Configure the AutoCAD Link

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

Note:

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.

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 tag, where the tag value alone is the tag name. This is the typical scenario. Additional instructions to configure more complex scenarios are described in the following topics.

Note:

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.

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

  4. In the section that begins with [TAGEXTRACTION], edit or add the Tag Extraction Settings you want. If a setting you want to add or change does not exist, create it.

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

  5. For each block name in TagBlockTypes, locate the section in the file labeled TAGBLOCK followed by an underscore and the block name.

    For example, [TAGBLOCK_XDIN] or [TAGBLOCK_XD*]. If a section does not exist, create it at the bottom of the file.

  6. In each TAGBLOCK_section, edit or add the TAGBLOCK section settings.

  7. Click OK.

  8. To prevent automatic tag extraction whenever a drawing is saved in AutoCAD, create a DWORD value named SyncTagsOnSave at this 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.

  9. Test the AutoCAD link thoroughly by extracting each tag as described in the Accruent Meridian Enterprise User's Guide.
TAGEXTRACTION settings
Setting Description
DisableCircularRef

By default, an error message is shown during tag extraction if a circular reference would result. This setting disables the message.

0 or absent – Processing occurs as normal.

1 – Processing circular references is disabled. This is the same as clicking Cancel in the error dialog box.

TagBlockTypes

Contains the names of all blocks that Meridian will search for attributes to extract. You can delete any unused block names to simplify editing and increase synchronization performance.

For example:

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* is equivalent to entering individual block names in the example above.

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.

TagListProperty

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. For example:

TagListProperty=<PropertySetName.PropertyName>

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, configure tag name prefixes and suffixes.

RecalculateExtentsOnHotspotExtraction

Determines the way hotspot extents are updated on a rendition when hotspots are extracted:

0 – Extents are not updated

1 – Extents updated only for model

2 – Extents updated for model and all layouts

When the extents are updated, they are saved to the hotspot stream and the original drawing is not updated.

If you have selected 0 and hotspots on the rendition have shifted from their associated block, change the setting to 1 or 2 and see if the problem persists.

TAGBLOCK section settings
Setting Description

TagProperty

A single attribute tag name in the block that contains the tag name to be extracted. If different tag names contain the tag name depending on the value of a document property, see Configure Alternate Tag Names.

If any of the attribute tags will be empty, add the following setting (the default is 0) in the [TAGEXTRACTION] section:

AllowEmptyFields=1

This setting may also specify the name of a VBScript function to calculate the tag name by using the value Script:<FunctionName>(<Attributes>) where <Attributes> is a comma-separated list of the attribute names to pass to the function for calculation. The link takes those names, retrieves their values, and places them in an array together with the other elements and passes that array to the function. The attribute names and values will be added to the array in the order that they are listed in this setting. We do not recommend omitting the list, which will negatively impact performance.

The function should calculate the tag property name from the array elements and if successful, place it in the fourth element of the array and return True. Otherwise, it should return False. The structure of the array is demonstrated in the example function shown at the end of this topic.

TagExpression Extended wildcard expression ?[TagProperty]*-*

TagProperty, TagExpression (without substitution) and TagType are added to the hotspot stream.

The viewer component substitutes [TagProperty] and interprets the extended wildcard expression. If multiple tags in the vault match the wildcard, a list with the matching tags will be shown when the user clicks the hotspot.

TagType

The name of the Meridian tag type to find or create for the block. This setting is used to create and link tags to drawings as described in the Accruent Meridian Enterprise User's Guide. The name can be literal, for example, Instrument or it can be a value in the attribute itself.

To specify the tag type as an attribute value, specify the tag name that contains the tag type in braces, for example, [TAG-NAME].

You may also specify the tag type as a combination of constant strings and tag values with separator characters, for example, TAG-[TAG-SYSTEM]-[TAG-CLASS]. Spaces may not be used as separator characters or at the beginning or end of tag names.

Filters described in Configure Tag Filters will also be applied to this setting.

This setting may also specify the name of a VBScript function to calculate the tag name similar to the TagProperty setting.

UseTagPrePostFix

Set to 0 or 1 to ignore or apply tag name prefixes and suffixes as described in Configure Tag Name Prefixes And Suffixes. If this setting is omitted, the settings will be applied.

Here's an example of a TAGBLOCK section for a single attribute tag:

[TAGBLOCK_XDIN]
TagProperty=NAME
TagExpression=?[TagProperty]*-*
TagType=Instrument

Here is a sample VBScript function for use with the TagProperty or TagType setting.

Copy
' Option Compare Text
' args - array of:
' 0: (In) layout name, string
' 1: (In) block name, string
' 2: (In) array of attribute names, strings
' 3: (In) array of attribute values, strings
' 4: (Out) tag value, string
' function should return TRUE upon success or FALSE on failure

Function ReadTag(args)
   Dim fRes
    
   fRes = False

   If IsArray(args) Then
      Dim Layout
      Dim Block
      Dim Names
      Dim Values
        
      Layout = args(0)
      Block = args(1)
      Names = args(2)
      Values = args(3)
        
      If IsArray(Names) And IsArray(Values) Then
         Dim TagValue
         Dim Count
            
         Count = ubound(Values)
            
         For i = 0 To Count
            TagValue = TagValue + Values(i)
         Next
            
         args(4) = TagValue
         fRes = True
      End If
   End If

   ReadTag = fRes
End Function ' ReadTag
            

2021 R2