How To Add Bolt in RobotXML Database
How To Add Bolt in RobotXML Database
Warning:
To successfully add bolts diameters to the Robot database, follow the steps in this tutorial with care.
Incorrect manipulation with one of the Robot database could result in serious malfunctions of the
internal system of Autodesk Robot Structural Analysis Professional.
Use an xml database editor at your own risk and only after you made a copy of the database you want
to edit.
In Autodesk Robot Structural Analysis Professional the databases used are formatted in an xml format.
To be able to edit that kind of database, you need an xml editor.
You can find many xml editors (free or licensed) on the Internet. Use one of them to follow the steps in
this tutorial.
In this example, we used a free xml editor: “XML Notepad 2007”.
First you need to find an xml editor that suits your needs.
Note: The functions described in this tutorial may vary depending on a selected xml editor .
Example:
Goal: Add to the French database: the anchorage diameter M39 (=39mm) with an efficient
cross section of 976mm² for all steel materials.
The goal of this example is to add an additional bolt (and anchorage) diameter to the French
database « bolts_NF.xml » which stores the data necessary to calculate steel connections
according to French standards.
Note: The Robot version used in this tutorial is Autodesk Robot Structural Analysis
Professional 2013; the tutorial can also be used for previous Robot versions such as 2012 and
2011.
Example application:
Windows XP:
Select the « bolts_NF.xml »database and then copy/paste it to another location such as Desktop
or “Documents”.
After copying the database , open the original one using the selected xml editor.
This database is composed of five tables; we can add bolt diameters only to first 2 ones.
The first Table is the Table “Bolts” which contains the list of all bolt diameters available in the database.
The second one “BoltsType” will be used to link the bolts diameters to the different materials.
In « XML Notepad 2007 », right click the last available row and select “Duplicate”.
Note: This manipulation may vary depending on the selected xml editor.
Diameter: Enter the diameter of our new bolt here; in this example: 39.
SectionEFF: Enter the efficient cross section (mm²) here; in this example: 976.
Afterwards you can see data as in the image below.
How to create links between Bolts and materials in the table “Bolts-Type”
To correctly define your new Bolt diameter, link bolts to different materials.
First, specify how many materials are currently available in the database:
Open the table “Materials”.Here we can see that 12 different steel materials are already available in this
database (« bolts_NF.xml »).
These materials have IDs from 1 to 12.
To create a link between different materials and the new bolt, we will have to add 12 new rows in the
table “Bolts Type”.
Those rows are composed as shown below:
To link the new Bolt to a different material, select the table “Bolts Type” and duplicate 12 times the last
available row (12 times because 12 different materials exist in this database).
Then, modify each of these 12 new rows:
ID: give a new Id to the new bolt type; in the « bolts_NF.xml ». database the ID of the last bolt type is
161, then for the 12 new rows related to the new bolt you added, the ID must vary from 162 to 173 (as
each new bolt type must have a new ID).
BoltId: In our case, the new bolt Id will be 15 (see chapter above). This Id has to be the same for all these
12 new lines.
MaterialId: The goal of this example is to create a new diameter with all kinds of steel materials
available.
The value of the material Id will then vary from 1 to 12 as 12 different materials exist in the database.
For instance create a new fixed column base according to the CM66. In the connection parameters, you
should now be able to select a new diameter: M39.
If the new diameter is still not available, then close Autodesk Robot Structural Analysis Professional
2013, delete the database you edited and replace it by the copy you made before editing this database;
then follow this tutorial step by step again to ensure that you have not overlooked something
important.