Diagrams User Guide
Diagrams User Guide
User Guide
AVEVA Solutions Limited
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Diagrams User Guide
Revision Sheet
Contents Page
Diagrams
Diagrams Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1:1
Document Contents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1:1
Prerequisites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1:1
Diagrams Application . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1:1
Database Architecture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1:2
Main Operating Principles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1:3
Autonaming . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4:158
Auto Renaming. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4:158
Rename Elements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4:159
Prompting the User to Enter a Name . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4:160
Viewing Datasheets in Diagrams . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4:160
Drawing ............................................................ 4:161
Ribbon UI . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4:163
Schematic Explorer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4:163
Printing Datasheet in Diagrams . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4:164
Highlighting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4:166
Importing/Exporting Drawings, Stencils and Templates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4:167
Importing and Exporting Data to the DB . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4:168
Import . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4:168
Export . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4:168
Undo and Redo. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4:168
Working with Units. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4:169
Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7:1
Single Line Cabling Diagrams . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7:1
Working with Multi-cables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7:2
Naming Cables Owned by Multi-cable . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7:2
Presenting Multi-cables in Item List . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7:4
Connecting Cable Elements to Nested Symbol . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7:4
Core Connections Definition Dialogue . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7:4
Defining the Number of Cores . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7:5
Selecting Equipment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7:6
Selecting Electrical Connection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7:7
Selecting the Terminal for Each Core . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7:8
Configuring the Dialogue . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7:8
Generating Core Connection Diagrams . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7:9
Reporting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8:1
Releasing Information for 3D . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9:1
Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9:1
Setting the Release Status . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9:2
Visualizing Release and Link to 3D Status . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9:6
Warnings and Restrictions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9:7
Released but not Linked Items. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9:7
Released and Linked Items . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9:8
Utilities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10:1
Batch Job . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10:1
Batch Update . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10:2
Batch Consistency Check . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10:9
Batch Print . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10:10
Project Maintenance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10:11
Clean Old Session Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10:11
AVEVA Compare/Update . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10:12
DWG Export . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10:13
Visio Drawing Items Compatibility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10:14
User Interface. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10:15
Settings Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10:16
Lines Map Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10:17
Layers Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10:18
Appendices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .A:1
Attribute Presentation Notation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A:1
Pseudo Attributes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A:2
Customisation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A:3
Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A:3
1 Diagrams Overview
1.2 Prerequisites
Before starting to use the Diagrams application, it is recommended that users acquire some
general knowledge about using applications based on the AVEVA Design platform:
Database principles, such as MDBs, sessions, DB elements, attributes, references etc.
Using the command line
Handling of the Application framework GUI, with docking windows etc.
General Microsoft Visio knowledge.
You also need to be familiar with the main principles of using Catalogues and
Specifications. Please refer to the Catalogues and Specifications User Guide for more
information.
These functions are relevant for the usage of the Diagrams application, but are outside the
scope for this manual.
The diagram documents created through the Diagrams application will be stored in the file
system or an external document management system. There are index elements in the
database for each diagram, stencil and template. Diagrams, stencils and templates are
listed and opened through the DB index elements.
In addition to the MS Visio Diagram files the application also creates SVG format files for the
purpose of viewing the diagrams in the Schematic 3D Integrator.
2 Application Setup
This chapter covers the database setup and runtime environment for the application. It is
primarily intended for administrators who will set up the project environment for using
Diagrams and for advanced users who need a deeper knowledge in how the application
operates on a technical level.
delete obsolete versions of the files when a database session merge is executed, however
the Diagrams application provides a tool for removing old session files from a project. It
could be used manually when KEEP_SESSION_FILES is set to False. For more information
please refer to Clean Old Session Files in Chapter Utilities.
At the same time as a diagram file is saved, an SVG format file is optionally created. This is
for the purpose of viewing the diagrams in other applications such as the Schematic 3D
Integrator without having the need for an MS Visio installation. In the same way as querying
the VISF attribute on the SCDIAG element for obtaining the MS Visio diagram file name, the
SVG file name can be found by querying the NVIEWF attribute.
On large diagrams, or diagrams that contain detailed imported background drawings, the
creation of the SVG file may take some time to execute. This could affect the performance
of the Save Work command. For that reason a possibility to control the SVG creation has
been introduced.
Whether the SVG file is created or not depends on the General Options > System
configuration > SVG setting in Diagrams Options.
If this setting is False, then the SVG file will only be created if the drawing contains or
has contained any items released to 3D.
If this setting is True, the SVG file will always be created.
When an SVG file is created, there will be a message in the message log indicating this.
Note: By changing the KEEP_SESSION_FILES default setting to False, only the latest
version of the Visio diagram file as well as the SVG file will be kept. Please consider
that using this setting will not make it possible to restore a previous session including
the corresponding diagram file version.
MS Visio templates and stencils are handled in the same way as the diagrams, using
SCTEMP and SCSTEN index elements in the database. One difference however, is that no
SVG format files are created when templates and stencils are saved by the application.
The setting provides possibility to choose if drawings, templates and stencils should be
stored in binary (*.vsd, *.vst, *.vss) or XML format (*.vdx, *.vtx, *.vsx).
It is recommended to save documents in a binary format which is more efficient and
improves performance of Save Work and Open operations. For that reason it is used by
default in the Diagrams application.
It is possible to check in which format the document was last saved by querying SCHFF
(schematic file format) attribute of SCDIAG, SCTEMP or SCSTEN. It can have the following
values:
0 - Visio XML format
1 - binary format
When Save Work is performed all opened documents (also unchanged) with file format not
corresponding to the Save documents in Visio XML format setting will be saved again in an
appropriate format.
The name of the store file is composed of DiagramsSettings and a version number. The
extension of the file is xml.
DiagramsAttributePresentation.xml contains information about Attribute
Presentation section of Diagrams Options. By default the file is located in the installation
directory and the Diagrams application reads it from there.
Because of that the settings are not project-specific and must be adjusted according to the
special user needs separately on each machine.
If project-specific settings should be used, common for all users using the same network
project, the file should be manually copied by the administrator to %<PROJ>DFLTS%/
2.3.1 Schematic DB
A new schematic (SCHE) database must be created in a project where Diagrams will be
used. For more information on how to create databases please refer to your Data
Management and Data Base / Administrator User Guide.
2.3.3 Groups
When a schematic database has been set up, any number of Schematic Group elements
(SCGROU) can be created to form the primary hierarchy in the database. This can be
considered similar to a folder structure in the file system. Schematic groups can be used to
hold schematic elements, such as diagrams, stencils, templates, equipment, pipelines,
cables and HVACLines. Schematic groups can also be nested in an arbitrary number of
levels (having groups within groups). To create Schematic Groups, right click in the
Schematic Explorer, or use the command line. It is also possible to import a standard Group
structure into the database from a spreadsheet using the Spreadsheet Import function
(please refer to Import in Chapter Working with Diagrams).
2.3.4 Systems
The System Hierarchy can be created and maintained through the Admin Tab > Definition
> Systems command. For each system, there is also a subordinate SYSCDA element
containing default values per system for the Diagrams application. For instance, when
creating a new pipeline, the Pipe spec, Insulation Spec, Fluid Ref etc. can automatically be
picked up from the defaults set up in the SYSCDA element. Please refer to the Design
Common Functionality User Guide for setting up this data.
The System Hierarchy command is also available in the 3D Design applications.
Note: To be able to create and modify the System Hierarchy, it is required that the MDB
contains a writeable Design DB where the System Hierarchy resides.
Note: The SYSCDA elements are not visible in the System Explorer.
3 Getting Started
This chapter describes how to get started with the Diagrams application, making settings
and creating base data etc. This chapter is primarily aimed at users who will be setting up
the working environment for users. These could be super-users or CAD co-ordinators.
Note: Chapters Starting the Application and Making Settings for the Program Session
apply to all users.
Note: The Diagrams application requires an MDB that contains one or more schematic
databases. Please refer to section Database Setup in Chapter Application Setup for
more details.
By clicking on the line for each type, a browse button will appear and a suitable group
can be selected by clicking this button.
If the same group is wanted for all elements, use the Apply to All button to set the group for
all elements in one go. The initial group for this option is calculated from CE (Current
Element) when the dialogue is entered. If there is a need to change this, use the button
to browse the database for a new group.
In case new groups need to be created, this will have to be done before going into this
dialogue. New groups can be created by right clicking on the schematic world or on existing
groups in the Schematic Explorer and selecting the Create Group command. This must
then be done before the Default Groups can be selected.
Note: This is however not done by clicking in the status bar, but is instead done by
selecting a line in the schematic explorer.
3.3.1 Overview
In the Project Tab > Options menu the following commands are available:
Visio Options. This is the standard MS Visio Options dialogue (available at Tools >
Options in MS Visio). Please refer to the MS Visio documentation for more information.
Note: In Vision options, there is an option to disable Automation events (Advanced tab-
>Enable Automation events). AVEVA Diagrams is depending on these events.
Without them, the application is blind and if they are disabled, AVEVA Diagrams will
stop working.
Defaults
In the Diagrams Options Defaults section tab, there are a several settings that will control
the operation of the application. On the left pane is a tree structure showing the organization
of the settings by group. When a group is selected, the settings in that group are presented
in the window to the right. At the bottom of that pane there is a grey box providing an
explanation for each setting.
The settings are further described in the documentation for the respective functions.
If changes have been made when the dialogue is closed by clicking the OK button, the
dialogue window shown below will appear. In case the user clicks Yes the changes will be
saved for the next program session. If the user clicks No, the settings will only apply to the
current program session.
By default changes to Diagrams Options Defaults are saved to %PDMSDFLTS%/
Diagrams/ which usually is a machine specific location and should be configured separately
on each machine. It is also possible to configure a project with Diagrams Options
Defaults. For more information about handling settings files please see Document Files,
Sessions etc. in Chapter Application Setup.
On startup the application will attempt to find a valid settings file in any of the folders
specified in %PDMSDFLTS% with a subfolder, Diagrams. If a valid settings file is found, the
location will be remembered, so when the settings are changed and the user has requested
them stored, the file will be overwritten with the new settings' values.
Attribute Presentation
On the Attribute Presentation tab the user can set up the attribute presentation to be used
in the Custom Properties Window / Shape Data Window as well as in the Item List. To the
left there is a tree-view containing the different element types relevant to the Diagrams
application. In case UDETs have been defined, these will be included in the list.
For each element type selected in the tree-view, the attribute presentation can be
individually controlled by the settings in the right hand list view. The columns in the table are
as follows:
By clicking the Move Up and Move Down buttons, the presentation order of the currently
selected attribute can be changed.
In the Import Shape Wizard there is a possibility to override the default attribute presentation
settings for individual shapes. In case this override should be enabled, the Allow individual
shape settings to override default settings should be checked. This setting can be
applied individually for each element type by first selecting a type in the tree before clicking
the checkbox. If this is not checked, any attribute presentation settings done in the Import
Shape Wizard for individual shapes will be ignored.
By clicking the Referenced attributes button, it is possible to add attributes from
referenced or hierarchically superior elements.
If changes have been made when the dialogue is closed by clicking the OK button, the
below dialogue will be shown. In case the user clicks Yes the attribute presentation settings
will be saved for the next program session. If the user clicks No, the settings will only apply
to the current program session.
By default Attribute Presentation settings are machine specific and should be configured
separately on each machine, but it is also possible to make them specific for the project. For
more information about handling settings files please see Working with Diagrams Options
chapter Document Files, Sessions etc. in Chapter Application Setup.
Note: Pseudo attributes are not shown in the list of attributes in Attribute Presentation
and Referenced Attributes dialogues. In case pseudo attributes should be
presented, these will have to be added manually by using the Key-in method
described above. A few pseudo attributes that can be useful for the Diagrams user
are described in Pseudo Attributes in Chapter Appendices.
After a drawing is opened it is possible to force updating all shapes by calling Admin Tab >
Upgrade > Upgrade Drawing. The function will traverse the shapes on the current drawing
and upgrade the ones created in previous versions of the Diagrams application. The shapes
that have a format that is not recognized will be ignored. Please note that the command
Upgrade Drawing will update the shapes' formats only and will not create or delete any
links between shapes and database elements.
During the Upgrade Drawing process the below window is shown and the operation may be
cancelled:
However, the shapes upgraded before Cancel was clicked are not restored. If it is required
to keep shapes in their original versions, the drawing should be closed without saving.
3.5.1 Overview
A major part of the Diagrams functionality is based on a set of specialized Diagrams
shapes. Many of these shapes contain information about what kind of database element the
shape should be related to, while others do not have any database equivalence at all (such
as annotation labels etc.). This mechanism enables the application to automatically create
related database elements, as well as provide automatic annotation and general
intelligence.
Shapes that should be recognized by Diagrams and handled by the application logic must
be created through the Import Shape Wizard accessible on the Admin Tab. Examples of
these are as follows:
Shapes corresponding to DB elements, for instance branches, valves, instruments and
fittings.
Off-page connector shapes.
Label shapes presenting attribute information.
Shapes processed by the Import Shape Wizard will be stored in a user-selected stencil and
will contain data specific to the Diagrams application.
Other Visio shapes that have not been processed through the Import Shape Wizard can still
be used for annotation etc. on drawings, but they will not be handled intelligently by the
application.
Diagrams shapes can also contain default attribute values, which can enable users to
create specialized shapes and will reduce the amount of information that is necessary to
enter when diagrams are created.
By investing some time and effort in the creation of stencils and shapes, the application can
be tailored to work as efficiently as possible for the needs of the user. Thereby time and
effort can later be saved when these shapes are used to build up diagrams.
smart shapes with different kinds of behaviour. We recommend that this is used sparingly
and with consideration, as complex shape behaviour can result in reduced performance and
also interact with the Diagrams application code in a way that can give unexpected errors. A
few examples of useable behaviour are described below.
Note: To be able to create shapes with special features, the MS Visio Shape Sheet has to
be used. For technical reasons, this is not available in the Diagrams application. In
case you need to access the Shape Sheet for making special settings in the shapes
before import, you will have to copy the shape to the Standard MS Office Visio
application, access the Shape Sheet, and then copy the shape back to Diagrams.
When drawing the shape, it is recommended to use the same grid setting that will apply
when the shape will be used in the drawing, thereby avoiding alignment and snapping
problems. To minimize the risk for mistakes when different zoom settings are used, the grid
can be set to Fixed. A suitable grid size is suggested to be 1 mm. The Ruler & Grid
dialogue is available from the button next to the Show group label on the View Tab.
It is also preferable to use a X any Y size of the shape that is evenly dividable with 2, so that
connection points can be conveniently placed at grid intersections.
Connection points can be added to shapes by using the Connection Point Tool available
on the dropdown for connector tool in the Standard toolbar.
To add connection points, Ctrl+Click using this tool. For inline pipe/HVAC parts, the order in
which connection points are added is relevant, as the first added connection point will
correspond to ppoint 1 on the catalogue item. When an inline fitting is connected, Arrive and
Leave are resolved depending on the connections. I.e. if conn 1 is connected to Leave of
another fitting during define, conn 1 will be Arrive and vice versa. If it is not connected when
defined, Arrive and Leave will default to 1 and 2. The direction of the connection points can
be changed by right clicking on a connection point and selecting Inward, Outward or
Inward & Outward.
Note: These directions are NOT related to flow directions of the component. This only
relates to Visio mechanisms for connecting shapes to each other. Connection points
for 2D shapes (such as Equipment, Valves, Fittings etc.) should normally be Inward.
Only use Outward connection points if you intend the shape to be directly connected
to other 2D shapes. The normal approach is to always use Inward when shapes are
created, and to change them to Outward after dropping on a drawing only in case the
shape should be connected to another 2D shape. (refer to Connecting Fittings
without a Tube in between in Chapter Piping & Instrumentation Diagrams (P&IDs)).
Note: When creating grouped piping/HVAC shapes having connection points, please make
sure to first group the shapes and then add the connection points to the group. In
case connection points are added to the members of the group, this could result in
difficulties to connect pipes/HVACs when the shapes are used. For electrical items, it
is OK to have connection points on group members as this is specially handled by
the application when cables are connected.
Note: When grouping shapes, use the Group command rather than Convert to group, as
the former works better with the Diagrams application.
For shapes that can be attached to other shapes using a control handle, such as labels and
off-line instruments, it can be preferred to have an attach line showing where the item is
connected. This can be achieved by going though the following steps:
1. Create the shape which is going to represent the offline instrument or label in MS Visio
by using the drawing tools. If the shape is more complicated (consisting of several
shapes) it should be grouped before proceeding.
2. Draw the attachment line and adjust z-order of the shapes (in most cases the
attachment line should be sent to back).
4. Access the Shape Sheet of the group (available on the right click menu).
5. If there is not any Controls section, create a new (Right click > Insert section). The
newly created control should be named Attach.
6. Now, when the Attach control is added to the group, the attachment line should be
adjusted so its begin refers to the shape representing instrument or label (rectangle)
and its end, to the position of Attach control belonging to the group. In order to do this
go to the command Shape Sheet of the attachment line and do the following changes:
Refer beginX and beginY cells to the middle of a sub-shape representing
instrument:
To refer to the instrument shape, its ID should be used. It can be found in the
Special format window accessible from Format > Special in the shape context
menu or from the main menu.
7. After the references are set, the attachment line will follow the Attach control.
8. Now the alignment box of the shape should be adjusted to contain the instrument (or
label) shape only. In order to do this, Attach control should be brought to inside the
rectangle, so the attachment line is hidden. After that the Update Alignment Box
command should be issued for the group.
9. In case there should be a possibility to turn on and off the attachment line, this can be
achieved by the following:
Inserting an Actions section (in the Shape Sheet of the group) with the
=SETF(GetRef(Actions.Row_1.Checked),NOT(GetVal(Actions.Row_1.Ch ecked)))
action:
10. The attachment line can now be turned on and off by using the shape right click menu:
11. The last thing to do is to ensure that the text of the created shape will be displayed in
front. To do this please make sure that Group data is set to "" in the Behaviour window
accessible from Shape Tab > Properties > Behaviour:
12. Now the shape prepared in the above way can be imported using the Import Shape
Wizard as Offline Instrument or Label and used in the drawing.
Note: The above example will allow for creating a shape with desired behaviour only before
Import Shape is executed on the shape. It is because of the need to group shapes
to achieve attachment line functionality.
The table below provides some specific information for each kind of shape to be imported:
5. Select the shape(s), (several shapes can be imported in one go, but they must be of
the same type).
6. Select Admin Tab > Shapes > Import Shape. This will start the Import Shape Wizard
that will guide you through the steps to transform the shapes into Diagrams shapes.
An alternative way of doing this is to create the Diagrams shape directly on the drawing. To
achieve that the below steps should be followed:
1. Create a shape in a diagram drawing using standard Visio drawing tools and according
to the instructions in Creating MS Visio Shapes shapes.
2. If the shape has been drawn as separate entities, e.g. two separate lines, or a line and
a text etc., it must be grouped before proceeding. Normally shapes should be grouped
BEFORE connection points are added, refer to further information in Creating MS Visio
Shapes.
3. f relevant, attach the connection points by using the Connection Point tool and
Ctrl+Click to add the points to the shape.
4. Select the Home Tab > Object > Define command. The Define Item Wizard window
will open and by the following steps similar to the Import Shape Wizard, it will be
possible to configure the shape and transform it to a Diagrams shape. In addition after
the dialogue is closed, the shape will be defined in the way it would be after dropping it
from a stencil.
Overview
Prior to starting the Import Shape Wizard, one or more shapes must have been selected on
the current drawing. In case more than one shape has been selected, they will all receive a
common type, common presentation settings etc. when the wizard has completed. Only the
name will be different. If shapes of different types should be imported, the wizard must be
executed once for each type of shape.
When the Import Shape Wizard starts, it will perform an optional scale check of the shape.
In the Diagrams Options > System Configuration > Import Shape a min/max height/width
can be set up. Import Shape will check against these values and give a warning to the user
in case the shape exceeds or falls below the set limits.
The four steps of the import shape wizard allows the user to set up the following information
for the imported shapes:
Note: The checkbox Keep Custom Menu Actions is available for each shape. If checked
the cells in Actions section of the shape sheet will be preserved.For piping and
HVAC branches, a Denote to dropdown box will appear. This can be used to select
the tube/duct type that a branch should be denoted to when dropped on to the
drawing.
