A process that uses tooling, such as molds, cores, and actions, can have an associated tool shop, which is a set of variables. By using the VPE Manager, you can add tool shops, and view and modify tool shop variables (see the VPE Administration Guide). Each tool shop is an instance of a tool shop type, which specifies tool shop metadata. It specifies what kind of information is stored for the tool shop, including variable names and default values. You manage tool shop metadata with the CMWB.

CSL modules can access tool shop variables with the CSL standard input toolshop. This input has one field for each tool shop variable. Here is an example from the Injection Molding process in the Plastic Molding process group. It accesses the tryoutRate variable of the current process’s tool shop:

See CSL Language Overview for more information on CSL.

CSL field names, such as tryoutRate, are specified in the Field Name field of the tool shop type table (see Viewing and Modifying Tool Shop Types). The corresponding variable name displayed in the VPE Manager is controlled by the CMWB column properties dialog. This dialog also controls the formatting, column grouping, and column properties displayed to the end user—see Working with Column Groups and Column Properties.

This section covers the following tasks: