Off-page Connectors

Diagrams allows the creation of discontinuous pipelines / HVAClines through the use of an Off-Page Connector (OPC) mechanism. Even if these are called Off-Page Connectors, they can also be used within a page.

Two variants of Off-Page Connectors are supported by the application, Outgoing and Incoming.

Off-Page connectors are created by dragging an OPC shape onto the drawing and connecting it to a free end of a pipeline branch.

An outgoing OPC can be connected to an incoming (or vice versa) using the Connect OPC command in the shape right-click menu.

This command will bring up a Selection dialog (Standard DB Browse Dialog) where all unconnected OPCs of the opposite kind will be listed.

By selecting a matching OPC they will be connected by the OPCREF attribute.

When examining the database explorer, you can see that a new SCSEG element has been created. The purpose of these administrative elements is to serve as containers for the parts of a branch that is divided by OPCs.

To merge two branches using Off-Page Connectors, you must follow the workflow detail below:

1. Drag and drop the Pipeline branch on Drawing 1.

2. Drag and drop the pipeline branch with the same specifications in Drawing 2.

3. Now go back to Drawing 1 and connect the outgoing OPC, the merge of Branches can be observed in the Database explorer.

The shape text shown in the OPC can be controlled by the Attribute Presentation Notation. Refer to Attribute Presentation Notation for further information. It is for example possible to show the name of the drawing and the page of the OPC that the current one is connected to by using the following format: [opcref.owner.diaref(1)] - Page: [opcref.owner.page(1)].

The OPC connections can also be listed and navigated on a diagram level. By right clicking on a Diagram Element in the database explorer and choosing the Connected Diagrams command, all diagrams connected to the current one will be listed.

By clicking on a diagram in the list, this can be opened.