Templated Attributes Tutorial

Objects in a design database (DGD) can have many user-defined attributes. These storage sections in design objects are controlled by a template that is stored in the design database.

The internal storage makes the attribute definition and object content consistent.

The templates contain attribute definitions that allow the storage of fixed values and user-defined formulas. These formulas allow the attribute values to be calculated on the fly, such as an attribute that calculates the grade or tonnes of a polygon.

Opening Your Data File in Vulcan

Dataset for this tutorial is in the Templated Attributes.zip folder. (click the link to download the dataset).

Edit Design Database (DGD) Templates

This example creates template attributes that can be assigned to polygons.

1. Open Vulcan using the dataset from the Templated Attributes folder.
2. Load the STOPE_EXPRESSION layer. This layer contains center line polygons that represent stope shapes.
3. Select Design > Templated Attributes > Edit DGD Templates to display the Attribute Template panel and create a new template.
4. Select Stope from the Attribute template drop-down list.
5. Verify the following information for the Grade attribute in the first row:

1. • Enter Grade in the Name field.
   • Select Double from the Format drop-down list.
   • Select Expression from the Entry Method drop-down list.
   • Click the ellipsis icon in the Expression field to display the Expression Editor panel and enter the following expression to calculate the grade of a polygon using a nominated projection width:
     Round(PolyGrade("shawug.bmf","-X","au_grams",0,"wbm","density","1.8,10,"mid"),3)

6. Verify the following information for the Tonnage attribute in the second row.

1. • Enter Tonnage in the Name field.
   • Select Double from the Format drop-down list.
   • Select Expression from the Entry Method drop-down list.
   • Click the ellipsis icon in the Expression field to display the Expression Editor panel and enter the following expression to calculate tonnage:
     Round(PolyTons("shawug.bmf","-X","density",1.8,10,"mid"),2)

The attributes are now set up and are ready to be assigned data.

Assign Data

This example assigns the attributes created in the previous Edit Design Database (DGD) Templates section using the Edit DGD Templates option. These attributes are calculated and values are assigned to each selected object. The attributes created in the previous section calculate the grade and tonnage for each polygon within a 20-foot projection (10 feet on either side of the polygon).

1. Load the STOPE_EXPRESSION layer.
2. Select Design > Templated Attributes > Assign Data to display the Attributes panel.
3. Select Stope from the Attribute template drop-down list and click OK to display the Select By menu.
4. Select Layer and click the STOPE_EXPRESSIONS layer.
5. Confirm your selection to return to the Select By menu.
6. Click Cancel o the Select By menu to display the Assign Attributes panel which contains the Grade and Tonnage attributes.
7. Click OK to assign the attributes to the objects. This may take a few minutes.

Get Object Data

This example demonstrates how to view, modify, or delete object attributes.

1. Load the STOPE_EXPRESSIONS layer.
2. Select Design > Templated Attributes > Get Object Data.
3. Click on an object on the screen to display the Object Attributes panel to view or delete the attributes assigned to the object.

Additional methods to view and modify object attributes:

• Attribute information is displayed in datatips when hovering over an object (if datatips are enabled).
• Attributes are displayed in the Properties window when an object is highlighted (if the Properties window is enabled). Manual attributes that do not utilise expressions can be changed from the Properties window.

Visible by

This example uses expressions and existing attributes to set the visibility of certain objects. The expression used in this example will shadow any polygon with a stope grade of less than 0.25.

1. Load the STOPE_EXPRESSIONS layer.
2. Select Design > Templated Attributes > Visible by to display the Visibility by Attribute panel.
3. Enter Stope_Grade in the Visibility Settings field.
4. Enter the following condition in the Condition field and select Shadow from the Visibility drop-down list:
   ObjAttr ("Stope","Grade") lt 10.0
5. Click OK to save the condition and display the Select By menu.
6. Select Layer and click on the STOPE_EXPRESSIONS layer.
7. Confirm your selection to return to the Select By menu.
8. Click Cancel on the Select By menu to run the condition and visibilise the specified attributes.

Several of the Stope polygons will turn grey because they have a grade of less than 0.25.

Copying an Attribute Template to the Resource Area

This example copied an existing attribute template from the DGD to the resource area to create a resource template.

1. Select Design > Templated Attributes > DGD Template to Resources to display the Select Attribute Templates panel.

2. Highlight Stope in the Attribute Templates column on the left and click the right arrow to move it to the Selected Attribute Templates column on the right.

3. Click OK to copy the Stope attribute template to the resource area.

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Related topics

• Templated Attributes documentation
• Design documentation