AseptSoft Core Documentation
AseptSoft Core Documentation
Breadcrumbs

Module Ribbon

The Module Ribbon appears when you open (activate) a module. It is named AseptSoft: {Module Name} and contains all the tools needed for working within a module. The ribbon is organized into the following panels:

💡 Tip: This is where you spend most of your time — designing processes, defining steps, editing valve states, running fluid simulations, and exporting deliverables. Navigate back to the 🏠 Home Ribbon at any time using Back to Modules.

📊 Data

The Data panel provides access to module-level data and settings through a split button menu:

  • Module Data — Opens the module properties window where you create and manage States, Instruments, Valves, Sources, Sinks, Line Segments, and Targeted Header Trackers.

  • 🔎 Search — Opens the Search, Locate and Replace window to find and replace information within the module.

  • ⌨️ Commands — Opens the settings window listing all available AseptSoft commands.

  • ⬇️ Pull from Main — Imports the module data from the main source. Conflicts go through the Merging workflow.

  • ⬆️ Push To Main — Exports the module data to the main destination.

  • 📝 Headers and Notes — Access the headers and notes framework for annotating your module.

  • 🏷️ Classes Attributes — Opens the Classes Attributes window to edit attribute definitions for each of the Valve class types (e.g. four-way valve, gate valve, butterfly valve, etc.).

  • 🔄 Reopen — Performs a full reload of the current module.

  • ↩️ Back to Modules — Closes the active module and returns to the modules view. If the underlying DWG happens to be locked, AseptSoft still saves your AseptSoft work and tells you the DWG itself wasn't updated — see the Module close behaviour on the workflow page.

📌 Note: If the drawing is read-only, a Save AseptSoft Changes button appears, allowing you to save metadata changes without modifying the drawing file itself.

🔁 Processes

The Processes panel lets you manage processes within your module:

  • 📋 Processes Gallery — A dropdown selector showing all available processes with their icons. Use it to quickly switch between processes.

  • 📁 All Processes — Opens the processes collection manager window where you can view and manage all processes.

  • ➕ Create — Creates a new empty process.

  • 🔑 Edit Attribute Keys — Allows editing of process-level attribute keys.

🏭 Pharma Example: A typical CIP module might contain separate processes for Pre-Rinse, Caustic Wash, Acid Wash, and Final Rinse. Use the Processes Gallery to switch between them instantly.

📶 Steps

The Steps panel manages the steps (phases) within the active process. It includes step creation, editing, and navigation controls.

➕ Creating and Cloning Steps

The Clone split button offers several ways to add steps:

  • 📋 Clone Step — Duplicates the current step at the next index position. All custom in-step state attribute values (e.g., per-step delays on a Pulsating valve) are preserved across the clone.

  • 📋 Clone Step and Algorithm — Clones the current step together with its algorithm (conditions).

  • 📋 Clone Last — Clones the current step and places the copy at the end of the list.

  • ➕ Add Empty — Creates a new empty step.

✏️ Editing Steps

The Alter split button provides editing options:

  • ✏️ Rename — Renames the current step.

  • ⬅️ Move Step Left — Moves the step to a lower index position.

  • ➡️ Move Step Right — Moves the step to a higher index position.

  • 🏷️ Attributes — Opens the Classes Attributes window for step-level attributes.

  • 🗑️ Delete — Removes the current step.

🧭 Navigating Steps

  • ⬅️ Previous / ➡️ Next — Navigate to the previous or next step by index. Each button also expands with sub-buttons for navigating via success or failure transitions (showing which steps lead to or from the current step based on the algorithm's condition outcomes).

  • 📋 Steps Gallery — A dropdown gallery displaying all steps in the current process, sorted by index. Select any step directly from the list.

🏭 Pharma Example: In a SIP (Steam-in-Place) process, your steps might be Drain, Purge, Steam Hold, Cool Down, and Pressurize. Navigate through them using Previous/Next or jump directly via the Steps Gallery.

🔀 Conditions

The Conditions panel manages the Algorithm (conditions) for the active step. This panel is enabled only when a process and step are active.

✏️ Editing Conditions

The Edit split button provides:

  • ✏️ Edit — Opens the selected condition in the editor.

  • ➕ Add — Creates a new condition for the current step.

  • ⬅️ Move Condition Left — Moves the condition to a lower index position.

  • ➡️ Move Condition Right — Moves the condition to a higher index position.

  • 🗑️ Delete — Removes the selected condition.

  • 🏷️ Attributes — Opens the Algorithm Attributes window for the current condition.

  • 🎨 Algorithm Colours — Customizes the colours used for algorithm tokens (GRAFCET elements). Includes the Custom Expressions colour used by the Build Condition Field custom token library.

📐 SFC Editor

The SFC button opens the SFC Editor (GRAFCET), providing a graphical Sequential Function Chart view of the step and transition sequence.