When a branch shape is dropped on to a drawing, a new branch element will be created in
the pipeline hierarchy. At the same time, the actual shape will be denoted to become a tube/
duct shape, and a corresponding tube/duct element will be created in the DB as well. In
case a shape having a UDET type derived from a branch is dropped on the drawing, the
application must know which UDET type it should be denoted to.
When the Next button is clicked, the wizard will continue to the next step. At this time, there
is also a check that the shape has the correct number and direction of connection points.
Figure 3:5. Example of error message dialogue box shown when the number of connections on the
shape is not correct
In this step you should select the stencil to which the shape should be added. The dialogue
will show the currently open stencils, so the stencil must have been opened before starting
the Import Shape Wizard.
Note: When import shape is performed, the stencil is automatically saved, but to make this
save permanent, the user will have to perform a Save Work.
In this step the default annotation can be set up. The default annotation is represented by
the shape text as well as a number of default labels that can be automatically placed on the
drawing when the shape is dropped. The number of default annotations varies depending
on the type of item and can be controlled by changing the settings under General Options
> Annotation Settings in Diagrams Options.
Shape text options Use defaults If this is set to True, the Shape Text settings will
be fetched from the default set up in Diagrams
Options > Element Options for the relevant
type. If it is set to False, it will be possible to
override the default settings with a specific
setting for the shape to be imported in this
dialogue. Other Shape text options can only be
changed if Use defaults is set to False.
Shape text The shape text can be specified using attribute
references and dot notation (refer to Attribute
Presentation Notation in Chapter Appendices).
Text frame style The setting is available for 2D shapes except
annotating shapes (e.g. Labels). It allows
adding a frame around the shape's text.
Possible values are: None-no text frame,
Rectangle-rectangular frame will be added to
the shape text, RoundedRectangle-rectangular
frame with rounded corners will be wrapped
around text.
Rotate text with The setting is available for 2D shapes except
shape annotating shapes (e.g. Labels). Its value
determines the shape text orientation. When
set to False, the text will always be oriented
horizontally regardless of the shape's rotation.
When it is set to True - the text orientation will
be corresponding to the shape's rotation.
Shape text The colour of the shape text can be freely
colour selected from a Windows standard colour
palette.
Shape text font The shape text font can be freely selected from
a Windows standard font dialogue.
XRef XRef can be set to CENTRE, RIGHT or LEFT.
It represents the reference point in the shape to
which the X offset of shape text is related. The
setting is available for 2D shapes only.
YRef YRef can be set to CENTRE, TOP or
BOTTOM. It represents the reference point in
the shape to which the Y offset of shape text is
related. The setting is available for 2D shapes
only.
Offset X Horizontal offset for shape text placement in
relation to XRef. The setting is available for 2D
shapes only.
Offset Y Vertical offset for shape text placement in
relation to YRef. The setting is available for 2D
shapes only.
In this step the attribute presentation can be set up. If the Use default attribute
presentation settings checkbox is checked, all presentation settings will be taken from the
default that has been set up using the Attribute Presentation tab of the Diagrams Options
dialogue (refer to Diagrams Options).
In addition to the default presentation settings, it is in this step also possible to set up a
default value (the Value column) for each attribute. This can still be provided even if the
presentation settings are taken from the default.
For a description of the columns, please refer to the Attribute presentation tab of the
Diagrams Options dialogue.
Note: In the Diagrams Options dialogue, there is also an Allow individual shape
settings to override default settings checkbox related to the behaviour of this step.
If that checkbox is checked, the presentation settings specified in this step of the
Import Shape Wizard will be ignored. In case the user wants to override the default
settings for certain shapes, this checkbox will have to be unchecked when the
shapes are dropped on to the diagram drawing.
Note: The value of the Text attribute is controlled by Annotation Settings in step 3, and is
therefore disabled in step 4.
In this step, it is possible to specify a default catalogue search filter for the shape. If this is
done, the filter will be applied in subsequent catalogue search operations using the Manual
Catalogue Selection (refer to Manual Component Selection in Chapter Working with
Diagrams). This can for instance be used in a way that for a cable shape, a filter is referred
that includes searching in the correct category for cables. When the user will subsequently
select such a cable shape in the drawing and go to the catalogue search window, it will
automatically apply the pre-defined filter so only relevant cable catalogue items will be
shown.
Default filters for each type of item can be specified in Diagrams Options by using the
Catalogue search settings > Default filters for non-pipeline elements settings. If these
should be used, the Use filter from Diagrams default settings should be checked.
Otherwise a specific filter for the particular shape can be specified in the Default catalogue
search filter textbox.
Note: If specification search for pipeline parts is not active, the following settings are also
available, Catalogue search settings > Default filters for pipeline elements.
When step 5 has been completed and the Finish command has been given, the shape(s)
will be added to the selected stencil. The user will also be prompted if he/she wants to make
a Save Work or not. The reason for this is that if the application subsequently will be closed
without any Save Work command being issued, the imported shapes will be lost. So if the
user clicks NO, then he/she will have to remember to perform a SaveWork at a later time.
Recommendations:
1. Only use the Refresh command when necessary, e.g. when you suspect something
has been updated in the DB and you need to see it reflected in your drawing.
2. If only some shapes are selected in a drawing when doing the refresh, only those
shapes will be affected. It is often unnecessary to refresh the whole drawing if only one
part is being worked on.
3. Reduce the number of attributes per shape to be shown in Custom Properties down
to a set of attributes that are really being used by the Diagrams user. E.g. there exists a
lot of .Pmg... UDAs in the sample project. In many cases these attributes are not
being used and take up unnecessary time during the Refresh. When these kinds of
attributes are not being used the UDAs can simply be removed from the project. It is
also possible to control which attributes should appear in the Custom Properties
through the Attribute Presentation function. If for instance half of the attributes shown
in the Custom Properties are never used, then removing them will halve the time used
for refreshing the whole drawing.
Recommendations
1. As mentioned above, it is possible to disable the SVG creation until it is really needed
(when the diagram has been released to 3D).
2. There is a setting to control whether to use binary Visio files or XML format Visio files.
XML format requires much more storage space, so make sure to use the binary format.
3. There is a Keep session files setting that will determine whether the old versions of the
Visio and SVG files will be kept during each SaveWork or not. With this setting you can
balance between more data management capability & more storage space required or
less data management capability & less storage space required as is described below:
With this setting set to True there is a possibility to backtrack the Dabacon session
and access the specific Visio/SVG file versions related to that particular session.
The drawback here is, of course, that it may take a significant amount of storage
space to save the related files for all sessions.
With this setting set to False only latest versions of the Visio/SVG files will be kept.
This means that backtracking a Dabacon session will not give access to the
corresponding Visio/SVG files. However, storage space requirements will be less
demanding.
When Keep session files is set to True, and sessions are to be merged, then select
Admin Tab > Admin Tools > Project Maintenance > Clean Old Session Files to
get rid of the corresponding Visio/SVG files. This can be an approach where there
is a possibility to backtrack changes during a period. Merge and clean the sessions
and continue from there.
This chapter describes all the standard functions and procedures for using the application,
and is therefore of interest to all users of Diagrams.
4.1 Introduction
Symbols are added to drawings by dragging and dropping shapes from the stencil to the
drawing area. As soon as a shape that corresponds to a DB element is dropped, it will if
possible be defined (refer to section Define / Undefine), which means that a corresponding
database element will be created in the current database session. Some shapes will need a
context to be defined. For example, if a valve shape is dropped by itself, it will not be defined
until it is connected to a defined member of a pipeline branch, for instance a SCTUB shape.
When a shape is defined, the corresponding database element can also be seen appearing
in the DB explorer. When using the Consistency Check function (refer to section
Consistency Check), a warning will be issued for undefined shapes.
Default attributes defined in the shape in the stencil will automatically be assigned to the
element. There is also a function to prompt the user for attribute values when a shape is
dropped is also supported.
The attributes of a shape are available through the Custom Properties / Shape Data
window. As soon as an attribute is changed by the user, it will be updated into the database
session. The data will then be written to the database and be available to other users after
issuing a Save Work command.
Shapes can be connected to other shapes directly when dropped, or they can be connected
afterwards.
Figure 4:1. Attributes for a shape can be viewed and updated through the Custom Properties /
Shape Data window. Updated attributes are automatically stored in the corresponding
DB element.
Note: The Schematic Explorer shows the entire contents of the database and not only the
current drawing. Operations done through the explorer such as Rename etc. will be
automatically updated in any currently open diagram drawing, but for any drawings
that would be affected by the change, but are not open in the current session for the
moment, a manual Refresh will have to be applied later.
a way to display items of the same type, together, and provide a better navigation and
overview.
Main schematic items such as Pipelines, HVAC lines, Equipment items and Cables are
members in the system hierarchy through their SCSYSF attribute, which contains an array
of system references. This means that a schematic item can be a member of more than one
system simultaneously, thereby appearing in several places in the System Explorer tree.
The first system in the array is considered the primary system, and others are considered
secondary. By default, all subordinate items are considered to be members of the same
system as the parent Pipeline / HVACline / Equipment item. It is however possible to
override this by setting a different system reference on a subordinate item, such as a special
valve or a sub-equipment item.
In this case that particular item would both appear below the parent item (Pipeline,
Equipment) in the system explorer, and also by itself under the system set for that item.
Diagrams are shown under all systems to which the items on the diagram belong. This
includes both primary and secondary systems.
Above the navigation tree is a Filter checkbox as well as a dropdown list where predefined
filters can be selected. If the Filter checkbox is checked, the selected filter will be applied to
the explorer tree. Currently there are tree filters available, one for each discipline (Piping,
HVAC, Electrical).
The System Explorer features a context sensitive right mouse button menu that provides
common commands.
Note: The System Explorer shows the entire contents of the database and not only the
current drawing. Some administrative elements such as the SYSCDA and SYSMDA
are however hidden in order not to clutter the view. These elements can be seen and
manipulated through the systems hierarchy administration function. Please refer to
Systems in Chapter Application Setup for further information.
The data can be shown as one or more user-defined structures. Each structure is shown in
the explorer as a hierarchy starting from separate root node and can show database items
organized according to their belonging to system, class, etc., depending on definition in
Lexicon (for more information please refer to Project Breakdown Structure chapter in
Lexicon User Guide).
The PBS Explorer tree is generated during runtime from Lexicon definition and its nodes
can represent database items as well as just label texts generated from definition. By
selecting node connected to database item, user can navigate database hierarchy (set
current element). Also, context menu with basic commands is available for relevant nodes.
The rules of presenting elements when Element Type is off are as below;
For named items, only name is displayed.
For unnamed items of build-in (system) type presented string is concatenated from
"Reporter text" (RPTX) defined for the type followed by sequence number, e.g.
Equipment 1.
For unnamed items of user defined type, user-defined type name followed by
sequence number is presented.
It is possible to select several element types for sorting. Their names can be keyed in or
selected from the Select element types window. This is available after clicking the Browse
button in the options field.
Shape attributes are available through the Custom Properties / Shape Data window
(see below).
There are right-click menus available for shapes as well as for the drawing background
providing context sensitive short-cuts for common functions.
When an item is selected on the drawing, it will automatically be made the Current
Element (CE), which means that it will be selected in the explorer and other windows
that track the CE.
When an item is selected in the explorer, it will however not be selected in the drawing
automatically. In case the user wants to select it, there is a Select in Drawing
command on the right click menu in the explorer.
Navigation such as Scrolling, Panning, Zooming in the drawing window can be
achieved through standard Visio functions such as Ctrl+Shift+Click on left and right
mouse buttons. See table below.
A number of Function Keys are available for easy access and commonly used
commands. Please refer to section Keyboard Shortcuts and Function Keys for more
information.
Please refer to the MS Visio documentation for further information about the drawing
window.
Note: The Custom Properties Window has been renamed to Shape Data Window in
Visio 2007.
If the Custom Properties / Shape Data window is not visible, it can be shown using the
View Tab > Attributes > Shape Data command in the main menu. The attributes presented
for each kind of item can be changed using the Attribute Presentation settings in Diagrams
Options in Chapter Getting Started.
When the value of an attribute is changed through Shape Data, it will automatically be
changed in the related database item using the current Dabacon Session as well. To
permanently save the changes to the database, the Save Work command must be issued.
For further information about this, refer to section Save Work and Save As.
To enter multiple values for an array type attribute, the values can be entered separated by
a blank (using space bar).
In case more than one shape is selected in the drawing, Shape Data will show the attributes
for the first selected item. If the user will then update an attribute value, it will be applied to
all selected shapes.
The Item List is synchronized with the drawing, so that any items added to or removed from
the current drawing page will immediately be reflected in the Item List.
Note: When drawings with many items are being worked on, the automatic synchronization
between the drawing and the Item List might lead to a noticeable delay in some
situations, depending on the computer performance rating. In case this happens, the
automatic updating can be turned off by setting the System configuration > Item
List > Automatic updating default setting in Diagrams Options to False. Then the
Item List can be refreshed manually by using the Refresh command on the right click
menu.
When items are selected in the drawing, they will also be selected in the Item List and vice
versa. This behaviour can be turned off by setting the Connect Item List with Drawing
default option to False.
In the Pipe inline components and HVAC inline components tabs, Tube and Duct elements
are by default not shown in the list. It is however possible to turn on the display of Tubes/
Ducts by changing the System configuration > Item List > Tube/Duct visible default
setting in Diagrams Options to True.
The Item List is using the AVEVA Grid Control which provides a number of filtering, sorting
and grouping functions. For more information about the AVEVA Grid Control, refer to Getting
started With Plant documentation. The presentation of attributes in the Item List is
configurable by the Attribute Presentation tab in the Project Tab > Options > Diagrams
Options dialogue. Please refer to Attribute Presentation in Chapter Getting Started for
further information.
Attribute data can be edited in the Item List as well as in the Custom Properties / Shape
Data Window (refer to section Custom Properties Window / Shape Data Window).
The Item List features a right click menu that contains the same item specific commands as
in the Schematic Explorer as well as some presentation options such as Show Filter Line,
Show Group Panel etc.
The Item List also includes an Export to spreadsheet feature. This is further described
under section Export.
Note: The command line should be used with care, and it is important to fully understand
the consequences of the commands issued. Some commands might not work as
expected in the Diagrams context. A few examples of these are listed below:
If changing modules by issuing the PDMS or similar commands, the Diagrams exit
handling will be bypassed, so settings and data will not be properly saved.
By using the Savework command, the diagram document might not be saved if the
user subsequently clicks Cancel in the following dialogue.
The Message Log can be shown by issuing the View Tab > Reference > Message Log
command from the main application menu, or by clicking on the Message Log in the Status
Bar (refer to section Status Bar for more information).
The Message Log shows messages that occur when the application is being used.
Messages can have different severity (Error, Warning or Information) as indicated by the
icon. In case a message is related to a particular shape in the drawing, this is indicated by
the shape name in the Shape column and the page number in the Page column. In this case
it is also possible to click on the message to select the related shape in the drawing. If the
shape is not available on the drawing any more (i.e. was deleted or drawing is closed), the
page number disappears after the first click on the line with this shape. When the shape is
not visible in the drawing window, the window will pan/zoom as necessary.
The Message Log can be cleared of all messages by right clicking and selecting Clear
Message Log.
The columns are as follows:
Column Explanation
Message 1. The icon indicates the severity of the message (Error, Warning or
Information)
2. Message text
Shape Name of the Visio shape that the message is related to.
Connection Connection number of the shape which the message is related to. This is
only shown in case the message is related with a certain connection
point on the shape.
DB Element Name of DB element that the shape is related to. This is only shown in
case the message is related to a shape that has a corresponding DB
element.
Page Page number in the drawing on which the related shape exists. This is
only shown in case the message is related to a shape.
Time The time that the message was generated.
Note: When the Message Log window is not open, any error or warning (but not
informational messages) that occurs will cause the status bar panel to flash in an
orange colour. The flashing will stop as soon as the user moves the mouse to the
status bar panel. Please note that in some cases several messages can be
generated by a single user operation. In the example below, it is not the SPRE
changed informational message that caused the flashing, but rather the previous
error message. Opening the Message Log will show that a previous error message
caused the flashing.
Status bar panel flashes when the Message Log window is not open.
Opening the Message Log reveals the actual error message that caused the flashing.
There is also a functionality which allows exporting the Message log and Consistency check
results to a txt or xls file. This is available in the right click context menu of the Message
Log and Consistency Check window.
The status bar contains the following panels from left to right:
Panel Description
Status message Shows status messages, for instance how many shapes are
selected at the moment.
Message Log Shows the latest message in the Message Log. By clicking on
this panel, the Message Log window will be shown (refer to the
section Message Log for more information).
Panel Description
Current Line Shows the name of the current Pipeline/HVACline. The
application remembers the latest Pipeline/HVACline that was
selected by the user. In case the CE moves to another part of the
schematic hierarchy, for instance by selecting an equipment
item, the latest selected Pipeline/HVACline will still be
remembered and shown in this panel. If any new branches are
added, they will be created in the line shown in this panel. If you
click on this panel, the line shown will become CE.
Sessions Defaults When the mouse pointer is hovered over this panel the following
tooltip will be shown:
Zoom Bar This panel is visible only when any drawing is open. The content from left
is:
Zoom To Page- this button zooms out the view to the whole page of an
active drawing.
Pan & Zoom - toggles the Pan & Zoom window.
Zoom Level - Shows the current zoom value.
Zoom Out/Zoom In - Zooms the view to the next available zoom
threshold.
Zoom Slider - allows to quickly change zoom by any value.
Figure 4:4. The Default Groups dialogue.
4.2.14 Search
The Search command is available in the View Tab under Searching group. This function
searches the database for elements based on name, element type or other criteria and can
be useful for finding elements in case the user is not familiar with their location in the
schematic hierarchy and are therefore difficult to locate in the explorer. The Search Results
shows a list of elements found, and features a right-click menu with common commands.
3. Select an operator using the Operator dropdown box. The available operators are the
following:
Operator Description
= Equal-to sign
> Greater-than sign
< Less-than sign
<> Not-equal-to sign
>= Greater-than-or-equal-to sign
<= Less-than-or-equal-to sign
Note: If the attribute is an array, then only the operators = and <> are available unless an
array index is specified, e.g. [Borearray(1)], then the Type should be one of the
mentioned above.
4. Enter a criteria value. The value can be left blank in case you are searching for shapes
where some fields have not been set, for instance where SPRE in not set.
5. Click the Select button to select items according to the criteria, or click the Highlight
button to instead highlight items according to the criteria.
6. Click the Previous button to go to the previous item within the collection of selected or
highlighted shapes. The Next button goes to the next item within the collection of
selected or highlighted shapes.
In the Selection Options menu the user can choose one of the three modes:
Clear current Selection / Highlight before applying new search - when active new
search will disregard the previous selection / highlight next time user performs a
search.
Add to current Selection / Highlight - when active a new search will add to the
existing selection or highlight.
Select / Highlight within current selection - forces the search to consider only the
items within the current selection. It is therefore possible in this mode to first make a
selection using the Area or Lasso method prior to clicking any of the find buttons.
In the Search Options menu the user can choose if the search will be performed on
Defined shapes, Undefined shapes or both.
When the Zoom To button is activated the application will zoom and/or pan so that the
entire selection is visible.
In the Database Tree tab only relevant parts of the database for the current context is
shown. In case the user is supposed to select a certain kind of element, only this kind of
element together with necessary hierarchy elements will be shown.
Using the Search tab, it is possible to make a text search in the database.
In case the user has selected a hierarchy node in the Database Tree tab, the search will be
limited within that part of the hierarchy. The current search scope can be seen after the
Search in label above the text criteria field.
The text criteria should be keyed into the criteria field. This will be matched against a
concatenation of the Name and Description attributes as the search is being carried out. In
case no wildcard characters are used, only items with a whole word matching the criteria will
be found. In case more than one word is entered, this will be considered as a complete
string to be matched. This means that if you want to find a string that contains two or more
words which might be separated by other words, you will have to use asterisks in between
(see wildcards below).
The asterisk (*) character can be used as a wildcard denominator. Asterisks can be placed
before (e.g. *A3), after (e.g. A3*) or in between (e.g. system*spec). This can also be
combined (e.g. *A3*).
Rules Sets and then Rules of a given kind can be created below each of the main nodes.
Rules and whole Rule Sets can then be copied, removed or renamed using the right mouse
button menu:
Rules and Rule Sets can also be re-ordered using the Drag&Drop functionality.
