4.3.7.5. Using Dependency Views to Show Connectivity

 
The Dependency View feature is used to display a schematic style diagram based upon the selected Equipment, Cable, or Circuit object and its connectivity to other objects. All displayed connections are based upon the Ports on the Equipment and any Ports associated with slots, sub-compontents, etc.
 
A Dependency View can be opened for different types of objects and from several places in the application:
  • Dependency View... context menu option in Design World or Object Grid  for a single Equipment or Cable object
  • Path Steps View... context menu option in Object Grid for a single Circuit object
  • Dependency View button on the bottom of Equipment, Cable or Circuit Properties dialog
  • Dependency View button in the Equipment grid in Elevation
 
Note there are some differences in the Dependency view, depending on the type of object it's opened for:
  •  The Dependency View opened for a Cable is almost exactly the same as the one opened for Equipment, except that it doesn't have an Equipment root node, but a Cable root instead. All Equipment nodes in the view are treated as ordinary non-root nodes. The root Cable is drawn in a highlighted/stylized way, but is otherwise treated like any other Cable.
  • The Dependency View opened for a Circuit is also very similar to other Dependency Views except that it doesn't have a root node representing the circuit.
 
A Dependency View has two main sections:
  • data grids (Equipment, Cable and Circuit Details grids)
  • a schematic diagram
     
Both of these will be both explained in more detail in the following sub-topics.