OpenPlant Project Administrator Help

Project Parameters

The Project Parameters page of the dashboard allows you to define project related information properties, which may be used for a drawing title block, or possible to include with a Bill of Materials.

In the Project Parameters page, a navigation tree displays defined Categories/Groups with a grid listing definable parameters for either.

By default, the following categories are defined:

  • Project
  • Environment
  • Placement
  • Modeling
  • Isometrics
  • Repository

Each Category has a default Group defined for it. Additional groups can be defined for each category. When you click on a Category, the entire list of parameters are listed. If you expand the categories and click on the individual group nodes, parameters specific to that group are displayed.

Toolbar Options

SettingDescription
New Category/Group Available from either the toolbar or context menu, this option allows you to create a new group under one of the two default categories. The following dialog displays:
Select a Category from the list. The default options available are Project and Environment.

Enter a name for the new Group in the field, then click OK to create the group.

The new group will not have any existing parameters. Use the New Parameter option to create parameters for the group.
New Parameter Available from either the toolbar or context menu, this option creates a new parameter record for the selected group. Once a new parameter record has been added, define the fields as necessary.

If you try to perform another function, or click out of a parameter record before defining values for the Name and Value fields, a warning icon displays and shows the following message when you hover the mouse over it:

" Parameter must have a name"

You will not be able to perform other functions until the values have been defined, or the new parameter record is deleted.

Save Saves the changes made in the Project Parameters page.

Project Parameters

SettingDescription
Navigation Tree The Navigation tree is listed by Category/Group. New groups can be added to the default categories using the New Category/Group option available from either the toolbar or context menu.

If you right click on a node in the navigation tree, the following options are available from the context menu:

  • New Category/Group:
  • Rename
  • Delete
  • New Parameter
All of the context menu options are available from the toolbar except for the Rename option. When you right-click on a Category or Group and select this option, the name will display in an editable state allowing you to change it if desired.
Parameters The Parameters grid lists the definable project parameters for the designated Category/Group. New parameters can be added using either the New Parameter toolbar icon at the top, or the Append icon at the bottom of the grid. The following parameter fields are available:
  • Name (Required): Defines the name of the parameter. This is a required field.
  • Description (Optional): Provide a brief description for the parameter.
  • Value (Required): Enter a value for the parameter.
  • UOM (Optional): Enter a Unit of Measurement for the parameter. This parameter is only necessary for parameters which have numerical values defining a measurement.

Default Categories/Groups

The project administrator has the ability to add categories/groups as needed for the project. As mention above a default set is included with the OpenPlant Support Engineering install.

SettingDescription
Project The DGNStamp group is used to define the values in the DGN Stamp. Each of these parameters will be assigned to their corresponding parts in the stamp. For Example, the ProjectName will place its value into the Stamps Project Name.

The SupportDrawing group is used to define values in a generated support model and to help format the drawing and determine how it will be created.

The following are some examples of how some of the parameter values are defined:
  • Template: defines which file will be used as a seed to create the support drawing
  • Overwrite: tells the system how to handle the creation if there is an existing copy of support drawing
    • 0: creates new copy with new value appended to end of file or new version depending on if ProjectWise is enabled or not.
    • 1: deletes the old copy and replaces it.
  • BOMArea: this is the name that will be displayed as the title for the BOM area on the drawing
Environment Geography is used indicate the physical location of the project. This information can be passed into the support drawing or into scripts.
Placement By default, this category contains options for some of the placement tools. These vary depending on the tool but they are used in both the scripts and UI to help determine how to handle placement.

For example, in the Component group, it provides options for component placement such as data clicks, placing multiple components etc. The values of yes or no determine whether these options are enabled or not.

Modeling This category let you set some standardized values for modeling. In the image below, standard bolt parameters are defined to be used across a project, instead of having to define these parameters for each placement.
Isometrics Pipe Attachments and Frames can be included in an isometric drawing if they have a relationship with a pipe in the model and the configuration variable(s) set in the IsoFlag grid are set to Yes (True or 1 will also work). By default, a pipe attachments or frames create a relationship when attached to a pipe.
Note: The SteelFrame variable is set to No by default.
The option to display a pipe attachment or frame on an Iso can also be individually toggled at the time of placement in the properties dialog:
Repository Sets options for how to handle the repository syncing. These options help determine the speed and size during the synchronization process.
Parent topic: Settings