BlueCielo Meridian Enterprise 2017 User's Guide

Preparing a project

AutoCAD P&ID and AutoCAD Plant 3D projects consist of a project file (.xml), drawing files (.dwg), and numerous data files (.xml,.dcf,.dcfx, and so on). The Meridian AutoCAD link refers to the data files as parts in the sense that they are parts of the project data other than the drawings. These parts should not be confused with Meridian hybrid document parts or mechanical assembly parts. Because of the complexity of AutoCAD P&ID projects, they require some initial preparation before you can start working with them in Meridian.

To prepare a project:

1. Import the project with the Meridian Assembly Import Wizard as described in Importing assemblies.
2. Create the file MeridianLinkSearchRules.txt in the project folder of the vault as described in Configuring project file synchronization in the BlueCielo Meridian Enterprise Configuration Guide.

3. In AutoCAD P&ID Project Manager, open the project.xml file from the Meridian vault.

   Open any drawing to enable the BlueCielo ribbon.

4. In the BlueCielo ribbon, click Attach Custom. The Select documents description file dialog box appears.

5. Navigate to and select the MeridianLinkSearchRules.txt file that you created in the vault. The AutoCAD P&ID link creates a reference from the project file to the search rule file with the type AcadPnID Custom Part. It then uses the rules in the file to find the other files and to create references from the search rule file to them. If the search rule file is not locked, the link creates a [Log] section at the end of the file and a list of all of the files that were found and linked to the search rule file. You can view this list to confirm that all of the project files are correctly linked in Meridian.

6. Close the project.