What's New in Version 13.5 - February 2013
This topic lists all the additions and improvements incorporated in InfoNet 13.5 which were not available in previous versions.
Valve shut off objects (Distribution networks)
A new repair object has been added to Distribution networks.
The valve shut off object is used to store details of valve closures required in order to temporarily isolate a location in the network.
When creating certain types of scheduled task, associated valve shut offs can automatically be generated by selecting the new Schedule valve shut offs option on the Create Scheduled Tasks Dialog.
It is also possible to schedule a single valve shut off from a selection of one or more valves on the GeoPlan.
In addition, to allow export of valve shut off geometry, support for the export of multipoint geometry has also been implemented.
See the Repairs topic for details.
New relationship between CCTV surveys and pipe repairs
CCTV surveys can now be associated with pipe repairs. New pipe repair data fields have been added to support this functionality.
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CCTV survey ID (before): used to specify the CCTV survey identifying the requirement for a pipe repair.
It is now possible to create pipe repairs as scheduled tasks from selected CCTV surveys or CCTV survey defects. A pipe repair generated in this way will have its CCTV survey ID (before) field set automatically to the ID of the CCTV it was generated from.
- CCTV required: check this field to flag the pipe repair as requiring a review CCTV survey to verify that the repair has been carried out correctly. The repair will not be automatically closed when updating scheduled tasks if a completed review CCTV survey does not exist. If a review survey has not been specified for the repair, the updating process will attempt to find an existing suitable survey. If an existing suitable survey is not found, a new survey to be used for review will be scheduled.
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Review CCTV survey ID (after): used to specify the CCTV survey used to verify that the repair has been carried out correctly.
Review CCTV surveys can be created as scheduled tasks for selected pipe repairs. The Review CCTV survey ID (after) field will be set automatically for a pipe repair that has a CCTV survey scheduled from it.
See Repairs and Scheduled Tasks for further details.
Asset user role added to user permissions
New roles have been added to the User Permissions functionality: the Collection Asset User and Distribution Asset User roles can be assigned to protect settings shared by all database users.
A Collection Asset User has edit powers over collection database items, but cannot create or delete collection items or carry out actions that will result in modification of collection network preferences.
Similarly, a Distribution Asset User has edit powers over distribution database items, but cannot delete, create of modify network preferences of distribution items.
See User Permissions for details.
Merge pipes tool improved and extended to Distribution networks
The Merge Pipes tool which was available for Collection networks only in previous versions, can now also be used for Distribution networks.
The functionality has been improved so that the node connecting the pipes to be merged is retained as a lateral node on the merged pipe. Existing lateral nodes on the pipes to be merged are also retained.
Merging can now be undone in a single operation (previously a merge operation required several undo actions).
See Merging Selected Pipes for further information.
Enhancements to CCTV import from Examiner and Sewer.dat files
ID generation options have been added to the Examiner and Sewer.dat CCTV data importers.
When importing CCTV data from Examiner or Sewer.dat files, it is now possible to generate CCTV survey IDs from either of the following options:
- StartNodeRef, Direction, Date and Time: CCTV Survey IDs are generated from the Start Node, Direction, Date and Time data.
- StartNodeRef, Direction and an index if needed for uniqueness: CCTV Survey IDs are generated from the Node ref at the upstream end of the survey and the Direction field. An index is appended to duplicate IDs to preserve uniqueness.
See Import Examiner/Sewer.dat CCTV Dialog for further information.
CCTV Enhancements - BEFDSS XML format
The following enhancements have been made to the CCTV import/export functionality with regards to BEFDSS XML format:
- Manhole survey import - it is now possible to import manhole surveys from BEFDSS XML file format. Select the Network | Import | import BEFDSS XML manhole survey data menu option to display the manhole survey import dialog.
- Manhole and CCTV survey export - export to BEFDSS XML format has been implemented for all five BEFDSS standards (DP, IP, M, IDP and IDM). Select Network | Export | Export survey data | Export survey data to BEFDSS XML file... to display the Survey Export Options Dialog.
- Record matching - an option to update existing InfoNet surveys by matching survey node and job references has been added to the import dialog. This functionality allows survey requests to be exported from InfoNet and the completed surveys to be merged back.
CCTV defect display improvements (NZWWA coding standard)
The following improvements have been made to the display of CCTV defects on the GeoPlan Window when using the NZWWA coding standard.
New options have been added to the CCTV Defects Page of the GeoPlan Properties Dialog:
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Show severity in labels - check this option to display the severity code in brackets after the defect code in the defect labels.
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Show defects with severity options - use these options in addition to the other display options on the CCTV Defects page to restrict display to defects with specific severity codes.
'Link type' field added to manhole survey pipes tables
This functionality is applicable to Collection Networks only.
A new Link type field has been added to the Incoming pipes and Outgoing pipes tables of manhole survey objects.
This field allows the type of connected link to be specified. When updating the network from manhole survey data, appropriate objects will be created and updated.
Note that the attributes specified in the Incoming/Outgoing pipes tables do not apply to all link types. Attributes that do not apply will not be used in the update process. Use the new built in validation rule 315 to check for values specified for attributes that do not apply for each incoming/outgoing link.
