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Tags vs. Anno

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AutoCAD P&ID Customization

L. Special Behavior for Line Segment Tag Uniqueness ............................................................................................. 57

V. Annotation Styles ...................................................................................................................................................... 57

A. Simple Annotations .............................................................................................................................................. 57

B. Compound Annotations ........................................................................................................................................ 58

C. Creating a New Annotation Style .......................................................................................................................... 61

D. Assigning Format Strings to Attribute Definitions ................................................................................................ 64

1. Using Expressions in Annotation Format Strings .............................................................................................. 72

2. Using Annotations to Edit Underlying Data ...................................................................................................... 75

3. Special Behaviors --Reducer Annotation Styles ................................................................................................ 76

E. Principles of Dynamic Sizing .................................................................................................................................. 77

1. A brief overview of Dynamic Block Principles ................................................................................................... 77

2. Linear Parameters in Annotation Block Definitions .......................................................................................... 78

3. TotalX and TotalY .............................................................................................................................................. 83

VI. Custom Symbols ...................................................................................................................................................... 84

A. Creating Custom Symbols ..................................................................................................................................... 84

1. Block Definition Management .......................................................................................................................... 84

2. Creating a new Graphical Style with a new Symbol.......................................................................................... 85

3. Graphical Style Properties................................................................................................................................. 90

4. Manually switching between Graphical Styles ................................................................................................. 91

5. Associating Graphical Styles with a Property .................................................................................................... 91

6. Using Multiple Graphical Style for an Asset that Spans Drawings .................................................................... 94

7. A note about Attachment Points ...................................................................................................................... 95

B. Dynamic Assets ..................................................................................................................................................... 96

1. Special Behaviors of Off Page Connectors ........................................................................................................ 97

2. Special Behaviors of Instruments ...................................................................................................................... 99

VII. Property Propagation/Acquisition .......................................................................................................................... 99

VIII. Appendix .............................................................................................................................................................. 102

A. Format string syntax ........................................................................................................................................... 102

B. APIs ..................................................................................................................................................................... 104


I. Introduction AutoCAD® P&ID is a design software use to create, modify, and manage piping and instrumentation diagrams. Built on the latest AutoCAD® platform, AutoCAD P&ID is easy to use and familiar to designers and process plant engineers. Made specifically for P&ID designers and drafters, AutoCAD P&ID enables faster and more efficient creation, manipulation, and revisions to P&ID drawings.

This course will cover key concepts in P&ID diagrams --tags, annotations, and symbols --with special emphasis on customization to meet the needs of end users and their organizations. Topics covered include how to create and use custom symbols; how to define and utilize custom tag formats that utilize properties from different sources and use alpha-numeric expressions in formatting. There are examples of how annotations can be formatted and placed inside custom blocks which are dynamically resized when the size of the text changes. At the end of the course, the reader should feel confident about customizing P&ID for their own usage.

These things will be covered in this document:

• Tagging vs. Annotating: Key Concepts • Creating custom Tag Formats: Properties and Expressions • Creating custom Annotation Styles: Block Definitions and Evaluatable Strings • Principles of Dynamic Sizing • Creating custom symbols for Assets

II. Project: Default vs. Template

A. What is a Default Project? • A preset project is used when a new project has not been specified by the user • Default settings are set to what the majority of people would choose. There is often no reason to change

them.

B. What is a Template Project? • A customized project value used when a setting has been specified by the Administrator (user). • A copy of the default, new, existing, Sample or finished Project • A Template Project contains all defined settings, folders and required for a client(s).

For many companies, the default standard Project may not be sufficient. It is a good base for starting a project, but there are always specific company's palettes, symbols, environments and settings that require customization. A Project contains everything you need to create process and instrument diagrams. Items such as symbols, annotations, and templates as well as the location to store your settings and drawings are part of your project.