Note: Copying and re-ordering is only possible in scope of one kind of rules, a consistency
rule cannot become a formatting rule.
It is also possible to turn on/off rules or whole rule sets using check boxes in the left part of
the window. If the main node is turned off all the rule sets and rules are not active. Turning a
rule or rule set off means that it will be skipped when rules are executed either manually or
automatically on events.
Rule Details
The Rule definition can be seen/modified in the Rule Details window which is shown when
a new rule is created or after the Rule Details command is selected from the Rule Context
menu. It provides functionality to specify the rule definition and its content is different for
Formatting and Consistency Rules.
Figure 4:6. Defining selection criteria using the Type & attribute value option
If the Type & attribute value is selected it provides the possibility to select the type of
elements to which the rule should be applied and then to define the number of attribute
filters. It is also possible to select All types which means that the attribute filters will be
matched to all elements. To specify attribute filters select the Attribute from the drop down
in the Attribute column in the grid. It is possible to use regular attributes as well as
referenced attributes. It is also possible to key in the attribute name rather than select it from
the list. The attributes list contains system attributes and UDAs valid for the selected type
including referenced attributes defined in Attribute Presentation in Diagrams Options. It
does not contain pseudo attributes unless they are added in the Attribute Presentation. If
there is no type specified for the rule (All is selected in the Type drop down) the list consists
of merged attributes for all database types that can be represented on a diagram. After the
attribute is selected, the operator and value to compare should be specified as shown in the
screen shot above. A new row for the next attribute filter is added automatically after the
current row is edited. To delete an existing attribute filter row select the whole row and press
the Delete key on the keyboard.
When several attribute filters are defined it is possible to decide if all of them should meet
the rule for a specified shape or if it is enough that one of them is valid for a given shape.
This depends on the state of the Require all the following check box.
If the selection criteria type is set to PML expression then there will be a text box displayed
to key in the expression. It will be executed on all database elements represented on the
drawing and the element will be considered as satisfying the rule criteria if the expression
returns True. Therefore the expression must be of boolean type, e.g. FUNC EQ PIPE. For
more information about constructing PML expression see User Guide Software
Customisation / Customisation Guide / PML Expressions.
Figure 4:7. Defining selection criteria using the PML expression option
The third possible Criteria is Shapes without DB element. After this is selected from the
drop down, user is able to decide which shapes not having any connection should be taken
into account. There is an option to select:
Not defined shapes
Shapes defined but not having any DB representation (this could happen e.g. when
element is deleted from database from command line)
Non-database shapes like Labels, Title blocks, Instrument Relationship Shapes etc.
Apart from specifying the database condition, it is also possible to set Visio formula as an
additional shape condition. To set the formula 'Visio shape condition...' link label should be
pressed and a valid Visio formula should be shown in the dialog:
Following Visio standards, the formula should be of Boolean type and result in TRUE (non
zero) or FALSE (zero). The entered formula will be executed on shapes and is allowing to
make applying rules dependant of e.g. shape geometry. For example formula (BeginX-
EndX)*(BeginX-EndX)+(BeginY-EndY)*(BeginY-EndY)>10mm could be used if the rule
should be applied to shapes matching the given database criteria and in addition only if the
length of the connector is greater than 10 mm.
After the selection criteria are defined it is possible to check to which shapes the rule will be
applied on the current drawing using the Highlight link placed at the right bottom of the
dialog. After this is clicked all shapes meeting the criteria will be highlighted on the current
drawing.
The tab page contains a list of all format properties possible to assign using the rule. If the
associated value is not set (blank) it means that the property is not going to be set.
The following properties can be assigned:
Line colour if the value for the property is set, then the line colour of the shapes
meeting the rule criteria will be set appropriately. This will override the Defined,
Released To 3D and Associated With 3D colours. The value can be defined in the
dialog presented after clicking the button in the field:
Lline pattern can be defined by selecting the desired value from the drop down in the
corresponding field. The value can also be keyed in. It determines which line pattern
can be assigned to shapes matching the rule. If a selected pattern is defined, it should
be added to the drawing before applying the rule. Otherwise there will be no visible
effect (only the formula will be set appropriately).
Line weight line weight can be selected from the list or be put into the corresponding
field as a text. If the value is keyed in without a unit string, then when the rule is being
applied, the default page unit will be used.
Line cap - can be selected from a list or keyed in, in the same way as line pattern.
Line transparency - can be selected from a list or keyed in to the appropriate field. It is
a numeric value presented as % of.
If <No layer> is selected from the list, then after the rule is executed, all shapes meeting its
criteria will belong to no layer. If the <Auto> option is chosen, then shapes will be put into
layers depending on their catalogue reference for each spec a corresponding layer will be
created and all shapes having reference to the spec will be added to the layer.
Text font defines the font to be used in the text of shapes matching the rule. It can be
selected from the following list:
Text size can be selected from a list of typical font sizes or keyed in:
Text transparency can be selected from a list or keyed in to the appropriate field. It is
a numeric value presented as % of.
Sometimes there is a need to clear previous formatting before applying the new one. In
such a case, the Clear auto formatting option placed on the Format tab below the table can
be used.
If the check box is ticked then previous formatting done by the rules will be cleared for all
shapes fulfilling current rule criteria. Also, in such a case the formatting table will be disabled
for editing.
Note: The option will be ignored and disabled for editing when Clear auto formatting is
checked in the Format to be assigned tab.
Overwrite guarded Visio formulas if the option is not checked then the format will
not be applied if the corresponding cell in the shape sheet is guarded, e.g. line colour
will not be applied to the shape if its LineColor cell contains the formula=GUARD(7).
Note: The option will be ignored and disabled for editing when Clear auto formatting is
checked in the Format to be assigned tab.
Apply rule automatically on events (if enabled) if the option is not checked then
the rule will not be executed automatically even if Auto apply rules is on, see also
Executing Rules below.
Handling annotations if a shape matches the rule, then this setting provides the
possibility to decide if the format should be applied to the shape only, to the shape and
its annotations (attached labels) or only for the shapes annotations.
Check Definition
Shapes meeting selection criteria found during rules execution are checked according to
definition. The Check can be defined as PML macro or the Check function should be used.
The PML macro should be of BOOLEAN type and it should return TRUE if the shape meets
the requirements and FALSE if not and if actions defined on next tab page should be taken.
The Check can also be retrieved from the Library. After selecting the option, using the
browse button, a list of available Checks are presented.
If the Check method fails for some reason, a defined action should be taken on the shape.
There are a number of standard checks defined in the Diagrams Consistency Rules Library,
but it is also possible to define customised checks. These should be defined as classes
implementing IDiagramsRulesCheck specified in
Aveva.Diagrams.DiagramsRules in Aveva.Diagrams.dll. To be automatically
picked up, the class defining check should be placed in a dll named
*ConsistencyRulesLibrary.dll.
Apart from defining the check itself there is also an option to decide if the check should be
performed for every connection of the shape. If Execute for each connection is checked, a
defined PML Expression or selected library check will be applied for every connection of the
given shape and an action will be performed on every failed connection. If the option is un-
checked checks are performed once for every shape matching the selection criteria.
Specifying Actions
On the Actions tab page it can be specified which action(s) should be taken for shapes that
failed the check. Several actions can be specified for the same rule. An action can be
defined as a PML macro which can be any operation to be executed on a DB element
connected with a shape.
In addition it is possible to select a number of actions from the library. They can be added/
removed by clicking Add action/Remove Action. Actions are executed in order or
appearance on the list. Move up/down link labels allow to re-order them according to needs.
Similarly to the checks, actions are also pre-defined in Diagrams Consistency Rules Library,
with the possibility to add more. To add a custom action a class needs to be defined
implementing IDiagramsRulesActon specified in
Aveva.Diagrams.DiagramsRules in Aveva.Diagrams.dll. To be automatically
picked up, the class defining check should be placed in a dll named
*ConsistencyRulesLibrary.dll.
On the Action tab page also the severity of rule and message to be added to the
Consistency Check Result window can be specified. The severity can be as follows:
Information
Warning
Error
And the message can be any text which will be visible in the Consistency Check Result
window if a shape fails the check. The severity is also mapped to the window:
Custom configuration the behaviour is specified locally for the rule and does not
depend on the default configuration.
Executing Rules
Rules and rule sets are controlled by the Diagrams Rules toolbar which allows the turn on/
off of several options and to manually execute rule sets.
To manually execute the rule set on current selection or the whole drawing if no shapes are
selected, the appropriate value (name of the rule set to be executed) should be selected
from the drop down on the toolbar and after that the Apply rules button should be
clicked.
To select the proper Rule Set to execute, the kind of rule should be selected from the left
drop down list (Formatting Rules or Consistency Rules). Then, the second drop down
menu will be updated with all Rule Sets available for the selected kind of rule. To execute all
rules of a given kind, the All rule sets should be selected in the second drop down.
Note: Only active rule sets (having checked the active check box in the tree in the Rule
Definitions window) are executed by this command.
Another method to execute a single rule or rule set is issuing the Apply command with the
Right Mouse button menu on the appropriate item in the Auto Formatting Rules window.
This will also work for currently selected shapes or for the whole drawing if nothing is
selected on it.
There is a number of options configuring the execution of rules. They are specified for
Formatting Rules and for Consistency Rules and the execution of every kind or rule can be
performed in a different way.
To turn on automatic executing, select the Apply on Events button . When this is
checked the active rules with the Apply rule automatically on events option set are
executed after different kinds of events. The events can be determined in Diagrams
Options.
Figure 4:24. Specifying events that should trigger executing formatting rules
If the Zoom to option is on, then the zoom of the current page is adjusted to show all
changed shapes.
After the rules are executed and the appropriate formats are applied, it is possible to restore
the original format from the shapes in the current selection using the Reverse button: .
If no shapes are selected on the drawing, then the format is restored for all shapes.
Another option that can be set in Diagrams Options is the Message level. It specifies how
detailed messages will appear in the Message Log during applying auto formatting rules.
The setting can have the following values:
Summary message - only messages on starting and finishing applying auto formatting
rules are displayed in the Message Log.
Message per rule - apart from start and finish message, one message per applied rule
is added with information of the number of shapes the rule has been applied to.
Message per shape - apart from start and finish message, one message for each
shape with changed format is added to the Message Log.
Message per applied format - information about each applied format is added to the
Message Log as well as start and finish applying rules messages.
In the example above only rules with severity equal Error or Warning will be executed. The
ones with severity set to Information will be skipped.
Note: The selection of severity only applies when the execution is called from the
Diagrams Rules toolbar.
On the Diagrams Rules toolbar there is also an option to turn on/off automatic execution of
Consistency Rules. This can be achieved by checking/un-checking the Apply on Events
button in the Consistency Rules options.
After the Consistency Rules are executed the Consistency Check Result window is
shown. The messages are added to the window when the check fails for a rule having
Message specified on the Action tab page. The Message can be viewed in the window and
the severity rule is mapped to the appropriate icon.
Every message added to the Consistency Check Result window has information about the
Rule that generated the message. It is possible to navigate to the Rule definition by
selecting the Go to Consistency Rule command from the Context menu of each message:
Other main application menus do not contain any standard MS Visio commands.
4.6.1 Overview
All diagrams, stencils and templates are handled through proxy elements in the database,
even if the actual files are stored in the file system. Please refer to Database Architecture in
Chapter Diagrams Overview for an overview of how these documents are managed.
Note: It is possible to choose binary or XML format for saving Visio documents. For more
information please see Document file formats in Document Files, Sessions etc. in
Chapter Application Setup.
4.6.2 New
New diagrams, templates and stencils can be created through the New Diagram and New
Stencil commands in the Project > New menu.
If desired, a template for a new diagram can be chosen from the database. If no template
should be used, then click the No template button.
To ensure integrity between data on the drawing and its database representation, when a
new diagram is created (from a template or not) it should be saved to the database. For that
reason the user is immediately prompted for a name and database location for the new
document via the standard Save Diagram As dialogue as seen below:
There is a possibility to create a new drawing without saving it to the database. This is done
by clicking the Cancel button as it states in the dialogue title bar. However, then the
document is considered read-only and any database related changes to its content are not
allowed.
Note: The same occurs when an external drawing is imported using Project > Import and
Export > Import > Drawing. The imported drawing should be either saved to the
database or be opened in read-only mode.
4.6.3 Open
Existing diagrams, stencils and templates can be opened through the Project Tab.
When the Open command is issued, the Open dialogue is shown. This dialogue shows a
list of the diagram, stencil and template index elements in the database, through which the
diagrams can be opened.
Diagrams, stencils and templates can also be opened by double clicking or using the right-
click menu of the Schematic Explorer.
In case the diagram is connected to other diagrams through off-page connectors, the
Connected Diagrams command will be available. By selecting this command either of two
things will happen:
1. If the diagram is connected to one other diagram only, this diagram will open.
2. If the diagram is connected to several other diagrams, a list of diagrams will be shown
so the user can select which one(s) to open.
Note: When the user tries to open a diagram that is already claimed a dialogue will be
shown where the user gets the opportunity to open in read only mode.
Figure 4:28. Context menus on SCPLIN or its members (also SCEQUI etc.)
1. Saving the Visio drawing and modified stencils to the file system, also re-saving all
opened documents with a file format not corresponding to Save documents in the Visio
XML format setting.
2. Updating the SCDIAG and SCSTEN index elements in the database with Visio drawing
related data.
3. Performing the Dabacon SaveWork, thereby flushing all session data to the database.
The Save As command will provide the user with a possibility to save the drawing under a
different name and with the option to duplicate all the presented data. In order to keep
consistency between the database and drawings it is not possible to execute the Save As
command on a drawing containing unsaved database related changes. In such a case the
changes must first be saved and therefore the operation is cancelled with the following
warning message.
After the Save As command has been executed and the drawing does not contain any
database related changes, the name and location for a new drawing should be specified in
the Save As dialog.
The location for a new diagram is assigned by selecting the schematic group element below
which the diagram should be created. It is also possible to create new schematic groups by
right-clicking on the Schematic World element or on an existing Schematic Group element in
the element tree to the left.
Depending on the Copy DB items option, shown in the picture above, the new diagram can
be saved in two different ways:
When the option is checked, all items that are defined in the database are duplicated
together with the drawing containing the changes. For more information refer to Save
As with Copy of Data.
When the option is unchecked, the drawing is duplicated but all the containing shapes
are undefined on the copy of the diagram.
When the drawing has been successfully saved with Saved As, with a copy of the database
data or not, the user is prompted to perform a Save Work.
Note: If the Diagrams application is closed without the execution of Save Work the newly
created copy of the drawing will not be saved between sessions.
Note: If more than one diagram is open, all open diagrams will be saved when Save Work
is performed.
Overview
To reduce time for the Save Work function to complete it is possible to choose when to
create SVG files for the diagram. The basic concept of this functionality is described in the
flowchart below.
You can change the Save Work behaviour via the Diagrams Options > Create SVG on
Save Work option:
On the next form there is no need to select any options, just click Update!.
All selected diagrams that had SVG files created for them will have SVG files generated
again for all pages in the diagram. If a diagram had no SVG files created it will not be
modified and no SVG files will be created.
Note: This option only updates pages that were previously exported. Dummy pages will not
be updated.
Click the Home Tab > Object > Release button and select the pages for releasing items to
3D.
This is a simple way to release all items to 3D on selected pages of the diagram. It will affect
all elements on the selected pages.
If a page was previously released to 3D then it will be pre-selected and the date of the
recent release will be displayed.
If you are working with extracts, then the Flush extract checkbox will be active. By checking
it, all data that were released on the selected pages will be flushed to the master database.
Note: It is strongly recommended to set the Keep session files option to True. Otherwise,
each Save Work in the extract will replace and rename existing Visio and SVG files
and may make them inaccessible at the master location
At this stage it is possible to cancel the Save As by clicking the Cancel button. The
operation is then aborted and no copy of the drawing is created.
The settings available on the Copy DB Items dialog, shown above, are described below:
Note: If a default group is not set for an element type, then elements of such type will not
be copied and appropriate shapes will be undefined on the destination drawing.
Copy Options
Refresh
When the appropriate options are selected click OK. The drawing is duplicated and all DB
items it contains are copied according to the settings from the dialog. The progress of the
copy operation is presented in the Progress Bar in the application window. The information
about all subsequent steps is also saved in the Diagrams Message Log:
4.6.10 Delete
Diagrams can be deleted using the Delete command on the right click menu on the
SCDIAG element in the schematic explorer. When a diagram is deleted, any related items
on that diagram will not be deleted from the database. However, all references to that
diagram will be cleared. This means that if the diagram for instance contains an equipment
shape, the DIAREFARRAY on the equipment item will be updated, but the equipment item
as such will not be deleted.
Any orphan items left over when diagrams are deleted can be found by searching for items
where DIAREFARRAY is empty.
Note: When a single page within a diagram is deleted, the user will be presented with a
question regarding deleting all items from the database or not.
When exiting the application, the user will be prompted whether to save work or not.
When KEEP_SESSION_FILES default setting is set to False, there is a tool available
for cleaning old session files. For more information refer to Clean Old Session Files in
Chapter Utilities.
Note: When Undefine is performed, the attributes will be cleared using the same rules as
when a shape is copied, refer to the Copy with shape setting in Step 4: Attribute
Presentation in Chapter Getting Started.
During normal drafting of diagrams by dragging and dropping shapes from a stencil and
connecting together in the drawing, the Define operation will be handled automatically by
the application. The manual define/undefined only has to be used in special situations. For
example, if a number of inline fitting shapes (a branch or part of a branch) are copied and
pasted, they will not automatically be defined, so the user will have to first select a current
Pipe-/HVAC-line and then issue the Define command.
It is possible to disable the automatic Define mechanism by setting the Define shape on
drop to False.
As a visual feedback to the user, it is possible to set up a default colour that is automatically
assigned to shapes when they are defined. This is done by the Colour setting for each kind
of item under Element Options in Diagrams Options in Chapter Getting Started. Using the
default application settings from the installation, this means that Equipment and Pipework
shapes will turn blue as they are defined, HVAC ducting and fittings will turn green etc. In
case the colour does not change on drop/connect, the user will see that the shape could not
be defined.
4.8 Refresh
The term Refresh in Diagrams refers to a mechanism whereby the diagram document is
kept up-to-date with changes done in the database. For example, if an update has been
done to the database from the Command Line window, it is possible that annotation labels
in the drawing or other windows showing drawing-based data such as Shape Data etc.
needs to be updated accordingly.
Normally the necessary update happens automatically, but in some cases this will not occur,
see note below. For this reason there is a manual Refresh command that can be used to
get the diagram drawing in synch with the database data. The Refresh command will update
the shape attributes, labels and annotations in the drawing from the related database
elements.
The Refresh command works on the current selection, so it is possible to refresh a single
selected shape, a group of shapes or the whole drawing. The whole drawing will be
refreshed when no shapes are selected before choosing the Refresh command.
The Refresh command can be called from the Home Tab or from the Shape and Drawing
right-click menus. Refresh will be carried out automatically for any changes on database
elements that are directly related to shapes on open diagrams. For example, if you change
an attribute on an equipment item in the database, and you have an open diagram
containing a symbol representing this equipment item, the shape data attributes as well as
related annotations for this symbol will be automatically updated.
However, in some cases the automatic Refresh will NOT happen;
For referenced data in other elements. For example, if you have an annotation formula
like [SPREF.CATR.PARA(1)], it will not be automatically refreshed if the catalogue DB
will be updated. In that case the user will have to manually use the Refresh command
to see the update in the diagram drawing.
For drawings that are currently not open. These will either have to be manually
refreshed after opening, or the Refresh drawing on opening setting in Diagrams
Options can be used.
For Pseudo Attributes. These will not be automatically re-calculated and refreshed if
any data they depend on is changed, it has to be done manually by the user to see any
updated values from Pseudo Attributes.
The settings controlling feedback given by highlighting a shape and/or its annotation are as
follows:
Reset highlight before refresh indicates whether the Reset Highlight command
should be executed before the Refresh command is executed.
Highlight shape with changed attributes - if this option is set to true, then a shape that
has attributes updated by the Refresh command will be highlighted.
