1. Together we are Advancing Infrastructure
Bentley User Group Victoria Australia
AUTOMATING ANNOTATION
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2. AUTOMATING ANNOTATION
Annotation is one of the most time consuming tasks and in many cases the wrong information is sent out with the deliverables.
Elements contain information that can be used in labels/notes etc. like Length, Area, Level name, and any other element information.
Connect Edition gives us tools to virtually eliminate errors and speed up the process of annotation.
Many improvements and new features introduced into CE to enhance productivity by automating many processes.
CE gives us the ability to add information to any elements contained in our design files.

3. ITEM TYPES
Item types can be used to store additional information about elements in the form of properties. Items can be attached to a model within a cell library; every time that model is placed as a cell, the attached items are copied to the new cell.
Items can be attached to an element template, and every time the element template is used, a copy of the template's items are attached to the new element.
Items can also be attached to existing elements and cells etc.

4. ITEM TYPES
The additional properties in Item types can be used to label, report, or change the display of the elements, similar to the things we could do previously with any of the element properties.
Door schedules, signage reports, and bills of quantities, are some of the real world examples where item types can be used.
Once we have Items attached to elements we can edit the information by using the Properties dialog, programmatically using macros, or, import/export to/from Excel.
We can then use that data to drive our information outputs in several ways, text notes, labels, tables, reports, and export/import to and from Excel.

5. ISSUES YOU MAY NEED CONSIDER
Item Type Design:
Create your Item Types in a dgnlib in the MS_DGNLIBLIST path to make them available for all users.
Design the Item Types to cover all the information you wish to add now, and possibly in the future, and that all the property Types and Definitions are set correctly to work as designed.
Item Types can be changed later but may cause issues with compatibility, and getting them to work as desired after the change.
Common things like Addresses, Plant Information etc. could be put into Property Types so they can be used in many Item Types.

6. ISSUES YOU MAY NEED CONSIDER
A simple Item Type with Property Definitions

7. ISSUES YOU MAY NEED CONSIDER
An Item Type with a Property Definition using a Property Type containing the Property Definitions set as an array.

8. ISSUES YOU MAY NEED CONSIDER
Getting Element Templates to work with Items:
Create your Element Templates in a dgnlib in the MS_DGNLIBLIST path to make them available for all users.
Items must be active in the Element Template dgnlib, to be able to add them to the templates.
The Items active in the Element Template file must be in sync with the original Item if in a different dgnlib.
Use the Libraries > Save option, to make Item active, and the Libraries > Update from Library option to ensure they match.

9. ISSUES YOU MAY NEED CONSIDER
Desired Item not in active file.
Use Libraries > Save to make a copy in active file.

10. ISSUES YOU MAY NEED CONSIDER
A simple Item Type can be pre populated within the element template.

11. ISSUES YOU MAY NEED CONSIDER
An Item Type with Property Types set as an array cannot be prepopulated within the element template.

12. ISSUES YOU MAY NEED CONSIDER
Using Text Favorites with Items and Element Properties:
Create your Text Favorites in a dgnlib in the MS_DGNLIBLIST_TEXTFAVORITES path to make them available for all users.
When creating Text Favorites for Elements with Items, the elements need to be either in the active file or referenced to the active file so you can access the properties.
Use the Text Favorites Manager to rename your favorites and place them into logical groups for easy access.

13. ISSUES YOU MAY NEED CONSIDER
CREATING A LABEL CELL:
Create your label cells in a cell library in the MS_CELLLIST path to make them available for all users.
Create a new model in the cell library and make it the active model.
In the Text Editor select your Text Favorite making sure you have the correct attribute settings, and place the text at the appropriate point relative to 0,0 (cell Origin).
If you want a dynamic box around the label, create it with the Place Note tool using Callout option and a Dimension style with Text Frame set to Box.
Place any other elements desired in the label.

14. ISSUES YOU MAY NEED CONSIDER
Dimension Styles for Labels:
Create your Dimension Styles in a dgnlib in the MS_DGNLIBLIST_DIMENSIONSTYLES path to make them available for all users.
If you want a dynamic box around the label, the Dimension style needs to have a Text Frame set to Box.
Create different styles for different terminators and any other dimension attributes for the Leader and Text Frame used with the Place Label tool.

15. ISSUES YOU MAY NEED CONSIDER
Place Label:
If you are placing labels for filled areas, set your snap to Nearest or Multi-snap 1 so that it snaps to the fill to get the element association.
Make sure you have create relative associations to elements ON.
Select the element with the Item attached to make the association and place the label.

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