Create Specification Form in Paragon

A SPECification is equivalent to an engineering specification for a given class of piping or structural component. It may contain all components of a given material, for example carbon steel, or all components for a given class of use, for example all piping components with a particular pressure rating.

For a detailed explanation of a Specification refer to the Creating Catalogs, Sections and Catalog Components.

A specification (SPEC element) must be created below a Specification World (SPWL element).

Create a Specification

1. Select Create, then Specification, then Specification from the main window drop-down.

   The Create Specification form opens:

   

2. Enter the Name to be assigned to the new Specification.

3. Select OK to create the Specification (SPEC element) in the database hierarchy and open the following form:

   

   This form allows you to access various tasks which administer all aspects of a new Specification.

   The current version is primarily intended for use with piping specifications and may not always be suitable for other specifications. Alternative ways of creating specifications are described later in this manual.

   At the top of the form is a CE option which allows you to populate the form with the currently selected element in the Catalogue Explorer.

   If the CE option is used, the drop-down to the right acts as a History. This allows the user to select between Specification elements which have been selected while the window has been opened.

   The Headings drop-down acts in a similar way allowing selections between the component GTYPEs of the specification.

   A grid area lists the items assigned to the Specification. Directly below are the following options:

   Eng. View	displays the items in the grid list in engineering view
   CAD View	displays the items in the grid list in CAD view
   Select All	highlights all of the items in the grid list
   Clear Selection	removes the highlight from the items in the grid list

   Below these options is a Tasks sub form. This in turn contains sub forms which are displayed as the user follows the process of creating a Specification.

Setting Specification Attributes

The Specification form contains a set of ‘Tasks’ sub forms allowing you to modify the attribute values of the SPEC element created in the Catalogue DB and create the appropriate sub elements using an intuitive interface.

4. Click Edit Spec Atts to open the General Attributes sub form.

   The General Attributes sub form allows changes to be made to the general attribute values of the SPEC.

   

   

5. In the Description field enter an appropriate explanation of what the specification is to be used for.

6. In Spec Type select a value from the drop-down, valid options are:

   • Piping

   • Insulation

   • Tracing

   • Bolting

7. (Optional) The following are optional fields useful for tracking certain activity in the database:

   • In the Input By field enter the name of the administrator creating the new specification.

   • In the Issue field enter an issue number.

   • In the Status field enter any additional tracking information that may be useful for identifying the status of the specification.

8. Click Apply to commit the changes.

9. Click Back to return to the list of tasks.

10. Click Edit CAD Atts to open the Cad Attributes sub form.

    The CAD Attributes sub form allows changes to be made to the references to reference attributes of the piping specification. These point to the material, fluid, bolting specification and any user defined Nominal Bore/Tapping tables.

    

11. In the Catalogue Explorer locate the elements created in the previous sections for Create Nominal Bore Table Form and Create Tapping Tables Form. Use the CE option to pick the Spec Tables from the Catalogue explorer and bind them to the Cad Attributes form.

    Alternatively click on the search icon to the left of CE to conduct a search in the Catalogue DB for the appropriate tables.

12. Click on Apply and then Back to return to the Tasks form.

    Note: Optionally you could set Material Reference, Fluid Reference and Bolting.

Access to Tables

• Once the references to the Size and Tapping Tables have been made they can be accessed via the appropriate Tables shortcut on the Tasks sub form as follows:

  

Updating Attributes

13. Can be accessed via the appropriate Specification shortcut on the Tasks sub form as follows:

    

    Components can be added to specifications based on a Part Family list. Each component stores a reference to a single part from the family and also duplicates some of the part's reference attributes, for example, the Detail Text and Material Text references. However, if the part's reference attributes are subsequently modified, the specification component's references will no longer match the part's references. To correct this issue, proceed with the next steps:

14. Click on the Update Atts link.

    The Update Attributes sub form opens:

    

15. Click Apply.

    The selected attributes are updated and removed from the list.

Renaming a Specification

16. Click Rename Spec to open the Rename Specification sub form.

    

17. Select a radio option to change the way a spec is renamed.

    

18. Choose from the following options:

    • By default Auto Name will be selected. When this is the case a message will be displayed to prompt the user to “Press Apply to autoName your spec or selection” doing so will rename the spec with the next incremental auto number value (for example spec/005 will be renamed spec/006).

