Selecting Elements by Criteria
With Advance Design, elements can be selected by specific criteria, such as material, cross section, thickness, etc. The selection criteria is defined using the Filters and selection toolbar.
Contents
The Elements selection dialog box provides an advanced selection, allowing the user to combine the selection criteria. The dialog box contains several tabs, each one corresponding to a selection criterion. It is possible to select all elements which correspond to at least one of the defined criteria (union) or only the elements which correspond at the same time to all defined criteria (intersection). Also, it is possible to apply a selection criteria on a defined selection: only the elements of the initial selection which correspond to the specified criteria remain selected.
How to Access the Criteria Selection Commands
From Filters and Selection toolbar: Click 
or choose the selection criteria from the drop-down list.
Filtered selection
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Ribbon > Home tab / Results tab > Selection panel > choose the selection criteria from the drop-down list.
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Drawing area: Right click and choose Select from the context menu.
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Keyboard: Press <Alt + S> while no CAD tool is enabled.
The following selection criteria are available:
Elements selection criteria
Types
Expand the list and select the desired types. The list contains all the elements types available in Advance Design.
Note
To select several types of elements, click each item (the selection is additive).
If necessary, define additional information to select elements of a certain type:
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Identifiers: enter the elements IDs (separated by a space).
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Name: enter the elements names (separated by a space).
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Systems: enter the systems IDs (separated by a space) to select the desired type of elements belonging to certain systems.
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GTC identifiers: enter the GTC ID. Available when the synchronization function is used and the elements to select must be indicated in the synchronization window.
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Super elements identifiers: enter the Super element ID. Available if a super element was created. Click OK.
Active status: Choose the element status from the list. These can be active or non-active.
All elements of the specified types are selected.
Materials
Expand the list and select the desired material. The list contains all the materials available in the current project.
Select elements by material
To select several material types, click each item (the selection is additive).
Click OK and all elements of the specified materials are selected.
Cross Sections
Expand the list and select the desired cross section. The list contains all the cross sections available in the current project.
Select elements by cross section
To select several cross section types, click each item (the selection is additive).
Click OK and all elements having the specified cross sections are selected.
Thickness
Define the thickness range by entering the minimum and the maximumif ne value.
Select elements by thickness
Click OK. All elements with thickness within the specified range are selected.
Coordinates
The selection is made by specifying the coordinates of two diagonally opposed points defining a 3D area. All the elements included within this area (totally or partially) will be selected.
Define the selection area:
- Enter the coordinates for the first point (on X, Y and Z)
- Enter the coordinates for the opposite point (on X, Y and Z)
Select elements by coordinates
Select the coordinate system: current or global.
Click OK. The elements positioned within the defined area (totally or partially) are selected.
Names
A certain name can be given to elements of different types (linear, planar, loading areas, lines etc.), using the Name field from the properties window. This name can be used as a selection criteria.
Click a name to select.
Select elements by name
To select several names, click each item (the selection is additive).
Click OK. The elements with the specified names are selected.
Groups
Connection elements and walls can be selected according to the connection group or wall group to which they belong. The connection groups are defined using the Connection groups dialog box. Expand the list and select a group.
Select elements by groups
To select several groups, click each item (the selection is additive).
Click OK. All the connections/walls that belong to the specified groups are selected.
Estimates
Each option allows the selection of objects depending on relevant factors (pre-weight/volume/area/reinforcement) that are checked for such objects (or their materials).
Select elements by estimates
To select several unit prices or carbon factors, click each item (the selection is additive).
Click OK. All unit prices or carbon factors will be selected according to weight, volume, area, and reinforcement.
Design Templates
Concrete and steel elements can be selected according to the design template assigned to them. The design templates are defined in the Design template description dialog box and assigned to elements using the Properties window of the corresponding elements.
Expand the corresponding list (concrete or steel) and click a design template.
Select elements by design templates
To select several design templates, click each of them (the selection is additive).
Click OK. The elements are selected.
Systems
Elements can be selected according to the name of the system in which they are located. All the elements that belong to systems with the specified name are selected.
Example: For a structure with three levels, the structure elements are grouped in "Beams", "Columns" and "Walls" subsystems of each level.
