Extended Drawing Attributes

Extended drawing attributes are drawing attributes supplied by other sources than the piping design system. An extension has been added to define drawing attributes from other sources either:

As an expression of other drawing attributes
As a result of ODBC queries
As a combination of the above

Extended drawing attributes are defined in the drawing attribute definition file pointed to by IE_TEXTNODES definition in the IsoProj.cfg file. Each line has the format:

<drawing attribute name> = <drawing attribute expression>

The drawing attribute expression is basically a verbatim string where everything in a $(..) construct refers to the value of another drawing attribute, a configuration variable or an environment variable (in that order).

Examples:

Expression	Resolves to:
myAttr = hello world	a drawing attribute name myAttr with value "hello world"
myAttr = hello world myGreet = greetings: $(myAttr)	a drawing attribute name myAttr with value "hello world" a drawing attribute names myGreet with value "greetings: hello world"

Drawing Attribute expressions may also contain functions. Currently two functions are defined:

DBQUERY
DATE

DBQUERY function

The DBQUERY function allows the user to access ODBC database data. The format of the function is:

DBQUERY (<ODBC data source name>, <sql statement>)

Note: The ODBC datasource specification can be either a reference to a local DSN or an ODBC connection string.

Local DSN Examples: (DSN = PSDS 8.9 SI Example, user name = proj, passwd = none)

PSDS 8.9 SI Example
PSDS 8.9 SI Example;proj
PSDS 8.9 SI Example;proj;none

Note: Up to 10 different DSN can be configured.

Connection String Examples:

Driver={Microsoft Access Driver (*.mdb, *.accdb)};Dbq=\\pluif7010reml\PSDS_Imperial\english.mdb;
Driver={Microsoft Access Driver (*.mdb, *.accdb)};Dbq=Z:\english.mdb;

Note:

Connection strings for almost every type of database can be found at:
The ODBC driver for the database of interest needs to be present on the local machine. For the available drivers look at the Drivers tab of ODBCAD32.exe.
Only 32 bit drivers can be used.

Multi Row Results

DBQUERY will now return a comma separated list of values in case the query results in multiple rows. Please note that still only the first column will be listed.

For Example in the case

DBQUERY ($(IE_DSN2), Select code from CONN_DESC)

results in 4 rows, the result should look like: BL, BR, BM, BF

Note:

The number of rows processed is capped to 10 in order to prevent buffer overflow.
Currently, the separator between the values is not configurable. This functionality could be available in a future version.

Hide Temporary Drawing Attributes

By adding the '@' in front of the drawing attribute definition, you can prevent it from displaying in the drawing attribute list in the isometric. The purpose is hide intermediate results that are not of interest.

Example:

@IE_DSN2=Driver={Microsoft Access Driver (*.mdb, *.accdb)};
Dbq=\\pluif7010reml\PSDS_Imperial\english.mdb;
a02 = DBQUERY ($(IE_DSN2), Select description from CONN_DESC where code='BR')

The result is IE_DSN2 is not shown in the drawing attributes. It can however be referenced (without the '@') in the textnodes.txt file.

DBQuery enhancement

An option is offered to add drawing attributes based on the most common value of a component attribute. This is particularly useful in cases of pipeline properties stored as component attributes.

In textnodes.txt:

$(name) resolves to the value for drawing attribute named &rdquor;name"
*(name) resolves to the most common value of the component attribute named &rdquor;name"

Example: (APM)

Area = *(AREAID)

Creates/overrides a drawing attribute named AREA and sets the value to the most common value of the attribute AREAID in the BOMable components in the isometric

DBQUERY function for AutoPLANT Modeler

For AutoPLANT Modeler version 08.11.10.182 and earlier, the workspace for isometrics does not include the query and grid functionality. It can be added for now by changing the content of isoproj.cfg and adding 2 configuration files.

In the ProgramData\Bentley\Plant V8i\Bentley Plant V8i Projects\SAMPLE_IMPERIAL\Config\OpenPlant\Isometrics\isoproj.cfg file,

Add the red marked lines at the indicated position

# Report defintion file
  IE_REPORTDEF = $(IE_CONF)report.def 

# Defines the file uses to define sort groups
  IE_REP_SORTGROUPS = $(IE_CONF)rep_sortgroups.txt

# Grid definition file
  IE_GRID = $(IE_CONF)gridlines.txt
  IE_TEXTNODES = $(IE_CONF)textnodes.txt)

Note: In the AutoPLANT Modeler V8i (SELECTseries 7) release, these entries and files will be included.

You will also need to add the following two files to the style configuration directory, for example:

...\Bentley\Plant V8i\Bentley Plant V8i Projects\SAMPLE_IMPERIAL\Config\OpenPlant\Isometrics\Styles\IFC\config

The text files can be copied from the OPIM workspace, for example:

...\WorkSpaces\OpenPlantExample\WorkSets\Imperial\Standards\OpenPlant\Isometrics\styles\As-Built\config

Example

The following example details how to configure the Textnodes.txt file to query attributes in an AutoPLANT external database.

