Assemblies are hierarchical Objects that allow details from lower-level designs to be inherited into an upper-level design. When calculations are made, the lower level is essentially swapped into the location held by the assembly. Assemblies can be converted from Components, so in the absence of a lower level design there is no need to hold off on modeling.
Assemblies are characterized as being one of three types. Top-down assemblies dictate an interface and the linked design attempts to match it. Bottom-Up assemblies always update to match the linked design. Finally, mixed-mode assemblies allow either top-down or bottom-up behavior to occur on a port-by-port basis. Changes to this behavior can be accomplished through Data Source Administration.
When to Use Assemblies
Assemblies are used to partition a system design into multiple design files. There are many considerations that may drive the way in which a model is hierarchically conceived. Assemblies can be used:
to represent different levels of indenture within a system design
to represent different levels of maintenance that must be supported during diagnostics
to organize the contributions of different individuals/organizations that are responsible for building or modeling different parts of a design
to create multiple instances of a single (lower-level) design
to allow lower-level details to be incorporated into an upper-level ("top-down") model that was generated at an earlier point in time
When an assembly is selected in the main drawing window, the resize handles are now magenta- colored to indicate that the selected object is an assembly.
Resize Handle
Here the Analyst used Magenta color to indicate assembly
