With the groups function, the user can turn on and off additional design elements and switch between design alternatives. In MAGNET Explorer, groups can be turned on/off (visibility) and highlighted with a user-defined highlighting color.
The Groups dialog box can be started from the Modeler menu or from the configuration tree. The user defines the group names in the Groups dialog box. Each object type has a parameter called group. Groups can be defined by layer or by element, as with any other object parameter.
If the CAD drawing elements have groups defined that are not in the vm-modeler.ini file, they are added to the groups list after the model is generated for the first time. Normally that doesn’t happen because the user saves the group information with the configuration.
Groups are sorted automatically alphabetically in the dialog box so that, for example, design alternatives “Alternative1 – Pipes” and “Alternative2 – Pipes” go into a logical order.
Click Add group to add a new group.
Add a subgroup to any group by right-clicking on the group name and selecting Add Sub-Group to Group "xxx".
Use the Delete group button to delete a group. If CAD drawing elements have groups defined, they are not deleted unless the Clear object properties option is checked in the element properties dialog box.
Rename a group with the Rename group button. Renaming a group goes through all object definitions in the modeling configuration and changes the group names accordingly. Renaming a group doesn’t affect groups that are defined in the CAD drawing elements.
Group properties can be changed by clicking the property column of a specific group. Properties are:
- Visible: yes or no
- Highlight: yes or no
- Color: select a color
The current status of group properties is saved to the vdc-modeler.ini file and any *.VM or *.VMPZ files that are generated.