Highlight changed annotation - if this option is set to true, then after the Refresh
command is executed and the shape's text has been changed, the text will be
Figure 4:40. Changed shape and its annotation (text and attached label) being highlighted after
Refresh
Apart from highlighting the modified shape or annotation the changes are also indicated by
messages in the message log. There is possibility to adjust the level of information
according to individual user needs using the Message level setting. It can be set to the
following values:
Summary message for refresh operation - only one summary message with
information of the number of changed shapes will be given:
Message per shape a summary message and also one message for each changed
shape with information about the number of changed attributes will be displayed:
Message per attribute there will be a summary message and also one message for
each updated attribute (except attributes listed in Ignore changed attributes setting):
Another option controlling the feedback on Refresh is Zoom out to show all changes.
When this option is set to True it gives a possibility to zoom out to see all changes, then after
the refresh, zoom is adjusted to show all changed shapes on the current page.
To avoid indications on any insignificant changes, it is possible to set attributes which should
be skipped by feedback on Refresh. They can be listed as value Ignore changed
attributes. The attributes to be ignored should be separated by commas or spaces like on
the examples below:
Referenced attributes cannot be listed in the setting, but they are ignored if any of their parts
are skipped, e.g. OWNER_NAME will be ignored if the Ignore changed attributes list
contains an OWNER or NAME attribute. A change made to ignored attributes during refresh
will be skipped in the message log information (there will be no message if the level is set to
Per attribute and also the change will not be counted in Per shape and summary
information). If all changed attributes for the refreshed shape are listed in the Ignore
changed attributes list, the shape will not be highlighted even if Highlight shape with
changed attributes is on. However, if the ignored attribute causes any modification of the
shape's text or label text, the text and the label will still be highlighted if Highlight changed
annotation is set to True.
By default the feedback is given only if the Refresh operation is executed from the menu or
if it is called after a drawing is opened and the Refresh drawing on opening is set to True.
However, it is possible to set the 'Give feedback on automatic refresh' to On to get feedback
on the automatically called Refresh operations, e.g. after Refit and Resize.
In case any inconsistencies are found, these will be listed in the Consistency Check
Result window. Inconsistencies are classified as Errors, Warnings and Informational
messages as indicated by the status icon.
The columns are as follows:
Column Explanation
Shape 1. The icon indicates the severity of the problem (Error, Warning or
Information).
2. Name of the Visio shape that the problem is related to.
Connection Connection number of the shape which the problem is related to. This
is only shown in case the problem is related to a certain connection
point on the shape.
DB Element Name of DB element that the shape is related to. This is only shown
in case the problem is related to a shape that has a corresponding DB
element.
Page Page number in the drawing on which the related shape exists. This
is only shown in case the message is related to a shape.
Problem Problem text. See below for the list of problems that can be detected
by the Consistency Check function.
Corrective action In case any corrective action has been taken, this will be indicated in
this column.
By clicking on each line in the dialogue, the corresponding shape will be highlighted in the
drawing. In case the shape is not visible in the current view, the system will pan and if
necessary zoom out to make the entire shape visible.
The system will also attempt to bring back the drawing to a consistent state against the
database in case any inconsistencies have been detected. This normally means that
shapes will be disconnected or undefined in the drawing. No automatic updates will be done
to the database.
Below is a table showing the different checks that are performed during the Consistency
Check operation.
There is also a functionality which allows exporting the Message Log and Consistency
Check results to a txt or xls file. This is available in the right click context menu of the
Message Log and Consistency Check window.
The Consistency Check command can be issued through the following UI commands:
Object pull-down menu
Shape right-click menu (also works on a selection of shapes)
Drawing background right-click menu
A summary of the consistency check result can also be seen in the Message Log. In case
no inconsistencies are detected, the Consistency Check Result pane will not appear.
In the Save As dialogue there is a possibility to choose the export file format to be used,
either text file format or Excel file format.
4.10 Annotation
4.10.1 Overview
Diagrams supports the standard Visio Shape Text field as well as predefined label shapes.
The users can create their own label shapes, including multi-field labels. When such a label
is dropped on the drawing and connected to a DB element shape, it can display arbitrary
attributes.
will be invisible by default. This function can be enabled by setting the Show Text on first
segment only default setting in Diagrams Options to True. However, depending on the
sequence of operations when the branches and segments are built, some extra texts might
be left in the middle of a segment. These can then be manually hidden by using the right
click command.
This option is available for 2D shapes except for annotating shapes (Label, Multi-label, Title
Block). The option allows the user to determine whether the shape text should be wrapped
with a frame and if so, it is also possible to choose between different frame styles. The text
frame styles are:
Name Description
None No text frame
Rectangle Rectangular frame around text
RoundedRectangle Rectangular frame with rounded corners
The image below illustrates the result of selecting the particular values:
Note: The colour of the text frame is always the same as the colour of the shape text.
4.10.3 Labels
Shapes for custom labels and multilabels can be created using the Import Shape Wizard.
The annotation strings can be formatted according to the Attribute Presentation Notation
(please refer to Attribute Presentation Notation in Chapter Appendices) in order to present
attribute values from the related shape.
Default labels can also be set up for shapes, so that for instance an equipment shape will
get a number of pre-defined labels when it is dropped on the drawing. This can be done in
the type specific settings in Diagrams Options and can also be overridden in step 3
(Annotation settings) of the Import Shape Wizard in case individual settings are required.
A number of annotation settings are available in Diagrams Options that controls the label
shape to be used for annotation as well as the number of annotation labels that should be
available for each type of item in Import Shape Wizard. These settings can be found under
General Options > Annotation Settings.
Line breaks are supported in the same way for labels as for the Shape Text.
Figure 4:41. Sample method of preparing a shape for the Title Block
Similar to other annotation shapes, texts for particular fields can be formatted according to
the Attribute Presentation Notation (please refer to Attribute Presentation Notation in
Chapter Appendices) and line breaks are supported in the same way as for Shape Text.
During importing Title Block, font and colour of text can be defined separately for each field:
Figure 4:42. Configuration of texts for separate fields of Title Block in the Import Shape Wizard
After dropping the Title Block on to a diagram/template the annotation strings defined for
particular fields are evaluated according to the existing database attributes. Those strings
can be re-defined using the custom properties of a single text field:
below, there are different Pspec (A300 vs. A150) and Ptspec (PS007 vs. PS008) between
the tee and the following tubing.
The attributes that will be shown can be configured using the General Options
>Annotation settings > Property Break settings in Diagrams Options. This setting is
represented by a comma separated list of attributes. Only the attribute values that differ will
be shown.
An outgoing OPC can be connected to an incoming (or vice versa) using the Connect OPC
command in the shape right-click menu.
This command will bring up a Selection dialogue (Standard DB Browse Dialogue) where all
unconnected OPCs of the opposite kind will be listed.
When examining the database explorer, it can be seen that a new SCSEG element has
been created. The purpose of these administrative elements is to serve as containers for the
parts of a branch that is divided by OPCs.
The shape text shown in the OPC can be controlled by the Attribute Presentation Notation.
Refer to Attribute Presentation Notation in Chapter Appendices for further information. It is
for example possible to show the name of the drawing and the page of the OPC that the
current one is connected to by using the following format: [opcref.owner.diaref(1)]
- Page: [opcref.owner.page(1)].
It is possible to navigate between connected OPCs by using the Go to Connected OPC
command available on the right click menu.
The OPC connections can also be listed and navigated on a diagram level. By right clicking
on a Diagram Element in the database explorer and choosing the Connected Diagrams
command, all diagrams connected to the current one will be listed.
To disconnect Area Shape from database element Undefine command can be used. It is
possible to specify different colours for defined and undefined Area shapes - see picture
above.
The Primary/secondary shape mechanism can be used to contain several Area Shapes on
different drawings referring to the same SCAREA element. For more information please see
chapter Primary / Secondary Shapes.
Elements contained by defined Area Shape are referring to it via SCAREF. One item can
refer to several Area Shapes. All items referring to SCAREA via SCAREF can be seen in
Schematic Explorer tree as its secondary hierarchy:
By default the Area has the attributes relevant for the SCAREA element, but the set of
attributes controlled by Area Shape can be extended in Diagrams Options. Select the
Attribute Presentation click the Referenced Attributes button and then manually key in
the attribute names:
To distinguish between attributes that can be propagated to shapes contained by the Area
and those who should only be displayed in Area's Shape Data, the Propagate column
should be used:
All attributes with the Propagate field checked will be controlled by Area and propagated to
contained shapes. In addition it is possible to specify prefixes which would be set for both
propagate and not propagate attributes in Shape Data. The prefixes can be set in diagrams
options for Area Shape:
E.g. the above settings will take following effect in Shape Data:
As for other elements, the default attribute presentation settings for Area Shape can be
overridden during Import Shape:
Ask user - the user is warned that the attribute being changed is governed by the Area
and is asked to proceed or not:
4.13.1 Overview
By using the Catalogue Search function, it is possible to search through the catalogue and
to assign catalogue references to the selected item(s). This is achieved by the following
steps:
1. First select the item(s) in the drawing that should receive the new catalogue reference.
2. Second, make a selection in the Catalogue Search window. The Select command is
available on the right click menus of the explorer and the result list as well as on a
dedicated button in the bottom right of the window.
Manual component selection behaves differently depending on the current setting of the
Use specification default variable as shown below:
The Catalogue Search window is divided in two main parts. To the left is a pane that
contains two tabs, Catalogue Explorer and Selection Tables, to the right there is a search
result list.
The Catalogue Search window will automatically navigate to the currently used catalogue
item. This means that when a shape which has a SPREF pointing to a GPART or a
TABITEM is selected in the drawing, the catalogue search will switch to the relevant tab and
navigate to the currently selected catalogue item in the Catalogue Explorer, as well as in the
result list. However, on slow computers this can cause a slight delay when shapes are
selected. If this is the case, this behaviour can be turned off by setting the General options
> Catalogue search settings > Configuration > Auto navigate to catalogue element
setting in Diagrams Options to False.
In case default filters for shapes have been specified in Diagrams Options or in the Default
Catalogue Search Filter (refer to Step 5: Default Catalogue Search Filter in Chapter
Getting Started), the "== Use default filter from item ==" option will have to be selected for
these to take effect. When a shape associated with a default filter is selected, and the "==
Use default filter from item ==" is applied, as soon as the Find button is clicked, the
associated filter will automatically be applied.
To define a new filter, click the New filter button and specify a name.
Below the Select Filter section, there is a Category line. If the Category checkbox is
checked, the filter will include a category selection criteria. This means that when the filter is
used, it will only search within the predefined category. As a default, the currently selected
category in the GPART hierarchy explorer pane will be shown in the category textbox. In
case the user wants to select another category, the Browse button () to the right can be
used. If the Category checkbox is not checked, the filter will be defined as a generic filter,
which can be applied to any category when used.
When filters are used, it works as follows:
If a filter including a category definition is used, the system will first navigate
automatically to the defined category in the explorer and then apply the rest of the filter
and make the search.
If a filter which does not include a category is used, the system will apply the filter to the
category that is currently selected by the user in the explorer.
Below the category line, a table of criteria statements can be defined for the filter. To add a
new statement, simply click on the Attribute field to display a dropdown list of attributes.
This list contains all attributes that have been defined using the Customize function and
may include attributes from referenced elements.
Next click the Operator field and select an operator. Note that some operators are only
applicable to certain data types, for instance the Like operator can only be applied to text
string attributes.
Finally enter a criteria value in the Value field. When using the Like operator, wildcards can
be specified using the asterisk (*) character.
To add another criteria statement, simply click on the next empty line which was
automatically added when the first criteria statement was defined.
In case more than one statement is used for a filter, there will be an implicit AND operator
applied between statements.
Finally click OK to create the filter and close the dialogue.
By making a selection in the Table and Type dropdown boxes and clicking the Find button,
the table on the right hand side will be filled with a relevant selection of catalogue items
represented by TABITE database elements.
If the Auto select table and type from item checkbox is checked, the table and type drop-
downs will automatically be set according to applicable default settings under General
Options > Catalogue Search Settings in Diagrams Options or specified in step 5 of Import
Shape Wizard.
A selection table item can contain default values that will be applied to the shape when the
catalogue reference is set, provided that the Apply default values to item checkbox is
checked. This can be followed up in the Message Log where messages regarding assigned
default attributes is provided.
To select a Catalogue Reference from the result list, you can either select the line in the list
and click the Select button, or use the Select command in the right click menu on the item
in the list.
The columns shown in the result list can be changed by clicking the Customise link. This
will show the Catalogue Search Result Presentation Settings dialogue.
Note: The result list for GPARTs will automatically be filtered on the LSELEC attribute. This
has to be true in order for the GPARTs to be shown in the result list.
In this dialogue, the presentation label can be changed and it can be set up whether the
attribute should be visible or not. By clicking the Referenced Attributes button, attributes
from related elements can be shown. This dialogue works just like the same dialogue used
for Attribute Presentation (refer to Step 4: Attribute Presentation in Chapter Getting Started).
The result list can be presented in three different layouts, in order to provide as much space
for data as possible. By right clicking in the list and selecting Horizontal Layout, Vertical
Layout or Result list only the layout can be changed so that either as many rows and/or
columns as possible can be shown.
In the right click menu, commands are also available for showing or hiding the Grouping
pane, Filters row and Summary line. For more information on how to use the grouping and
filtering functions, please refer to the Getting Started with Plant documentation.
Note: That this only applies when defined shapes are copied.
There is also a possibility to copy and paste several attributes at the same time between
existing shapes. This can be done by using the Copy Attributes and Paste Attributes
commands in the Home Tab > Clipboard group. These will copy and paste all attributes
that have been defined as copy with shape in Attribute Presentation. These can be used in
the following way:
1. Select a single shape from which the attributes should be copied.
2. Use the Copy Attributes command.
3. Select one or more shapes of the same type as the one that you just copied from.
4. Use the Paste Attributes command.
The result of the paste operation can be followed up in the message log, which will show a
list of the attributes that have been pasted for each shape.
Note: It is the Copy with shape setting for the destination shape which will determine
which attributes will be pasted. The Copy with shape setting for the source shape is
not considered.
Note: The Copy/Paste Attributes function only apply for DB defined attributes.
4.14.1 CTRL+DRAG
General
When this method for copying is chosen, Diagrams will try to define elements that can be
created directly under SCGROUP (like SCEQUIPMENT, SCACTU but not SCTUBE,
SCVALVE). The proper group will be taken according to the diagrams settings. Additionally,
the application will create all items that were copied and can be created under previously
created elements. For example, if selecting an SCEQUIPMENT and a properly connected
SCNOZZLE, then after copy/paste the application will create a new SCEQUIPMENT and a
new SCNOZZLE. The attributes of the new elements will be set according to data in Shape
Data (it can be determined which attributes will be copied see diagrams settings for more
details).
This method will not create items like branches, pipelines segments and inline elements. All
tubes, valves etc. that were copied will become undefined. The items can be defined
afterwards to create new branches, but the created database structure might be different
than for the original items that were copied. This way of copying is very similar to dragging
and dropping from a stencil.
General
This way of copying items copies shapes on a drawing together with its database structure.
When pasting the data, Diagrams will define the elements automatically. All shapes that
were valid in the database during copy will be stored in the windows clipboard with extra
information about database structure.
The most important differences between Copying and Pasting and copying using
CTRL+DRAG are:
All valid items that were copied can be created with the same database group
hierarchy, or according to the hierarchy defined in Session Defaults. See Copy-paste
options.
In some special cases it might not be possible to restore the same structure - see
Partial copy.
Any attribute values for the shape are copied from the database rather than the source
shape. Normally these should be the same, but if they still differ then the database
value is used.
Behaviour when copying/pasting two or more items that point to the same database
element, for example when selecting two equipment shapes that points to the same
database element (primary and secondary):
When using CTRL+DRAG technique (for each shape) then the application will ask
for decision twice whether it should create a secondary shape or a new db element.
This means that its not possible to create a new equipment item with two shapes
representation.
However, when using CTRL+C/CTRL+V, then the application asks only once. This
means that its possible to create a new database element with two shapes
representation, but it will not be possible to create new database objects for each
shape which is possible using CTRL+DRAG.
Copy-paste sub-equipment items. In Figure 4:44.: Two equipment items with two sub-
equipment items in database, there are three items selected.
When copy and paste using CTRL+DRAG a new equipment item with two sub-
equipment items below will be created. Figure 4:45.: Items from image 1 copied by
CTRL+DRAG technique.
When copying items using CTRL+C/CTRL+V a new equipment item will be created
with one sub-equipment below. The second sub-equipment will be undefined. The
application is checking if the true owner for Sub-Equipment_B was copied or not.
Figure 4:46.: Items from image 1 copied by CTRL+C/CTRL+V technique.
Figure 4:44. Two equipment items with two sub-equipment items in database
Copy/Paste Options
Diagrams has a few options related to Copy and Paste.
Figure 4:47. The copy paste options that can be user changed
Figure 4:49. Situation in DB and drawing after copy-paste equipment from image 5 when source
group are kept
Figure 4:50. Situation in DB and drawing after copy-paste equipment from the previous image when
diagrams settings determine items owning group
Use session defaults items are created under groups as defined by the session
defaults.
Ask the system will ask if items should be created according to settings or if it should
create the group hierarchy from the source.
Note: The groups are created, not copied from the source data. If the system is not able to
create the copied items in the DB, then the empty groups will not be created either.
Figure 4:52. Database structure and drawing layout after copy-paste items from the previous image
However, in most cases it is not possible to copy both OPCI and OPCO at the same time,
since they usually are on different pages or diagrams. When copying and pasting OPCs
individually, a new branch will be created for the first OPC, and the system may ask about
existing lines for the second OPC. See image below.
Figure 4:53. Database structure and drawing layout when copying items in two steps
The connection will be established only when the database contains items with the same
name and type that were connected to copied OPC (only base type match is required).
Moreover, the existing item has to have OPCREF free and branches (pasted and existing)
has to have proper ends free (HREF/TREF unset, depends on OPC type).
Note: This option will work properly only when OPC names are set correctly. Naming
behaviour described below.
Note: This functionality will be mostly useful when data copied between two different
databases. In case if copy and paste in the same MDB then system will not connect
offline instruments because existing item will be already connected (unless user
disconnected it before paste).
Figure 4:54. Two equipment items defined under the same group in project A
Figure 4:55. Project B, Equipment 2 was pasted with disabled Use existing group option
Figure 4:56. Project B, Equipment 2 was pasted with enabled Use existing group option
Possible values:
Always system will create items under existing groups if its names will be the same.
Never system will create new group structure exactly the same as in source data
that was copied
Ask each time, before system creates new groups it checks if in database exist group
with the same name. If exist, system will display dialog message, then user can decide
whether existing group should be used or not.
Elements Name
If auto naming is enabled then all items will be renamed using auto name rules. When auto
naming is disabled and data copied between two different projects, then the system will try
to set copied item names. If the name is already in use then a warning message will appear.
In some cases it is required that the parent object exists for naming to work correctly. For
example, if copying a pipeline in two steps from one project to another, and using auto
naming, then the newly created line can have different name than the original one because
the naming rule might be different. As a result, when copying a second part of the pipeline
and pasting it to the second project, a new line will be created because there is no pipeline
with the same name defined.
It might be also that when copying and pasting the first part of your pipeline, the database
already contains a pipeline with the same name. In this case the copied branches will be
created under the existing pipeline.
Attributes
The attributes will be set according to the Attribute presentation settings in Diagrams
Options. Attributes that are marked as read only or not marked as copy with shape will not
be set. If two shapes that points to the same element in database are copied, for example
primary and secondary equipment items, it might be that one shape inherited settings from
its master but the second one depends on diagrams settings. If there is a conflict in the
attribute presentation rules for these shapes, then the attribute will not be copied.
If attributes cannot be set during copy-paste, warning messages will be displayed, except
for the following situations:
Attribute cannot be set due to definition rules or data access.
Attribute is defined as read only
Attribute is set as not to be copied with shape
Referenced Attributes
There are two kinds of referenced attributes:
Attributes like SPREF, SCLORE etc. that are pointing to other element to get some
extra information from them, or where the item is part of for example a system or loop.
These attributes will be set if it will be possible.
For example, when copying equipment that has SCLORE set to LOOP1 from project
MAR to CCH then SCLORE of equipment will be set if LOOP1 exist in CCH.
If the attribute cant be set, then a message will be shown in the message log.
Attributes like SCIREF, CRFA etc. that are pointing to other elements because they are
connected. These attributes will be set only if connected items were copied together.
The paste function will try to set these attributes even when they are set as read only or
copy with shape is disabled. If the connection cannot be established, a message will
be shown in the message log.
