4.3.15.1. Multi-Area cabling

One of IRM's advanced features is Multi-Area cabling. IRM enables a single Cable to be routed across multiple Areas using the Continue in Area... option on the Cable's context menu. This section covers a use case for routing a Cable over multiple Areas.

To review, an Area is a unit of design in IRM where objects occupy some region in a 2D (x,y) plane. Typical Areas include a floor in a building or the ground level of a multi-building campus. A Site can support an arbitrary number of Areas. For drawing purposes, Areas can be shown in a Design World panel (usually only one or two Areas within the same panel for example the floor of a building with or without the surrounding grounds/outside plant region).

Note: It is important to ensure all Areas within which the Cable is to be routed are opened prior to inserting the Cable. This is necessary, as it is not possible to open Areas during the Cable insert process. Open the appropriate Areas by selecting the Open option form their context menu in the Categories & Types tree.

The following screenshot(s) and text explain a simple use case scenario:

selecting a Cable from a predefined set of Cables
inserting a Cable in Design World
continuing the Cable's route in another Area

Start Cable creation

The new Cable creation process is initiated by clicking on the Create Cable button in the Design World Toolbox, which opens the Create Cable dialog, explained in the next step.

Select Cable instance

Select Cable instance from the Default Cable Set predefined and enabled by default for selection when the Create New Cable dialog is opened. In this example the Default Cable Set consists of a single Cat 5 Patch Cable instance, which is Enabled by default and is ready for insertion into the Design World. Clicking on the Create Cable(s) button automatically closes the Create New Cable dialog and sets the focus to the Design World in Cable drawing mode.

For more details about inserting Cables into the Design World and Cable design and management in general, click on the following topic and its subtopics - Cable Management.

Insert the new Cable in the Design World

Click on the Create Cable(s) button in the previous step closes the Create New Cable sub dialog and brings focus to the Design World with the mouse cursor in cross hair (Cable routing) mode. A single left click on the canvas (drawing area) creates the first point in the Cable route, indicated by a hollow circle icon. The cursor coordinates and length of the Cable route are displayed at the end of each cable segment within the Cable route. A double click sets the final point of the Cable at the point where it will leave the area (displayed in the first screenshot in the next step).

Select Continue in Area.. option from Cable's context menu

After Cable drawing is completed, the final Cable is displayed in default layout mode, as displayed in the screenshot above.
Right-click on the cable(s) at the point they are to exit the area and select manage selection from the context menu. This will allow the user to select the cable(s) that are to be continued into another Area.

Note: the selected cable(s) route is highlighted it in red..

Next, right-click on the selected cable(s) and select Continue in Area... from the Context menu.

This now displays an additional Choose Area sub-dialog allowing user to select the Area within which the cable(s) route will be continued.

IMPORTANT NOTE: The application does not allow to continue Cable in another Area when End B is connected. In that case, the Continue in Area... context menu option is disabled and a tooltip describing why is displayed:

Select Area to continue Cable route

This dialog displays a list of all Areas available for Cable routing continuation. The list can be filtered by entering search criteria in the the Quick Search field. To continue the cable route into the selected area, select the appropriate Area row entry and then click on the OK button. This dialog will be closed and brings focus to the selected Area in the Design World with the mouse cursor in Cable routing mode

Continue the Cable routing in the other Area

A single left click on the canvas (drawing area) creates the first point in this new section of the Cable's route, indicated by a hollow circle icon. The cursor coordinates and length of the Cable route are displayed at the end of each cable segment within the Cable route. Double clicking sets the final point of the Cable (displayed in the first screenshot in the next step).

View newly created Cable in both Areas

After Cable drawing is completed in the other Area, the final Cable is displayed in default layout mode, with the addition of a Cable continuation icon (small hollow circle) added at the appropriate end of each Cable segment in each Area, as displayed in the images above.