Introduction to Attributes

All attributes can be queried and set by you. However, many are automatically set as a result of commands. Only the attributes that you would normally set explicitly are described in full. The ones that are set automatically are of interest because you can report on them.

Note that some attributes are used exclusively by AVEVA E3D Design modules. These are not described here.

Attributes can be divided into two categories:

1. General attributes occur throughout the database; they are common to most elements. For example, OWNER (every element in the Design data has an owner), POS (position), ORI (orientation), BUILT (true or false, indicating whether it has been constructed on site or not).

2. Special Attributes belong to particular elements or classes of elements and have specific meanings for those elements; for example, FLOWD (flow direction) in a Branch.

The special attributes are either self-explanatory or are explained in the context of the element under which they appear in this chapter.

Note:
Some special attributes are only used for drawing control within Isodraft or Draw. How the settings of these attributes are applied is described in Isodraft Reference or Draw Reference.

In addition to their standard attributes, elements may have one or more user-defined attributes (UDAs). These are set and used in the same way as standard attributes, except that the UDA names are distinguished by being prefixed with a colon (:) character.