Create an ODBC DSN

Create an ODBC DSN for the external AutoPLANT database. When doing this be sure to remember the datasource name.

Create New Drawing Attributes

When creating an isometric AutoPLANT adds a few standard drawing attributes as shown below:

FILENAME	ISO-L1000.r017
STYLE	IFC
DATE	3-3-2014
TIME	11:45:28
PRJ_NAME	ROTAT1
SIZE1	150
SIZE2	0
SPECMAIN	MCS150
LINENUMBER	L1000
UNIT	U
SERVICE	S
NAME	ISO-L1000
ALIAS	ISO-L1000
ACTIVE	True

Note: The LINENUMBER is marked in bold as this will be used in the following examples to query the database.

Next, you will add lines to Textnodes.txt file which was added above, the red marked lines clarify what's being done:

First create a drawing attribute named mydsn that references the just created ODBC Data Source, username and password can be left out

mydsn = projdata;username;password

The DBQUERY below gets the value of the KEYTAG column in the TAG_REG table from the row where the TAG_NO column equals the value contained in LINENUMBER drawing attribute. The resulting value is stored in a new drawing attribute named 00_KEYTAG.

Note: Please note that $(attrname) is expanded to the value of the drawing attribute attrname. LINENUMBER is a drawing attribute that was already added by the AutoPLANT interface to OPIM.

00_keytag = DBQUERY ($(mydsn), select keytag from TAG_REG where tag_no='$(LINENUMBER)')

The next three queries get values from the PROCESS table but use the just defined 00_KEYTAG in the select statement:

00_popp_nom = DBQUERY($(mydsn), select popp_nom from process where keytag='$(00_keytag)')
00_popt_nom = DBQUERY($(mydsn), select popt_nom from process where keytag='$(00_keytag)')
00_FLUID_FILL = DBQUERY($(mydsn), select FLUID_FILLING_FACTOR from process where keytag='$(00_keytag)')

Next, is an expression without a query. All $() will be expanded and the result will be put in the drawing attribute named samen:

00_samen = $(00_popp_nom) --- $(00_keytag) ---- mooi weer vandaag

The result can be viewed using the Show Tag Data tool (first 5 lines)

Displaying Drawing Attributes

You will need to manually add drawing attributes for display. Open the Node2DA.txt file and add the lines marked in red below:

36,checked
63,UNIT_NAME
64,STYLE
1001,00_KEYTAG
1002,00_POPP_NOM

Now when the Text Node Editor is started the added drawing attributes will be shown and can be placed on the isometric:

DATE function

The date function creates a configurable date string. The format of the function is:

DATE (<style>, <format>)
Where:
   <style>   0 for US style (e.g. 12/25/2013), 
             1 for European style (25/12/2013)
   <format>  examples shown for US style (January 2 2013)
             0              1-2-13
             1              01-02-13
             2              1-2-2013
             3              01-02-2013
             4              1/2/13
             5              01/02/13
             6              1/2/2013
             7              01/02/2013
             8              20130102

Drawing Attribute Working Principles

The definition file is read first
The drawing attributes already present from the design system are read second. Drawing attributes will not override a drawing attribute definition.
The expressions are evaluated. The order of evaluation is determined by the software.
The results are read back and put into the drawing attribute (MicroStation) tag.

Errors are reported in a user friendly manner, the Query function in particular.

Circular references will be detected and the drawing attribute will be set to the value "r;FAILED"

An example of a circular reference is:

myAttr = $(myAttr)

Example drawing attribute definition file

#-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
# An example extended drawing attribute definition file
#-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
# Defined a fully qualified DSN (data source name;user;passwd)
  IE_DSN  = PSDS 8.9 SI Example;proj;none
# Example new simple drawing attribute CODE
  code    = 2605-2 
# A few examples of SQL queries
#  - please note that LINENUMBER is assumed to be a drawing attribute supplied
#    by the piping system
  var1 = DBQUERY ($(IE_DSN), CREATE TABLE isometric (LineNumber varchar(255)))
  var2 = DBQUERY ($(IE_DSN), INSERT INTO isometric VALUES ('$(LINENUMBER)'))
  var3 = DBQUERY ($(IE_DSN), select description from code_desc where code='$(code)')
# Some queries that will fail + messages produced
# - Unable to open statement handle for ODBC data source: xx
  var10 = DBQUERY (xx, )
# - MSG = [Microsoft][ODBC Microsoft Access Driver] Invalid SQL statement; 
     expected 'DELETE', 'INSERT', 'PROCEDURE', 'SELECT', or 'UPDATE'.
  var11 = DBQUERY ($(IE_DSN), incorrect sql statement)
# - expression DBQUERY (: no matching close brace found for function: DBQUERY
  var12 = DBQUERY (