Layer and Subtype Rules
To keep the interface simple and efficient, Designer XI combines many different feature types into the same designer component. Network Component is a good example, as it is a placeholder for many electric features that do not have a toolset on the Design tab. For example, Network Component includes arresters, capacitors, and regulators. While working in the design, all of these different electric assets are treated as a “Network Component.” As another example, Conductor is a single container for many kinds of conductors (overhead, underground, primary, secondary, bus bar, etc.) However, when the design is pushed to the GIS, these need to be separated and placed in the appropriate GIS feature classes. This is where layer rules are applied. Layer rules determine to which feature a design component should go. Subtype rules accomplish a similar task and determine to which subtype within a feature the component should go.
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Layer and Subtype rules are only used during the push to GIS.
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Layer and Subtype rules are C# expressions.
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The top to bottom order inside a layer rule does matter, because the application asks the conditions in the order listed. For example, below is a layer rule for conductors:
In readable terms, this means when the application is reviewing a conductor, it is asking these question in the following order:
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Is it an underground primary conductor? If yes, stop. If no, continue.
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Is it an underground secondary conductor? If yes, stop. If no, continue.
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Is it an overhead primary conductor? If yes, stop. If no, continue.
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Is it an overhead secondary conductor? If yes, stop. If no, continue.
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etc.
For this reason, always have the most specific condition first and the most generic last.
Multiple Conditions
Multiple conditions within a single layer are combined by an “AND” operator. This means that all conditions must evaluate to “true.” If you need multiple conditions combined by an “OR” operator (in other words, just one condition must evaluate to true), combine the statements into a single condition separated by “| |” as seen in the following image:
