Setting PDMS attributes

In principle, any attribute can be set by specifying the attribute name and value you want it to
take. The following are examples:

XLEN 200 DESC 'PLATE GIRDER'

HEIGHT 300 TEMP 120

NAME /FRED PURP EQUI

ORI Y IS N ORI Y IS N AND Z IS U

Navigation

Commands for moving around the PDMS database.

/NAME Move to an element by name

=23/506 Move to an element by its reference

number

END Move up the database hierarchy by 1 level

6 Move to the sixth element in the list of the

current element

NEXT Move to the next element in the list at the

same level

NEXT 2 Move to the second element after the

current element

NEXT ELBO Move to the next elbo in the current list by

passing any other elements

PREV Move to the previous element in the list

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PREV 4 Move four elements back from ce

SAME Go to the previous current element

NOTE: NEXT and PREV commands work on the list according to the modes Forwards or
Backwards. In backwards mode, the list is considered to be reversed so these commands
have the effect of working from the opposite end of the list.

Query Commands

Q ATT Query all the attributes of the current

element

Q POS Query the position of the current element

Q POS IN SITE (or Q POS WRT SITE) Query the position of the current element
relative to the site position

NOTE: Normally, the Q POS command gives the position relative to the element's
owner.

Query the name of the current element.

Q NAME This may either begin with '/' character
'/PIPING' or may be by a list position name
(full name) such as:

ELBO 2 OF /P1/B1

Q REF Query the database unique reference

number i.e. = 234/702. This is the best
way of ensuring that you get to the
element you want. Names can change but
reference numbers are fixed so you
always get the same element.

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Positioning Commands (General)

At E300 N400 U500 Position an element explicitly at the coordinates

given relative to the element's owner. To position
relative to some other element, wrt can be
At E3333 N6000 U50 WRT SITE added, as shown

At N500W30U600 WRT WORLD

AT N400 U500 E300 IN ZONE

At N40 WRT /FRED

BY N500 Move the element north from it's current position

by 500mm (This is relative movement.)

CONN P1 TO P2 OF PREV Positions P1 at the specified point and orientates

the element such that P1 is pointing in the
opposite direction to the specified ppoint.

CONN IDP@ TO IDP@ Connect a picked Ppoint on the current primitive

to a picked Ppoint of another

CONN P1 TO IDP@ Connect P1 of the current primitive to a picked

Point of another primitive

Move syntax

Position>Move>Distance
Moves the element’s origin by a given distance in a given direction.

Ex. MOVE N DIST 10’ MOVE S WRT /* DIST 5' MOVE E IN SITE DIST 5'

Position>Move>Through
Moves the origin of the element in a given direction through a Reference Plane perpendicular to the line
of travel that is passing through a picked element, p-point, or coordinate.

Ex. MOVE N THRO ID@ MOVE N THRO IDP@ MOVE N THRO N46’

Position>Move>Clearance

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Moves the element’s origin, p-point, or obstruction in a given direction with a clearance from another
item’s origin, p-point, or obstruction
.
Ex. MOVE E DIST 10’ FROM /P-101 MOVE E CLEARANCE 10’ FROM /P-101

The options INFRONT, BEHIND, ONTO, and UNDER refer to a picked or named item’s physical
obstruction, while the TO and FROM options refer to the item’s origin. INFRONT and TO refer to
the near side while BEHIND and FROM refer to the far side of an item.

Position>Plane Move>Through
Moves the origin of the element in a given direction through a Reference Plane specified by the user
that is passing through a picked element, p-point, or coordinate.

Ex. MOVE ALONG E PLANE N45W THRO ID@

Positioning Commands (Piping)

NOTE: All the above commands can be used with piping components for exact positioning.
The following commands are specific to piping because they use the implied direction of the
previous component to determine the position. This implied direction is some times referred
to as the constrained centreline and is simply a line drawn in the direction of the previous
component. All of the following commands will move components along this line.

DIST 300 Position the current element 300mm away from the previous
component. The direction is taken as the leave direction of the
previous component.

