Diagrams User Guide
Diagrams : Working with Diagrams : Primary / Secondary Shapes : Behaviour of Primary/Secondary Shapes
Behaviour of Primary/Secondary Shapes
A set of default settings available in Diagrams Options controls how primary and secondary shapes will behave regarding creation, updates of attributes and deletion of the shape. These can be found under the respective element options. For instance for equipment items, the settings can be found under Element Options > Equipment Options. The settings are as follows:
Default setting
Value
Description
Deleting a primary shape
Ask user
When a primary shape is deleted, the system will ask the user if the corresponding DB element should be deleted or not.
Always delete DB item
When a primary shape is deleted, the corresponding DB element is always also deleted without any confirmation or message to the user.
Never delete DB item
When a primary shape is deleted, the corresponding DB element is never deleted.
Deleting a secondary shape
Ask user
When a secondary shape is deleted, the system will ask the user if the corresponding DB element should be deleted or not.
Always delete DB item
When a secondary shape is deleted, the corresponding DB element is always also deleted without any confirmation or message to the user.
Never delete DB item
When a secondary shape is deleted, the corresponding DB element is never deleted.
Modifying attributes of secondary shape
Ask user
When an attribute value for a secondary shape is changed, the system will ask the user if the corresponding DB element should be updated or not.
Always allow
When an attribute value for a secondary shape is changed, the corresponding DB element is always also updated without any confirmation or message to the user.
Never allow
When an attribute value for a secondary shape is changed, the corresponding DB element is never updated. The user will receive an error message.
Creating secondary shapes on Paste
Ask user
When a shape having a name already existing in the DB is pasted, the user is asked whether to create a secondary shape referring to the same item in the DB or not.
Always create secondary shape
When a shape having a name already existing in the DB is pasted, always create a secondary shape referring to the same item in the DB.
Never create secondary shape
When a shape having a name already existing in the DB is pasted, blank the name and never create a secondary shape. A new item will be created in the DB.
Creating secondary shapes on Name Change
Ask user
When the name of a shape is changed to the name of an existing item in the database, the user is asked whether to create a secondary shape referring to the same item in the DB or not.
Always create secondary shape
When the name of a shape is changed to the name of an existing item in the database, always create a secondary shape referring to the same item in the DB.
Never create secondary shape
It will not be allowed to change the name to the same name as an existing item in the database.
There is also certain behaviour related to subitems and connected items. This behaviour is described in the table below. In case of secondary shape creation through name change, the DB item that the shape was referring to before it was assigned to another one is referred to as the Source item. The DB item that the shape will be linked to after the creation is referred to as the Destination item.
Method
Action
Behaviour
Copy/Paste
Creating secondary shapes for equipment where the source DB item has got subequipment.
No special handling. The source subequipment items will always be kept.
Creating secondary shapes for equipment or sub-equipment where the source item has got electrical connection/nozzles items.
The electrical connection/nozzle items will be copied and the electrical connection/nozzle shapes will be made secondary shapes (CTRL+C->CTRL-V, CTRL+DRAG does not support secondary nozzle creation).
Creating secondary shapes for equipment or subequipment where the source DB item has got nozzles
No special action as long as only the equipment shape is copied.
Creating secondary shapes for equipment or subequipment where the source DB item has connected cables
No special action as long as only the equipment shape is copied.
Creating secondary shapes for equipment or subequipment having connected pipes
No special action as long as only the equipment shape is copied.
Creating secondary shapes for equipment or subequipment having connected HVACs
No special action as long as only the equipment shape is copied.
Copy/Paste of an elconn/nozzle.
It is possible to create a secondary elcon/nozzle without its parent using the CTRL+C->CTRL-V short command. When using the CTRL+DRAG command, the new elconn/nozzle will be created.
When copying multiple shapes including equipment items and elconns/nozzles, the elconn/nozzle always inherits the answer from its parent.
Note:
When CTRL+DRAG is used, a new nozzle is always created.
 
Copy/Paste of multiple shapes having mixed item types.
When multiple shapes of different kinds are copied and pasted, the system will behave differently depending on the kinds of items that have been selected. This is fairly complicated and is therefore not recommended unless the user knows exactly what he/she is doing.
If the user for instance has selected a few equipment items and a few sub-equipment items and these items contain elconns, all elconns will be added to their parents as primary/secondary - depending on the answer from the parent.
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