave that variable as it is.
Press Use on the Large row. Every variable the row names takes its value, the dimension formulas are worked out again and the sketch moves to match. The row now shows In use.
Press Use on Small to go back, or press Ctrl+Z once to take the last Use back.

The Table

Use: sets the variables to this row. The button reads In use when the variables already hold exactly what the row says.
Configuration: the row's name. Edit it and press Enter to rename it. A name can be up to 40 characters and cannot hold tabs, commas, semicolons, quotes or line breaks. Capitals do not matter, so small and Small are the same name.
One cell for each variable: a value such as 6 in, or a formula of variables such as Width / 2. A cell can read a variable that the same row sets: Width = 8 in with Height = Width / 2 gives a Height of 4 in. A blank cell leaves that variable as it is.
×: deletes the row. The variables keep the values they hold.
Units: a number with no unit is in the display unit you were using when you typed it, and the cell keeps that unit, the same way a Length variable does.

Paste and Copy

Paste a table... opens a text box. Paste cells copied from a spreadsheet, then click Read table. The first line names the variables, after one first column for the names. Each line under it is one configuration: its name, then a value for each variable. Tabs, commas or semicolons can sit between cells. A comma inside brackets stays in its cell, and empty cells at the end of a line are left out. A cell can end with a unit tag such as [in] or [mm]: its plain numbers are then in that unit, whatever unit is showing. Without a tag, they are in the display unit.
The pasted table takes the place of the rows already there, as one Ctrl+Z step.
Copy as text copies the table with tabs between cells, ready to paste into a spreadsheet. A plain number gets its unit added, such as 3 in, and a formula with numbers in it gets a unit tag at the end, such as Width / 2 + 1 [in], so the table reads back to the same sizes anywhere. If the browser will not copy, the text is shown in the box to select and copy by hand.

When It Is Refused

A refusal says what is wrong in plain words and changes nothing: not the sketch, not the table, not the undo history.

A value that does not fit: a length in a Number variable, a formula that does not finish, a name that is not a variable, or a circle such as Width = Height and Height = Width in one row. The message names the variable.
A size the sketch cannot hold: if a row would make a dimension formula give a length of zero or less, or the sketch cannot hold together, Use is refused and the message names the dimension.
A pasted table with a problem: a column that is not a variable of this part, a variable named twice, a line with more cells than the header, a repeated or missing name, or a line with every cell blank. The message names the line.
Too big: a design table takes at most 100 configurations, and a pasted text at most 200000 characters.
No variables yet: a design table sets global variables, so add one first.

Options

Needs an open sketch: like the variables, the table is changed and used from a sketch, so Ctrl+Z can take a change back with the sketch.
Earlier versions: a version you are only looking at cannot be changed.
Renaming a variable renames its column, and formulas in the cells that read it follow. Deleting a variable deletes its column; Ctrl+Z brings both back. A variable that a cell of another column reads, such as Width in Gap = Width / 2 + 1, cannot be deleted until that cell is changed.
Changing a variable's type is refused while a row holds a value that does not fit the new type, such as 8 in for a Number. Change or clear that cell first.

What It Does Not Do Yet

Use changes the sketch that is open. A sketch waiting on its plane, or the sketch of a step in the History, follows the variables when you open it. A step already built keeps its shape until its sketch is opened and Update step is pressed, so the solid is rebuilt one step at a time, not all at once.
An Extrude depth typed as a formula is worked out once, when you press Extrude or Cut, so a configuration does not change it afterwards.
A design table row sets only global variables. To turn steps on or off as well, make the row a Part Configuration: add a configuration that takes its variables from the row. A row cannot pick a material or a colour.
One table per part. The table is not shared between parts, and an assembly cannot pick a configuration of a part.

Tips and What to Expect

The table is saved with the part, beside the variables. Close the model and open it again and it is back.
A model saved before this release opens exactly as it was, with no table. An older viewer opens the part with the values the variables last held and ignores the table.
Each add, cell change, rename, delete, paste and Use is one Undo step.
Give each configuration a value for every variable that changes between sizes, so the row means the same thing whichever row was in use before.

Open the viewer

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