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A. What is a Tag in AutoCAD P&ID? • A Tag is a unique identifier for an asset or line segment • A Tag is DATA • A Tag lives in the database (tracked as a property ) • An asset or line segment can have only one Tag • A Tag is built up of sub parts as defined by the Tag Format

B. What is an Annotation in AutoCAD P&ID? • An Annotation is text (and optional geometry) in the drawing which presents information about the asset

or line segment. • An Annotation is graphical. • An Annotation lives in the drawing, but is linked to the database. • An Annotation need not be unique • An asset or line segment may have multiple Annotations • The text shown by an Annotation is determined by the Format String as defined in the Annotation Style’s

block definition. • The text shown by the Annotation may include the asset or line segment’s Tag property, but it is not “the”

Tag. It is still an annotation.

C. What do we mean by “tagging” in AutoCAD P&ID? • “Tagging” means assigning the values for the unique identifier of a given asset or line segment into the Data

Cache • “Tagging” means creating and storing data. • “Tagging” is done via the Assign Tag dialog. • Placing an annotation in the drawing that shows the tag property is NOT “Tagging”, it is “Annotating”.

IV. Tag Formats Tag Formats are defined at a given level in the P&ID Class Definitions hierarchy, and once defined, are available to be used by all P&ID classes below that node in the Class Definitions tree. The subparts consist of Properties and/or Expressions, and may be Autogenerated. The subparts are concatenated together into a single value, and this completed tag value is validated for uniqueness and stored as a tag property in the Data Cache. We’ll examine each of these concepts, and discuss a few pitfalls that should be avoided.

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J. Tag Behavior during Cloning “Cloning” refers to any operation that places a copy of an AutoCAD entity into a drawing. Examples of cloning include the COPY, ARRAY, and MIRROR commands, Clipboard Copy/Paste (Ctrl-C/Ctrl-V), BLOCK, WBLOCK, INSERT and EXPLODE.

Since AutoCAD P&ID is a project-based product, copying a tagged asset within a single drawing or between drawings belonging to the same project would tend to create duplicate tags, which would be rejected.

To avoid this duplication and rejection, the product will blank out both the Tag property, and all the class property subparts which contribute to the tag. Blanking out the subparts is necessary because automatic tag regeneration would simply rebuild the duplicate tag if the subparts were left intact.

K. Pitfalls and Workarounds There are a number of operations which will parse the tag back down into its constituent sub parts. One example is any operation that presents the sub parts to you for editing. For example, raising the Assign Tag dialog on an asset that is already tagged (for example to modify the Tag property) presents all the sub parts in each edit box. Another example is the operation which rebuilds the tag from its subparts whenever one of those subparts has been changed.

To do this, it has to parse the combined Tag property back down into its constituent parts. It has several ways of distinguishing between the subparts. One is to compare against the delimiters. Another is to re-retrieve the property from its original storage and compare the strings.

However, if pure expressions are placed without any delimiter, then it cannot determine where one sub part ended and the next begins.

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Doing so will raise a three-step navigation dialog allowing you to choose a drawing, and a block within that drawing, and alter settings for the annotation to use for the Annotation Style. Once you have selected the block definition, the contents of that block definition will be cloned into your ProjSymbolStyle.dwg and renamed to SymbolName_block.

AutoCAD P&ID ships with a file called AnnotationTemplates.dwg. This drawing file contains a number of block definitions that may be useful as templates for a variety of standard annotation styles, and for which the more complex settings (the dynamic sizing settings) are already in place.

The “General Style Properties” are the standard AutoCAD entity properties, such as color, layer, and linetype that will be used when the annotation (an AutoCAD block reference) is created and inserted into the drawing.

The “Other Properties” area of the dialog offer settings that are specific to Annotations.

• “Symbol Scale” is a scale factor at which the annotation will be inserted into the drawing. • “Use Target Properties” will cause the annotation to be inserted with the same entity properties (color,

layer, linetype) as the target entity, rather than using the settings from “General Style Properties.” • “Linked” controls whether the annotation moves along with the target entity. • “Auto Insert” controls whether the annotation will be automatically inserted when the target entity is

inserted into the drawing.

“Auto Insert?” has three possible states, worthy of further discussion.

“No Auto Insert” is self explanatory. Annotations based on this style will never be automatically inserted into the drawing.