    • Click the Specify option to enter a specific name for the spec. The input field will also change to Specify. Enter a new name in the Specify.

    • Click the Replace option to replace part of the spec name with a new string. Two input fields will become available; Replace and With. In each case click Apply to commit the change.

Export Spec

• Click Export to open a standard windows file browser.

  The export feature allows the user to export the current specification to an output file. This can be used later in a macro to import the specification into a project.

Spec Headings

• Headings must be added for each type of component in a specification.

  The heading will define the column headings of the new piping specification table. There are four distinct sorts of information in a header:

  • TYPE is the generic type (GTYPE) of the component represented by an SPCOM.

  • NAME is the unique identifier for each SPCOM.

  • Selector Questions define the SELEC choices which will be used to choose an appropriate SPCOM for a given design purpose (eg STYPE, ANGLE etc).

  • Reference Pointers link each SPCOM to the corresponding definitions in the other parts of the Catalogue (eg CATREF points to SCOM, DETAIL points to DTEXT, and so on).

  For more information refer to the Catalog Database Structure.

Populate Spec Headings

19. Click Add Headings to open the Headings sub form.

    

    The Headings form allows you to build the Headings row of the new Specification.

    

    The Questions table to the left of the form lists all the current Heading columns of the Specification.

20. Using the options below the table the user can add, remove and re-organize the order of columns to be included in the Specification.

    	Click to add a column to the Specification
    	Click to remove the currently selected heading from the Specification
    	Click to move the currently selected heading up the list (changing the order the heading will be displayed)
    	Click to move the currently selected heading down the list (changing the order the heading will be displayed)
    	Open a sub form allowing a selection of pre-defined Headings
    	Save a constructed heading for later selection in the Standard Headings list.

    Note: Creating a Question has the result of creating a SELEC element within the database.

21. To change a Question type; highlight a row in the Questions table and select a new value from the Question drop-down to the right of the table. The available Question types are as follows:

    Angle	Stype	Bolt Diameter
    Pbore	Type	Bolt Type
    Pconn	Radius	Bolt Select
    Pressure	Rating
    Shop	Temperature

    When dealing with a PBORE, a Qualifier can be either a null value or a numeric value from 0 – 9, change the value by selecting a value from the Qualifier drop-down to the far right of the form.

    Each Question column must have a default value set to either a definite answer (a value, word, etc) or to a – or = character. TYPE, NAME and PBOR columns must have – (null) defaults values and the Reference Pointer columns must have no default entries at all.

22. Click Set Headings to commit changes.

23. Click Back to return to the Tasks sub form.

24. Clicking on Use Standard Heading Sets will open the following sub form:

    

    From this form it is possible to pick from pre-defined headings.

    The selections available in the list depends on whether the user is editing an existing spec, or creating a new one, as the left hand list will contain the list of questions available from the spec.

    The Standard Headings list contains a list of stored questions.

    Upon selection of the required Standard Heading the right hand Questions and Defaults list will be populated with appropriate questions.

    Note: The list of available Standard Headings is maintained in the standard-headings file located in PDMSUI>cats>dflts. The location of the PDMSUI folder may vary depending on installation.

25. Click Use Standard Headings to commit changes.

26. Click Back to return to the Tasks sub form.

Add Item to a SPEC

After creating the main column headings for the Specification parts can be retrieved from the Catalogue by using the Add New Items form.

27. Click Add New Items to open the Add Items sub form.

    

    The Add Items form is used to retrieve the Answer part of the Question.

    

28. In the Size Range group select a from and to value (minimum size and maximum size) from the drop-down lists. These values are constrained by the spec tables selected in the CAD Atts form.

29. Use the Stype and Heading Type fields to enter a valid sub type and GTYPE value, this will be used in the Specification heading (but not as part of the Question).

    Populate Stype with a value such as TUB.

    In the Heading Type enter a valid value such as TUBE.

30. The Add From group allows the user to select a CATEgory or Part Family form within the Catalogue database where the Specification is to locate the desired parts.

    It is possible to enter directly a top level element in the Name field or alternatively use one of the following tools to help locate a top level element to pick from:

    • Category List

    • Part Family List

    • CE

    • Search

    To search within a catalogue click on Search to open the following form:

    

    The Search form displayed is a generic search facility (fully described in Search), it will be pre-populated with an appropriate criteria designed to return valid top level Catalogue elements.