Note: SCIRTY attribute will be updated according to SCIREF.
Partial Copy
Sometimes only a few items from a whole structure are copied. An example is shown below.
There are two equipment items and one branch. When selecting everything except valve
and copy this, it will be impossible to recreate the same structure after paste.
The copy/paste operation creates two branches instead of one. Each time items are copied
where branches or segments have to be reorganized, a message will be displayed in the
message log.
The attribute <AttName> Will be displayed each time when source application Warning
does not exist in the does not contain that kind of attribute. I.e. MAR project
current project. has defined some UDA but SAM project does not have
them. Because of that, these UDA's will not be set when
copy-paste from MAR to SAM project.
The attribute <AttName> An example of this message can look like "The attribute Warning
can not be updated HREF can not be set because element is not SCBRAN,
because the element is SCSEG type. Type of element is SCCABLE".
not of type <TypeName> . This kind of messages should never be displayed, unless
Type of element is something changed in the database, for example if
<TypeName>. pasting copied data into older database versions.
Message will be displayed only for referenced attributes
that are responsible for connections (like CRFA, ECRFA
but not SCLORE).
This is not a System error message. This should not occur under Warning
SCSEGMENT nor normal circumstances.
SCBRANCH and you are
trying to set HREF.
IsTypeValid() method
failed!
This is not a System error message. This should not occur under Warning
SCSEGMENT nor normal circumstances.
SCBRANCH and you are
trying to set TREF.
IsTypeValid() method
failed!
<AttName> of branch not Message when HREF or TREF cannot be set because Warning
set because the item that was connected in source does not exist in
connected item does not destination. Typically, when a branch is connected to
exist. equipment but during copy user copied equipment and
branch without tube that was connected to equipment
(partial copy) system cannot set HREF/TREF because in
destination branch is not connected to equipment (there
is no tube)
<AttName> can not be set HREF/TREF/STAREF/ENREF can not be set because Warning
because the connected the item that attribute points to was not copied
item was not copied.
Missing: <missing part
name/refnum>
<AttName> can not be set HREF/TREF/STAREF/ENREF can not be set because Warning
because connected item the item that attribute points to was copied but for some
is not valid in database. reason is not valid in DB (there supposed to be different
message that explain why item is not valid)
<AttName> can not be When copying a cable or multi cable the pasted item has Warning
changed because the been selected to be secondary. The existing primary item
database element that has STAREF/ENDREF already set.
shape points to already
has this attribute set.
Database value is <name
of element connected in
db>, while the value in the
drawing is <name of
element connected on
drawing>.
The <AttName> has been When copying a cable or multi cable the pasted item has Information
updated according to been selected to be secondary. The existing primary item
drawing connection. didnt have STAREF/ENDREF already set. They have
been updated according to the pasted item.
<AttName> can not be set In case STAREF/ENDREF is not connected on drawing, Warning
because this item is not this message will be displayed. Typically it might happen
connected with <element when equipment is connected with primary cable
name> on the drawing representation. The cable also has secondary shape
representation that is not connected with the equipment.
When copying and pasting equipment and secondary
cable representation then it will not be possible to set the
attribute because items are not connected on the
drawing.
The nozzle does not have A nozzle shape was copied that was not properly defined Warning
the required PIPE_1 on drawing. The connection point could not be found.
connection point. CREF
attribute is not set.
The connection between This is displayed when the nozzle connection will not be Warning
nozzle and branch can not connected in the destination but was in source. For
be copied because the example if an equipment and nozzle were copied without
item is not connected to a connected branch (or branch is connected but is not
valid branch! valid).
Could not copy The message will be displayed when copying and Warning
<AttName> because there pasting an item with CRFA/ECRFA set. For example, a
are no valid connections. valve in the source has CRFA set (meaning that the
valve has a branching point connected to some branch)
but was copied without connected branch.
One of the referenced CRFA and ECRFA are arrays, it might be that a valve Warning
<AttName> items can not with two branching points connected is copied, for
be set. Item is not example a cross, but it was copied only with one branch.
connected, missing In the result in destination there will be a cross with only
element <name of missing one branch connected.
element>
The ECRFA maximum The ECRFA size is constant. Some items like equipment Warning
size was reached. Some might be a secondary. In case an equipment with
items can not be connected branches is copied and chosen to be
connected. secondary during paste, then the ECRFA array will be
extended with the new connections. It might be that this
operation will cause too many connected branches
then this message is displayed.
The attribute <AttName> Message will be displayed if referenced attribute is not Warning
can not be set because valid in the destination project.
the referenced element For example if copying an equipment that refers to some
{1} does not exist in systems and pasting it to a project where one or more of
current MDB these systems doesnt exist.
OPCREF can not be set Message displayed when OPCREF can not be set Warning
because of missing because connected OPCI/O was not copied
connected OPCI/O
OPCREF can not be set. Message displayed when OPCREF can not be set Warning
The connected OPCI/O because OPCI/O was copied but for some reason it is
was copied but it is invalid undefined. It might happen if creating a branch under
existing pipelines and one of pipelines belong to
database that is read only. Because of that, the item will
be pasted but will be undefined.
Failed to copy SCIRTY In case if SCIRTY has different size than SCIREF then Warning
because the SCIRTY properly setting this array is not possible. Because of
table has different size that SCIRTY will be reset. This should not normally
than SCIREF table. All happen, but it might be that attributes were changed
values have been set to outside of Diagrams or manually in PML.
NONE
The database does not Displayed when copying a UDET and pasting it in a Warning
contain UDET type destination project where this UDET has no definition. In
<name of unknown udet>. the result base type will be used.
The base type <name of
element base type> will
be used.
The object type does not Displayed when the database type of the copied item, Warning
exist in db definition for that exists in source project does not exist in the
<database element type destination project.
name>, failed to create
item.
There is no schematic DB The destination project doesnt have any available Warning
where the item can be Schematics database, or it is read-only.
created
Failed creating item Items like Elconns or Nozzles are copied without their Warning
because its owner was owning elements. This will result in the items becoming
not created. undefined.
Failed to get default group Displayed when the Session Defaults option Get Default Warning
for {0} from CE. Item was Group from CE is used, but the group could not be
not created. fetched. This can for example happen if the current
element is the World element.
Failed to get default group Displayed when no default group for an element type is Warning
for {0}. Item was not defined in Session Defaults.
created!
Can not create item in When user is coping sub-equipment items without its Warning
database because the owner, it is possible that they will be created in db.
subequipment is copied However, there is restriction that CE has to be equipment
without its owner. Either (or one of the CE parent is an equipment) and only sub-
copy the subequipment equipment items were copied. In case mixed types are
separately and paste it copied and sub-equipment items are copied without the
with the parent equipment parent, then this message will be displayed.
item as CE, or copy this
item together with its
equipment parent.
Can not create Displayed when sub-equipment items are copied but CE Warning
subequipment in is not an equipment or an equipment member.
database because CE is
not an equipment. Please
set CE to equipment or its
member, or copy this item
together with its
equipment parent.
Some of the segments This message might be displayed during copy action Information
were copied partially, and when copying only a few items from branch. Example:
the copied data structure There is a branch that contains tube1, valve1, tube2,
was reorganized. When valve2. If selecting valve1 and valve2 and executing
pasting, the newly created copy/paste, then this message will be displayed because
data structure will be when paste, the structure has to be changed. Two
different than the copied branches have to be created instead of one. However, if
one selecting valve1, tube2 and valve2 the message will not
be displayed because the branch structure will be the
same.
Name should not contain Error from auto naming. Displayed when auto name rule Warning
spaces. Evaluated name is wrongly set so that name contains spaces.
"<name>" contains
spaces.
Name already exists. Error from auto naming. Displayed when auto name rule Warning
creates name that already is in use.
The item was supposed to Critical error that can appear when during paste action Critical
be copied but the DBElem another thread/process change pasted database
is not valid! elements.
The shape can not be Displayed if it is not possible to establish connection Critical
linked with database between database element and the shape.
element.
The database attribute Displayed when an attribute is valid in the database but Warning
'<AttName>' is not valid the element does not have this attribute. A typical case
for this element. might be when some UDA is defined in both source and
destination projects, but in project A this UDA is assigned
to SCOINST and SCEQUI but in project B it is assigned
to SCEQUI only. When copying SCOINST from project A
where the UDA has value set and paste it to project B, it
will not be able to set the attribute.
Paste action failed. Items Paste action failed. There is high probability that another Critical
might be defined error message precedes this message.
incorrectly
The auto naming of Auto naming failed. Probably some rules are incorrectly Warning
elements failed. Exception defined or some elements do not have all attributes set
message that naming rule requires.
4.15.1 Overview
Diagrams supports a Primary/Secondary shapes concept. This allows a single item in the
database to be represented by several shapes in diagrams. The shapes can exist in the
same page, on another page in the same diagram or on different diagrams. A good example
of this are equipment items to which several systems are connected, such as the main
engine. Even if the main engine will be represented on all the related systems' diagrams, it
can still be a single item in the database.
In some cases the main responsibility for an equipment item lies with a certain design team
or system design group while it needs to be accessible to other teams for connecting other
systems to it. To support this way of working, shapes can be considered Primary or
Secondary, and different rules and restrictions can be applied to these categories.
We can distinguish two groups of secondary elements:
1. The non-inline elements:
Equipment items
Sub-equipment items
Cables
Multi cables
Actuators
Offline instruments
Nozzles
Electrical connections
Area shapes
The system allows 0-n primary shapes and 0-n secondary shapes for a certain non-inline
element in the database. This means that the shapes corresponding to a certain DB
element might be all primary, all secondary or a mix of primary and secondary.
For example, if an equipment shape is deleted while keeping the corresponding DB item,
and later a new shape is created referring to the same DB item, the new shape will be
secondary even if no primary shape exists. This kind of situation is not handled
automatically by the system. It is however possible for the user to manually change the
IsPrimary flag in the shape data window.
2. The inline elements (elements that can be created under the branch's segment)
Valves
Fittings
HVAC fittings
Inline instruments
Off page connectors (incoming/outgoing)
Pipe destinations
Tubes
Ducts
In contrast to the elements from the first group, the system allows only one primary shape
and 0-n secondary shapes for an element in the database. It is not allowed to change the
primary status for these shapes. This means that the primary shape will always be primary
and the secondary shape will always be secondary.
Deleting the secondary shape will never remove the element from the database, but
deleting the primary one will always remove it.
Secondary shapes can be created in two main ways:
By changing the name into an already existing name.
By copying and pasting shapes in the drawing.
Note: The usage of Primary/Secondary shapes for certain combinations of main items
having subitems and/or connected cables or pipes involves a complex behaviour and
can give results that were not expected by the user. When using the Primary/
Secondary shapes for such combinations, it is important that the user understands
all implications of his/her actions.
2. Change the name of the undefined and unconnected symbol to the name of an
existing item of the same type.
3. The application prompts the user with a dialog box informing that the item already
exists and asks if a secondary shape should be created:
Click Yes and the shape will then refer to the existing item in the database, the name should
be manually entered, and it will be made into a secondary shape.
Create secondary shape by name change of an non-inline shape:
The user can create a secondary non-inline element using the same technique as for inline
elements. However, a non-inline element has to be defined and may be connected to other
elements.
If the user decides to create a secondary shape representation, he may be asked for
confirmation of deletion from the database of the original item created when the shape was
If the original database item contains some subordinate Electrical Connection Elements or
Nozzles, a dialog is shown asking if these should be copied into the existing item is having
the new name entered manually.
When the element is connected to other items, the system behaves differently depending on
the type of connected element. Please refer to the table below for more information.
The system also enforces some restrictions on secondary shape handling for hierarchically
subordinate items such as sub-equipment and electrical connection elements. For example,
it is not allowed to have secondary electrical connection elements referring to a DB item
owned by a different equipment item than the one that the electrical connection element is
connected to on the current drawing. This is described in more detail under Behaviour of
Primary/Secondary Shapes.
Area Shapes
Using this technique it is possible to create secondary objects for all inline and non-inline
elements. To achieve this, user has to select shapes on drawing and copy it to clipboard.
Next, user has to paste it into the same or different drawing. If all elements can be created
as secondary, user is prompted by dialog message as in the picture below (depends on
settings).
If the Secondary button is clicked, all shapes become secondary representations of the
copied structure.
Note: That if it is not possible to create the secondary elements (because of at least one
database element missing), the system tries to create a new structure in the
database.
There is also certain behaviour related to subitems and connected items. This behaviour is
described in the table below. In case of secondary shape creation through name change,
the DB item that the shape was referring to before it was assigned to another one is referred
to as the Source item. The DB item that the shape will be linked to after the creation is
referred to as the Destination item.
Example 1:
The diagram below has got two equipments with sub-equipments. When they are copied
and pasted, the sub equipments will be copied together with the equipment. New database
items will be created for them.
Example 2:
Now the diagram has one equipment with a secondary shape and two sub-equipments.
When this group of shapes is marked and copied and pasted, the system will ask if new
database items should be created for each shape, or if they should become secondary
shapes. This question is asked for each shape.
If new database items are chosen, the system will create two new equipments, making the
secondary shape become an individual equipment item.
When creating the database items for the sub equipment, the ownership of the sub
equipment is determined by proximity. In this example, sub equipment Equipment-002-Sub-
001 is owned by Equipment-002 because it is positioned closest to that equipment shape.
For the same reason Equipment-003-Sub-001 is owned by Equipment-003 because it is
closer to that equipment than to Equipment-002.
If both sub equipments are closer to one of the equipment shapes than the other, they will
both be owned by this equipment:
3. Inline elements.
It is possible to drop inline symbols and build segments. To achieve this parts of the
segment has to be dropped one by one from the stencil and connected on the drawing
by dropping them on the connecting parts, see figures below.
After connecting a shape with the unassigned item Current Element will automatically be set
to the next unassigned element in the branch.
If one part of the segment is already on the drawing it will not be possible to continue with
the same segment on another page or drawing. Elements have to be dropped one by one
and have to be connected, or if it is a component to component connection they have to be
dropped closely enough so that they can be auto connected, see figure below.
When connecting a shape to a branch, arrive and leave will be automatically adjusted to the
flow direction. If the shape is a one-way component, then it will be rotated according to the
flow.
Click the Options button to select Import Options and Imported View Types.
When importing a view from Marine Drafting the basic position of the view can be chosen in
the Import Options dialog. There are three possibilities:
Original
Center
Fit
After import, the view shape position is locked for modifications. Each imported view gets an
extra right-click menu option called Lock. By default this is checked so the view cannot be
moved. By unchecking it, the view can be flipped, moved, rotated and scaled.
After editing the view, it can again be locked to avoid accidental modifications.
Note: That any items located on the foreground page (equipments etc) that had their
position set before the view shape movement, will not be automatically updated after
the view has been moved or resized. They will need to be manually updated.
4.18.1 Overview
Diagrams supports a 3D Position (POS) attribute for relevant schematic database elements.
This position is independent of the 3D position of any related 3D elements. This can be
handled in different ways using the Schematic 3D Integrator. It is for instance possible to
copy the initial 3D position given for the schematic element to the corresponding 3D element
during the build process. Please refer to the Schematic 3D Integrator User Guide for more
details.
The definition file consists of two paths: one for X and one for Y. Both of them contain a
series of tags defined by a min/max value and a name value.
Example:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<GridDef>
<Path type="X">
<Tag>
<Min>20</Min>
<Max>120</Max>
<Name value="1"/>
</Tag>
<Tag>
<Min>120</Min>
<Max>220</Max>
<Name value="2"/>
</Tag>
<Path type="Y">
<Tag>
<Min>10</Min>
<Max>110</Max>
<Name value="A"/>
</Tag>
<Tag>
<Min>110</Min>
<Max>210</Max>
<Name value="B"/>
</Tag>
</Path>
</GridDef>
Each time the user wants to move an item on the drawing or create a new one, the
DIAGXPOS and DIAGYPOS will be updated according to the Visio drawing position.
Be aware that if DIAGXPOS and DIAGYPOS will be out of limits of the grid definition file
then an appropriate message will be returned by GRIDXPOS/GRIDYPOS pseudo
attributes.
Note: The four attributes: DIAGXPOS, DIAGYPOS, GRIDXPOS and GRIDYPOS are
defined as "Hidden"
It is mostly not interesting to know this value but rather the corresponding gridding position
along the X/Y axes. A second pair of attributes is available for that, they are GRIDXPOS and
GRIDYPOS, which are pseudo attributes. That means the value is never stored on the DB
element, but is dynamically converted based on the DIAGXPOS/DIAGYPOS values and the
gridding defined configuration.
Thus, if he gridding definition should be changed during the project life cycle, any simple
query would dynamically reflect the changes. Displaying these values graphically for a
symbol can be done with the following formula:
Note: In some cases it will be required to call the Refresh command to see the proper text.
Alternatively you may want to display the gridding position of the connector you are
connected to.
In that case, use the following formula:
4.20.1 Overview
Diagrams supports exchanging a placed and connected symbol with another symbol. All
connections will be retained. This can be done either manually by the user or automatically
by fetching a shape reference from the catalogue.
The main difference between manually and automatically replacing a symbol is the Shape
Data cells handling. When done automatically all cells are retained. In other words, there is
only a graphical symbol change and no database changes. Whereas during manual
replace, all attributes that are possible to be set in the database element are copied from the
master shape. As in the following example, where the master shape has Description set to
"GD629EJ" the database element will have the description attribute updated to that value
after replacing the symbol.
If the attribute change is successful, a notification like the one below is displayed in the
Message Log.
If the attribute change failed, an error message like the one below is displayed in the
Message Log.
The Replace operation does not erase attributes that are not set in the master. In the above
example, all attributes with no value in the master (Area, Arrive, Borearray etc.) are not
changed in the database element.
Note: On name change - when the name attribute is changing because of a replace
operation, the system does not ask about creating a secondary representation item.
The name will be changed. If the operation fails, a warning message is displayed.
Now choose the Replace Symbol option from the shapes context menu.
The main difference between replacing symbol using batch job and using the Replace
Symbol option from the context menu is that in the latter question dialogs can appear when
the database attribute is changing. It could be that the replaced item:
is released to 3D,
is a secondary item,
belongs to the area that controls attributes.
Normally, while changing database attribute of an item using shape data, there is a user
confirmation dialog. When you modify an attribute using Replace Symbol from the shape
context menu, you will be notified in the same way. (Note that questions are related with
database attribute change, which means that if you say No then the symbol will be replaced
but the attribute will stay the same.) When you use a batch job, all question messages are
skipped. Because of that, each time the when the system is not sure if changing an attribute
is allowed, the attribute will not be changed. At each attribute operation, regardless of
changing or not changing the value, you will be notified about that in the batch log.
Note: Changing SCSTYP or PSPE might trigger a specification search. When an attribute
is changed using the Replace Symbol option, the process of specification search
works just like during attribute change from shape data. However, if it is done from
the batch job, the specification search is executed very similarly to when changing
GTYP to INST. There are small differences in the algorithm:
When SCSTYP is changing, the system is checking if any SELE or SPEC asks about
the SCSTYP and starts searching from this element (instead of item with TYPE
question).
When PSPE is changing, the system skips the condition related with SELE element
that contains the question and starts searching from SPEC element.
Change SPREF.
In the Update Diagrams Options dialog tick the box for Update symbols according to
catalogue information. This will enable execution in a batch job.
In the treeview to the left, all open stencils are shown. In the right hand pane all shapes for
the selected stencil can be seen. Select one of these and click the Replace button to make
the change. In case the dialogue should remain open, use the Apply button instead. The
Reset button will restore the original symbol(s).
If the selected shape is not of the same type or has too few connections, an error message
will be shown and the symbol will not be replaced.
The way that the automatic symbol replacement works is controlled by some default
settings in Diagrams Options (Defaults in Chapter Getting Started):
In addition to this, there is also a setting for Auto replace manually replaced shapes. This
can have the same values as described above for the Auto replace shape from catalogue,
with the difference that it only applies to shapes that the user has previously exchanged
manually. This basically provides a way to disallow any automatic changes to shapes that
the user has manually replaced.
One item can be a member of multiple systems. To add a reference to a System, click the
button, which will bring up a dialogue where the system hierarchy can be browsed and
a system selected.
To remove a system reference, select it in the list and click the button.
In the list you can also see the system reference of the parent Pipeline / HVACline for
applicable items as a greyed out system name at the top of the list. This is not shown for
cables or equipment items, as there is no hierarchically superior element in the database
that has a system reference.
