Definitions

Add-in

An add-in provides a means of adding functionality. An add-in application appears on the applications menu, which provides a method of switching to it.

Applicationware (‘Appware’)

A suite of forms and macros designed for use with a specific design task, for example pipework design.

Attribute

A specific item of data which defines one of the properties of an element in a database. An element is fully specified by combining all its attributes.

Batch Mode

A method of running a computer program without user intervention; for example, overnight. The command inputs are stored in a file and then read sequentially into the computer, the opposite is Interactive Mode.

Cancel

Removes a window without making any changes (to cancel a graphical selection operation), press the Esc key.

Crosshairs

A crosshair cursor, a horizontal and a vertical line on a display screen whose intersection represents the cursor position.

Current Element

The element in a database at which you are notionally situated at a given stage of database navigation.

Database

All information which exists about an AVEVA design project, whether administrative or technical, is stored in a series of hierarchical databases.

Default

An option selected automatically if you do not specify any particular choice from an available range of commands or attribute settings.

Discipline

A branch of a project that is concerned with specific types of items (for example: HVAC, Piping, Steelwork, Equipment) or a specific area of the design process (for example: Model Management, 2D drawing).

Docking/Dockable

Describes forms and menu bars that can be attached in appropriate places to the frame of the main application window.

Drag-and-drop

Select with mouse and then drag (holding the mouse button down) to a different place.

Element

A discrete item of data held in a database; identified by number and/or name and defined by its attributes.

Expression

A mathematical or logical definition, the calculated result of which is to be used as a command argument.

File

An identifiable part of the computer's memory used to store data. Data may be added to and removed from a file, or may be manipulated as a whole by operations on the complete file.

Filename

The name of a file in the computer's operating system. When referenced from within the application, the filename must be preceded by a / symbol, or in some contexts surround by quotes. The symbol is not part of the filename as defined by the computer's operating system.

Window (also referred to as a Dialogue Box)

That part of a graphical user interface screen into which you can enter the settings of parameters or command arguments, usually with prompting text which shows you what to enter at each location.

Graphics File

See Plotfile.

GROUP

A collective element which can be used to form temporary links between otherwise unrelated elements in a database.

Head

The input end of a BRANCH (under normal flow conditions).

Hit Radius

The maximum acceptable error in identifying a point on a screen using a graphics pointer. If the distance from the pointer position to the intended location is larger than the hit radius, the location will not be identified.

Interactive Mode

The method of operation whereby you perform an operation using the mouse and/or keyboard and wait for the application to interpret and act upon it before you perform the next operation. The opposite is Batch Mode.

Level (drawing)

An attribute of an element in a Design database which defines whether or not the corresponding item is to be shown when a drawing is plotted. The levels to be drawn are specified as part of the plotting command.

Level (hierarchic)

The vertical position at which a given type of element is situated in a database structure; analogous to a generation in a family tree.

Macro

A sequence of commands stored as a text file. When the macro is called from within the application, the command processor reads each line of the file in turn and behaves as if the commands were being directly entered.

Member (of an Element List)

A lower-level element linked immediately below another element (its owner) in a database hierarchy. A Group Member is an exception in that it is linked only indirectly to the GROUP, which is a parent but not its owner.

Member (of a Team)

A named user who is linked with other users (as a team) who share common access rights to one or more databases.

Module

A subdivision of the overall application which is used to carry out a particular type of operation on the databases. Each module has its own name within the application suite.

Multiple Database (MDB)

A group of databases linked together administratively for a specific purpose. The user can only access a database if the user has access rights to an MDB which contains it.

My Data

A storage area for remembering application data for future use. Typically used to copy collections of elements from one module to another.

Name

A name in the application is an element identifier which you allocate to it. It is an alphanumeric string prefixed by a / symbol. The identifier is always additional to the element's reference number, which is allocated automatically by the application.

Offspring

A lower-level element linked anywhere below another element (one of its parents) in a database hierarchy, a member is a special case of an offspring.

Owner

One higher-level element linked directly above another element (one of its members) in a database hierarchy.

Parameter

A -variable item of information (value, text and soon) which must be defined before a command can be executed unambiguously.

Parent

A higher-level element linked anywhere above another element (one of its offspring) in a database hierarchy, an owner is a special case of a parent.

PIPE

An element, comprising an assembly of BRANCHes, which defines part of a complex piping system. The term has a specific meaning in the application which may not correspond with its usual engineering meaning.

Plotfile

A file which contains encoded graphics data, the file's contents can be unspooled to a plotter or graphics screen when the corresponding drawing is to be generated.

Pointer (1)

An indicator (also referred to as the cursor) on a display screen which identifies one of two types of location:

An alpha pointer (for example a flashing block or bar) shows where the next input character will appear

A graphics pointer (for example an arrowhead) identifies a location or an element in the depicted part of the design model.

Pointer (2)

A link between elements or attributes, indicating the path by which information is transferred logically between the various parts of the databases.

P-point (Principal Point)

An imaginary location and direction used to manipulate and interconnect elements which represent physical entities in the design model. A P-line is a p-point extruded in a specific direction.

Primitive

A fundamental design shape (box, cylinder and so on) used to build up the design of a physical entity in the design model or component catalog.

Read-only

An access category that allows you to look at the contents of a database or file but not to modify them.

Read/Write

An access category that allows you to look at the contents of a database or file and to modify them.

Enter (key)

The carriage return key on the keyboard, used to end each typed command line and send its contents to the command processor, also referred to as the Return key.

Selection

A selection of objects defined using the 3D graphical view.

Shortcut Menu

A context-sensitive menu activated by the secondary (usually right-hand) mouse button.

Syntax (Of Commands)

The rules which define precisely how a command line must be entered so that the application can interpret the instructions unambiguously. Syntax is usually specified by using diagrams to show the valid command sequences.

Tail

The output end of a BRANCH (under normal flow conditions).

Team

An administrative grouping of users who share common access rights to one or more databases.

Textual Expression

An expression which manipulates text simply as strings of alphanumeric characters without regard to their overall meaning.

Title bar

The top of a window, containing its title.

Toolbar

A collection of GUI icons, used to trigger the GUI actions.

Unspooler

A translation program which allows graphical output files (plotfiles) produced by a computer program to be input to an offline plotter. Each combination of output format and plotter type requires a specific unspooler.

User-Defined Attribute

A database attribute whose name and type of content are defined by you rather than by the default application structure.

WORLD

The highest level element in any database; always allocated the symbol /* as its application name.