Drawing File Name and Folders

Certain AVEVA Administration functions such as Copy, Reconfigure, Delete may act on the drawing files associated with Draft or Schematic Databases (DBs). The administrator may need to know details of these if there is a problem.

Drawing files are stored using a strict naming convention. The elements used to build the file are illustrated below:

Prefix:

The prefix is dependant on the file type, the following options are available:

Reference Number:

The reference number is dependant on the file type, the following options are available:

Extract File:

The extract file number from which the Drawing was saved.

Version:

The version number when the Drawing was saved.

Page Prefix:

The Page number prefix part of the file name is only used when dealing with .SVG files.

Page Number:

Number of pages per Schematic Diagram. Only used when dealing with Neutral format (.SVG) files. Non-Visio diagrams only have one page.

File Suffix:

The file name suffix is dependant on the file type, the following options are available.

Note:
Visio files may be stored in either Binary or XML format; The types and numbers of files are defined by attributes.

Drawing files are stored in a folder defined by an environment variable. In the case of Draft drawing files see table below the file is stored in a numbered sub-folder is determined by the Database reference (Module 32 of the second component of the reference).

The following attributes may be useful at the above elements.

There are also attributes specific to each element type.

Splitting of Folders:

When the number of files in a folder becomes huge, the performance of the Microsoft Windows file system can suffer. Some folders in the AVEVA Plant Project folder structure are especially susceptible to this negative effect:

These folders have been split by creating 32 subfolders numbered '00', '01', …, '31', and the files, that were previously stored in the main folder, now are spread among the subfolders using an algorithm, that guarantees the most even distribution of files. As a result, the number of files in a single subfolder will be significantly lower, improving the file system performance. The formula for determining the subfolder is:

subfolder number = DBREF[2] modulo 32

Here, DBREF[2] is the second element of the DB reference of the picture element.

For example: A sheet in the BAS Project having the DB reference =15773/4101, extract file number (EXFI) 16, and picture version number (PVNO) 25.

The associated picture file path would be:

/%BASPIC%/05/M15773-4101-16-25

Here, the file name itself is built from the DB reference, the EXFI and PVNO attribute values, as in previous versions, but the subfolder number (05) has been derived by the formula:

4101 modulo 32 = 5

Assuming, that the DB references are allocated sequentially, we can then expect an even selection of the subfolder for the picture files. Some features of the implemented algorithm:

• If the DB reference does not change, the subfolder number also stays the same.

• Creation of the new version of the picture, or modification of this picture from an extract will change the EXFI or PVNO attribute values, but the reference would stay the same, thus preserving the selected subfolder number.

• If the picture element is removed, and then later recreated (e.g. from a DATAL transfer), it may get assigned a different DB reference, than originally, thus getting possibly a different subfolder for its picture file.

All existing Admin functions, including purging picture files, copying or deleting DBs, creating or replicating Projects, etc., are aware of the new folder structure. In order to facilitate the handling of the subfolders and the files therein, the following pseudo-attributes have been implemented.

As compared to the folder structure valid for previous versions, the new layout looks as follows: