About Containment

The term containment is used to describe a particular relationship between two or more design features. For example:

• A light is mounted on a pole. The pole contains the light.
• A transformer is placed on a mounting pad. The pad contains the transformer.
• A switch is placed within a vault. The vault contains the switch.
• A duct is placed in a segment (trench). The segment (trench) contains the duct.
• A conductor placed in a duct. The duct contains the conductor.

Containment provides information such as which conductors run through a duct, which features are mounted on a pole, and which features are within a vault. You can view containment relationships using Quick Info and Feature Info. For more information, see About Feature Information.

Point design features can contain other point features, but they cannot contain line features. For example, a vault can contain switches and breakers but not conductors. Line features can contain other line features, but cannot contain point features. For example, a segment can contain ducts and conductors but not transformers.

In the electric domain, features can be categorized as either structural or conductive. Examples of structural features include pole, pad, vault, duct, and trench. Examples of conductive design features include switch, light, transformer, and conductor. Only structural features can act as containers. All conductive design features can be contained. Some types of structural features can be contained. The exact set of structural features that can be contained is defined in the industry model. See About Industry Models.

There are two methods to establish the containment relationship when you grip drag or create features:

• Geometric Snapping: Snap to the target feature.
• Geometric Proximity: Click near the target feature. Specify the tolerance distance in Utility Design Options. See General Layout Options.

The target feature is highlighted and a tooltip is displayed with the containment symbol and the name of the target feature. If the tooltip is not displayed, containment is not established. The following illustration shows the containment symbol when adding a transformer to a vault.

You can also use AUDADDTOSEGMENT to add ducts and conductors to segments, AUDADDTODUCT to add ducts and conductors to ducts, and AUDADDTOPOLE to add devices to poles.

You can manually add and remove features from container features on the Feature Info palette. You can remove containment by moving the contained feature away from the container feature beyond the threshold distance.

If you move or rotate a container feature, any contained features move and rotate as well. This applies to Z (elevation) changes as well as XY changes.

If you modify the geometry of a container line feature, the geometry of all contained line features updates as well.