The other two settings are primarily meaningful for the default Annotation Style for a given P&ID class, and take effect when placing an asset of that class into the drawing from the tool palette.

“Auto Insert With Prompt” --If an asset is placed in the drawing whose default Annotation Style specifies Auto Insert With Prompt, the user will be automatically prompted to select a position for the annotation.

“Auto Insert” --If an asset is placed in the drawing whose default Annotation Style specified Auto Insert, then the annotation will automatically be placed in the drawing at the positions specified by “Offset X” and “Offset Y” from the asset’s insertion point.

The Offset X and Offset Y settings are only enabled when the Auto Insert state is Auto Insert.

Note that the Auto Insert option, relying on the Offset X and Offset Y settings, does not work when the target is a pipe or signal line. The reason is that the software cannot determine a single insertion point from which to calculate the offset from a line, as it can do from an asset.

“Auto Insert” using an offset will also have an effect when placing an annotation via the right click “Annotate” menu. Normally, when using the Annotate… context menu, you would be prompted to select a position using the mouse. However, when annotating an asset using an annotation style which specifies “Auto Insert” with an X,Y offset, the annotation will be placed at that offset.

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Recall that the first line of this annotation style was based on the format string #(TargetObject.Tag), and that Tags are themselves built up of subparts as defined in the Tag Format.

The first line of this editor utilizes the Tag Format to break TargetObject.Tag back into its constituent parts and present those parts for editing.

The second line of this editor directly uses the Annotation Format String to present each part for modification.

Modifications made in this UI are stored in different locations. All PROPERTY changes to the target object’s properties are actually stored directly back to the underlying storage in the datacache. (Drawing and Project properties cannot be modified from this dialog.) The changes seen in the annotation are a result of the annotation refreshing after these values have been changed in their original location.

Modifications to the delimiters are stored in the Annotation itself, and affect ONLY the annotation being edited, not ALL annotations.

Although it would be odd to use pure expressions in an Annotation Format String, nothing prevents you from doing so. Be aware, however, that if you use pure expressions without any delimiters in an Annotation Format String, the program will have the same problem reparsing the annotation into its subparts as it has when parsing Tags, and you may get unexpected results in the Edit Annotation dialog.

3. Special Behaviors --Reducer Annotation Styles AutoCAD P&ID ships with 4 standard annotation styles for Reducers:

• Fixed Reducer Style • Large by Small Reducer Style • Flow Based Reducer Style • Adjacent Pipe Reducer Style

The first of these is based on the properties of the reducer itself. The Annotation Format String for Fixed Reducer Style is: #(TargetObject.Size1)x#(TargetObject.Size2).

The other three styles are “Pipe Based” reducer styles, and AutoCAD P&ID applies special rules when evaluating the format string, which is the same in all three styles: #(PipeLines.Size)x#(PipeLines.Size).

For these special Annotation Styles, even though the same property appears twice in the format string, the program will collect the sizes from the two separate pipelines attached on each side of the reducer. It will then calculate, based on the name of the reducer style, which size value should be shown first.

• Large by Small Reducer Style --Shows larger size value first always. • Flow Based Reducer Style --Shows the size value of the incoming pipe first. • Adjacent Pipe Reducer Style --Shows the size values on each side for the pipe on that side.

Users may create other pipe based reducer styles that show additional data. In order for it to recognize such styles and apply the special processing, the following must be true:

• The Annotation Style must be defined at the Reducers level in the class hierarchy • The Annotation’s target must be a Reducer.


• The Annotation Style’s name must begin with: o Large By Small Reducer o Flow Based Reducer o Adjacent Pipe Reducer

• The Format string must contain exactly one delimiter • The Format string must contain a property #(PipeLines.Property) on each side of the delimiter. • The Format string may contain other properties, as long as the properties on each side of the delimiter are

identical and in the same order.

It is not recommended to use the Edit Annotation dialog to modify the values of Pipe Based Reducer annotations, as this dialog cannot distinguish to which pipeline the new size value should be assigned.

E. Principles of Dynamic Sizing In the Annotation examples above, several geometric items dynamically changed size to match the evaluated values of the attributes. When the “Valve InfoTag” Annotation Style was placed in the drawing, the underline under GV-100 matched the width of the text, and the box fit nicely around all of the evaluated text.

