How to Add Custom Border in OpenPlant PID

Description

A drawing border is necessary for any technical drawing. It defines the margin of the drawing space which is defined in ANSI/ISO and Din standards. The drawing border also contains the drawing header which displays e.g. the drawing name and other information on the drawing.

Note: The cell and tag set creation use native MicroStation commands. Basic knowledge of MicroStation is assumed.

Import the border DGN file

1. Launch OpenPlant PID.
2. Open cell file Miscellaneous.cel from the project’s Cell folder.
3. Click on Model icon. The Model dialog box will be displayed as shown below.
   
   
   
   
4. Click the Import Models icon.From Import Models from File dialog box select your border file & click on Open. Refer below image.
   
   
   
   NOTE:  Design Type should be 2D (see below image)
   
   
   
   
5. Since the model name "Default" exists already, OpenPlant PID asks you whether to overwrite the existing model or to rename it. Select option “Automatically rename the incoming model" and click Yes. Refer image as shown below.
   
   
   
   
6. Right click on Default-2 model & select Rename as shown below.
   
   
   
   
7. Rename model to Test Sample Border as shown below. See below image.
   
   

Add new tag fields

Your company has their own drawing borders and drawing headers. Here is an example of such a drawing header:

Most of the fields, such as “Drawn by” and a corresponding date are common in technical drawings. This drawing header has some space for “Remarks”, which does not exist in the drawing headers delivered with the OpenPlant P&ID product. OpenPlant P&ID uses tags to display drawing data. For your own drawing header you need to place those tags in the header.

1. In the Main menu go to Element > Tags > Define. Refer below image
   
   
   
   

2. In Tag Sets Dialog. Select TITLEBLOCK & click on Add as shown below.
   
   

3. Define the Tag Name & Default Tag Value as REMARKS1. Refer below image.
   
   
   

4. Click OK.
5. Repeat same steps and also add REMARKS2 and REMARKS3.

6. Close the Tag Sets dialog box by clicking the closer button.

Add the tags to the new drawing header

1. If the Custom Border isn’t already displayed select File > Models from the main menu and double click the model.
2. From the main menu select Tools > Text > Open as Toolbox. The Text Tool Box is opened.

3. Click on “Attach Tags” icon as highlighted below.
   
   

4. Select the tag set TITLEBLOCK.

   
   
   

5. Click any graphical object of the drawing header, e.g. border line or text.

6. The Attach tags [TITLEBLOCK] dialog box will be displayed showing all tags that are about to be placed.
   
   

7. Click OK. All tag fields appear in one block on the cursor.
8. Place the tags anywhere near the drawing header. Refer below image
   
   
   
   
9. Click the Move tool in the Main tool box.

   

10. Select desired tag & move to its designated location as shown below
    
    

All tag fields have the same size. The correct size has to be applied to each tag field.

1. Click the Change Text Attributes icon in the Text tool box.Refer below image
   
   

2. From Change Test Attributes dialog. Click on search icon.
   
   

3. Select the text style Document_large_m from the Text Style drop down menu.
   
   

4. Click on "Title" text to change text attribute as shown below.
   
   
   
   

5. Now, select the text style Document_small_m and click all other tag fields.
   
   
   
   Note: All text styles with the suffix _i are optimized for imperial units. The text styles with the suffix _m are optimized for metric units.

Add a new class for the custom border using Component Manager tool

1. Close and relaunch OpenPlant PID by opening or creating a new DGN.

2. From the main menu select Tools > Managers > Component Manager.
   
   

3. The Component Manager dialog box will be displayed as shown below.Click on Create component from cell option. Refer below image
   
   
   
   

4. Enter a component Class Name and Display Label (optional a description).From the class list select Border Class & select Next. See image below
   
   
   
   NOTE: Component Class Name must be in Upper Case.
   
   

5. Under Build New Component window, select the cell library Miscellaneous.cel and the cell Test Sample Border. Refer below image
   
   
   
   
6. Click Finish.
7. The final step now is to add the new border class to the borders list. For this task we need to work with the Bentley Class Editor.
8. Using Bentley Class Editor open OpenPlant_PID.01.07.ecschema.

9. Right click on OpenPlant_PID.01.07.ecschema & supplement it with OpenPlant_PID_Supplemental_Imperial.01.07.ecschema. See below image
   
   
   
   

10. Navigate to Metric Borders List class.
    
    NOTE: For Metric Project Select Metric Border List Class & for Imperial Project Select Border List Class.
    
    
    
    Remaining Steps are same for both Imperial & Metric Project
    
    
11. Under Class Name Display Lists custom attribute, right click on Items > Add element, as shown below.
    
    
    
    
12. Enter Display Name as Test Sample Border & Class name as TEST_SAMPLE_BORDER as shown below.
    
    
    
    
13. Save all  the changes.
14. Now, open OpenPlant_ProjectProperties.01.07.ecschema
15. Go to Document class, switch to properties tab.Click on Add > New to add a new property as shown below.
    
    
     
16. Enter property name as REMARKS1 & add category custom attribute.Enter Category fields as shown below 
    
    
    
    
17. Similarly, add REMARKS1, REMARKS2, REMARKS3.. along with category custom attribute as discussed in step 16. 
18. Save the changes & close
19. Launch OpenPlant PID & verify the result as shown below.
    
    

See Also

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