4.3.13.3. Block Shapes

     
In IRM, a Block Shape represents an instance of a Block, which means there is one of these for each instance of a Block in the Design World. Essentially, a Block Shape is just a Shape that is drawn as a Block, as it gets its drawing info from a Block object.  Block Shapes can be placed in the Design World by hand, but more commonly they are generated as the result of importing block instances from CAD files.
 
A Block is a template or “stencil” for Block Shape objects.
  • A Block does not have its own drawing data directly.  Instead, it is a collection of primitive child drawing objects like Lines, Arcs, Text, and Images.
  • A Block is always assigned to a Category, though these Categories are a bit different from those used by Super Categories such as Equipment and Cable as they don't appear in the Categories and Types Tree.
  • Valid Block Categories exist for
  • Equipment Blocks,
  • Location Blocks,
  • Maintenance Hole Blocks,
  • Note Blocks
  • Basic Shapes. 
  • Besides being used for drawing Block Shapes, Blocks are also used for drawing Location, Maintenance Hole, and Equipment objects.
 
There are two other related types of objects that we cover here just to distinguish from Blocks and Block Shapes, because it is easy to confuse these related object types:
  • Asset - an object that contains the actual byte array of an image file or other binary object and metadata about the content.  In other words, an Asset is literally the contents of a .png or .jpg file or some other file that has been uploaded into IRM.
  • Image - a drawing primitive object (a peer to a Line, Arc, or Text) that is based on an asset
     
    To put the whole object hierarchy together in one statement, we can say that a Block Shape is an instance of a Block which (often) has a child Image that references an Asset.
          
    Note: although Blocks are often based on Images, they can also be based on Lines, Arcs, Text or some combination.
 
The main use of Block Shapes is to visually depict non-Managed objects in the Design World. The user can interact with Block Shapes in two other ways:
  • via the Block Shape Properties dialog
  • via the Appearance tab in various object Properties dialogs (Equipment Properties, Location Properties and Maintenance Hole Properties dialogs)
 
A good use case scenario for understanding Block Shapes is to create and insert one into the Design World, as it highlights the most important features of the Block Shape Properties dialog, as explained in the following images and text.
 
 

Insert a Block Shape into the Design World

1

Click on the Create Block Shape icon in the Design World toolbox

1. Click on the Create Block Shape icon in the Design World toolbox
2

Block Shape Properties dialog opens

The Block Shape Properties dialog displays a list of Block Categories, list of Blocks for the selected Category, as well as a preview section displaying the actual image of a selected Block. Click on a image name from the list and click the Save button to select a Block Shape and insert it into the Design World.
 
The selected Block Shape can be scaled inside the dialog by changing the Scale value in the appropriate text box.
 
Also, in case the desired Block Shape is not already displayed here, click on the + button causes the standard browser File upload dialog to open, enabling the upload of a new image from which IRM can create an Asset, an Image, and finally a Block.
 
The list of Categories displayed on the left of the Block list enables the user to view different sets of Blocks. The most useful Category is Equipment Blocks, which includes Blocks that are created as part of CAD file import. Other Categories are for special purposes and are included in this dialog for the sake of completeness and as an alternate way for the user to "pencil in" objects for visualization purposes only, without creating full IRM objects. However, Planet does not recommend that approach. Usually it is better practice to add actual Equipment objects with the appropriate "Design" lifecycle stage set.
3

Place the newly created Block Shape in the Design World

3. Place the newly created Block Shape in the Design World
Once a Block Shape is selected and the Save button is clicked, the Block Shape Properties dialog is closed and the newly created Block Shape attached to the mouse cursor for insertion in the Design World.  Click anywhere in the Design World to set the position of the new Block Shape object:
 
In addition to inserting Block Shapes in the Design World, IRM supports other actions for Block Shapes through different context menu options:
  • View and edit Block Shape Properties through the Style tab in the Block Shape Properties dialog (which is the same as the Decorative Drawing Object Properties dialog)
  • Cut, Copy, Paste and delete Block Shapes.
 
Note: If a Block Shape is saved under the Equipment Blocks Category in the Block Shape Properties dialog,  means it will be available for any Equipment Type to select it as a Block Shape to represent it in the Design World. This is done in the Appearance tab in the Equipment Type Properties dialog.
 
That tab looks similar to the Block Shape Properties dialog, with a few different details, like the different categorization, as displayed in the screenshot below:
 
The Appearance tab enables the user to specify the Block Shape to represent certain types of objects in the Design World. If a Block Shape is saved under the Location (Blocks) Category in the Block Shape Properties dialog, this means it will be available for any Location object to select it as a Block Shape to represent the it in the Design World.