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Smart Client Extension for AutoCAD
Smart Client DWG Editor
Completing Standards Tables for Use with Asset Symbols
define many properties of a category of items, including how to depict
the item in a drawing.
For example, the records in the Equipment Standards table define categories
of equipment items and how to graphically represent items of a particular
category when adding them to drawings based on database information. A
record in the Equipment Standards table may define that all equipment
items of equipment standard AIR-HANDLER 20HP should be represented in
CAD drawings with an instance of the HVAC-AHU The following image shows the Define Equipment Standards grid view. The AIR-HANDLER-20HP and its associated drawing block is shown in the list.
If you intend to generate
based on standards or on existing database records, it is important that
the corresponding standards table be properly completed so that ARCHIBUS
has enough information to generate an asset symbol. For example, suppose
your Equipment table has records defining all the equipment on a floor
and you now want to generate asset symbols from this information. Each
of these Equipment records must have an Equipment Standard, and that standard
must define the block or dimensions that the program should use to generate
the asset symbol.
Asset Symbol Creation Methods that Require Standards Tables
Standards tables must be completed with appropriate information if you
intend to create asset symbols using the following methods:
- --With
this method, a database record does not exist. In the drawing, you choose
the standard to insert and the location, and the Insert Asset command
adds to the drawing the block or polyline defined by the standard.
- --With
this method, you specify the type of asset symbol to work with and ARCHIBUS
compares the drawing to the database table and updates the drawing to
match the database. If records exist in the table for which there are
not asset symbols, the program generates the asset symbols based on the
records’ standard information. This method requires that the database
records have standards information and that the standards information
specifies appropriate dimensions or blocks.
Completing a Standards Table
As the above image of the Equipment Standards table indicates, standards
tables hold both block and dimension data. ARCHIBUS can generate drawing
entities based on the dimension data or block you specify in the Standards
table. The following are some examples:
- If you define a particular
equipment block and no dimension information, the program will insert
this block according to its definition in the block table or drawing file.
This is known as a
- If you are generating an
equipment asset symbol and supply the depth and width information in the
Equipment Standards table and no block information, ARCHIBUS will generate
a rectangular block of the specified dimensions. To do this, it scales
a default
(
which is a 1x1 block) according to the dimensions you specify. Block insertions
for which the program scales the block according to dimensions are known
as
- If you are inserting an area
and supply length and width in the standards table, the program will generate
a rectangular polyline of these dimensions. Again, this is a parametric
insertion.
- If you supply both block
and dimension data, the program will parametrically scale the block according
to the dimension data. Thus, you should only supply both dimension and
block information if the block is a unit block and not a full-scale block.
For example, if you develop
a unit block in a circular shape to represent a table, and complete the
standards table with this block name and 36 by 24 inch dimensions, the
program will insert an oval representing these dimensions. On the other
hand, if you complete the Equipment Standards table with 36 by 24 dimensions
and also define a full-scale block that represents 10 by 10 inches, the
program will produce a block that represents 360 by 240 inches.
To avoid this type of situation, you may want to indicate whether a
block is a regular or unit block in its block name. For example, the letter
"U" at the end of a block name can indicate that the block is
a unit block and that dimension information should be supplied.
The following table summarizes how you should complete the standards
table to achieve all of the possible types of ARCHIBUS asset symbols.
To generate an asset symbol like this:
|
Develop your standard like this:
|
A block whose dimensions represent a specific
item, and which is not parametrically scaled upon insertion.
|
Develop a block of the appropriate scale
and do not specify dimensions in the standards table.
|
A block in the appropriate shape, scaled
to the specified dimensions. The block can be used repeatedly to represent
different sizes of the same type of item (for example, one block is used
to represent small, medium, and large bookcases).
|
Develop a block of the appropriate shape
that measures 1 unit by 1 unit. In the standards table, specify this block
as well as dimension information.
|
A rectangular block scaled to the specified
dimensions.
|
In the standards table, define dimension
information only. ARCHIBUS uses UNIT.DWG to represent the item.
|
A rectangular polyline, scaled to the specified
dimensions.
|
Complete length and width dimension information
in the standards table. Do not define area information.
|
A square polyline, scaled to the specified
area; each of the polylines' sides is the square root of the area value.
|
Complete area information in the standards
table. (If you complete length and width information as well as area,
the program ignores the length and width information.)
|
A designator block that is not scaled to
true-life dimensions.
|
A System Manager user must set the Scaled
Insertion? field of the ARCHIBUS Asset Types table to Yes. In the standards
tables, define blocks; or have the System Manager complete the Default
Block field of the ARCHIBUS Asset Types table.
|
Specifying Dimensions in the Standards Table
When completing length, width, depth, and height fields in a standards
table, consider these points:
- Completing the Standard Height
field is optional. Standards tables provide this field in case you want
to display your drawing three-dimensionally using AutoCAD.
- Furniture and equipment items
are measured by depth and width; areas are measured by length and width.
- The type of asset (the )
determines whether items of this type are measured by small units (inches
and centimeters) or large units (feet and meters). For example, the Equipment
asset type calls for measuring items in small units. Therefore, to enter
dimensions for an equipment item that measures two feet by three feet
enter 24 and 36 if the project uses the imperial system.
Note: Users who are
not familiar with working with advanced schema elements such as asset
types can determine whether items of a particular asset type are measured
in large or small units by examining the sample values in the sample HQ
project.
Note: Any block that
you reference in a standards table, must be located on the
or in the schema directory.