Configuring the AutoCAD link

An AutoCAD link is installed with the Asset Management Module that supports drawing tag extraction. It can use information that exists in drawings to create and manage links between the drawings and objects. The information can reside in AutoCAD attributes embedded in blocks that are inserted into the drawings to represent plant assets. The Asset Management Module can read this information and store it in the Meridian Enterprise vault. The information can then be used to find or create matching objects in the vault. Users can link these objects to the drawing with indirect linking as described in Indirect linking using object references and the BlueCielo Meridian Asset Management Module User's Guide.

Notes

• This feature works very similar to, but different from, the way Meridian Enterprise synchronizes title block data. This feature is designed for use with equipment tags produced by applications such as AutoCAD. Therefore, it is designed to synchronize the data of many AutoCAD blocks per drawing file. However, unlike title block synchronization, which can synchronize data in both directions, tag synchronization is performed only from the drawings to Meridian Enterprise. The drawing attributes are never updated from the Meridian Enterprise properties.
• To configure the AutoCAD P&ID link to perform tag attribute synchronization , see “Configuring the AutoCAD P&ID link” in the BlueCielo Meridian Enterprise Configuration Guide.
• If drawing tag updates will be performed in AutoCAD P&ID as described in the BlueCielo Meridian Asset Management Module User's Guide, select a document type from the AutoCAD tag synchronization reports document type list on the AMM User Interface tab in the Vault Settings branch in Configurator.

Configuring tag extraction includes specifying the attribute tags within your equipment tag blocks for which you want to extract values. You must also specify the corresponding Meridian Enterprise document property where you want to store the extracted data.

This topic describes how to configure basic tag extraction. That is, one attribute tag per object, where the tag value alone is the object name. This is the typical scenario. Additional instructions to configure more complex scenarios are described in the following topics.

Before you begin

Compile a list of the block names used by your organization as equipment tag blocks in the past and present. For each block, list the attribute tag names that contain asset numbers. The Meridian Enterprise property where the tag numbers will be stored must already exist and it must be configured as the memo data type.

To configure tag extraction:

1. In Configurator, expand Environment in the configuration tree and select Application Link Settings. The settings for each application link appear in property pages in the right pane.
2. Click the AutoCAD tab. The AutoCAD link’s settings page appears in the right pane.
3. Click the Edit button to modify the settings.

Tip    To export the settings file to your computer, click the Export button. This can be useful if you would rather edit the file in your favorite text editor. You can then copy your changes to the Clipboard and paste them into Configurator.

4. Locate the section of the settings that begins with [TAGEXTRACTION] and locate the TagBlockTypes setting. If the settings do not yet exit, create them at the bottom of the file. The value of the TagBlockTypes setting contains the names of all blocks that the Asset Management Module will search for attributes to extract.
   

Tip    You can type comments in the file by beginning each line with a semicolon (;).

5. Edit the value of TagBlockTypes to include the names of all blocks that you want to extract. You can delete any unused block names to simplify editing and increase synchronization performance. The setting should look similar to the following:
   

[TAGEXTRACTION]
TagBlockTypes=XDIN_,XDHV,XDE_SRV,XDE_SIZ,XDE_PMP,XDCV

If multiple block names begin with the same characters and will all use the same settings, you can type a single wildcard pattern to match the names, for example, XD* would be equivalent to specifying the individual block names in the example above. However, if you want to specify different settings for each block name, you must list each block name separately and create a separate settings section for it as described below.

6. Locate the TagListProperty setting. If it does not yet exist, create it below TagBlockTypes. The value of this setting is the Meridian Enterprise property set name and property name where extracted tag values (tag number list) are to be stored for each drawing. The property should be a memo data type. The setting should use the following syntax:
   

TagListProperty=<PropertySetName.PropertyName>

Tip    You can find the names of property sets and properties on the Properties page of each document type definition.

To add a prefix or suffix to the value that is stored in the property, see Configuring object name prefixes and suffixes.

7. For each block name in TagBlockTypes, locate the section in the file with a label that includes the word TAGBLOCK followed by the block name separated by an underscore, for example, [TAGBLOCK_XDIN] or [TAGBLOCK_XD*]. If one does not yet exist, create it at the bottom of the file.
8. On consecutive lines in each TAGBLOCK section, type settings using the descriptions in the following table.

Following is an example of one complete TAGBLOCK section for a single attribute tag:

[TAGBLOCK_XDIN]
TagProperty=NAME
TagType=Instrument
TagFormat= \b(?:(?:25[0-5]|2[0-4][0-9]|[01]?[0-9][0-9]?)\.){3}(?:25[0-5]|2[0-4][0-9]|[01]?[0-9][0-9]?)\b

9. Click OK to save your changes.
10. By default, tag extraction occurs automatically whenever a drawing is saved in AutoCAD. This can be cleared by creating a DWORD value named SyncTagsOnSave at the following registry key on the client computers:
    

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Cyco\AutoManager Meridian\CurrentVersion\AutoCADLink

Set SyncTagsOnSave to 0 to disable extraction when the drawing is saved, set it to 1 (default) to enable extraction.

11. Test the link thoroughly by extracting each tag as described in the BlueCielo Meridian Asset Management Module User's Guide.

Note    When tag extraction occurs, a Meridian Asset Management Module Client Extension license is claimed.