Views are user defined inventories of objects created from a single model or multiple models. Many customers use Assemble to create views of objects by schedule, bid package, WBS, activity ID or by work installed. Assemble is particularly flexible and adaptable for organizing model data based on workflow. The features reviewed here are useful in creating specific views of model instances and their properties that can be saved as a View for future use. Views are also important for many data exchange and data conditioning workflows. Setting up views of particular groups of objects and their properties, facilitates the exchange of data between Assemble and Revit, and Assemble and Microsoft Excel.

Similar to Models, Views are organized on the Project Inventory page and can be organized, searched, renamed and deleted for easy management. Groups, Columns, Visibility Rules and Color Coding features will be explored in more detail to demonstrate how to easily set up your project Views.

Open an existing View

On the Project Inventory page, Views are organized by either name or model type by clicking on the dropdown next to the VIEWS heading. If organizing your views by Name, views will be listed in alphabetical order by name. If ordered by Visible Model, views will be organized by the model(s) visible in the view. Views with multiple models are organized first under the Multiple Model heading. Headings for all other model name that have views associated with them are then listed in alphabetical order.

  1. After logging in, from the Project Dashboard, click on a Project Card. If you don’t have any projects, click on Sample Project – Cobie Office.
  2. On the Project Inventory page for the Sample Project, click Structural Steel Schedule. 

Searching for Views on the Project Inventory page:

  1. In the Find by name box, start typing the name of a View (or Model) to narrow the list of Views (and Models).
  2. Click on the name of the View.

Deleting a View from your Project Inventory:

  1. Click 1-Getting-Started-Three-Dots-Icon next to the name of the View.
  2. Click on Delete.
  3. Verify you want to delete the view by clicking Delete.
  4. Click Done. Please note that this action cannot be undone.

Renaming a View in your Project Inventory:

  1. Click  1-Getting-Started-Three-Dots-Icon next to the name of the View.
  2. Modify the Name and click Done.

How to Create a New View

From the Project Inventory, click on a Model Card or a View Name to navigate to the model information.

  1. Click 2-Getting-Started-Save.
  2. Name your View and click Save.
  3. Use the Model Tree, Columns, Groups, Visibility Rules, Model Viewer and Color Coding tool to modify your dataset. Review each section below for further details.
  4. Click 2-Getting-Started-Save to update the VIew with your changes or to Save As to another View name.

Using Groups to modify a View

Groups organize and display model properties in an expandable/collapsible hierarchy. You can choose to nest multiple properties within a group and save them to a view. Any of the available properties in a model may be used to group the data in the grid.

How to Change your Inventory Grouping:

  1. Click 3-Group, located directly above the Inventory.
  2. Select a group name or Create a new grouping order. For more information on creating Groups, click here.

 Note: If you apply a group to a project that does not use those properties, Assemble displays ‘groupname’ grouping is not compatible with this model version where ‘groupname’ is the name of the group. For views that include multiple models the grouping must be compatible with all models.

Using Columns to modify a View

Use the Add/Remove Columns function to select columns for display in the Inventory.

Adding Columns to the Inventory:

  1. Click Add/Remove Columns button in the top-right corner of the Assemble Grid, or click C on your keyboard.
  2. To add a column, click a column name in the Available columns list.
  3. Define the order of the columns by dragging and dropping the blue items to your desired order location.
  4. Click Apply.

Sort data by a particular Column:

  1. Click a column heading to sort the data by that column. The arrow next to the column heading indicates whether the data is sorted in ascending or descending order.

Remove a Column:

  1. Click Add/Remove Columns button in the top-right corner of the Assemble Grid, or click C on your keyboard.
  2. To remove a column, click the ‘x’ next to the property you would like to remove.
  3. Click Apply.

Using the Model Tree and Visibility Rules to modify a View

The Model Tree can be used to create views of datasets by using category family or type names to filter the objects.

The purpose of the Visibility Settings panel is to provide you with greater flexibility and specificity in creating views. Use the Rules in the Visibility Settings panel to change visibility of objects in the view based on user defined properties that are not available in the Model Tree. Rules can be added and edited for every model in the Project.

Create a rule in the Visibility Settings Panel:

  1. To access the Visibility Settings Panel, click on the Visibility Settings link at the bottom of the Model Tree Panel. There are four fields you will need to complete to filter your data.
  2. After completing a rule, click Apply to run it against the data set.
  3. Rules may be edited by clicking on the ‘x’ on a pill, then left clicking on the Value field to enter a new value.
  4. To add another rule statement, click Add Rule and complete the steps again.

Descriptions of Visibility Rule Fields:

  • Model Name = the name of the model to apply your rules to
  • SHOW ONLY or HIDE ONLY = the action to apply to the objects
  • Property Selector = the model property used to SHOW or HIDE objects
  • Value = the specific value of the property selected
  • Constraint (Optional) – further specificity to a rule set

Note: If you create multiple SHOW rules in the panel, Assemble processes the rule statements as though they are joined by or. If you create a HIDE rule in the panel, Assemble processes the rule as though it is joined by and, thereby resulting in a global rule. HIDE rules remove objects from the dataset entirely and cannot be unhidden from the Model Tree or another SHOW ONLY rule without first deleting the rule.

Values for different data types:

Text – When the value of a parameter is text (String Value), start typing the name of the text on the value line. Assemble will auto-populate values for parameters that exist in the model. If the text entered applies to multiple objects, Assemble will populate a ‘contains’ operator to apply to the rule.

Numerical – When the value of a parameter is a number, start typing the number on the value line. Assemble will automatically populate operator choices of equal, greater than, less than, equal to or greater or equal to or less.

Currency – When applying a rule for Cost, Unit Cost, or Total Cost, type the number in the value line. If you do not include a decimal, Assemble will create it for you. Assemble will automatically populate operator choices of equal, greater than, less than, equal to or greater or equal to or less. Do not include dollar signs or commas.

Blank –

NOTE: The value blank (the value is null) and not blank (the value contains a numerical value) may be used to filter data.

Deleting Rules:

  1. To delete an individual Rule, open the Visibility Setting panel and click ‘x’ in the top right of the rule box.
  2. To delete all rules for a model, select the model by checking the box next to the model name.
  3. In the Selection Bar choose Hide Selection or Unhide Selection.

Modifying Ignored Categories:
By default, Assemble ignores Detail Items, Furniture, Rooms and Spaces, which means theses categories do not display in the Model Tree, Inventory, Viewer or Visibility Rules. To be able to access these items, use the Visibility Settings to toggle them back on in your project.

  1. From the Model Tree, click the Visibility Settings link at the bottom of the panel.
  2. Click on the dropdown next to Ignore, at the top of the panel. Check the category you would like to toggle on.
  3. Click Update, at the bottom of the panel.
  4. Close the panel.

Note: After toggling the category on, a rule will be displayed to HIDE that category. You can delete this rule and click Update to immediately display the objects in the Inventory and Viewer or Close the panel and use the Model Tree to selectively turn on Families or Types of that category.

Notes regarding Visibility Rules:

  • By default, Rooms, Spaces, Detail Items, and Furniture are automatically filtered from the Model Inventory and the Model Viewer. By default, Furniture, Rooms and Spaces are also filtered out of the Model Viewer.
  • Assemble rounds numeric values displayed in the grid but stores true values in the system. For example, Assemble stores 8.125 in the system but displays 8.13 on the Inventory. When you build a filter to search for a numeric value, use the value that is stored in Assemble.
  • For help in deciding what the parameter names and values could be used, open the Property Manager. The parameter name is on the left side of the Property Manager, while the property value is on the right. For more about the Property Manager, click here.

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