Enhancements to Attachments Editor
The following enhancements have been made to the Attachments Editor:
- Attachments can now be added to a network object by dragging and dropping a selection of files from Windows Explorer to the editor. Files attached in this way will be appended to the attachments grid.
- A Create Sketch button has been added allowing location sketch images to be created while in the editor.
Ability to view Asset Name Group details from object property sheets
It is now possible to view details of Asset Name Groups to which an object belongs from its property sheet.
Click the new Name groups field button to display the Name Groups Editor. Asset name group details can be viewed in the read only grid displayed or edited in a grid view accessed via the Edit in a grid view button.
Actual date field added to resource details editor
An Actual date field has been added to the Resource details and Material details tables, allowing the date staff and materials were actually used to be entered.
See Resourcing Objects and Resource Details for further information.
Scheduled tasks - warning when scheduling duplicate tasks
When scheduling tasks using the Create Scheduled Tasks Dialog, a warning will be displayed if an active task of the same type already exists for a selected asset.
The user can choose whether or not to continue scheduling new tasks. If new tasks are scheduled, a log of existing active task details will be displayed.
Improvement to create repairs for selected objects tool
An improvement has been made to the naming of repairs created via the Selection | Selection operations | Create repairs for selected objects menu.
If a repair of the same ID already exists at a selected manhole or pipe, a suffix is added to the repair name to create a unique ID. The number of suffices available has been increased from 9 to 99 in this version to allow up to 99 repairs to be created per asset.
Print layouts
Print Layouts provide a flexible method of customising printed output.
Layouts are edited in the Print Layout View which is used to arrange frames of different content type, (such as GeoPlan, Text and Image frames), on a page. The frame settings and positions can then be saved as a template in the tree view for subsequent use.
When viewing and editing a print layout, currently open GeoPlan and Long Section windows are listed as data views in the layout view. These data views can be selected to provide the content to be displayed in frames of the appropriate type.
See the Print Layouts section for further details.
Custom actions
Custom actions can be used as shortcuts to run tasks that are regularly performed on networks in the database. Two types of custom action have been implemented: user actions specific to individual users and shared actions available to all database users.
Each action can be customised to emulate the effect of dropping a tree object onto the current GeoPlan Window, or dropping a workspace object onto the main window. Alternatively, a Ruby script can be associated with the action.
Custom actions are run by selecting the action from the Actions Menu or from one of the Custom Actions Toolbars.
Snap mode implemented for Distance Tool
The Distance Tool , selectable from the GeoPlan Tools Toolbar, has been enhanced to allow snapping to network objects when Snapping Mode is turned on.
SQL queries - spatial searches between network layers
In previous versions of InfoNet it was possible to carry out spatial queries between network objects and objects in a GIS layer.
In this version it is now also possible to carry out spatial queries between any two network layers or between a network layer and a background network layer.
See SQL and Spatial Searches for details.
The implementation of this functionality has resulted in a change to the terminology used in spatial queries. The prefix 'spatial.' is now used instead of 'gislayer.' However, queries created in older versions of InfoNet using the 'gislayer.' prefix will still work.
SQL dialog usability improvements
The following improvements have been made to the SQL Dialog:
- The Field and Object Type lists are now sorted alphabetically
- Selecting an item from the field list now inserts the field at the current cursor location (overwriting any selected text), rather than at the end of the query.
Option to hide auto labels when object not visible
A new option has been added to the GeoPlan Properties Dialog.
Check the Hide 0% visibility labels option on the GeoPlan Properties - Auto Labels and Tooltips Page to hide auto labels on the GeoPlan Window of network objects that are not currently visible due to theme settings.
Export to shapefile - projection files exported
When exporting network object data to shape file .SHP format, (whether via the Open Data Export Centre or the Network | Export | To SHP files... menu option), projection .PRJ files are now exported if projection information is available.
See Export to GIS File Format for further details.
Support for REST interfaces in ArcGIS Server 10.1
When using ArcObjects map control it is now possible to display map services from an ArcGIS 10.1 server via the REST interface. (ArcGIS 10.1 client required.)
Incident date-time field display improvement
The property sheets and grid views of Incident objects have been updated to display the time part of all date-time fields in addition to the date.
Improvement to Max design flow field for Vortex objects
The available accuracy for the Max design flow field for a Vortex object (Collection Networks) has been increased to display three decimal places.
See Vortex Data Fields for further details.
Grid filters saved in workspaces
An improvement has been made to Workspaces: filters applied to grids at the time of saving a workspace are now saved and restored when the workspace is reopened.
Validation usability improvement
When double-clicking on a validation message in the Output Window, the property sheet for the network object that the message refers to is displayed in addition to the grid view
Ability to re-size GeoPlan Find Dialog and Layer Theme Editor
The GeoPlan Find Dialog and Layer Theme Editor windows are now re-sizable and the new sizes remembered. This improvement has been implemented in order to support screen text display set at greater than 100%.
Improvement to GIS Layer Information Dialog
When the GIS Layer Information Dialog is resized, the new size is now remembered.
(In previous versions of InfoNet, the dialog reverted to its original size every time a new GIS object was selected.)