🧭 Navigating Conditions

  • ⬅️ Previous / ➡️ Next — Navigate between conditions in the current step.

  • 📋 Conditions Gallery — A dropdown gallery of all conditions in the current step's algorithm, sorted by index with type-specific icons. Select any condition directly.

✏️ Live Edit

The Live Edit panel provides real-time editing of valve states, descriptions, highlights, and custom attributes within the active step.

  • 🎨 States Gallery — A dropdown showing all available States with colour indicators. Select a state and then click on a valve in the drawing to assign that state. States are grouped by usage type (valves first, then others).

  • 📊 Matrix — Opens the Valve Phase Matrix, a visual grid showing all valve states and Equipment Module configurations across all steps. Right-click any cell whose state has custom attribute keys to edit the per-step values.

  • 📏 State Percent — An editable dropdown to set the valve activation percentage (0–100%, in 5% increments). You can type a custom value. This control appears when a valve is selected.

  • 🔧 Edit Valve Value Attributes — When a valve is selected and its assigned state has custom attribute keys defined, this button appears to let you edit those custom values in step for the selected valve.

  • 📝 Descriptions — A split button for the Descriptions system:

    • Edit Descriptions — opens the scope-aware editing mode (white / sky-blue / purple / amber outlines per scope).

    • Descriptions Overview — opens the four-tab management window with live selection reactivity.

  • 🖍️ Highlight — Opens the Highlight in Phase command. Pick a recipe from the catalog, choose its phase scope, and place it on the drawing in corners or entity mode. From the dropdown you can also reach the Manage Placed Highlights window (cross-PID list of every user-placed highlight).

🏭 Pharma Example: During a CIP caustic wash step, you set the supply valve to "Open" at 100%, the return valve to "Open" at 100%, and the drain valve to "Closed". Use the States Gallery to assign states visually by clicking valves directly on the P&ID, then use Edit Descriptions to annotate the bottom-tank drain with a one-line note for reviewers.

🌊 Simulations

The Simulations panel controls fluid flow visualization and related display settings.

💧 Flow Path

  • ▶️ Show Path / ⏹️ Hide Path — Toggles fluid stream visualization on or off for the current step.

  • 🧹 Clear Cache — Clears the fluid simulations cache, forcing a fresh recalculation.

The Show Path split button also exposes the per-drawing override commands:

  • 🛠️ Override Fluid Map — Opens the full Fluid Map Overrides editor (Entities / Connections / Intermittent sub-loops with Validate and WipeAll).

  • ⚡ Toggle Intermittent — One-click toggle of an entity's force-intermittent flag — the focused subset of the Override editor for the most common workflow.

🔍 Path Selection

When fluid flow visualization is active, additional buttons appear:

  • ⬆️ Select Upstream Path — Visually highlights the upstream fluid path from a selected valve.

  • ⬇️ Select Downstream Path — Visually highlights the downstream fluid path from a selected valve.

👁️ Display Options

  • 🗺️ Show / Hide Neighbours Map — Toggles the fluid connectivity map overlay (useful for verifying flow connections).

  • 🙈 Hide No-Fluid Objects — Hides drawing entities that are not part of the fluid flow, helping you focus on the flow path.

  • 👁️ Unhide No-Fluid Objects — Restores visibility of previously hidden objects.

🛠️ Configuration

  • 🔣 Symbols Editor — Opens the Symbol Editor for defining how AutoCAD block symbols are interpreted by AseptSoft.

  • 📑 Enable/Disable Layers — Configure which drawing layers participate in fluid flow calculations. AseptSoft's own special layers (trackers, notes, annotations, fluid-flow visuals, end-connections, temporary highlights, block-valve overlays) are automatically forced visible whenever a module opens, so the module never looks broken because a layer was off in a previous session.

  • ⚙️ Mapping Settings — Configure fluid flow mapping settings.

🏭 Pharma Example: After defining your WFI loop process steps, click Show Path to visualize the fluid stream. Use Select Downstream Path from the WFI source to verify that water flows through the correct distribution points before reaching the use points. If a sampling take-off should render as intermittent, click Toggle Intermittent and pick the take-off entity — the curves around it switch to the intermittent linetype immediately.

📤 Export

The Export panel provides options for exporting your module data:

  • 📄 PDF — Exports the module to PDF using AutoCAD rendering options with various templates. Auto-switches to the right paper-space layout when the drawing is currently on Model.

  • 📄/📊 Word + Excel — Opens the Export Module Data window. The bottom bar carries Word (default ON) and Excel (default OFF) checkboxes — pick either, both, or just one. The Excel branch preserves any user-authored worksheets across re-exports.

  • 📊 Excel Tabular — Opens the Live Excel editor for the tabular exports.