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8.

Want help on your syntax (PDMS Commands) then type


show !!syntaxhelp

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

HEIGHT 300
the next elbo in the current list by
passing any other elements
PREV
Move to the previous element in the list
PREV 4
Move four elements back from ce

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 elements
Q POS IN 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.

Q NAME
Query the name of the current element. This
may either begin with '/' character '/PIPING'
or may be by a list position 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.
Q PPLINE TOS DIR
Query the direction of the TOS pline on a
SCTN
Q Drawlist
…………………………… Query the Drawlist in design
Positioning Commands (General)

At E300N400U500
Position an element explicitly at the coordinates
given relative to the element's owner. To position
relative to some other element, wrt can be added,
as shown
At E3333N6000U50 WRT SITE
At N500W30U600 WRT WORLD
AT N4

At N40 WRT /FRED


BY N500
Move the element north from it's current position by
500mm
MOVE N45E DIST 200
Move the element 200mm in the direction N45E
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.

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 through N500 in ZONE coordinates.
THRO PT
Position the origin to intersect a line perpendicular to the implied
direction which passes through the branch tail.
CONNECT
Position the arrive point at the leave point of the previous component and
orientate the component to suit.

Orientation Commands (General)

ORI Y IS N AND Z IS U
This is the default orientation for all elements which can be
orientated.
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.
ORI P1 IS N
Rather than specifying an axis, this command specifies 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.
DIR AND P3 IS U
This is another special command which is only used on tees 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.

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 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 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:

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
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 that 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
Q PL BOP
Query the bottom of pipe elevation of the leave point
Q PA INSU
Query the insultation 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 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 nett weight (considering joint cut
outs)
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

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

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

!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.

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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