Object Linking (Relations)
There are two categories of links in HDC:
System Links: These links are used to organize drawing structure and other system elements. They are not managed directly by the user and are created automatically by the system.
User-defined links: These indicate relations between objects. For example, such links can be a Floor linked to a Building or a Space object linked to a geometrical shape (Spot) on the drawing.
Understanding HDC links
In order to discuss the linking system, we will use a simple set of objects as depicted on this schematic:
When discussing specific objects, we can observe links that both originate from another object and lead to other objects.
For instance, considering a Floor, there is an incoming link from Building and multiple outgoing links to Documents and Spaces.
By utilizing this linked data in conjunction with Perspectives, information can be presented. For a standard building tree view, the required perspective would be:
Building → Floor
Floor → Space
To display documents in a grid view, the necessary perspective would be:
Floor → Document
Managing Links
To understand the organization of underlying links, you can utilize the show links function.
For advanced users, it is recommended to use linking functions in the Links panel and on the context menu.
On the context menu for each object, a range of functions is provided to show, copy, and paste links.
When an object is right-clicked, a popup menu appears, and a copy function displays the number of links to be copied.
When using the Paste function, links from the clipboard will be pasted onto the selected, right-clicked object.
The direction of the link will always be as follows: Clicked object → clipboard objects.
A sample below illustrates a typical situation, where for a building we have one incoming link from property, and several outgoing links for Floors and Documents.
The data is filtered into specific views based on Perspectives.
Managing Links in a Grid View
Managing links within a grid view using three basic functions is the simplest and most intuitive approach. This method makes linking much easier without needing to adhere to link direction rules.
It's important to note that linking buttons in the Grid View always correspond to the parent object selected in the tree view!
If this seems unfamiliar, consider it as similar to working with files within a folder. The Grid View can be likened to displaying the contents of a folder. You can test this by following these steps:
Select a floor that contains linked documents, check all required documents, and observe that the Copy links button becomes activated, displaying the number of links that can be copied.
When the links are copied, a Paste button is activated showing a number of links in a clipboard. Now select a new object where you want to link the documents:
Click the Paste button and the documents will be linked under the selected object.
If you want to remove the linked objects, simply check them and use the Unlink function.
Default Links
Each object can have multiple links, but there is always a main link called the (default) link. This default link is used when the Show Object's Graphical Representation action is triggered.
When the Show All Representations action is triggered, a number of Views are prepared. These Views can be iterated using "next/previous" buttons.
Copy & Paste links
You can easily copy a link to any object by right-clicking on the object, which reveals the "Copy Link" button.
Links to multiple selected objects can be copied at once
Previously copied links can be pasted onto any object, including vector elements in the drawing.
Within the GUI, a context menu with a "Paste Link" button is available for all visible objects. Duplicate links will simply be omitted.
Drag and Drop - Link Creation
Users can effortlessly create links between Tree objects and spots on a drawing by dragging the object from the Tree to the selected spot and dropping it over.
Drag and drop can only be done in Viewer Edit mode!
Delete Linked Object
When an object is deleted, all its links are also removed. The deletion process involves the subtree of the object based on the selected perspective (as defined in General System Settings). Only objects visible in the selected perspective will be deleted; linked objects from other perspectives will not be affected.
For example, if there is a link from a space to a building and we want to delete a floor in "Deep Delete Mode," the link to the building will not be followed for the "Building -> Floor -> Space" perspective.
When an object is selected for deletion and it has children, you can preview all the objects that will be deleted..
Popup Properties
If the spot has a valid link, by hovering or clicking on it (based on your settings), you can see its linked object properties.
This dialog also allow to quickly edit object properties, copy them or paste new value.
Useful links: Guide: Working with Popup Properties on Drawing
Default Object in Grid View Tesslet
After selecting an object in the Tree View tesslet, a set of linked objects is loaded into a Grid View.
If no object is designated as default, the first tab will be opened and the initial document will be selected and displayed.
To modify this behavior, users can select an object from that set and utilize the Set As Default function.
The automatic tab selection operates as follows:
For a given source object (e.g. Floor) and perspective (e.g. Document), only one target object can be designated as default.
The same object will be designated as default in parent class tabs (e.g. Document and Architect).
If no tab was previously selected, the first tab will be opened.
If there was a previously selected tab, the last used tab will be opened only if it contains any objects; otherwise, the first visible tab will be opened.
When a default object is set, the corresponding tab and page containing that document will be opened.
Edit rights are required for the source object to utilize the Set as Default button (rights for Object selected in Tree).
Important
The Default Object is determined by the connection between the Tree Object and Grid Object within the specified perspective.
This implies that each Grid Perspective may have a different Default Object, even if the Objects are the same.