    It is recommended to click Find without changing any of the search criteria. However if experienced it is possible to adapt the search if more than one Catalogue databases are present in a project (see Search).

    

    After clicking Find a list of results will be displayed which can then be filtered further if required.

    This is done by using the standard tools available through the Outfitting user interface detailed in the Marine Getting Started.

    In the following example a filter will be applied to the Description field to return results that contain the string PIPE.

    

    Click on the A icon in the heading of the Description column. This will display a list of filter options. Select Contains from the drop-down list.

    In the Description field to the left of the filter option type a value such as PIPE to filter and display all entries that contain the word Pipe in the description.

    

    At this stage clicking New Search will clear the results and return to the Add Items Search Form.

    Clicking Back will return to the Add Items form without making a selection.

    Highlight an entry in the list of results and click Use Selected, this will return to the Add Items form and pass through the selection to the Add From group in the Add Items form. As follows:

    

    If both PBOR1 and PBOR2 are used in the heading, the option Add All PBOR1 and PBOR2 sizes appears on the form. If this box is checked, all possible components sizes are added to the specification. If this box is not checked, then only components with PBOR1 greater than PBOR2 are added. An equivalent option appears if PBOR1 and PBOR3 are used in the heading, the only difference being that if it is not checked, only components with PBOR1 greater than or equal to PBOR3 are added to the specification.

    

31. Select Apply to now run the Question query on the Catalogue database on all elements below the selection made in the Add From group. The results will be formatted with the headings specified in the Add Heading form.

    

32. Click Back to return to the Tasks form.

Add From Limbo

33. To move a specification component from a limbo specification to the current heading, click Add From Limbo.

    The Add From Limbo form is displayed:

    

34. Add a specification component in one of the following ways:

    • Type an appropriate name into the Name field

    • Click CE to add the current element

    • Click the search icon then use the generic search facility. (See Search for further information.)

    After a valid specification component name has been entered, some of the values are automatically populated using information from the specification component. Any missing values must be entered manually.

    For example: from the form above, the STYPE must be entered. Click Apply to add the component to the specification or click Back to return to the Tasks form.

Editing the Answers

35. To edit the Answers begin by highlighting the Answer table by left clicking and highlighting rows of the table which are to be changed.

36. Click Edit Answers to open the Edit Answers sub form.

    

    Note: The available fields are dependant on the Headings specified earlier in the Add Headings Form.

    

37. Make changes to the Heading field values by typing directly over the entries.

38. Click Apply to commit the changes.

39. Click Back to return to the Tasks sub form.

Edit Ref/Attributes

Once a piping specification has been created the columns containing references can be edited.

40. Click Edit Ref/Attributes to open the Edit Ref/Attributes sub form.

    

41. To edit a Reference use either the Search, choose the currently selected element in the Catalogue Explorer (CE) or pick from a list of items in the grid.

    

    The list can be filtered using the standard filter tools provided in grid tables, for a detailed explanation of grid lists refer to GUI Grid Data.

42. To choose a new reference select an element in the list and select Use Selected.

43. Select the Refresh List option to clear any filters applied.

44. Select Back to return to the previous form.

Edit Extra UDAs

45. If user defined attributes (UDAs) have been defined for specification components, they can be edited by selecting one or more components and then selecting Edit Extra UDAs.

    The UDAs for the components are displayed in the sub form and can be edited by typing directly in the fields. For reference attributes, a search icon and CE button are also displayed, which behave in the same way as for editing normal reference attributes. The form supports editing of integer, logical, real, text, reference and word user attributes.

    Note: Editing of array type UDAs is not allowed.

    

Rename Items

The Rename Items form provides the same functionality for Items as that available in the Renaming a Specification form.

• Click to highlight an item in the list then click Rename Items.

  See Renaming a Specification earlier in this topic for more information.

Remove to Limbo

• Select Remove to Limbo to remove an item from a specification but retain system references.

  This allows historic parts to be present in an existing design, but not available for selection in a new design.

Delete Permanently

46. Selecting Delete Permanently will remove the selected item from the specification.

    Note: There are implications in removing an item from a specification which is already in operation. Be aware that removing items from a specification can have adverse results in a project which has already been deployed.

47. Close the form by clicking the X on the top right.

48. To return to the Specification table select Modify Specification from the main window drop-down.