AutoCAD P&ID leverages the AutoCAD “Dynamic Block” feature in custom ways to enable this behavior. Dynamic block definitions are defined in such a way that each block reference (aka insert) of that block can be independently manipulated in ways that change its appearance, for specific sub portions of the block.

The AutoCAD Dynamic Block feature is extensive and will not be covered in depth here, but it is recommended that interested users spend some time studying the documentation and/or taking an AU course on this feature. Authoring a dynamic block has nearly as much power and potential complexity as writing computer code!

1. A brief overview of Dynamic Block Principles Creating a Dynamic Block Definition in AutoCAD involves placing and defining several items in the block definition which are not geometry. These items are known as “parameters” and “actions”.

There are a variety of different types of parameters, each of which track some set of properties, for example:

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Each parameter can be associated with one or several types of actions. Typical actions include: • Stretch • Move • Rotate • Flip

Each action is associated with an “action frame”, which indicates which geometry within the block definition participates in the action, and in what fashion. The available actions may be presented to the user as a special grip on the block insert, or the grips may be hidden from the user, depending upon whether the block author intends.

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Selecting the linear parameter itself and raising the properties palette shows some special settings specific to the linear parameter.

Notice that the endpoints of the linear parameter are actually slightly inside the edges of the geometry, rather than directly on the edges. Doing this ensures that there will be some space around the text when the stretch actions are applied. If the linear parameter were exactly on the edges of the geometry, then when the parameter is sized to match the attribute’s width, the geometry will exactly enclose the attribute, which usually doesn’t look very good.

Note: The InfoTag2LineBox block definition in AnnotationTemplates.dwg used in part C., “Creating a New Annotation Style” actually shipped with this very problem. To get the best results, you may need to adjust the end points of the linear parameters to be inside the box, and assure that the Base Location property on each is “midpoint”, as discussed below.

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As with an Annotation, the properties to retrieve are specified using a Format String, associated with an Attribute Definition, as part of the Block Definition for the symbol. All Format String syntax is supported. The target object used to evaluate the Format String is the Dynamic Asset itself.

Including a Format String in the Block Definition of a Graphical Style is sufficient to alert the program to create a Dynamic Asset when the asset is placed in the drawing. There are no other settings that need to be touched, no other support required.

Also, it is perfectly safe to modify the Block Definition of a Graphical Style to add or remove Format Strings. After the changes are made, the program will automatically convert all the existing assets in the drawing between being a Dynamic or a regular Asset, depending upon the current Block Definition.

1. Special Behaviors of Off Page Connectors In AutoCAD P&ID, the Off Page Connectors are special types of Dynamic Assets.

First, the special “use mate” syntax is included in the Format String of the Block Definition, in order to show values from the “other” drawing in which the mated connector resides. This syntax is not supported by the “Assign Annotation Format” dialog, and must be inserted manually while editing the block definition.

For example:

#(Drawing.General.PnID)

#(=Drawing.General.PnID) The first Format string would return the PnID (drawing number) of the drawing in which the target object resides.

The second Format String would return the PnID (drawing number) of the drawing in which the target object’s mate resides.

The equal sign just inside the opening parenthesis specifies “use mate’s property.” Naturally, if the target object is not a mate-able type, then this format string will not evaluate, and the DOT will be seen instead.

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The formatting token is used by several dialogs as a means to enforce input for Tag Formats, but is used to apply formatting to the output of Annotation Formats.

A field is delimited by the form #().

A class property is indicated by Class.Property. A drawing property is indicated by Drawing.Category.Property. A project property is indicated by Project.Category.Property.

Examples of simple retrievable properties are:

#(CentrifugalPump.FlowRate) #(Project.General.Name) #(Drawing.General.Area) The user may combine an expression with a property, for the purposes of formatting, autogeneration, and assignment.

If the user wants to specify a format for a property, it must be included inside the field, specified with %.