4.22 Naming
4.22.1 Overview
Diagrams includes a possibility for automatic naming and re-naming of database elements.
This is primarily accomplished through the standard PDMS Autonaming function. In
addition to this, there are also functions to rename elements based on their position in the
diagram layout.
4.22.2 Autonaming
Naming Rules
To set up naming rules to be automatically applied when DB elements are created, use the
Admin Tab > Configuration > Naming function. Please refer to the Data Management and
Data Base / Administrator User Guide for more information about this. The autonaming only
works when no name has been given at the time the element is created. If for instance the
Prompt on drop (Prompting the User to Enter a Name) facility is used to prompt the user for
a name, the autonaming will not be activated (unless the user does not enter any name).
Autoname CE
The naming can also be manually triggered by using the Autoname CE function available
under Tools Tab > Naming > Auto Naming menu item.
Note: That this only works in case the element is not already named.
Auto Rename CE
This function will autoname the current element according to the current Naming Option,
after first removing the current name. The function is available under Tools Tab > Naming >
Auto Naming.
Name Option
Choose whether the names should be regenerated, re-ordered ascending or re-ordered
descending.
Regenerating the names will first remove the names of the selected elements and then the
autoname function will be applied to the selected elements. Re-order names will keep the
names of the selected elements and re-order them alphanumerically.
Point of Comparison
Choose which point of the shape that should be used for deciding the order. Typically this
setting is used in conjunction with function Sort Options Horizontally and Vertically.
Sort Option:
4.23.1 Drawing
The Open Datasheet function in the Drawing context menu is always enabled and there will
be a message in the Message Log window if the element does not have a linked
engineering item or the linked engineering element does not have a Datasheet Instance.
4.23.2 Ribbon UI
The Datasheet option in the Ribbon context menu, for the selected element, is enabled only
when the selected element has a linked engineering item and there is a Datasheet Instance
created for that item.
4.24 Highlighting
The application includes a number of ways to highlight shapes in the drawing. Some
examples of these are the right-click menu in the Schematic and System Explorers, the
Find in Drawing group on the Tools Tab, during automatic dimensioning/spec search etc.
In the case that the application will not automatically reset the highlight, it can be reset by
using the Reset Highlight function. This is available in the Quick Access Toolbar. In
addition to this, the F7 key on the keyboard can be used.
The highlight colour and linewidth can be configured by changing some default settings in
Diagrams Options (refer to section Defaults):
The Diagrams Import and Export functions are basically the same as the standard MS
Visio Open and Save As functions, and also supports importing/exporting other formats,
such as DXF etc. Please refer to the MS Visio documentation for further information on how
these functions operate. For Export and Save As there might for instance be some
differences in what kinds of information can be exported to different formats, as well as if the
function will export the whole diagram or only the current page.
Please note that the Import Drawing function only opens a Visio drawing stored in the file
system and does not import related data to the database.
4.26.1 Import
The Project Tab > Import And Export > Import > Excel Import Wizard provides a
possibility to import data to the schematic database from .CSV and .XLS format files. Please
refer to the Data Management and Data Base / Database Management Reference Manual
for a description of how to use it.
4.26.2 Export
The Item List includes a facility for exporting data to a spreadsheet file. By right clicking on
the table and selecting Export to SpreadSheet the contents of the currently selected tab
will be exported to an .XLS file. The file can be saved in a location selected by the user
through a standard Project Tab > Save As dialog. For more information refer to the Design
Common Functionality User Guide.
Note: DB data can also be exported in the same way from the Search Result grid. When
doing that, the scope of data will not be limited to the current diagram.
Note: The Undo/Redo command supplied via Visio is not connected to the Undo/Redo
functionality presented by the database. If any database actions have been carried
out as a result of the previous Visio command, then the Undo buffer will be emptied
to assure consistency between the diagrams and database.
Also, pure Diagrams functions such as Refresh, Resize, Refit etc. are not possible to
Undo/Redo.
Examples:
Figure 4:58. Tee annotation using PPBO(1) annotation to provide units aware values
The chapter covers the special functions and procedures for the Piping discipline and is of
special interest to users creating Piping and Instrumentation diagrams.
5.1 Overview
The Diagrams application supports the creation of piping diagrams. This includes features
such as automatic management of the logical pipe model, dimensioning and automatic
specification search for components.
To create P&IDs, the P&ID mode should be used. This can be selected in the Project Tab.
When the Create Pipeline dialogue is opened, a number of attributes will have values pre-
set as follows. These are just default values and can be changed by the user.
Group will be set from the default group settings available in the Status Bar in Chapter
Working with Diagrams.
Primary System will be set from current system setting available in the Status Bar in
Chapter Working with Diagrams.
Pipe Specification will be set from the default value of the Primary system.
Insulation Specification will be set from the default value of the Primary system.
Tracing Specification will be set from the default value of the Primary system.
Fluid will be set from the default value of the Primary system.
The Type dropdown box will allow the user to create pipelines using derived UDET types.
The pipeline name can be automatically constructed by using the Autonaming function. In
order to provide feedback on the autonaming while the dialogue is open, a pipeline element
is actually created as the dialogue is opened. In case the user clicks Cancel, this pipeline
element will be removed again.
The pipeline will be created in the selected group (SCGROU) in the main hierarchy of the
schematic database.
It is also possible to move pipelines between schematic groups either by changing the
Group in the Pipeline Properties dialogue, or by using the Cut and Paste commands in
the Schematic Explorer.
Note: That it is also possible to create pipelines by dropping a Pipeline shape onto the
drawing. This works more or less like a Branch shape with the difference that it also
creates a new pipeline (the Create Pipeline dialogue is automatically shown when
the pipeline shape is dropped onto the drawing). Pipeline shapes can be created by
using the Import Shape Wizard. See chapter Getting Started for further information.
The purpose of the Segment Element is to provide a way to divide branches between
several pages or drawings using Off-page Connectors (please refer to Off-page Connectors
in Chapter Working with Diagrams). All in-line fittings in a branch belonging to a certain
drawing page will be grouped under the same segment in the hierarchy.
The tube element will be related with the tube shape in the drawing which was created when
the branch shape was dropped. In case UDETs are used, there is a possibility in the Import
Shape Wizard (refer to Import Shape Wizard in Chapter Getting Started) to set up which
UDET type of tube should be created when the shape is dropped (Denote to).
It is possible to move branches between pipelines by using the Cut and Paste commands in
the Schematic Explorer. However, please note that this will not re-apply any default values,
like pipe spec etc., from the receiving pipeline to the branch or its members.
In Diagrams Options > Element Options > Fitting Options > Default Options, the setting
Auto create branch on connect Tee will automatically add a new branch shape when a
Tee is dropped into a line.
Also, in Diagrams Options > Element Options > Fitting Options > Default Options, the
setting Auto create Tee on connect branch will automatically add a new Tee shape when
branches are connected.
5.5.1 Overview
Valves, fittings and inline instruments can be members of a branch and are all considered
inline parts. These can be created by dragging and dropping shapes from the stencil onto
the drawing area. Inline parts can be added to a branch in different ways.
Note: If the values of Arrive and Leave are changed, this will affect the applications
perception of what is the main flow, and therefore cause inconsistencies if not
properly applied.
Note: If the connector has more than one angle and the connector style is set to Reroute
Freely, then each time when the user is trying to drop something on that connector
the line is immediately rerouted, avoiding the dropped shape. This is an MS Visio
behaviour that unfortunately cannot be changed by AVEVA. To prevent connector
reroute during that operation the user has to set the reroute style to Reroute on
Crossover or Never Reroute using the Layout & Routing group on the Home Tab.
3. Dropped onto a free end of a tube shape: By aligning one of the connection points of
the part and a free end of a tube when the shape is dropped, they will be connected
and the shape will be defined (Define / Undefine in Chapter Working with Diagrams)
and added to the branch.
When an inline component is connected to a branch, the Arrive and Leave will automatically
be set to follow the flow of the branch. However, the visual appearance of the shape will not
be changed. There are two ways to make sure that the shape gets the right direction in the
branch:
1. Drop the shape onto an empty area of the drawing, and use the rotation handle to
properly align it with the branch it should be connected to. Then connect it to the
branch end or drag it over a tube to insert it.
2. Drop the shape into the branch (connect or split on drop), and if it gets the incorrect
orientation, use the Reverse Direction command.
When connecting a branch/tube to an item (valve, inline fitting, equipment, nozzle etc.),
which is a grouped shape, the connection points must be on the group and not on the
members of the group. Otherwise the connection operation will fail and the message Not a
valid pipe piece and/or pipe connection is shown.
It is not possible to directly connect tube/branch shapes to each other, a Visio 2D shape is
required in between. For example, to connect one branch to another, a fitting such as a Tee,
Olet or Coupling must be inserted, and the branches connected to this.
General
Automatic Tee insertion provides the possibility to automatically insert a Tee every time two
branches are connected by the user. At the branches connection point a predefined Tee
shape is inserted. If there is any specification or dimensioning conflicts the appropriate
dimensioning and size selection dialogs are presented to the user.
In the options dialog it is also possible to select the shape of the Tee to be automatically
inserted on connection of two branches, as well as from which stencil this shape should be
taken.
The option for Auto create Tee on connect branch is by default set to False.
It is left to the user to make sure that the Tee's shape name and stencil exist and are valid. If
a Tee with a chosen shape name is not found or a stencil with a chosen name is not found
errors will be generated.
Below is shown an automatically inserted tee when one branch is dragged to another one.
The result is as if the tee was placed over the static branch and then the dragged branch
connected to it.
Important: If the mouse pointer is closer to another connection point or to the centre point
of the shape as the shape is dragged, it will not be possible to connect.
7. Drag the shape so that the connection point aligns with the connection point of the
existing shape.
form left to right. The shape should also have one outwards connection point which will be
used to attach to the connector.
Figure 5:5. Definition of default flow direction symbol for pipe connectors
After the command is issued all necessary changes will be done to branch hierarchy in
database and its representation on current drawing is changed to fit reversed flow. The
changes done to database are following:
If other drawings containing parts of reversed branch are not updated (user answered No
to above question or it was impossible to edit the drawings e.g. because they were claimed
by another user) there is inconsistency between the drawings and database data. Such
inconsistencies are detected and fixed on opening drawing and by Consistency Check.
Sub-equipment items are not dependent on their parent equipment item being represented
on the same diagram. It is allowed to have the main equipment item on one diagram and the
subequipment item on another diagram, even if they are hierarchically linked in the
database. Likewise, when and if they appear on the same diagram, there are no layout
restrictions in terms of them having to be connected or close to each other in any way.
Note: When dragging a nozzle to connect to an equipment item, it is important that the
mouse pointer is close to the connection point on the nozzle that you want to connect
to it. Otherwise Visio will not find the correct connection.
The nozzle specification can be set by right-clicking on the nozzle shape and selecting the
Nozzle Specification command. This will bring up the Nozzle Specification dialogue.
In the Nozzle Specification dialogue, the Specification, Generic Type and Nominal bore
can be selected, and this will result in a specification reference. When the OK button is
clicked, the specification reference will be updated in the CATREF attribute of the nozzle.
Branches can now be created and connected to the nozzle.
This group can then be dragged and dropped onto a drawing, thereby adding an
arrangement of branches and inline fittings in a single operation. In case the arrangement
contains more than one branch, the user will have to select a part in each branch and issue
the Define branch command (Define / Undefine in Chapter Working with Diagrams).
Note: When a group of shapes is added to the drawing in the way described above, it is
recommended to ungroup it (Right click > Shape > Ungroup) before proceeding to
connect or modify. If this is not done, it can result in unexpected behaviour. For
instance that a tube within the group will not split into two when a new fitting is
dropped onto it.
5.11.1 Overview
The Diagrams application supports a flexible approach to the handling of dimensioning and
spec search. The following levels of automation are supported:
No dimensioning.
Dimensioning without catalogue or spec search.
Dimensioning with manual catalogue selection.
Dimensioning with automatic spec search.
These methods can also be combined in various ways and allows for an incremental/
iterative workflow. It is for instance possible to start a diagram using dimensioning but no
catalogue or spec search. At a later time when a catalogue and specification has been
established, the spec search can be enabled and the selection of components be done
based on the previously entered dimensions.
If the automatic spec search is enabled, the manual catalogue search can not be done for
in-line parts, please refer to Manual Component Selection in Chapter Working with
Diagrams for more information about the Catalogue Search window.
The dimensioning is using the concepts of Fit and Size operations:
Refit means that the current component will obtain a new size from the upstream
component. When this will occur automatically, it is called Autofit.
Resize means that the user will manually select a new size to be applied to the
component. This only applies to branching and size-changing components such as
tees and reducers.
The dimensioning can work with varying degrees of propagation of dimension changes.
Propagation will always occur in a downstream direction (from head to tail).
There are a number of default settings in Diagrams Options under General Options > Pipe
Dimensioning that control the way that the dimension and spec search is operating (please
refer to Defaults in Chapter Getting Started):
Refit - Autofit on delete True The component following the one that is
being deleted will automatically obtain the
dimension from the upstream component.
False The component following the one that is
being deleted will not obtain any dimension
from the upstream component.
Refit - Propagate autofit True Autofit should be propagated to
downstream components.
False Autofit should not be propagated to
downstream components.
Refit - Propagate at segment True Autofit propagation will continue over
segment limits.
False Autofit propagation will not continue over
segment limits.
Refit - Propagate at branch True Autofit propagation will continue over
branch limits.
False Autofit propagation will not continue over
branch limits.
Resize - Propagate at segment True Resize propagation will continue over
segment limits.
False Resize propagation will not continue over
segment limits.
Resize - Propagate at branch True Resize propagation will continue over
branch limits.
False Resize propagation will not continue over
branch limits.
Spec Search - Use Specification True The specification search will be used.
False The specification will not be used.
Dimensioning will be stored locally in each
inline part using the BOREARRAY attribute.
Spec Search - Allow out-of-spec True SPRE of tubes and inline components can
selection be set to GPART or SCOM rather than to
SPCOMPONENT.
False SPRE attribute of tubes and inline
components can be set only to
SPCOMPONENT.
5.11.2 No Dimensioning
To create a piping diagram without any dimensioning, all the settings described in the table
above should be set to False.
The Resize and Refit operations and related propagation settings operates in the same way
for dimensioning with or without spec search.
The pipe specification works as a default value that is propagated to subordinate elements
such as branches and inline parts as these are created within the pipeline. It is possible to
subsequently change the specification reference for an individual fitting through the Custom
Properties window or Item List.
If the pipe spec is later changed in the pipeline properties dialogue, it will not affect existing
inline parts within the pipeline, it will only be applied to new inline parts as they are added.
When a new branch is created, the boresize will be picked up from the default bore size that
is set up in the current pipeline.
When inline parts such as valves, reducers etc. are dropped into a branch, the bore will be
picked up from the upstream component and a specification search will be performed,
provided that the Autoselect on Define default setting is set to True in Diagrams Options.
Figure 5:9. After valve is dropped. The specification reference can be seen in the shape text, as this
has been set up to show [SPRE.NAME].
In case a size-changing or branching component will be dropped, the system will prompt the
user for a Leave bore? or Branching bore?. In all other cases the system will automatically
pick up the bore size from the element it will be connected to.
The Bore-question dialogue will present a dropdown list of valid boresizes picked up from
the specification. In case a user will type in a bore size that does not match any of these, the
application will round it up to the next defined bore size.
The result of the specification search will be that the specification reference (SPREF) will
point to the matching SPCO element. In case no matching SPCO will be found, the SPREF
will not be set.
The operation of the spec search is highly dependant on how the spec is organized in terms
of the hierarchy of questions and answers. In case the spec search will not find the expected
SPCO, please review the structure of the spec and modify if necessary.
The progress of the spec search is also presented in the Message Log window (refer to
Message Log in Chapter Working with Diagrams). Successful spec search operations are
logged as informational messages, while unsuccessful ones are logged as warnings.
All elements affected by an automatic spec search can also be left highlighted, depending
on the value of the Keep highlight after dimensioning default setting.
Note: When the automatic spec search is enabled, it is not possible to manually set
catalogue references for the inline parts using the Catalogue Search function
(please refer to Catalogue Search in Chapter Working with Diagrams).
5.11.6 Respec
Changing the specification of existing pipework can be done by first selecting all relevant
inline parts and then change the PSPEC attribute in the Shape Data window. The new spec
will be applied to all the selected inline parts. After this, the spec selection process will
automatically be triggered and changes to Sprefs can be followed up by viewing the
Message Log.
Note: In order to get a good overview of what happens during the respec operation, it is
recommended to only respec a reasonable number of parts in the same operation.
This makes it easier to follow up and check any changes.
Note: To select, in the current drawing, all inline parts in a branch or a pipeline, it is possible
to right click on the branch or pipeline in the explorer and use the Select in Drawing
command.
In the case where a diagram has been created without using any specification, and you
subsequently want to apply a spec, the below procedure can be followed:
1. Go to the Diagrams Options dialogue and change the Use specification default
setting under General options > Pipe Dimensioning > Spec search to True.
2. Also make sure that any desired propagation settings such as Refit Propagate
Autofit, Refit Propagate at Segment and Refit Propagate at Branch are set to
True.
3. Close the Diagrams Options dialogue.
4. Click on the first tube/fitting in the branch you want to apply spec search to and select
pipeline properties.
5. In the Pipeline Properties dialogue, go to the Specification tab and select a Pipe
spec.
6. Click OK to close the dialogue.
7. Select the first tube or fitting in the branch, right click and choose Refit. The
specification search will now be carried out and propagated according to the
propagation settings.
5.11.7 Resize
In case the user would like to change the leave bore or branching bore on an existing
shape, the Resize command can be used. The Resize command is available on the Shape
Contextual Tab as well as on the shape right-click menu. Whether the result of the Resize
operation should be propagated or not is controlled by the various propagation default
settings.
In case specification search is used, the Bore size dialogue will contain a dropdown list
where valid boresizes can be selected. In case the user will key in a bore size, this will
automatically be rounded off to the nearest valid bore size.
In case specification search is not used, the dropdown list will not contain any predefined
values, and the rounding will not occur.
Note: Resize can only be done at the start of a branch, at branching components such as
tees and at size-changing components such as reducers. All other components will
obtain their size from upstream components in order to keep the dimensional
consistency of the data model.
There are cases when the resize will not provide any result from the spec search, such as
when an equal Tee is resized to be un-equal. The Diagrams application then provides a
fallback in form of a new spec search which will hopefully find a matching SPCO of the un-
equal type. In case this happens, it will be visible to the user in the way that the Bore
question dialogue will appear twice.
5.11.8 Refit
In case a bore size inconsistency has occurred, the Refit function can be used. This can for
example happen when a reducer is inserted and the Propagate autofit setting is set to
False. In the example above, the reducer has an input bore size of 100 and output of 80
while the downstream valve has a bore size of 100. Such inconsistencies can be found by
using the Consistency Check function.
By using the refit function available on the shape right click menu, the specification
reference for the valve will be re-selected using the upstream bore size.
After the Refit command has been performed, the valve now has a correct bore size and
specification reference.
Depending on the propagation settings, the action will propagate downstream to a varying
degree.
The below layout is done using the Use Specification setting set to False. This means that
any dimensioning will be done using the Borearray attribute, and the PDMS specification will
not be involved at this stage.
For the above selected reducer the Borearray can be viewed in Custom Properties. To
view it on the drawing select [borear] as Shape Text.
2. Next enter a Pipe specification in the Pipeline Properties dialog. This needs to be
done for every SCPLIN. To do this for several lines in one go the Search Result or
any other utility that allows bulking updates of database items may be used.
To start the Specification Search, either right-click on each branch and do a Refit, as
shown below.
The propagation settings in Diagrams Options will determine how far the specification
search will continue along the piping network.
By viewing the Message Log it is possible to follow up the changes made. Click on the
message to select the corresponding item in the diagram.
If there are any valves or fittings that cannot be found in the specification, then a warning
message will be shown in the Message Log. These warning messages have to be dealt
with manually.
To find any items that have not yet received a proper specification reference use the Find in
Drawing toolbar and search for SPREF = . It is also recommended to do a Consistency
Check to make sure it is all connected after the change from Borearray to specification
driven.
Before Reverse Direction is performed, Arrive is 1 and Leave is 2. The Reverse Direction
command is available on the shape right-click menu.