CLEAR 400 Position the current element with a clearance of 400m between it and
the previous element. For most types of component, this command
gives a tube spool length equal to the clearance value. For some
components such as level operated valves the clearance is likely to
take the lever length as the obstruction length of the valve, so in this
case the clearance might be more unpredictable.

THRO N500
Position the origin of the CE along constrained centerline through
TO N500 N500 in ZONE coordinates.

THRO PT Position the origin of the CE along constrained centerline at the point
where it intersects a perpendicular plane positioned at the branch tail.

Position the arrive point at the leave point of the previous component
CONNect and orientate the component to suit.

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Orientation Commands (General)

ORI Y IS N AND Z IS U This is the default orientation (wrt owner) for all elements
that have an orientation attribute.

ORI Y IS E45N Specify that the Y axis is pointing E45N. When only one
axis is specified, the other tries to get to it's default, so in
this case, Z will default to UP.

Rather than specifying an axis, this command specifies

ORI P1 IS N that a particular ppoint is to be orientated in the direction
specified.

Orientation Commands (Piping)

ORI This command orientates the arrive of the element in the

opposite direction to the leave of the previous element. It does
not change the position.

CONNECT Perform an ORI, then position the arrive at the leave of

previous.

DIR S This is a special command which is allowed to change the

angle of a component. It first performs an ori, then adjusts the
angle to ensure that the leave direction is in the direction
specified.

ORI AND P3 IS U Used for valves, tees, etc., this command performs an ori and
then points the ppoint in the required direction. It does not
change the angle.

This is another special command which is only used on tees

DIR AND P3 IS U with variable angles. (Usually for sloping lines.) In this case,
the tee is orientated and the angle adjusted to allow p3 to point
in the direction specified.

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Creating Elements

NEW BOX To create anything in PDMS, you need to be at the right

level in the hierarchy and use the command NEW followed
by the TYPE of element you want to create.

NEW EQUI /T-1101 Create EQUI element and set the name attribute

NEW ELBO CHOOSE For piping components, you need to create the element
and then link it to the catalogue via the spref attribute. The
CHOOSE command allows you to select components from
the specification by picking them from a displayed menu.

CHOOSE ALL Allows you to see more detail about the component than
CHOOSE on it's own.

Deleting Elements

DELETE ELBO To delete an element, the syntax is DELETE followed by

the TYPE of element you are deleting.

DELETE BRAN MEM This deletes the members of an element (i.e. BRAN in this
example) without deleting the element itself.

PSEUDO ATTRIBUTES

In order to get specific information directly from the database, a number of keyword or pseudo
attributes have been introduced. Pseudo attributes are not attributes as such, but they have
the ability to extract data when queried. For Example

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ELBO 1 Go to elbo 1 of the branch

Q PARAM Query the parameters of the catref of the spref

Q DTXR Query the rtext of the detref of the spref_ can also use dtxs or dtxt

Q MTXX Query the xtext of the matref of the spref _ can also use mtxy or mtxz

Q PSATTS Query the list of pseudo attributes available for the CE.

A few useful pseudo attributes appear below:

General Queries

Q LIST Query what you can create below the current element

Q OLIST Query the type of elements which can own CE

Q ORDER Query the list position

Q PROP DESC Query the data element with the dkey equal to DESC in the
component's dataset (Steelwork and Piping elements)

Q PRLS Query the list of properties in the component's dataset

Q PURP XXX Query the purpose attribute of the property XXX

Piping Attributes

Q CHOICE Query the answers of the selectors of the spref

Q CHOICE STYP Query the styp used to select the component

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Q PL BOP Query the bottom of pipe elevation of the leave point

Q PA INSU Query the insulation thickness at the arrive point

Q PGRAD 1 Query the slope at ppoint 1

Q ITLE Query the length of implied tube (must navigate first by using
'IL TUBE' at a component)