For example, if the Flow Rate should always be shown as 3 numbers, then the field would be:

#(CengrifugalPump.FlowRate%NNN) If the value needs to be autogenerated, the @ sign is used instead. #(PipeLine.LineNumber@NNN)

(The @NNN syntax immediately above was in support of an early concept for arbitrary autogeneration which was based on a dumb counter. It is not surfaced in the UI, but will produce a value if created and assigned via APIs.)

To specify the lookup location for auto-generation source and increment value (as opposed to arbitrary generation), a $ is added at the end of the @ portion of the field. #(PipeLine.LineNumber@NNN$Project.LastLineNumber) If the autogenerated value should be assigned back, the ^ sign is added. #(PipeLine.LineNumber^@NNN$Project.LastLineNumber) If the user must input a value to be assigned back, the autogenerate symbol is not used. #(PipeLine.LineNumber^NNN)

For variants where user input is expected, lack of input will be indicated by the mask symbol ‘?’.

Note that “simple” auto-generation as described in section III.D.1 is implemented directly in the code, and is not represented by the Format String syntax in any way.

If the user wants to specify an optional field, the ~ symbol is used. For example, an optional field would be indicated by: #(HotWaterPipe.Insulation~A*)

Optional fields are never auto-generated, but may be assigned back. Optional fields will not cause an error condition if they cannot be assigned or retrieved. They will simply be skipped. Note that the optional syntax isn’t surfaced in any UI.

Expressions can also be specified independent of retrievable properties. For example, to simply generate a 3-digit-minimum numeric value, the syntax would be:

#(@NNN) Again, the syntax above was in support of the early counter-based arbitrary generation, which is not surfaced in the UI.


To require user input of a 3-digit-minimum number, the syntax would be:

#(%NNN) When being evaluated, any text that occurs between fields is passed through unchanged. This is referred to as “free text.” Delimiters fall into this category.

If the user specified AREA-LINENUMBER, the format string would be:

#(Drawing.Category.Area)-#(Primary.LineNumber) Note the “dash” delimiter between the fields.

As is standard in various programming languages, the backslash character can be used to ‘escape’ special characters outside of the fields. If the user wants to use the # character as a delimiter, it should be escaped to prevent it from being interpreted as the beginning of a field.

Note that the output of evaluating the format is a single text item, not multi-line text, so the newline character is not valid.

To specify that the property should be retrieved from the target object’s mate (in the special case of CONNECTORS), the property should be pre-pended by the equal sign.

For example, to retrieve the PnID number of the Off Page Connector in the other drawing from the target Off Page Connector, the format string would be:

#(=Drawing.General.PNID) Setting and retrieving the Format Strings of Tag Formats and Annotation Formats programmatically is done via the AcPpTagFormat and AcPpAnnotation class APIs respectively.

B. APIs The following header files will be of interest to developers wishing to work directly with Annotations and Tag Formats.

The header file: AcPpAnnotation.h contains methods for creating P&ID Annotations, getting and setting annotation properties (including accessing the Format Strings of specific attributes within the block reference), finding the associated annotation style, etc.

The header file: AcPpAnnotationUtils.h contains methods for identifying whether a given text or block reference entity is a P&ID Annotation, and for refreshing P&ID Annotations.

The header file: AcPpTagFormat.h contains methods for working with Tag Formats, getting and setting of Tag Format properties (including getting and setting the Format String) and storing a Tag Format in the AcDbDatabase.

The header file AcPpTagUtils.h contains methods for validating that a Format String is properly formed, and for evaluating a Format String against a target AcDbObjectId.


NOTE THAT the AcPpTagUtils namespace was unfortunately misnamed in the API. This should have been AcPpFormatUtils. Do not let the API namespace confuse you into thinking that Format Strings are equivalent to or only for use by the Tag feature.

DISCLAIMER:

Autodesk may make statements regarding planned or future development efforts for our existing or new products and services. These statements are not intended to be a promise or guarantee of future delivery of products, services or features but merely reflect our current plans, which may change. Purchasing decisions should not be made based upon reliance on these statements.

Autodesk assumes no obligation to update these forward-looking statements to reflect events that occur or circumstances that exist or change after the date on which they were made.

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