5.0 Adding Elements and Updating Drawing Components Using Element Properties

Although a Layout drawing is associated with a specific element, it is possible to add elements from other element hierarchies to the drawing. Elements can be linked (added to the current element hierarchy in the Explorer pane), or just displayed in the drawing.

The Layout view binding feature allows you to:

  • Include drawing shapes, lines and arrows that display element condition color; and update automatically as the element’s condition changes.

  • Use children containers to display child elements for any number of levels of children that can be filtered and sorted as desired.

  • Insert text showing element name, DName or attribute values.

  • Show charts or gauges of element performance metrics.

This section focuses on the steps to bind drawing shapes or text to elements as well as create children containers. It is assumed that you know how to use the drawing toolbar to add shapes, arrows, lines, and text. For more information, see Section 3.3, Adding Shapes and Lines.