Overview

Many tools in the AutoPLANT require a defined selection set to work from.  Such tools make use of the AutoPLANT Selections dialog to define the selection set a particular tool will be executed on.  While many of the features are quite simple and straightforward, a few tips can help to increase efficiency and ease of use when working in AutoPLANT.  This article focuses on use of the Advanced section and a quick explanation of the ability to create custom Queries to be used along with the tool

 The Advanced Section

If you need to go beyond the standard options to query all components in a specific Drawing, Service, Unit, Area and want to get a bit more specific by using Spec data or a component preference as your constraint, this is where you can find these options.  Click on the Advanced node to bring up the options for configuring your query:

Drawings in the Project

Select any single or multiple Drawings from the project to be Queried.

Query Selection

**Note- If you are creating a query for one-time use you can ignore both the domain and query drop-downs**

The first option is to select your Domain.  This allows you to select a previously used query that has been saved.  These can be saved either in the User domain on your local directory or in the Project domain in the project's config directory.  See below for a brief explanation of how to create your own custom queries.  Once a domain is selected all available queries should appear in the dropdown for queries. 

Define Query

This section allows you to build a query based on a variety of data.  The first selection is Data Type. There are 3 choices as described below:

1. Relationship- Create queries based on the required relationships in AutoPLANT. (By default Area, Unit, Line Number, and Service)
2. Drawing- Query based on a layer or color assignment in the Drawing
3. 3D Piping Data- Picks all Spec data from the selected Drawings and allows you to query it.  For instance, you could select class enabling you to query all Gate Valves in the selected Drawings by creating a query where Class=at_valve_gate.

Attribute Field displays all choices for the selected Data Type. 

Constraint chooses the logical operator for the query statement. (=, <, >, <=, >=, IS, LIKE etc.)

Attribute Value Presents all possible values based on the selected constraint for the drawings being queried.

Once all values are selected add your query to the Active Query section and select either select OK or add a new value if a compound query is desired.

**Note- All items must have been previously saved in order for the query to detect them.  New Drawings yet to be saved often will not function with the AutoPLANT Selections dialog.**

Defining Custom Queries

Any query designed in the Selection dialog can be saved for later use.  Once all constraints are place, simply select the New Query button as demonstrated below:

After desgnating the query as a User or Project (explanation above) query, assign it a short description and press Ok to save the query to teh proper location.  It should then be available for future use.

See Also

Product TechNotes and FAQs

External Links

Bentley Technical Support KnowledgeBase

Bentley LEARN Server

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