A tool selection module helps aPriori choose a tool that is feasible and desirable for a given operation. A machining tool selection module might, for example, find the lowest cost tool with an adequate reach, hardness, diameter, and cutting speed (see the example below).

The job of the module is to select a tool and assign it to the CSL output tool.

When the cost engine evaluates a tool selection module, it puts into scope the CSL standard input tools, and establishes as its value a collection that contains each of the available tools.

When you navigate to the CSL modules for a node (see Navigating from the Template Graph to the Data for a Given Node), if the node has a tool selection module, the module’s Type Name field is set to toolLookup and the label toolLookup appears next to the folder icon.

Tool selection module names should start with tool and end with .csl.

Tool selection modules are evaluated in the context of a process routing or operation sequence that includes the current node.

The cost engine has established a process-operation hierarchy that includes the nodes in the current routing or sequence and all their ancestors. The cost engine has not yet established the descendents in the process-operation hierarchy of the nodes in the current routing or sequence. The cost engine might not have yet established the portion of the hierarchy that includes operations to create a given sibling of the current GCD.

The cost engine has chosen a particular candidate material stock (if relevant). No nodes have yet been costed.