Q LBOR Query the leave bore

Q ABOR Query the arrive bore

Q APOS Query the arrive position

Q LPOS Query the leave position

At Branch Level

Q TULEN Query the length of tube in a branch

Q CLLEN Query the centerline length through all components

Steelwork

Q ODESP Query the design params of the joint owner

Q ADESP Query the design params of the joint attached

beam

Q DRPS Query the derived position of the beam start

Q NWEI Query the net weight (considering joint cut outs)

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Q GWEI Query the gross weight (beam before cutting)

Q NCOF Query the net centre of gravity for the beam

Q NSRF Query the net surface area

Q MIDP Query the mid point

Q POS PPLINE TOS START WRT /* Query TOS of current element (SCTN)

Q PPLINE TOS DIR Query the direction of the TOS pline on a SCTN

The Construct Syntax

The construct syntax is described more fully in the Design reference manual and it is worth
looking at it in more detail. CONST allows distances and angles to be calculated from the
design data and is invaluable when you are writing applications. For example

Q CONST ANGLE N AND W gives 90°

CONST A PIN1 TO PIN2 TO PIN3

Q CONST DIST FROM P1 to P2 TO P2 OF/BOX1 gives a distance

CONST DIST FROM PA TO PL OF PREV

$S QA=Q ATT Create a synonym to query attributes

Q EVAR PDMSUSER Query the operating system location of user file directory PDMSUSER

Reporting Syntax

You can create an array which includes a number of elements which all satisfy specific
selection criteria, as defined by yourself. The syntax is:

VAR !Array COLLECT selection criteria

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!Array is the name of the array that will be created to contain the elements selected.

The following general criteria can be used to define the selection:

 A class of elements or element types

 A logical expression to be satisfied at all selected elements
 A physical volume in whichall selected elements must lie
 A point in the hierarchy below which all selected elements must lie

Eg VAR !PIPECOMPS COLLECT ALL BRANCH MEMBERS

This would create the array !PIPECOMPS and set it to contain the reference numbers of every
piping component in the MDB. Logical expressions use the WITH and WHERE option; a
volume is defined by the WITHIN keyword; and the hierarchy criteria is defined by the FOR
keyword.

Eg VAR !ELBO COLL ALL ELBO WITH SPREF EQ /A300B/100

Evaluating Selected DB Elements

Using the facilities described here you can create an expression and have it evaluated for all
elements which satisfy particular selection criteria. The results of the expression are then
placed in a named array.

The command syntax is:

VAR !Array EVALUATE (Expression) FOR Select

!Array is the name of the array that will be created

(expression) is the expression that will be carried out for all elements that match the select
criteria

Select is the selection criteria

Eg VAR !BOXES EVALUATE ( XLEN * YLEN ) FOR ALL BOXES

IF ALL ELSE FAILS!

As you can see, there are a lot of commands available to the PDMS user and the list above is
only scratching the surface. Almost all of the command syntax is described in the reference
manuals but in some cases you might find it difficult to compose the required command from
these alone. In these cases, it might be necessary to build a command by using the query
syntax itself, using $Q and $H syntax.
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The command: $Q gives a list of all possible commands at any one time. On it's own, $Q gives
a complete list of top level commands in any PDMS module. When applied in the middle of a
command line, it lists the options available at that point.

E.G. the command:

SETUP FORM Yields an error incomplete command line

SETUP FORM $Q list_name as required

SETUP FORM _FRED $Q lists a number of options including:

'BLOCK/ING' 'RESI/ZABLE' 'AT' 'SIZE' 'COPY' and Newline

Each of the words in quotes can be used at this point. There may be further options after these
words and the same technique can be used to find the way through. The characters before the
'/' indicate the minimum abbreviation which may be used for each part of the command. The
presence of the Newline keyword without the quotes indicates that the return key may be
pressed at this point and the command is executed.

Another form of syntax querying is the $H command. $H is a slightly more sophisticated form
of $Q, which lists the available options numerically as the following example shows:

SETUP $H

1 <create a new form>

SETUP $H1

'FORM'

SETUP FORM $H

UNAME

And so on.

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