Spatial Manager™ for BricsCAD - FAQs: Data Structure Management ("Standard" and "Professional" editions only)

Introduction

Objective of this section
- To learn how to define data tables and how to attach the data to the entities in a BricsCAD drawing

Topics in this section
- Data tables: create, restore, rename, edit or delete
- Fields in data tables: create, edit or delete. Field types
- Data grid
- Attach data to entities
- Detach data from entities
- Select entities based on their data
- Select entities in the drawing which are attached to a specific table
- Zoom to the selection

Note: Some components in the images on this page (providers, names, windows look, etc.) may be slightly different from those that will appear on your computer

NOTE for Imported entities: keep in mind that in the Importing processes the data tables may be automatically defined and the imported entities will be automatically attached to the data tables. All everything you read here applies to these cases
NOTE about the performance of the selections: the selection of entities in BricsCAD may be a few slower when the "SpatialManager" palette is open, depending on the data of the entities

How can I define data tables in a drawing?

The command 'SPMDATATABLEDEFINE' of Spatial Manager™ for BricsCAD lets you create new data tables in a drawing as well as modify them. Also use this command if you need to rename or delete data tables. You will find this command in the "Spatial Manager" ribbon, toolbar or drop-down menu

Table definition window

Click on the "New Table" button to create a new (empty) data table. Select a data table in the drop-down list to rename it ("Rename Table" button), delete it ("Delete Table" button) or to modify it:

Add Field. To add a new field in the selected data table
- Name. The field name, unique in the selected data table
- Type. You can select the field type in the drop-down list: Text, Integer, Date, etc. The field type cannot be changed if you want to modify the field later
- Default value. The default value for this field when the corresponding data table is attached to one or more entities
Modify Field. To edit the selected field of the selected data table (view "Add Field" above)
Delete Field. To delete the selected field of the selected data table

Note: In brackets the Length of the Field (and the number of decimal places, when applicable)

Add / Modify field window

The following is the behavior of the application when you modify a data table which is already attached to one or more entities in the drawing:

Adding a field: the new field is added to all the attached entities. If a "Default value" has been defined for the field, this will be the value assigned to the field for these entities
Modifying a field: only the name of the field (if modified) will be changed for all the attached entities
Deleting a field: the field will be erased for all the attached entities

As you can see in the Tables selection dropdown, there is a "scan new tables..." option to retrieve data Table structures from the drawing entities. This is useful when "Copying/Cutting and Pasting" entities from one drawing to another, when saving drawings using WBLOCK, when inserting a drawing into another, etc.

How to attach a data table to one or more entities?

When you want to attach an existing data table to one or more entities in the drawing, you can execute the command 'SPMDATATABLEATTACH' of Spatial Manager™ for BricsCAD. You will find this command in the "Spatial Manager" BricsCAD ribbon, toolbar or drop-down menu

First, choose a data table in the list of defined data tables in the command window. Then, the attach operation can be applied to the selected entities (if any) or to a new entities selection

WARNING: An entity can be attached to one data table only, so if you attach it to a new data table the previously data attached to this entity (if any) WILL BE LOST

How can I modify the entities data?

You can directly edit a field value (XDATA / EED Direct data edition) for one or more entities in Spatial Manager™ for BricsCAD by selecting the entity (or entities) in the drawing and typing the new value for this field in the "Properties" area of the "SpatialManager" palette. You can also delete the field content to get a null value in this field. To validate any modification, you need to press Enter or click on a different field

Notes:

The fields whose value starts with "http" are automatically converted into active links
Because of performance considerations, the number of entities selected for which their data are shown in the application palette is limited to 25000

Is there any way to detach the data from the entities?

Yes, you can detach any data from one or more entities by executing the command 'SPMDATATABLEDETACH' of Spatial Manager™ for BricsCAD. You will find this command in the "Spatial Manager" BricsCAD ribbon, toolbar or drop-down menu

The detach operation can be applied to the selected entities (if any) or to a new entities selection

WARNING: All the current data attached to the entities (if any) WILL BE LOST

Can I define a selection of entities based on the values of their data?