Select elements by system
To select all the walls of the model at the same time, use the system name selection. All the elements that belong to systems named "Walls" are selected, no matter the systems identifiers or eventual system numbering.
Select a system name.
To select several system names, click each item (the selection is additive).
Click OK. The elements of the systems with the specified name are selected.
Design parameters
Design parameters tab to allow selecting by using some parameters used for design (To calculate, Design results, Advance Design Module results).
Select elements by design parameters
To select several parameters used for design, click each item (the selection is additive).
Click OK. All elements that satisfy the chosen conditions will be selected.
Work ratio
Work Ratio tab to allow selecting by using over/below/between top and bottom limits of maximum working ratios.
Select elements by work ratio
To select several elements that satisfy work ratio limits, click each item (the selection is additive).
Click OK. All elements that satisfy the chosen limits will be selected.
Display
From the Selection by drop-down list, select Display.
All elements currently displayed in the drawing area are selected.
This function is used in combination with the elements display function. If only some elements of the model are displayed (the others being hidden), only the currently displayed elements are selected.
Vicinity
The selection by vicinity adds the neighbor elements to an already defined selection.
1. Select an element (or several elements).
2. From the Selection by drop-down list, select Vicinity.
All neighbor elements to the already selected ones are added to the selection.
Combined criteria
Using the Elements selection dialog box it is possible to combine the selection criteria.
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From the main menu, select Edit > Select by criteria. The Element selection dialog box appears.
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Define the selection criteria on the corresponding tabs. Clear the selections made on all tabs by clicking the Disable all button.
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Define the combination method by selecting one of the following options:
Any of selected criteria: select all elements which correspond to at least one of the defined criteria.
For example, to select all elements of B20 material and all elements of R20*30 cross section, access the Materials and Cross sections tabs, select the criteria and enable the Any of selected criteria option.
All selected criteria: select only the elements which correspond to all defined criteria at the same time.
For example, to select the elements of B20 material which have an R20*30 cross section, access the Materials and Cross sections tabs, select the criteria, and enable the All selected criteria option.
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Click OK.
How to Filter Elements of an Already Defined Selection
It is possible to filter the selected elements by a certain criterion using the Add to selection, Replace selection, Apply to selection, and Remove from selection options from the Elements selection dialog box.
Add to selection
- Add to selection: adds new selection to the existing one. Example: If we have selected 3 columns with C20/25 material, and at the existing selection we also want to add all column with C30/37 material, all we have to do is select ‘Add to selection’ option, and from the Material tab, the desired material, in our example, C30/37.
- Replace selection: replaces the existing selection with a new one. Example: If we have selected 3 columns with C20/25 material, and we want to replace the existing selection with columns with material C30/37, all we have to do is to select ‘Replace selection’ option and the desired material from Material tab, in our example, C30/37.
- Apply to selection: If we have selected 5 columns, 3 columns with C20/25 material and 2 columns with C30/37 material. If we want to display from all selection, only columns made of C30/37, all we have to do is to select ‘Apply to selection’ option and the desired material from Material tab, in our example, C30/37.
- Remove from selection: If we have selected 5 columns, 3 columns with C20/25 material and 2 columns with C30/37 material. If we want to remove from all selection, all columns made of C30/37, all we have to do is to select ‘Remove from selection’ option and unwanted material from Material tab, in our example, C30/37.
Possibility to Save Selections Templates
In Advance Design we can create 2 types of templates: Selection of objects template and Criteria template:
Save selections templates
- Selection of objects templates: this option allows the creation of templates in which the selected elements and their characteristics are saved. If this option is chosen, all criteria tabs will be grayed.
- Criteria templates: this option allows the creation of templates in which the elements that satisfy the chosen criteria are saved.
For defining and managing templates the following buttons will be used:
- New button: to save the current selection as a new template. This button will open a dialog for entering a name.
- Save button: to save new criteria applied to an existing template.
- Rename button: to rename the current selection template. This button will open a dialog for entering a new name.
- Delete button: to delete an existing selection template.
- Export button: to export the current selection template to an external file from a disc. Opens a simple system dialogue for selecting a folder.
- Import button: to import a selection template from an external file from a disc. The selected template is added to the list.