After Reverse Direction has been performed, the symbol has been reversed and Arrive
and Leave have been exchanged.
Note: Reverse Direction only works on valves and fittings, which are Visio 2D shapes. In
case the user wants to reverse the direction of a tube segment, which is a Visio
connector, the standard Visio Reverse Ends command can be used. This command
can be found under Shape Tab > Format > Orientation. An important difference
between these commands is that Reverse Ends changes the flow direction, while
Reverse Direction does not.
5.13 SpecSearch
By using the SpecSearch command a re-setting of SPREF of piping elements can be
performed. The functionality can be used e.g. for changing the specification for a whole
segment (or branch or pipeline depending on the propagation settings) as the component
selection is made from scratch and any existing search results or SPREF are not
considered.
The parts following the split point will now be re-organized into a new pipeline.
Note: If the Pipe Splitter will not split the line as it is being dropped, try to zoom in and make
sure that the hair cross is properly aligned with the line to be split.
If the Show property dialogue on split default setting is True, the application will
automatically show the pipeline properties dialogue for the newly created pipeline. This will
give the user the opportunity to change attributes as for instance the description of the new
pipeline.
Note: That the Join Pipeline command requires that the branches are not connected at
the join point.
When the last inline part within a segment is deleted, the segment will also be deleted.
The same goes for branches. Because of this, the user will not have to consider this
situation and there will never be any empty segments or branches left in the database.
5.19 Instrumentation
This chapter describes instrumentation features that can be used to create control systems
for piping diagrams.
5.19.1 Overview
The Diagrams application allows the user to create low and high level control systems.
There are a few special elements in the database that can be easily used to create a
instrumentation data model. Those elements can be grouped into schematic loops and can
be easily found and modified.
5.19.2 Elements
If a high level of detail is desired, it will be possible to model instrument lines in the same
way as the main flow, using branches, tubes, valves and off-page connectors. All discrete
components as well as structural elements will have the capacity to refer to a SCLOOP by
SCLORE attribute, and thus, be a member in instrument loop hierarchies.
All elements that are members of a schematic loop can be easily found and selected on the
drawing. You can use one of the options from the context menu, Select in Drawing,
Highlight or Zoom to. A typical loop is presented below:
The Offline instrument (CCH-0/TC) is controlling the temperature inside the reactor. If the
temperature is too high/low, it gives a pneumatic signal via the tube to the actuator. The
actuator is steering cooling stream via a valve.
To create a new schematic loop the following dialogue is to be used:
An existing Instrument Loop can be modified by the Instrument Loop Properties dialog. It
is available in the context menu after right-clicking the Instrument Loop element in the
Schematic Explorer.
SCILIN represents a Schematic Instrument Line in the data model. It is very similar to
SCPLIN and should be used by those who prefer to have a high level of detail in their
instrumentation model. SCILIN is able to refer to SCLOOP via the SCLORE attribute, similar
to other instrumentation elements. SCILIN has the same member hierarchy as SCPLIN
(SCBRAN, SCSEG etc.) and its primary hierarchy structure is the same as for SCPLIN.
From the Home Tab > P&ID > Instrument menu an Instrument Line can be created as
shown below:
The options here are the same as for pipeline. There is one additional option that allows to
set schematic loop references for Instrument Lines.
tubes
ducts
HVAC fittings
nozzles
Note: Connection of offline instrument to nozzle is not supported by Schematic 3D
Integrator and therefore will not be properly modelled in 3D. For that reason it is
recommended to use inline instruments connecting to nozzles instead.
It is also possible to have connection points on the off-line instrument, allowing control lines
to be attached to it as can be seen in the example below:
It is also possible to connect two offline instruments directly, i.e. connect some alarms. To
achieve this the connection points have to be added as shown below:
The offline instrument has to be dragged with the outward connection point to offline
instrument with the inward connection point.
SCACTU is representing a Schematic Actuator in the schematic database. Its attribute set
and behaviour is very much like SCOINS and its primary owner is the same as for the
SCOINS element. The differences between SCACTU and SCOINS are in:
the item they represent
the element they can refer to
the way the user can manipulate them in the AVEVA Diagrams application.
SCACTU is able to refer (attach) to another inline component, such as SCVALV, SCFITT
and SCINST. The SCOINS shape accomplishes this by using the Control Handle. On the
contrary, the SCACTU has a an outwards connection point used to build up the reference in
the diagram (SCNOZZ works similarly).
Actuators can be connected to:
equipments
sub-equipments
offline instruments
other actuators
valves
fittings
inline instruments
HVAC fittings
Example:
SCIREF Attribute executed on SCOINS, points to SCVALVE (returns all items that
are connected via SCIREF).
Note: There is one more pseudo attribute called SCEIRE that returns the sum of SCIREF
and SCIREL.
For Actuators and Offline Instruments there is a possibility to query on only references to
elements of a particular type (process or instrumentation). To get such information the
following pseudo attributes should be used:
SCIRLT Pseudo attribute returning all connection types that are linked with SCIREL.
SCIERT Pseudo attribute returning all connection types that are linked with SCEIRE.
The table in the following example illustrates possible data extracted by SCIREF and
SCIRTY.
Instrument Relationship Shape does not represent a database element, but do represent a
SCIREF between SCOINS and SCACTU. In the figure below, the dashed line represents a
SCIREF from the SCOINS element at CCH-0 to the SCACTU representing the actuator at
AT-12. The actuator has a SCIREF set to A150/Vv-002.
When Instrument Relationship Shape connects two valid items, it changes colour to
defined. The colour can be determined in Diagrams Options:
As mentioned earlier, Instrument Relationship Shape does not represent any database
element but it can display information from a database element that is associated with its
start. It has a little support for SCIRTY because it is representing a connection. This
connection type can be set using the Custom Properties / Shape Data window. If the Text
property is filled in, the Instrument Relationship Shape displays connection type value on
drawing using SCIRTY attribute without index. The system will automatically find the correct
one.
In the figure below the offline instrument has SCIREF set to equipment and actuator. A
connection between the equipment and offline instrument is achieved by the control handle
which is using an infra red interface. A connection between the offline instrument and
actuator is achieved by instrument relationship line which is using an electrical interface.
Note: Note that connection points that are designed for process lines cannot be used to
connect to a relationship shape. For example, a two way valve has two connection
points that should be connected to a process line. If a relationship shape is
connected to one of them, Diagrams will automatically disconnect it and present a
message in the message log.
The direction of the relationship shape is not important. You can connect an Offline
Instrument to a Valve or a Valve to an Offline Instrument:
The result in the Database will be the same. The only one exception is connections between
Offline instruments and Actuators. Because both elements have SCIREF attributes, the
system will set SCIREF on the element that has the connected relationship shape starting
part. In the below example Offline instrument A will point to Offline instrument B. (SCIREF of
Offline instrument will refer to Offline instrument B)
If desired, individual fittings can have a direct SCLORE making them direct members of
another loop. This may be the case when bridging between different systems and/or signal
styles.
It is possible to create control lines from tubes, valves etc. Those elements are the same
elements that are created under pipe lines. To distinguish between those two line types in
the Diagrams application when importing shape, AVEVA Diagrams gives the user new types
to select:
1. Instrument line - works similar to Pipeline, creates SCILINE element in database after
drop.
2. Instrumentation branch - works similar to Branch, creates branch, segment and tube
under SCILIN after drop.
3. Instrumentation tube - works similar to Tube, creates tube under segment.
All inline components (valves and fittings) have the same Visio shapes for two types of lines:
pipelines and instrument lines. To distinguish them in the drawing it is possible to determine
different colours for items defined under SCPLIN and items defined under SCILIN lines.
Note: The Propagation mechanism does not support multiple SCLOOPs. If the previous
value was multiple SCLOOP the propagation will not continue after the change.
Additionally, propagation will stop on elements when:
There is an option called Ask user for loop reference when connecting instrument loop.
When the instrument item is connected to another item that does not have SCLORE set, the
system will automatically ask for SCLOOP.
6 HVAC Diagrams
In this chapter the special functions and procedures for the HVAC discipline are covered
and it is of special interest to users creating HVAC diagrams.
6.1 Overview
The application supports the creation of HVAC diagrams. This has a lot in common with the
creation of piping diagrams, but with the following major differences:
The dimensioning considers the shape factor (Rectangular, Round, Oval).
There is no automatic spec search.
To create HVAC diagrams, the HVAC mode should be used. This can be selected in the
Project Tab menu.
Before reading the HVAC diagrams documentation, it is recommended that you read the
Pipe diagrams section. The documentation for HVAC diagrams primarily covers the
differences compared to the piping diagrams functionality.
This dialogue is similar to the Create Pipeline dialogue, the most significant difference is in
the Default Dimension tab. In this tab the Shape setting is available as well as Width and
Height for using with the rectangular and oval shapes. For the circular shape, only the Width
is available, which then represents the diameter.
6.5 Dimensioning
The HVAC dimensioning considers the shape factor as well as the dimension. The shape
factor is stored in the Conarray attribute, and the dimension in Heightarray and Widtharray.
In case a circular shape is used, the diameter is stored in the Heightarray.
When a branch shape is dropped on a drawing, the dimension will be picked up from the
default dimensioning settings for the HVACline.
As HVAC fittings are added, they will pick up the dimension from the upstream component,
provided that the Autoselect on Define default setting is True.
As can be seen in the picture above, the fittings will by default get the same dimension for
arrive and leave. Please note that the CON1 & CON2 annotations do not reflect arrive and
leave, but rather connection1 and connection2.
The behaviour of the dimensioning during the creation of HVAC diagrams can be controlled
through a number of default settings that can be found under General options > HVAC
Dimensioning:
6.6 Resize
The Resize command is available on the right click menu of the shape. It will bring up a
dialogue where the leave size, and if applicable also the branching size can be set. Whether
the result of the Resize operation should be propagated or not is controlled by the various
propagation default settings.
6.7 Refit
In case a size inconsistency has occurred, the Refit function can be used. This can for
instance happen when a dimension is changed and refit propagation is disabled (HVAC
Dimensioning > Refit options set to False). Such inconsistencies can be found by using
the Consistency Check function.
The Refit function is available on the shape right click menu and will apply the upstream
size to the current part.
7 Cable Diagrams
This chapter covers the special functions and procedures for the Cable discipline and is of
special interest for users creating single line and core connections diagrams.
7.1 Overview
The application supports the creation of single line cabling diagrams as well as core
connection diagrams.
Note: That you might have to refresh the shapes to update annotation etc. on the drawing,
after the Rename operation is complete.
Electrical equipment items can be created in the same way as other equipment items. See
the Using Equipment and Subequipment in Chapter Piping & Instrumentation Diagrams
(P&IDs). For cabling diagrams, electrical connection elements can be used. These behave
very much like piping nozzles, see Using Nozzles in Chapter Piping & Instrumentation
Diagrams (P&IDs).
Attribute Value
SCDELIM '-'
SCALPHA false
SCDIGITS 2
Element Name
SCCAB1 /XYZ-01
SCCAB2 /XYZ-02
Example 2:
Attribute Value
SCDELIM Unset
SCALPHA true
Element Name
SCCAB1 /XYZ_1A
SCCAB2 /XYZ_1B
Note: The names of cables owned by Multi-cable will be generated automatically only
when the name of the Multi-cable itself is set.
Note: To select all cables in a drawing or cables according to a certain criteria, the
Selection Toolbar can be used (refer to Find in Drawing Toolbar in Chapter Working
with Diagrams.
The Define Core Connections dialogue will contain one section for each cable. In the
middle is the cable with its cores and to the left and right are the connected equipment
items.
This will bring up a Catalogue Search dialogue, which works in the same way as the
general Catalogue Search function (Catalogue Search in Chapter Working with Diagrams).
When a cable catalogue item has been selected, the Cable Core Connection Definition
dialogue will know how many cores the cable has got and will then show the corresponding
number of rows.
This will bring up the standard Browse/Search dialogue (Standard DB Browse Dialogue in
Chapter Working with Diagrams) where an equipment item can be found and selected.
The text box in the Equipment column also features a fill handle. By clicking and dragging
on the grey box in the lower right corner, the selected equipment can be applied to other
rows in the same way that the fill handle works in applications like MS Excel.
It is also possible to change the connected equipment item for a cable that has been
connected to an equipment shape in the diagram. Changing the equipment item in this
dialogue will only affect the core connections. The cable as such will still retain its
connection to the equipment item, as defined in the diagram, and will not be affected.
Theoretically it is possible to define all cores being connected to a different equipment item
than the one that the cable is connected to, in the single line diagram.
This will bring up the Create electrical connection dialogue, where the new electrical
connection can be created and its attributes set. The Catalogue reference is of special
importance as it will be used to determine how many terminals the elconn has.
The Electrical connection column also features a fill handle like the one described above for
the Equipment column.
Here it is also possible to configure tooltips to be shown in the dialogue. This can for
instance be used to show the description of an equipment item when the mouse hovers over
the equipment name. The format of the tooltip definition follows the Attribute Presentation
Notation format, please refer to Attribute Presentation Notation in Chapter Appendices for
further information.
The Diagrams application is delivered with a standard core connections diagram layout
which can be considered a sample. As there is a wide variety of preferred layouts and many
companies have their own layout standards, the program source code for the Core
Connections diagram generation is provided on the support site (www.aveva.com/support).
It is therefore possible for customers to modify the layout by modifying the program code, or
to create totally different layouts by creating new code, perhaps with some inspiration from
the standard sample.
The program code is contained within the following c# source files:
CableInfo.cs
CoreInfo.cs
Commands.cs
CoreConnectionsDiagram.cs
CoreConnectionsDiagramAddin.cs
These can be found in the installation in folder
C:\AVEVA\Marine\OH12.1.SP4\Samples\Samples.zip. Microsoft Visual
Studio is required to modify and rebuild the Add-in.
8 Reporting
The Diagrams application offers different types of reports of schematic data for various
purposes. These are as follows:
Visio reports: This is the standard MS Visio report function and can be used to create
reports based on diagram document data. Please refer to the MS Visio documentation
for more information. This command is available in the Tools Tab > Reporting > Visio
Reports menu.
Reports: This is the standard AVEVA reporting tool which can create reports from
database data and is also available in the other PDMS applications. In the Tools Tab >
Reporting > Reports > Reports sub-menu there are commands for running, creating,
modifying and deleting reports. Please refer to the General / Reporting Reference
Manual for more information on this reporting tool.
Quick Reports: This is the standard AVEVA quick reporting tool and is available in the
Tools Tab > Reporting > Reports > Quick Reports menu. Please refer to the
Catalogues and Specifications User Guide / Quick Reports Form for more information.
Spreadsheet export: This is available on the right click menu in the Item List (please
refer to Item List in Chapter Working with Diagrams) and can be used to create
equipment lists, fitting lists, cable lists etc. from the current drawing. This is further
described in Export in Chapter Working with Diagrams.
This chapter includes information about managing the relation with 3D data and is of interest
to most users when the link to 3D through the Schematic 3D Integrator is used.
9.1 Overview
To support the workflow between diagram designers and 3D model designers, Diagrams
includes some functions to manage the release of information to 3D. These are as follows:
Setting the Release Status.
Highlighting and Visualizing Release and Linked-to-3D status.
Warnings and Restrictions for Released and Linked-to-3D items.
Diagrams supports a Release status that can be set or re-set through the application and
serves as a flag to the 3D designers that the diagram data is now complete and approved
and can be used as a base for 3D modelling. When related 3D data is created through the
Schematic 3D Integrator, a link between 2D schematic items and corresponding 3D items
will be established in the database. These items are then considered to be linked, and this is
represented by a linked-to-3D status attribute. If items have been linked they can be
considered as being picked up and re-used by the 3D designers.
The release status can be set on database items in a flexible way, among these is to set the
release status for all items in a diagram. However, the diagram document as such does not
have a release status and will not be managed in this way.
The release status is represented by the RESTAT attribute in the database. A value of 1
means that the item is released, and a value of 0 means that it is not released.
The diagram documents are made available to 3D design users as SVG files, created for
each foreground page on the drawing. This can then be used for viewing the diagram
without the need for having MS Visio installed. The SVG file name for a particular page can
be found by querying the NVIEWF(N) pseudo attribute on the SCDIAG element, where N is
a number of a page.
Depending on the Create SVG on Save Work setting available in Diagrams
Options>General Options>System configuration>SVG, the files can be created
automatically on Save Work for every drawing, for pages containing data released to 3D
only or if the setting is set to Never the SVGs will have to be created manually using the
Release Diagram to 3D function. If this function is used, then all items on pages the SVGs
are created for are released to 3D. For more information please see Save Work and SVG
Creation in Chapter Working with Diagrams.
When the dialogue is opened, the current release status is shown. If the item is already
released, you will see a green checkmark in the box in front of the item. For hierarchically
superior items, there is also a green checkmark if all subordinate items are released. If only
some of the subordinate items are released, there will instead be a green box shown.
After the type, name and description of the item, the date and user that released it is also
listed.
To set the release status, click the boxes. If a box on a high level is checked, all subordinate
items will also be checked, the same applies if you uncheck a box.
As well as setting the release status, it is also possible to reset it here, simply by unchecking
the boxes. This means that items that were earlier released now no longer are released.
This enables the user to make changes to already released items and these changes can
be detected by the Schematic 3D integrator application. Once the changes are complete,
the release status can be set once again.
The dialogue also includes a Comment field which can be used to enter a release comment
to be applied to the items.
Depending on how the Set Release Status command was activated, the dialogue will show
a different hierarchy:
The picture above shows the Group Context window which will be displayed when a
schematic group has been selected in the explorer. The dialogue now shows the complete
hierarchy below the group node.
The picture above shows the Objects Context window which will be displayed when one or
more objects have been selected in the explorer or in the drawing. The dialogue now only
shows parts of the hierarchy covering the selected items. If for instance a piping or HVAC
branch has been selected, the explorer only shows that branch, even if the pipeline might
have other branches.
The picture above shows the Diagram Context window which will be displayed when the
user has right clicked an SCDIAG element in the explorer or on the drawing background.
The dialogue now shows all items in the current drawing. In case the drawing contains parts
of a pipeline (branches or segments) while other parts of the pipeline are represented in
other drawings, the explorer only shows the parts of the pipeline that are on the current
drawing.
The dialog above will be shown when an item which is released but not linked is modified. If
the user clicks OK, the modification will be applied to the item and the release status will be
reset. If the user wants to release the item to 3D again, he/she will have to use the Set
Release Status function again. If the Cancel button is clicked, any changes will be undone.
If the user tries to delete one or more items that are released but not linked, the dialogue
above will be shown. If the user clicks OK, the item(s) will be deleted, otherwise the user
should click Cancel.
Also if the user opens the Pipeline Properties / HVACline Properties dialogues, a warning
will be issued.
10 Utilities
This chapter describes miscellaneous utilities that can be useful to most users.
To the left, the contents of the database can be navigated using the Database Tree tab and
searched using the Search tab. This part of the dialogue behaves more or less like the
general Browse Dialogue (please refer to the Standard DB Browse Dialogue in Chapter
Working with Diagrams), with the difference that it contains checkboxes for multiple
selection in the tree view. In the search view, multiple diagrams can be selected by using
normal Shift+Click and Ctrl+Click.
Items can be added to the selection in the right side of the dialogue by using the Add button
and removed using the Remove button.
The selected diagrams can then be consistency checked and printed by using the buttons at
the bottom of the dialogue.
Overview
The Batch update function is used to update many drawings in one go without opening
them separately. The option is available in the Batch Job dialogue below.
Before proceeding, select the diagrams that are to be updated. After selecting the diagrams
click the Update Diagrams button.
The following example will explain the difference between a BaseID and a UniqueID:
A BaseID is assigned to a master when it is created. The valve has been dropped on to the
page from the Sample_Valve_Symbols stencil. As a result of this operation the new master
will be created in the Document Stencil. Both masters (on the document and
Sample_Valve_Symbols stencils) will have the same BaseID and UniqueID. If one of the
masters is changed the UniqueID will also change but the BaseID will remain the same. For
more information refer to the Microsoft Visio documentation.
If modifying masters items on external stencils and applying changes to shapes, which were
created by dropping these masters, those masters need to be selected. To do that click the
Select master shapes to use for update button in Figure 10:2.: Update Diagrams Options
Form. The following dialog will be shown.
The dialogue above contains three windows: Stencils, Masters and Masters to update.
