Configure unit use types

Unit use types are values that define how each unit is used. Use type is one of the primary attributes used for configuring symbology and queries in the GIS data. ArcGIS Indoors supports unit use types defined in single and multi-line text, as well as unit use types stored as block attributes.

Configuring unit use types allows for your data to be validated with the Unit Use Type Missing, Unit Use Type Not Identical and Unit Use Type Not Standard validation checks. You can use ArcGIS Indoors for AutoCAD to validate the following rules for unit use types in your CAD drawing:

• Each unit has a use type.
  • The justification point of the use type text (or the block’s base point, if using block attributes) must be positioned inside the unit boundary.
  • A unit may contain multiple identical instances of its use type. This is to accommodate large or winding units to identify the use type in different parts of the unit on the drawing.
• Each use type in the CAD drawing matches the specified list of standard values for use type.
  • The list of standard values for use type is configured by the user.
  • When validating a standard use type value, differences in capitalization and white space cause the validation to fail.

The validation settings for unit use types can be accessed on the Configure Validation pane in Indoors for AutoCAD, on the Unit Use Types tab.

Set the unit use type feature layer

When configuring the Unit Use Types tab, you can create or select a feature layer to specify which entities in the drawing define the use types for each unit. To configure the feature layer for unit use types, perform the following in the Feature Layer section of the Configure Validation pane:

1. Start Autodesk AutoCAD and open a new or existing project.
2. On the ribbon, in the Validation group, click Configure .

   The Configure Validation pane appears.

3. Click the Unit Use Types tab on the Configure Validation pane.
4. Create a new feature layer, if necessary.
   1. Click New on the Configure Validation pane, under the Feature Layer section to open the Feature Layer Properties dialog box.
   2. Type a name in the Feature layer name text box or accept the default.
   3. Click the Entity type drop-down arrow and choose Text for TEXT or MTEXT entities or choose Block Attributes if unit use types are in block attributes.

      Note:

      The entity type determines the geometry type of the feature layer and cannot be changed after the feature layer is created. To assign a different entity type, create a new feature layer.

   4. Select one or more CAD layers with entities representing unit use types.

      Tip:

      For optimal performance, the feature layer should only include unit use type entities. To filter entities based on color, line type, or other CAD properties, use ArcGIS for AutoCAD to edit the feature layer.

   5. Click OK.
5. Click the Feature Layer drop-down arrow and choose the feature layer that defines the entities in the drawing that represent unit use types.

   The drop-down menu displays annotation feature layers for text, and point feature layers for block attributes.

   Note:

   To disable the Unit Use Type validation checks, select the empty (blank) item at the top of the list.

6. If the feature layer has unit use types in block attributes, configure the Block Attributes section:
   1. Click the Block Name drop-down arrow and choose the block that has the unit use type attribute.
   2. Click the Attribute Tag drop-down arrow and choose the tag from the block that has the unit use types.

Note:

If the Block Attributes section is disabled, ensure that the feature layer meets the following criteria:

• Entity Type is set to Block Attributes.
• The feature layer includes blocks.
• The blocks included in the feature layer have block attributes.

Parse unit use type text

Indoors for AutoCAD supports parsing and extracting portions of delimited text. If unit use types are part of larger strings, you can configure Indoors for AutoCAD to extract only the unit use type information for validation checks.

Complete the following steps to configure unit use type parsing; perform the following in the Text Parsing section on the Unit Use Types tab of the Configure Validation pane:

1. For the Delimiter parameter, type one or more characters that separate unit names from other information in the text string.

   Use \P to indicate a line break. To stop parsing, clear the delimiter setting.

2. For the Index parameter, specify the piece of delimited text to extract.

   An index of 1 extracts the first piece, 2 extracts the second piece, and so on.

Example 1

An example of unit types found in long strings:

CAMPUS.CURIE.A-101.OFFICE

To extract unit use types from long strings, a period is used (.) in the Delimiter parameter. The Index parameter is set to 4 to represent the fourth segment of the string.

The sample parsed text is displayed next to Sample in the Text Parsing section:

Example 2

An example of unit use types in a multiline string:

Curie Building
Room 327
Lecture Hall

To extract unit names from multiline text, The Delimiter parameter is set to \P. The Index parameter is set to 3 to represent the third line of the string.

Set standard values for unit use type validation

You can configure Indoors for AutoCAD with a list of standard values for use types to be used during validation.

To configure standard values for unit use types, perform the following on the Unit Use Types tab of the Configure Validation pane:

1. In the Standard Values section, type one or more standard use type values, one value per line.

   You can also copy and paste a list of standard values from other sources such as text files or spreadsheets. An example list of standard use type values is shown below:

   

2. To stop validating with standard values, remove all entries from the list.

When validation checks are run, Indoors for AutoCAD checks for an exact match between the standard values in the list and the use type values found in the drawing, including capitalization and whitespace.