Drawing Configuration Category

The Drawing Configuration Category is divided into five sub-categories:

• Grid Sub-Set

• Labels Sub-Set

• Layers Sub-Set

• Settings Sub-Set

• Validation Sub-Set

• Grid Sub-Set

The fields in the Grid application pane are used to set up the dimensions and other elements of the drawing grid.

The application pane is divided into two sections.

- Drawing Frame Settings Section

This section contains the following settings:

• Drawing Length and Height fields. These fields specify the length and height of the drawing.

• Horizontal Start, Mid and End Distance fields are used to specify the horizontal dimensions of the drawing frame grid.

• The Horizontal Start field is used to set the distance from the left-hand edge (0,0) of the sheet to the left-hand edge of the frame.

• The Horizontal Mid field is used to set the length of AVEVA P&ID grid squares within the frame.

• The Horizontal End field is used to set the distance from the right-hand edge of the frame to the right-hand edge of the sheet.

• The Vertical Start, Mid and End Distance fields are used to specify the vertical dimensions of the drawing frame grid.

• The Vertical End field is used to set the distance from the top edge of the sheet to the top edge of the frame.

• The Vertical Mid field is used to set the height of AVEVA P&ID grid squares within the frame.

• The Vertical Start field is used to set the distance from the bottom edge of the frame (0,0) to the bottom edge of the sheet.

Only objects within the limits of drawings, as specified here using Drawing Length and Height fields, will be validated.

- Grid Settings Section

This section contains the following settings:

• Vertical Grid Direction. This is a group of two buttons - Up and Down. It is only possible to have one button selected at a time. Depending on the button selected, the grid will increment from the top or the bottom along the Y-axis.

• Horizontal Grid Direction. This is a group of two buttons - Left and Right. It is only possible to have one button selected at a time. Depending on the button selected, the grid will increment from the left or from the right along the X-axis.

• Vertical and Horizontal Grid Type. This is a group of two buttons - Letters and Numbers. It is only possible to have one button select at a time. Depending on the button selected, the X and Y-axes are assigned either letters or numbers.

• Grid Spacing field. This field is used to specify the size of the AutoCAD grid spaces.

Note that the AutoCAD grid is a separate feature from the AVEVA P&ID grid (see below).

• Snap Spacing field. This field is used to specify the size of the snap spacing. Usually, the snap spacing is set first and then the grid spacing is set to match the snap spacing.

AVEVA P&ID grid and snap definitions will override AutoCAD settings so snap and grid settings must always be defined in the project configuration to suit the symbol set in use.

• Grid Letters to Ignore field. This field is used to specify the grid letters to ignore, for example I and O, which may be confused with one and zero. List the letters to be excluded, using commas as separators, or enter NONE.

The AutoCAD drawing grid, and the AVEVA P&ID drawing grid are two distinct features. The AutoCAD drawing grid is a standard AutoCAD feature switched on by pressing the GRID button at the bottom of the P&ID drawing pane. The AutoCAD drawing grid is a grid of dots laid over the P&ID as a drawing aid. The Grid Spacing field described above is used to specify the size of the grid squares.

The AVEVA P&ID drawing grid is used to give each item on a P&ID a location identifier derived from the letters and/or numbers of the grid axes e.g. G5. When P&ID data is transferred to VPE Workbench, the location identifier of each item is also transferred. This is to help VPE Workbench users find items more easily if they have to refer back to a P&ID.

Please note that all grid calculations performed by AVEVA P&ID assume that the border sheet has its bottom left corner at the 0,0 AutoCAD coordinate. If this is not the case grid references will not be correct, and some items could report to be off of the grid.

• Labels Sub-Set

The Labels sub-category is used to configure how project drawings themselves (as opposed to items on these drawings) are labelled with a drawing title.

The Labels application pane is divided into two sections.

- Drawing Labels Section

This section contains the following settings:

• If the design area of drawings is required as part of the drawing title label, and is also to be used as a prefix for instrument/equipment labels, check the Design Area from Title Block used for Instrument Label Field 1 checkbox.

• If the project number is to be part of the drawing title label, check the Place Project Number Label as part of Drawing Title checkbox.

• Number of Design Area Labels to place, Number of Drawing Number Labels to place and Number of Project Number Labels to place. Several labels may be placed for Drawing Area, Drawing Number and Project Number when using the Adding a Title to a Drawing and entering Drawing Sheet Attributes procedure. Enter the number of labels required for each in the three fields provided.

- VPE Drawing Attributes Section

The VPE Drawing Attributes section is used to select VPE Workbench data with which to label drawings in the project, for example information regarding systems that items on the drawings are allocated to.

The section contains Default X Pitch and Default Y Pitch fields and a grid with three columns - Designator, Default X Pitch and Default Y Pitch. Enter or edit the Designator name in the first field, the Default X Pitch value in the second field and the Default Y Pitch value in the third field.

The X and Y pitch values control the spacing between VPE Workbench attribute data where there is more than one such attribute labelling a drawing. Change the default values as required.

- Creating a new VPE Drawing Attribute

If a VPE Drawing Attribute is to be created, select the button. The following dialog box is then displayed:

Enter a unique value for the VPE Drawing Attribute designator and press the OK button.

The dialog box will be closed and the entered value will be displayed in the Designator column. The Default X Pitch and Default Y Pitch will automatically default to the values entered in the corresponding fields above the grid.

To edit a designator name, select the button and enter the new value in the dialog that is then displayed.

To edit the Default X Pitch and Default Y Pitch values scroll to the row in question and click.

This will activate the cursor within the selected row, and the value may then be edited.

• Layers Sub-Set

AVEVA P&ID is supplied with layers already set up for pipes, equipment, instruments, labels and a non-plotting layer. The Layers application pane is used to edit these layers and to add new layers as required.

- Creating a new Drawing Layer

If a layer is to be created, select the button. The following dialog box is then displayed:

Enter a unique value for the drawing layer and press the OK button.

The dialog box will be closed and the entered new value will be displayed in the Drawing Layer column. The colour code will be set automatically to the default value, but may be amended. See below for details

To edit a drawing layer name, select the button and enter the new value in the dialog that is then displayed.

- Entering a Colour Code

Scroll to the row in question. The colour box dialog button is displayed:

On selection of the button, the colour selection dialog box is displayed:

The Colour Code can be selected by the following methods:

• Selection of one of the colours shown in the palette

• By manually entering the Colour Code field

The Assume Owner Colour and Assume ByLayer options are not applicable in this case.

Following selection, press OK. The selected colour code will then be displayed in the grid.

If the colour of an existing layer is changed, drawings will be updated with the new colour when they are reloaded.

• Settings Sub-Set

The Settings application pane is divided into two sections.

The pane also includes the Entity selected is added to the current selection set checkbox.

This checkbox is used to specify the method used to select multiple objects on drawings.

If the checkbox is unchecked (the default setting), to select multiple drawing objects, press the Shift key while selecting each of the objects. If the Shift key is not pressed when an object or objects are selected, any previously selected objects are de-selected.

If the checkbox is checked, it is not necessary to press Shift in order to select multiple objects. Each object is added to the set of selected objects as it is selected. To remove objects from the set of selected objects, press Shift and select them.

- User Defined Sheet Attributes Section

This section is used to enter the field names for the Sheet Attribute fields on the Advanced Drawing Properties sheet. These fields are used to enter drawing sheet properties in addition to those of the drawing title.

As required, enter meaningful field titles in the ten fields provided.

The first field on the Advanced Drawing Properties sheet will always display the Design Area attribute, though the field name may still be changed if required.

The attributes entered in the Advanced Drawing Properties sheet are not used to label the drawing sheet themselves, but the values entered may be properties that are common to many items on the drawing, for example the design area, and may be "inherited" into label fields of these items. This inheritance is set up for each category of item (e.g. equipment) using the appropriate Configuration Category pane.

- Drawing History Settings

Check the Show Drawing History checkbox if the Description dialog is to be displayed automatically when saving changes to a drawing and during the Synchronisation process.

The dialog is used to enter comments regarding changes to the drawing.

- Drawing Labels Settings

This section is used to specify the positions of labels that may be used to label the drawing.

The grid lists all the label types of the drawing properties under the Label Type heading. The description of each of the label types is displayed under the Description heading. Label types and descriptions cannot be edited.

If a label is to be placed in its default position on the drawing, select N from the list in the Fix Position field. If a label is to be placed at specified coordinates, select Y.

Note: Some drawing properties are not placed on drawings by default, for example minimum and maximum line and loop numbers. However, if coordinates are entered for them, they will be placed at these coordinates.

Enter the X and Y coordinates of the label in the X and Y fields.

For the drawing title label type (XDT) an Y offset may also be entered. This is because drawing title label may consist of multiple lines (up to 5). The Y offset specifies the vertical gap between each line. If any drawing title is to consist of more than one line, enter a number in the Y Offset (XDT Only) field. Note that the offset number should be negative, as second and subsequent lines should be placed below the first line.

• Validation Sub-Set

This sub-category is used to specify the permitted format of entries into selected drawing properties fields.

In the fields provided, enter the following characters as required:

For example, if AaN is entered for the Design area Attribute field, when a user is completing this field in the Drawing Properties dialog, the first character must be an uppercase letter, the second a lower case letter, and the third a number.

The Advanced Format Options dialog is available from the button adjacent to each field.

Code Description

A Upper Case Alpha Character [A-Z]

a Lower Case Alpha Character [a-z]

M Mixed Case Alpha Character [A-Z, a-z]

F Upper Case Free Character [A-Z, 0-9, white space]

f Lower Case Free Character [a-z, 0-9, white space]

X Mixed Case Free Character [A-Z, a-z, 0-9, white space]

N Numeric Character [0-9]

To test how the validation will work in practice, make an entry in the Test Data field of the Test tab, and press the Test button. A message will be displayed indicating whether or not the test data would be a valid entry.

To directly edit the regular expression that comprises the validation entry, select the Advanced tab. The expression is displayed in the Regular Expression field and may be amended as required. For help on editing Regular Expressions, click on the help link displayed on this tab.