GRIP Introduction | Entity Data Access Symbol List

Entity Data Access Symbols Overview

Entity (Object) Data Access Symbols (EDAs)provide a means of accessing functional data of individual objects which make up the NX database. These parameters include many of the values found in interactive NX in the areas of Attributes, Drafting, Dimensioning, and Geometry.

Entity Data Access Symbols fall into the following categories:

• Attributes

• Drafting and Dimensioning

• Geometry

• Dialog Directory and Filter Retention

• Global EDAs

All EDA symbols begin with the ampersand character (&) which is known as the prefix character.

When writing the statement for a EDA symbol, do not include a space between the parenthesis and the EDA symbol. For example,

Incorrect

&COLOR (ENT) = &RED

Correct

&COLOR(ENT) = &RED

Each EDA symbol is associated with either a unique object parameter or a constant and has an ACCESS TYPE, DATA TYPE, and RANGE.

ACCESS TYPE defines the READ/WRITE status of the EDA. EDAs contain data which can be extracted (READ) for use in your program. Some symbols allow you to alter the data directly (WRITE) by assigning the properly valued data to the EDA.

DATA TYPE defines whether a particular EDA is object, number, or string valued. The data associated with an EDA, if object valued, must be treated like an object as it is assigned or extracted. If you read an object valued EDA and assign the data to a variable, the variable must be declared as an ENTITY.

ENTITY/OBJ
ENT=&ENAME
DELETE/OBJ

Number valued EDAs, when assigned to a variable, do not need to be declared. In the following program, the system assumes that NUM is a numerical variable without it being declared as such.

NUM=&DENS(CR1)
JUMP/L10:,,,NUM
&DENS(CR1)=1
L10:
.
.
.

String valued EDAs, when assigned to a variable, must be declared as a STRING.

STRING/STR(132)
STR=&DMTEXT(DIM1)
.
.
.

RANGE defines the value which can be assigned to an EDA. Some EDAs have multiple numerical values which lie within their RANGE. These parameters cannot be changed (e.g., the value for the ellipse SUBTYP is always 1). The RANGE of string valued EDAs is defined in a number of characters allowed in the string (e.g., &ATTTL has a range of 10 characters).