Customizing a Nested HQ Symbol

Scenario: You want to create a Symbol for a smoke detector that displays a specific background color for a specific event/information condition. The HQ Library already has a Symbol for this situation; however, the color for the background is gray. You want to create an additional customized Project detector Symbol to display the purple background for the Information event condition. All other runtime behavior as for the original Symbol as well as the event lamp can remain the same.

Workflow:

 

Prerequisites:

  • Function must be known

 

Steps:

1 – Locate the HQ Symbol
  • You are in the Graphics Editor in Engineering mode.
  1. Navigate to the Library Browser view and locate the Symbol you want to customize. For this example, search for the following:
  • Symbol Name: DYN_3D_Detector_Ceiling_None_Horizontal_001
  • Library Name: Fire_Detection_HQ_1 library
  1. Right click on the Symbol, and from the context menu, select Customize.
  1. Click OK to confirm customization of the library.
  1. A copy of the Symbol is placed in an already existing project library or a new project library is created:
  • In this example, the following library is created automatically: Fire_Detection_Project_1
2 – Edit the Project Symbol
  • You have copied a Symbol from the HQ library to the Project library. This is the Symbol that contains the nested Symbol you want to customize.
  1. Navigate to the Library Browser view, and from the drop-down menu, select the Project library.
  • In this case: Fire_Detection_Project.
  1. Right click on the Symbol, and from the context menu select Edit.
  1. In the Element Tree view, do the following:
    a. Click Show All Elements to display all the elements in the layer.
    b. Click on the Symbol Instance, you want to modify.
    NOTE: This is the nested symbol that you want to modify.
  1. From the Symbol Instance Properties > Symbol Instance section, in the Symbol Reference field, note or copy the library and Symbol name path and paste it onto the canvas.
  • TIP: Pasting the information on the canvas allows you to see the library name and the path of the nested Symbol, so you can use the information for the next step.
  • For this example: Library: Global_Base_HQ1 Library; Symbol: DYN_All_Generic_SummaryStatus_Central_002
  1. Navigate to the Library Browser view, and do the following:
    a. From the drop-down menu, select the library the nested Symbol is located in.
    b. In the search field, copy and paste the name of the Symbol from the canvas. Delete the pasted path from the canvas, as it is no longer needed.
    c. Right-click on the Symbol, and from the context menu click Customize.
    d. Once the Symbol displays in the Project Library, right-click on the Symbol, and from the context menu click Edit.
  • The nested Symbol displays.
  1. In the Element Tree, click on the element, in this case Ellipse, you want to customize.
  • According to the existing evaluation, the element’s Fill color changes according to Text Group values.
  1. In the Evaluation Editor, set or modify the evaluations, as needed. In this case, modify the following:
    a. From the Property drop-down menu, select Fill.
    b. In line 20 of the Condition/Value table click the gray rectangle and type the color: purple.
  1. Click Save As and save the modified Symbol to the L4 Project based library.

 

3 – Replace the Nested Symbol
  1. In System Browser, select Management View.
  1. Select Project > System Settings > Libraries > L4-Project and navigate to the library you just saved the modified Symbol to.
  1. Right-click on the Symbols folder, and from the context menu, select Send to the Secondary Pane.
  1. In the Graphics Editor, click on the parent Symbol tab that is still displayed.
  1. In the Element Tree view, click on the Symbol Instance that referenced the Symbol you modified in the previous step.
  1. From the Secondary Pane, drag the customized Symbol, and drop it over the Symbol Instance Properties > Symbol Instance > Symbol Reference field.
  • The Symbol Reference Symbol has been replaced with the customized project Symbol.
  1. Click Save As and save the modified Symbol to the L4 Project based library.
  1. Select Project > System Settings > Libraries > L4-Project and navigate to the library you just saved the modified parent Symbol to.
  1. Right-click on the Symbols folder, and from the context menu, select Send to the Secondary Pane.

 

4 – Customize the Function

The parent Symbol belongs to a function, which must also be customized.

NOTE: In this workflow, the custom function is: Automatic Detector.

  1. Select Project > System Settings > Libraries > L1-Headquarter > [subsystem library] > [Function], in this example: Automatic Detector.
  1. Select the desired function object.
  1. Click the Models & Functions tab.
  1. Click Customize.
  • A confirmation message is displayed.
  1. Click OK.
  • A function is created in the corresponding customization level.
  1. Navigate to Project > System Settings > Libraries > L4-Project > [subsystem library] > [Function].
  1. Right-click the function, and from the context menu, select Send to Primary Pane.
5 – Associate the Customized Symbol and Function
  1. From the Secondary Pane, click on the customized parent Symbol, and drag it to the Primary pane and drop it in the Symbols section.
  • The customized Symbol has been added to the Function.
  1. Right-click on the Symbol, and from the context menu, click Style:
    a.     Select New Style.
    b. In the New Style pane, type a name for the new style, for example: 3D-Custom.
    c.     Click OK.
  • The customized Symbol is added to the Function, and is the default Symbol for the Style 3D-Custom.
6 – (Optional) Test the New Symbol
  1. Drag-and-drop an object of the type that uses that Function.
  1. If needed, replace the Symbol with the Style created.
  1. In Test mode, open the Value Simulator.
  1. Expand the Object Selection section, and then change value of the object to see the Symbol changes engineered.