These windows will be empty at start up. Click the Add Stencil button to add a stencil that
contains modified masters. These added stencils will be shown in the Stencils window. In
the Masters window the masters that belong to a selected stencil are displayed. Only the
masters in the Masters to update window will be used during the update operations. To add
masters to the Master to update window, use drag and drop or the right-click context menu.
If the Add all check box is checked all masters from all stencils will be added. To remove
masters from the Master to update window select right-click on a master or use the Delete
key on the keyboard.
The number of selected masters will be visible in brackets in the Update Diagrams Option
dialogue as shown below.
Note: If an auto-label is deleted from a shape after the update the label might not be added.
The reason for this is that the system remembers that this label was previously
deleted. To add an auto-label use the option Ignore stencil settings or select the
correct master.
Note: It is possible to preserve the position of a particular auto-label shape during the
update. The position will not be modified if the Keep Position function in the Right-
Click contextual menu of this auto-label shape is checked.
When this option is unchecked the shapes will be updated according to the diagrams default
settings. Otherwise data from the selected master will be used. If the master was not
selected, the system checks if a shape that should be updated retrieved its settings from the
master or the default. If the settings were taken from the master and the master was not
selected then the shape will not be updated. If the settings were taken from the diagrams
default settings then the system will update the shape. During update all Shape Data
(Custom Properties) that exist in the shape instance but does not exist in the current
settings will be removed. The only exception from this rule is a situation where other cells
depends on it. When this is the case, the system will not delete it but will display a warning
that other cells are using this data. See the following example:
A shape has two shape data before update:
Text
Instrument Type
This will be displayed as in the following figure.
The next step is to modify the settings to hold only one set of shape data:
Text
Click Update. This can result in two scenarios:
1. The Instrument type was removed according to the current setting.
2. The instrument type remains. This is because other cells are using its value. In this
case there will be a warning issued in the report.
Warning message:
This update will not set any default values to new shape data.
Refresh Shapes
If this option is checked it will make a call to refresh each shape.
Note: This setting will not work for the autolabels layer. The layer for autolabel is taken from
the master that is used to create autolabel.
When all the steps are finished more details can be viewed by clicking the link label:
Information can be selected and copied to the clipboard. To save the report to a file, click the
Save Report button on the Update Diagrams Status form.
To load a saved report, use the Load Log button on the Update Diagrams Options form.
The result summary for each diagram is reported in the Errors, Warnings and Informational
columns, as well as represented by the icon before the diagram name. The progress for
each diagram can be seen in the Progress Bar as well as in the status text below it.
By using the Stop button, the Check function can be cancelled.
In case the user wants to further investigate any of the issues found in a diagram, it is
possible to select the diagram and use the Open Diagram button. The diagram will then be
opened in the background, and after the dialogue is closed, the Consistency Check
function can be used to create a detailed report of the issues with that diagram.
Note: It is possible to print to PDF without an installed PDF printer. To achieve this click
Export to PDF instead of the Print button on the Batch Job form, see Batch Job.
After clicking the Yes button all old session files connected with DB elements (of selected
types) existing in the current MDB are removed. Only the files that are related with the most
recent version of each element will be kept. Files that are not connected with any SCDIAG,
SCTEMP or SCSTEN from the current MDB are not considered to avoid accidental deleting
of important files.
Note: Cleaning old session files allows saving disc space in the case that there is no need
to keep previous documents versions, but after performing the operation it will not be
possible to restore earlier sessions including the corresponding diagram file
versions.
Note: Using the Clean Old Session Files function will only remove Visio and SVG files
related to old sessions, it will not remove the actual dabacon DB settings. To remove
the sessions from the DB, use the Merge Changes function in Admin.
During the export process the tool reads Visio geometry and styles information and creates
corresponding DWG objects that the best fit Visio components. Whole component
corresponding geometry objects are exported as blocks with component attributes as block
attributes. Then blocks inserts are creating DWG file geometry. The existing background
page of the Visio drawing is exported as one block named Background.
All additional texts corresponding to the Visio component are exported separately as MTexts
and grouped with blocks. It makes editing texts easier and available without block
exploding.
Geometry:
Supported: Line
Arc
EllipticalArc
Polyline
Ellipse
Unsupported: NURBS, Spline, Infinities
Note: If some unsupported shape geometry will be found, a proper message will be
displayed in the Message Log.
Foreign object:
Lines Option:
Supported: Weight
Colour
Pattern (patterns depend on user Diagrams.lin file
definition).
Ends
Unsupported: Round corners, Transparency, Caps
Fill options:
Texts:
Data:
Layers:
Note: There are some differences between DWG and the original Visio format. If a Visio
shape geometry is an open contour or the filled area is defined by more that one
geometry, it is not possible to fill it using hatch in DWG format. An example of this is
the AVEVA logo from the default diagrams background which is exported with
incorrect fill in some of the letters.
Main Form
After running Dwg export, the Dwg export docked window will show on the Diagrams main
form. With every first run of this add-in, there will be export settings from
DiagramsCadExport.xml file located in the application directory. The Export window
has four operating buttons (see Figure 10:14.: Dwg export window) and two tabs. The tabs
are described further in Settings Tab and Lines Map Tab below.
Operating buttons:
Dismiss Closes the Dwg export window
Load Loads settings from DiagramsCadExport.xml file
Save Saves settings to DiagramsCadExport.xml file
Export Runs export
Release 14
AutoCAD 2000/2000i/2002
AutoCAD 2004/2005/2006
AutoCAD 2007/2008/2009 (default)
AutoCAD 2010
Exported shapes - option with shape collection manners for exported diagram.
Page (default) - collects all shapes from the active page and background page(s).
Selected - collects all selected shapes from the active page and all from the
background page, if the background page is not the active page. The order of
selection determines the order of export.
Units - option for choosing metric or imperial units to be used in the DWG file.
Available units:
Millimetres - measurement - Metric.
Inches (default) - measurement - Imperial.
1. %<PROJ_ID>DFLTS%/Diagrams
2. %PDMSDFLTS%
3. %PDMSEXE%
One pattern consists of two lines. The first line contains the name and description and uses
the following syntax:
*name,description
The Second line starts with A,. It indicates the beginning of the linetype pattern:
A,pattern
A simple pattern is a sequence of dashes, dots or spaces separated by commas:
Dash - is represented by a positive number.
Space - is represented by negative number.
Dot - is represented by zero.
Example 1:
A simple linetype definition containing dashes:
*myLine1,- - - - - - - -
A,1,-1
Example 2:
A simple linetype definition containing dashes and dots:
*myLine2,- . - . -
A,1,-0.5,0,-0.5
To define the linetype that includes text characters, some parameters must be defined:
"text" - text to display (must be defined)
textstylename - used text style (must be defined)
scale - the scale or height of the text
rotation - rotation angle of the text
xoffset - X offset from the end of the previous space
yoffset - Y offset from the end of the previous space
The text specification is enclosed in square brackets "[]" and each item is separated by
commas ",":
["text",textstylename,scale,rotation,xoffset,yoffset]
Note: textstylename - should be ACAD embedded text style name, .shx files are
unsupported.
Example 3:
Line type definition with text character:
*myLine3,- B - B - B -
A,1,-0.5,["B",STATNDARD,S=0.4],-0,-0.5,-0
Example 4:
Line type definition with rotated text character:
*myLine4, - B - B - B -
A,1,-0.5,["B",STANDARD,S=0.4,R=18],-0,-0.5,-0
Example 5:
Line type definition with moved text character:
*myLine5, - B - B - B -
A,1,-0.5,["B",STANDARD,S=0.4,X=0.2,Y=0.3],-0,-0.5,-0
Example 6:
Line type definition with text character above continuous line:
*myLine6, -B-B-B-B-B-
A,1,-0,["B",STANDARD,S=0.4,Y=0.3]
Example 7:
*FLOWDIR, -->---->--
A,1,-0,[">",STANDARD,S=0.1,R=0,Y=-0.05]
Export Attributes as Tags - in combination with the Use Nested Cells box this allows
for including shape attributes in the produced drawing
Export Embedded Objects - This is for allowing export of references/attachments.
DGN can then be exported with OLE files and bitmaps.
Seed file name - The seed file (contains default settings and attributes) will be opened
and Diagrams data will be added to it.
Line type and font libraries - This is a list of libraries to use with mapping. To control
the contents of these lists, you may do modifications in DiagramsDGNExport.xml.
To finalize the export load the libraries for mapping, save and load the settings in the project
folder and start the export.
This tab is used for line mapping. As line style definitions can be stored directly in DGN, in
DGNlib files or in line style libraries (RSC), library styles must be loaded with the Load for
mapping button, on the Settings tab, after a selection change.
Some custom Diagrams line styles may be used in the current diagram. Use the Reload
button to be able to map line styles to them. If there are line styles in the drawing that
are not mapped, the drawing will be exported using the default line styles.
Note: Shapes with transparency line set to 100% will be exported like shapes with "NoLine"
set to True in its geometry sections.
This tab is used to define font mapping. As font definitions can be stored in RSC libraries,
the libraries must be loaded with the Load for mapping button, on the Settings tab, after a
selection change.
Some custom Diagrams fonts may be used in the current diagram. Use the Reload button
to be able to map fonts to them.
The Levels tab contains a set of DGN layer properties; colour, line width and line pattern.
Every property has a check box to mark if every shape that belongs to the specific layer
should have the corresponding property set to ByLevel. This means that if checked, the
value in the levels table will control that of the shape(s).
The Refresh button refreshes layers from the active diagram.
Note: If some elements in the diagram are altered by the level setting and no specific check
boxes in the Levels tab are checked, the output DGN will be different from the
diagram. Elements are exported with their local shape format, not layer override, by
default.
Filter nodes can contain wildcards, environment variables along with fully extended file
paths.
Additionally, the settings file contains the line style factor in the node LineStyleFactor.
This is used when applying a line style to an element. The line style factor is set to 0.05 by
default.
A dialog to choose which pages to publish will be shown. By default, all pages in the
diagram will be checked.
A dialog to choose which pages to publish will be shown. By default, only the currently
selected page will be checked.
When using the Batch Job function, all pages on each diagram will be published.
4. Checkbox in Release to 3D function.
5. From the Ribbon menu Manage Tab > Integration > Publish to AVEVA NET
command:
10.6.2 SaveWork
When publishing a diagram to AVEVA NET, the diagram must not contain any unsaved
changes. The system will prompt for save work if needed.
The input parameter is a diagram name. In case of any exporting error it throws a
PMLException.
There is also a global PML function available which uses the PMLDiagrams object and the
method mentioned above. It handles any PMLExceptions by printing the error message in
the console window. This PML function returns the Boolean value True if export has been
completed successfully, or False in case of any errors.
The sample usage might look like below:
!!ExportToSVG('/MainRoom')
Error Handling:
If something goes wrong the PMLDiagrams object will throw a PMLNetException that can
be handled in PML like below:
!tool.PublishToAVEVANET('/MainRoom')
handle any
!Etext = !!Error.Text
$P $!Etext
endhandle
If needed, it is possible to filter exceptions by using module 98 and error code 1 i.e.:
!tool.PublishToAVEVANET('/MainRoom')
handle(98,1)
!Etext = !!Error.Text
$P $!Etext
endhandle
The .ExportToSVG method throws PMLExceptions with module number 98 and code 2.
!tool.ExportToSVG('/MainRoom')
handle(98,2)
!Etext = !!Error.Text
$P $!Etext
endhandle
Methods
11.1 Overview
The Schematic Model Viewer allows users to view the contents of the schematic model
database independently of diagram layouts. It provides a continuous navigable view of
equipment items and the interconnecting networks, independently of which system they
belong to or which P&ID they have been drafted on.
The ConnMapAddin with Schematic module is implemented as a CAF Add-in, meaning that
it can be hosted by different applications. The viewer will also require access to a SCHE DB
as part of the current MDB.
To start the viewer, the user will have to select an equipment item. This item will be placed at
the centre of the generated view and the system will automatically find all connections in the
database and display each connection as a graphical sub tree. Each sub tree is traversed
through all branches until other equipment items or branch ends are encountered.
Branching points (such as Tees, Owlets or 3-way valves) are represented by a generic
branching point symbol. The initially generated view will not extend beyond the equipment
items encountered at the end of the branches, but it is possible for the user to manually
expand and continue exploring along the schematic network. Equipment items are
displayed using different symbols, selected by a set of customer definable rules.
Click the New Schematic Model View All hosting applications where the Schematic
button in the Schematic Model Viewer Model Viewer is available.
Toolbar.
Select an equipment item in the All applications where the schematic explorer
explorer, right click and choose the is used.
Create Schematic Model View
command.
When using the New Schematic Model View command in the toolbar, a Select Equipment
dialog will be shown where the equipment item can be selected.
Command Result
11.6 Options
It is possible to determine which symbol should be used when creating a connection map
and also to set the displayed text beneath the item. Attributes can be used by entering the
attribute name in brackets, e.g. [Type]. To use a shape from a stencil instead of icons the
setting Use Icon needs to be set to False and the settings Set Stencil Name and Stencil
Shape to True. However, if the system cannot find a shape or a stencil the icon will be
automatically used instead. If an icon, a shape or a stencil is not found the default rule will
be used.
Stencils and icons have to be located in the "%PMLLIB%\icons\SchematicModelViewer"
directory. The location can be changed with Default > Path.
the settings will be read from PDMSDFLTS. To reset custom settings please remove all
<ModuleName>UserSettings.xml files from your PDMSDFLTS. Note that the
system will also save the settings for symbol. The file name will be
ModuleName>UserSymbolSettings.xml in schematic module case, this name will
be SchematicModelMapModuleUserSymbolSettings.xml
Open Diagram - If the main application is Marine Diagrams or Cable Diagrams then
the Visio diagram will be opened. Otherwise the system will try open the SVG
document.
Center - This is the same as the Center command on the toolbar.
Show All Connections - Sometimes items are connected to more than one line. To
make the drawing easier to read other connections can be turned off.
Expand - This is the same as the Center command on the toolbar.
Collapse - This is the same as the Center command on the toolbar.
11.8 Connectors
Layout - The connector locations can be changed by moving a whole connector or
points on a connector. This works as normal drag and drop functionality. To move a
whole connector just click on it and move. To move a point on a connector first have to
select it, next press CTRL and click on the green point on the connector, then move the
point to the desired location.
To set connectors re-route style use the options available in the right mouse button
context menu. Right-Angle, Straight or Reset.
Note: When the connection map is redrawing then the connector's layout is resetting.
Figure 11:3.
Figure 11:4.
Figure 11:5.
A Appendices
Syntax Description
[scplin.bore] Will fetch the default bore attribute from the pipeline element
that owns the current hierarchically subordinate element, for
example a valve
[owner.owner.owne Will provide the same result as above for a valve. The owner
r.bore] of a valve is the SCSEG element, the owner.owner is the
SCBRAN element, and the owner.owner.owner is the
SCPLIN element.
[name]- Will display the name of the current element, a literal (in this
[spref.name] case a "-"), and the name of the related catalogue element.
Syntax Description
{str(abor)} Provides the arrival bore value.
{subst(name,2)} This uses the substring function to provide the part of the
name of the element starting at the 2nd character.
ERED[\n]{str(para1)} Equivalent to
*{str(para2)} ERED[\n][spre.catr.para(1)]*[spre.catr.para(2)]
{str(para[arrive] of When using the spec-driven mode, labelling of a reducer
catr of spre)}/ with the larger diameter first.
{str(para[leave] of
catr of spre)}
For more information about PML1 expression syntax please see PML 1 Expressions in the
Software Customisation Reference Manual.
To get a particular element from an attribute of array type, use a (num) notation. Example:
Owner.Diaref(1). The enumeration of elements is 1-based. The (0) string will give all
elements.
Using square brackets to reference an element in an array in PML1 expressions is not
supported, as it interferes with the native syntax. To reference an array element use the
attribute name followed directly by a number.
For example "ppbo[2]"is not supported - instead use "ppbo2"to refer to the 2nd value in the
ppbo attribute array.
A.3 Customisation
A.3.1 Overview
The Diagrams application provides significant built-in customisation capabilities through
XML menus, default settings, UDETs and UDAs, autonaming, attribute presentation notation
etc. For more extensive customisation it is also possible for customers to develop new
program functions and routines.
Diagrams is based on the AVEVA Design Platform, and thereby includes all of the
customisation and development possibilities provided by that platform. Examples of this are
the database.Net API (AVEVA.Pdms.Database) as well as other.Net APIs. CAF Add-ins can
be created and PML can be used to the same extent as in the Design (General) module.
In addition to this, the actual Microsoft Visio Drawing Control used by Diagrams is also
accessible, giving the user full access to the extensive toolbox that MS Visio provides. A
good example of how this works is the CoreConnectionsDiagramAddin, which is a sample
Addin shipped with the product to create core connection diagrams. The addin is delivered
with source code for the user to use as template when creating their own addins to support
their particular needs.
Example
using System;
using Visio=Microsoft.Office.Interop.Visio;
using Aveva.Diagrams;
namespace UserAddin
{
/// <summary>
/// Summary description for AccessVisio.
/// </summary>
internal class AccessVisio
{
internal AccessVisio()
{
//
// TODO: Add constructor logic here
//
}
internal static bool IsDrawingActive()
{
System.Reflection.Assembly _assembly =
System.Reflection.Assembly.Load( "diagrams" );
System.Type _type = _assembly.GetType(
"Aveva.Diagrams.diagApp",
true,
false );
System.Reflection.MethodInfo _info = _type.GetMethod(
"GetCurrentVisio",
System.Reflection.BindingFlags.Static |
System.Reflection.BindingFlags.Public );
Visio.Application visApp = (Visio.Application)_info.Invoke
( null, null );
if(visApp == null)
return false;
return true;
}
internal static void AddDescription(string ElemType, string Description)
{
System.Reflection.Assembly _assembly =
System.Reflection.Assembly.Load( "diagrams" );
System.Type _type = _assembly.GetType(
"AvevaDiagrams.diagApp",
true,
false );
if(visApp == null)
return;
//Find all shapes of type ElemType and add Description
foreach(Visio.Shape shape in visApp.ActivePage.Shapes)
{
try
{
if(shape.get_CellsU("User.ElementType").get_ResultStr
(Visio.VisUnitCodes.visNoCast) == ElemType)
{
try
{
shape.get_CellsU("Prop.VMD_SCEQUI_DESC").FormulaU =
string.Format("\"{0}\"", Description);
}
catch(Exception){};
}
}
catch(Exception){};
}
}
}
}
Another approach is to use the
AVEVA.ApplicationFramework.Presentation.WindowManager and iterate through the
windows looking for an active Drawing Control.
Example
if( WindowManager.Instance.MainForm.ActiveMdiChild != null )
{
_activeCtrl = WindowManager.Instance.MainForm.ActiveMdiChild.ActiveCont
rol;
if(_activeCtrl != null && !(_activeCtrl is AxDrawingControl))
{
foreach(System.Windows.Forms.Control ctrl in
WindowManager.Instance.MainForm.ActiveMdiChild.ActiveControl.Contro
ls)
{
if(ctrl is AxDrawingControl)
{
_activeCtrl = ctrl;
break;
}
}
}
}
When the Visio.Application instance is obtained from the Drawing Control it is possible to
invoke any of the Visio API methods available to customize the drawing.
SettingManager
Methods
DrawingManager
Events
Methods
ShapeManager
Events
Methods
The detailed documentation for the library can be found following this link.
DiagramsAPI.chm
Note: It is not recommended to call other Diagrams dlls, as these are internal to Diagrams
and may be changed without notice.
Figure A:1. Edit master shape in Visio and add own action rows in shape sheet
PML Function
For example, to call a simple PML function that looks like below;
All needed is to set the proper Action cell formula. In this case, it will look like below;
In this example, the reference number should be passed to the PML function. This is done
by adding /param=refnum to the formula, like below;
=QUEUEMARKEREVENT("/module=Diagrams /type=shapecontext /
code=PMLFUNC /name=DiagramsPrintParam /param=refnum")
Command Execute
It is possible to call Execute() methods from your classes based on the Command. See the
command class example, below;
=QUEUEMARKEREVENT("/module=Diagrams /type=shapecontext /
code=COMMAND /Key=TEST_DIAGRAM_API_CMD")
To call Execute with the parameter param=shape added to the formula would look like
below;
=QUEUEMARKEREVENT("/module=Diagrams /type=shapecontext /
code=COMMAND /Key=TEST_DIAGRAM_API_CMD /param=shape")