The command 'SPMSELECTBYQUERY' in 'Spatial Manager™ for BricsCAD' allows you select entities in the drawing according to the result of a simplex or compound data query

The query can be applied to one data table or to all the data tables defined in the drawing
Click on the "+" button to add at least one condition and so create a data query (a condition that stands for "Property & Comparator & Value")
When you are defining a compound query, you can add as many conditions as you want to the conditions list . Click on the "+" button each time you need to add a condition
- You can select the logical operators "And" or "Or" when adding new conditions. "And" will be the default operator
In addition, if there is any entity selected when you run the command, you can:
- Apply the query to the current selection, and not to the entire drawing, or,
- Keep the current selection so the new "query selection" will be added to the current selection
Notes:
- You can choose and search (...) among the available values for a Field
- The command keeps the list of query conditions used the last time it was executed
- If there are no results during a query, the command window is shown again and keeps the list of query conditions
- You can use the "-" button every time you need to remove a condition from the conditions list in the query, or you can use the Clean button (the "broom") to remove all query conditions from the list

You can use the command 'SPMZOOMTOSELECTION' (see below) to quickly zoom into the selection extent

Can I select all the entities attached to the same data table?

Yes, you can select all the entities which have been previously attached to a specific data table. To do that, execute the command 'SPMSELECTBYTABLE' of Spatial Manager™ for BricsCAD. You will find this command in the "Spatial Manager" BricsCAD ribbon, toolbar or drop-down menu

To choose the one you want, click on the data tables drop-down list

Note: You can use the command 'SPMZOOMTOSELECTION' (see below) to quickly zoom to the selection extent

Is there any way to locate on the screen all the selected entities?

Yes, the 'Spatial Manager™ for BricsCAD' 'SPMZOOMTOSELECTION' command, zooms to the current selection extent so you can locate all the selected entities in an optimal size view

Note: This functionality can be very handy as a complement to the two previous selection commands, but also if it is used with other BricsCAD selection functions

Can I view and edit the entities data in a table form? ("Professional" edition only)

Yes, the command 'SPMDATATABLEGRID' of Spatial Manager™ for BricsCAD opens the 'Data Grid' palette where you can view, edit, etc. the entities data in any table in the drawing. You can also select entities from the 'Data Grid', export the data from the tables and more

Like any BricsCAD palette, the 'Data Grid' palette can be arranged, docked, undocked, grouped, self-collapsed, etc., and resized, depending on the preferences and needs of each user or each job, by dragging its title bar, double-clicking on its title bar, etc.

