Currently, OpenPlant Support Engineering (OPSE) has a large library of content already added from various prominent support part manufacturers, and they can be placed by various placement tools available in the OPSE interface. For each project that a user creates, irrespective of the unit system selected, a new database file (.db) is created which houses the entire set of content implemented within OPSE, and all associated information that is required to correctly process and use that content.

The diversity of the content currently available in the OPSE database - coupled with the powerful way in which completely new components can be defined/modeled using the OPSE scripting and graphics engine makes it fairly easy for the user to add additional engineering content to the OPSE project database. If, for example, the intent is to add pipe clamp data from the data provided by a certain vendor of the user's preference, then templates for the existing pipe clamp in OPSE can be used to add the additional content using a single Project Dashboard interface. If the type of content to be added does not resemble existing OPSE content or templates in any way, then a new template can be created by the user to which new geometry can be associated, and it can be reused multiple times for the same type of content addition.

The Project Dashboard helps in performing operations which add content to the database, or manipulate the database in any way. New geometry generation requires some scripting. The script is a short program which uses OPSE's internal geometry creation functions / routines in an intuitive way to help create new geometries without resorting to too many complex calculations. The OPSE graphics engine is powerful enough to handle all complexities internally, leaving the user to focus on the engineering side rather than the programming side. However, this does not mean that a proficient programmer would have any limitations in scripting for OPSE. The documentation for the various geometry primitives (fundamental geometric shapes required to create complex shapes) is available, along with the documentation for pre-defined complex geometries like various types of clamps.

An Additional Content Development manual containing detailed information on existing OpenPlant Support Engineering geometry primitives as well as user scripts to assist the user in building his own components is provided with the OpenPlant Support Engineering install and stored in the following location:

%Root Directory%\Program Files\Bentley\OpenPlant CONNECT Edition\OpenPlantSupportEngineering\SDKExamples\OPSE Content Development Manual.pdf