Headings
- Last UpdatedNov 10, 2025
- 2 minute read
The heading line, which defines the column headings for the rest of the table, contains four distinct sorts of information:
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TYPE is the generic type (GTYPE) of the component represented by an SPCOM.
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NAME is the unique identifier for each SPCOM.
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Selector Questions define the SELEC choices which will be used to choose an appropriate SPCOM for a given design purpose (for example, STYPE, ANGLE ).
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Reference Pointers link each SPCOM to the corresponding definitions in the other parts of the Catalog (for example, CATREF points to a COMP, DETAIL points to a DTEXT, and so on).
(For full details of the available options for Selector Questions and Reference Pointers, see Selectors and Pointers for Piping Components, Selectors and Pointers for Structural Components, or Selectors and Pointers for Insulation.)
To define a heading, use the command syntax
Heading
TYpe NAme questions pointers
noting that the command is entered on two lines (that means, you must press RETURN after the command HEADING, as well as after the last entry in the second heading line).
Note: When new data is entered into a Specification, the input sequence is TYPE NAME ... ; when an existing Specification is modified (see Editing an Existing Specification), or when its contents are output (see Outputting a Specification), the corresponding sequence is NAME TYPE ... Examples of possible commands for defining headings are as follows:
For generic type TUBE
HEADING
TYPE NAME PBOR0 SCHE SHOP CATREF DETAIL MATXT CMPREF BLTREF
For generic type ELBO
HEADING
TYPE NAME PBOR0 STYP ANGL SHOP CATREF DETAIL MATXT CMPREF BLTREF
For generic type REDU
HEADING
TYPE NAME PBOR0 PBOR2 STYP SHOP CATREF DETAIL MATXT CMPREF BLTREF
For generic type BEAM
HEADING
TYPE NAME STYP GRAD DEPT WIDT WEIG INER CATREF
and so on. See Typical Specifications for explanations of the SELEC questions used in these headings.
The maximum number of entries in a heading line (that is, the maximum number of columns in the table) is 20.
Note: The number of columns in an existing Specification cannot be changed, so it is important that you choose the headings carefully when you create a new Specification.