To choose the drawing data table that you want to show in the 'Data Grid', you can use the drop-down list of available tables that can be found in the palette upper left area
- You can select which table fields you want to display in the 'Data Grid' by right-clicking on any grid area
- You can move the field separation lines in the table header to change the width of the corresponding column
  - A double click on this vertical line (always in the table header) will automatically adjust the corresponding column width to the dimension of the longest value in that field
  - If the value of a field in a given row cannot be seen as complete due to the width of the column, placing the cursor over the corresponding cell will display a tooltip displaying the full value in that cell. The same applies to the names of the fields in the table header
- To sort the values of a column alphabetically, click on the column name in the table header. A second click will invert the sorting
- To move and sort the fields (columns) in the table you can drag the field name itself in the table header to the left or right
  - If you hover the cursor in the table header over the name of a field, a tooltip with information about the properties of that field (Name, Type, Length, etc.) will be displayed (except when the incomplete name of a field is displayed as a tooltip - see above)
The 'Data Grid' is automatically synchronized with the current drawing
- You can select entities in the drawing in order to highlight the corresponding attached rows in the 'Data Grid'
  - If the "Automatic scroll" option (palette upper right area) is activated, the rows will be automatically scrolled to show the selected entities
- You can also select rows in the 'Data Grid' in order to select the corresponding attached entities in the drawing. You can use the CTRL and SHIFT keys (alone or in combination) when you want to select multiple rows
  - If the "Automatic zoom" option (palette upper right area) is activated, the drawing view will be adjusted to the selected entities extent
    - Use "Zoom to selection" (right-click menu) at any time if you want to do the same thing by hand, or "Zoom to object" if you only want to zoom to the entity under the cursor in the grid when right-clicking
  - If the "Automatic centering" option (palette upper right area) is activated, the drawing view will be centered on the selected entities without modifying the zoom level
    - Use "Center selection" (right-click menu) at any time if you want to do the same thing by hand, or "Center object" if you only want to center the entity under the cursor in the grid when right-clicking
  - As long as you are focused on the grid rows, you can use the keyboard (Up, Down, CTRL+Up, etc.) to navigate through the rows, and the SPACE key to select rows (you will see a small "tick" checked on the row header when you select it)
  - Use the selection functions (buttons set on top of the palette / right-click menu) if you want to Select All entities attached to the current table, Invert the selected entities (see note below) or Deselect all selected entities
- Use "Delete" (buttons set on top of the palette / right-click menu) to delete selected entities and their data from the drawing (see note below)
- You can find information about the number of selected entities and the total number of entities, as well as navigation buttons between the rows selected in the table, in the palette lower left area
- Under some circumstances, synchronization may be lost. To resynchronize drawing and 'Data Grid', use the "Refresh" button next to the tables dropdown (upper left area of the palette)
  - For application performance reasons, sometimes a warning will be displayed to indicate that you need to manually refresh the 'Data Grid'. For example, this may happen when a very large number of entities are deleted in the drawing
  - Also for performance reasons, the selection of entities may need to use the "Activate table of selected objects" button, located to the right of the previous one, in order to update the table shown in the data grid
    - If this button is enabled, the table shown in the grid is not attached to any of the selected entities. Pressing it will display the table attached to the selected entity, or to one of the selected entities if there are more than one
    - When the button is disabled, the table shown in the grid is the table attached to one of the selected entities, or none of the selected entities are attached to any table
To edit the value in a cell, simply double-click on the cell. You can also click or press ENTER on the "active" cell to edit its value. To finish the edition, press the ENTER key or the TAB key (edit next field in the same row), or select any other cell or row in the table. To cancel editing, press the ESC key
- Pressing CTRL+ENTER will allow you to assign the current value in a cell to all cells in the same column for all selected rows
- Pressing SHIFT+ENTER will allow you to assign the current value in a cell to all cells in the same column for all rows
You can export to an ASCII file the data in the whole table or in the selected rows only by running "Export" (buttons set on top of the palette / right-click menu)
- As you will see, you can include the field names in the export process and choose the field delimiter and the extension of the exported file

Alternatively you can copy the table information to the Windows clipboard by using "Copy" (buttons set on top of the palette / right-click menu) or by pressing CTRL+C
- The selected rows and headers (field names) will be copied in a tab-separated format, suitable for pasting into a spreadsheet, ASCII editor, etc.
- As an exception, if a field is being edited (see above), only the value of this field will be copied to the clipboard
From the buttons set on top of the palette you can also directly access the tables main management commands
- Select by query (SPMSELECTBYQUERY)
- Select by table (SPMSELECTBYTABLE)
- Define table (SPMDATATABLEDEFINE)
- Attach (SPMDATATABLEATTACH)
- Detach (SPMDATATABLEDETACH)
Notes:
- When you use grid functions that affect selected entities (Invert, Delete, etc.), the selection refers only to those entities linked to the current table. For example when Deleting, the entities selected in the current table will be deleted but not other entities selected in the drawing (if any), which will be deselected before the deletion operation
- The "Feature_ID" column in the tables indicates the BricsCAD Handle of the entity (unique and unrepeatable for each entity in the drawing). These values cannot be edited
- If a table to which entities in the drawing are attached does not appear in the table drop-down list, try to "Restore" tables as these entities may be in the drawing after copying-pasting between drawings, inserting one drawing into another, etc.
- If closed, the application will automatically open the 'Data Grid' palette the first time you import any data source that includes a data table (EED/XDATA)