Rule Groups

Create and Assign rules are grouped within a rule group, top level rule groups have a source type which is the type of object for which they will be applied. Nested rule groups have a logical condition that determines when the rules of the Rule Group will be applied. When rule groups are nested, the inner rules are only applied if all of the conditions of the owning rule groups are met.

The rule group name is an alphanumeric string to identify the rule group. It is optional and no check is made that names are unique.

The rule group condition is a Boolean expression that is evaluated during Build and Compare operations.

For Compare rules, the source and target elements can be referred to in the rule group condition. These can be used to refer to attributes or UDAs on the source or target using the "OF" syntax. For example, NAME of source refers to the NAME attribute of the source schematic object. User defined attributes can be used in the same way, for example, :MYATT of source. For Build rules, the target object does not exist and any reference to it may be undefined.

An extended notation allows access to attributes on related elements - owner, previous, next, for example, AREA of OWNER of OWNER of target.

Attribute values can be combined and compared using the full power of the expression syntax described in detail below.

A Rule Group can have a Condition to ignore an object for Build and Compare. This allows an administrator to set up the rules to selectively skip certain objects. For example, if a schematic nozzle is for an instrument connection not modelled in 3D, or a schematic equipment is for built-in tank in hull plate so there is no matching 3D equipment.