Label Symbols and Pipes

This procedure is used for labelling placing 'Intelligence' such as tags and engineering data for pipes and symbols onto drawings. Points to note:

• Instruments and equipment may have either four or six tag fields, depending on the configuration of the project.

• In all cases, a '?' displayed in any of the drop-down lists used while labelling, indicates that this project definable null character may be selected where data is not yet known. All drop-down lists contain a list of acceptable values for that field, as defined in the online validation files. Data entered in these fields, or at the command prompt, is checked against these values if online validation is on.

• Item label fields may be set to inherit from drawing sheet attribute values. Refer to Set Labels to Inherit Values from Drawing Sheet Attributes.

• Instrument and Equipment label fields that have been set to inherit from drawing sheet attribute values can be "hidden", for example they will be displayed on Properties dialogs and included in any export of P&ID data, but will not appear on P&IDs or in the tag preview of Properties dialogs. Refer to Set Labels to Inherit Values from Drawing Sheet Attributes.

• The project may be set to check that all labels in all P&IDs in a project are unique within a category of item, for example, pipes or instruments. Depending on the project settings, the user may be prevented from entering duplicate labels, or permitted to enter such labels but warned that they are not unique in the project. Refer to Label Validation across all Project P&IDs.

• The project may also be set to check that entries are in a valid format, and to check entries against lists of valid values.

• As well as the standard AVEVA P&ID attributes, user-defined attributes may be assigned to pipes and symbols. Refer to Add User-Defined Attributes.

  Note: If a user-defined attribute is measured in units, such as a distance, there will be a default unit of measure selected for it, e.g. metres. If required, users can choose for an individual item to the display units and unit values for a UDA in different units of measure from the default. For example, they may choose to display a distance in kilometres instead of metres. Unit values will automatically adjust to reflect the select unit of measure (for example if changed from metres to kilometres, the value will be divided by 1000).

• Data displayed in the P&ID Data Grid may be used to label the drawing. In this way, the drawing may be labelled with data not available using the normal labelling procedures, for example with properties of items that are not included in the standard labels.

For details of the use of this command in the context of drawing P&IDs, refer to Label Symbols and Pipes.

Note: The current properties of pipes and items can be viewed on the drawing page by hovering the cursor over the symbol in question.

Associated Project Configuration Options

• The units used for labels (metric or imperial) are selected using the Metric or Imperial Label Units buttons in the Project Configuration Category.

• The text of labels may either be in the default font select for the project in the Label Types Configuration Category, or in the text style assigned to the label type, also set on the Label Types Configuration Category.

• Text styles are defined in the Text Styles Configuration Category. The text styles currently in use on a drawing can be viewed by accessing the AutoCAD Text Style dialog (type STYLE at the command prompt).

• The null character is specified in the Label Null Character field of this pane.

• The default justification, height and rotation of text for labels are also specified on this pane.

• The directory in which the validation files are maintained is specified in the Validation Directory Path field in the Project Configuration Category.

• Sheet attribute field names are set up using the Drawing Information - Settings pane.

• The number of instrument and equipment tag fields, four or six, is specified in the Number of TAG fields sections of the Instruments - Settings Sub-Category and Equipment - Settings Sub-Category.

• Inheritance between item label and sheet attribute fields, and whether or not inherited values are displayed on P&IDs, is set up using the Pipes - Settings Sub-Category, Instruments - Settings Sub-Category, Equipment - Settings Sub-Category, Valves - Settings Sub-Category and Line Fittings - Settings Sub-Category.

• Label validation across a project settings are made using the buttons in the Label Validation Across P&IDs sections of the Pipes - Validation Sub-Category, Instruments - Validation Sub-Category, Equipment - Validation Sub-Category, Valves - Validation Sub-Category and Miscellaneous - Validation Sub-Category.

• Label format validation settings are made using the Pipes - Validation Sub-Category, Instruments - Validation Sub-Category, Equipment - Validation Sub-Category, Valves - Validation Sub-Category and Miscellaneous - Validation Sub-Category

• Validation against lists of valid values is switched on and off in the Miscellaneous - Settings Sub-Category. The files containing the lists of values are edited using the List of Values Configuration Category.

• If the USER_STOPUPDATEANNOTCOLOUR user-defined directive in the Miscellaneous – Settings Sub-Category is set to Yes, intelligent entities, including labels, will not have their colours changed to match changes to project settings in the Administrator.

• Whether or not auto-labelling is on by default is set in the Miscellaneous - Labels Sub-Category pane.

• Typical labelling is switched on or off using the Typical Labelling checkbox of this pane. The colours of typical pipes, offsheet connectors, instruments, equipment, SPPs and valves are also selected on this pane.

• To set the last value entered in a Properties dialog field to automatically populate that field that next time that Properties dialog is accessed for an unlabelled item of that item type, use the Pipes - Settings Sub-Category, Instruments - Settings Sub-Category, Equipment - Settings Sub-Category, Valves - Settings Sub-Category and Miscellaneous - Settings Sub-Category.

• DataSet UDAs are groups of attributes that are set up for types of items or symbols that meet user-defined criteria. These may then be used to label pipes and symbols. They are defined using the User Defined Attributes - DataSet Sub-Category.