Object Tree

Overview

The object tree – labelled navigation tree in the menu – on the left-hand side lists all objects of the project in a hierarchy: networks with their pipes and nodes, imported drawings and images, OpenStreetMap data and – when the building view is active – buildings and shading objects. Small icons in front of each entry control the visibility, selection and lock state of every individual object; a double-click renames objects or opens editing dialogs. Every change in the object tree can be reverted with Edit > Undo (Ctrl+Z).

Structure

The tree is organized by object groups. Each group only appears when the project contains the corresponding objects:

Group (top-level node)	Child entries
Networks	for each network the categories Pipes, Energy centers, Consumers and Mixers with their individual objects
Drawings/DXFs	the layers of each drawing
Images	individual bitmap images
OpenStreetMap	Map with OSM Ground, OSM Streets & Railways and OSM Buildings
Buildings	Building → Levels → Rooms → Surfaces (only when the building view is active)
Shading objects	individual shading surfaces

Notes on the structure:

• The active network is shown in bold.
• Group and category nodes (e.g. Networks or Pipes) cannot be selected and have no visibility icon – they only bundle the objects below them.
• Clicking the triangle in front of a node expands or collapses the branch; collapsing a branch also collapses all of its sub-branches. The expanded/collapsed state is preserved while editing.
• Surfaces with invalid geometry are shown in dark red; a tooltip states the cause.
• View > Show IDs in the navigation tree displays the numeric ID after each object name – helpful for matching against result quantities and messages.

Icons in front of each entry

Depending on the object type, up to three clickable icons appear in front of an object’s name:

Icon	Effect
Light bulb	Toggle the object’s visibility in the 3D scene
Selection box	Select or deselect the object
Lock	Lock/unlock the object (only for drawings, layers, images and the OSM map)

A single click on an icon toggles the property for the object and all of its child objects. Hold Shift while clicking to apply the change only to the clicked object itself, without its child objects.

Visibility: showing and hiding

Hidden objects disappear from the 3D scene but remain in the project and in the object tree.

• Single object: click the light bulb in front of the entry.
• Several objects at once: first select them (see below), then use the object-tree toolbar:
  • Hide selected objects (F6)
  • Show selected objects (F7)

Hiding only affects the display; the objects are still exported and simulated.

Selection

Selected objects are highlighted in the 3D scene and form the basis for editing (moving, deleting, assigning properties). The selection in the object tree and in the 3D scene is synchronized.

• Single object: click the selection box in front of the entry (Shift = without child objects).
• Actions in the object-tree toolbar:

Action	Icon	Shortcut
Select all		Ctrl+A
Deselect all		Esc
Invert selection		Ctrl+I
Smart select		Ctrl+F

Smart select opens a dialog that lets you select or deselect objects specifically by their properties (object type, assigned components, etc.). Locked objects cannot be selected – their selection box has no effect.

Renaming objects

Many objects can be renamed directly in the tree:

1. Double-click the object’s name – the name turns into an input field.
2. Enter the new name and confirm with Enter.

Renaming is available for networks and network objects (pipes, energy centers, consumers, mixers), shading objects and – in the building view – buildings, levels, rooms and surfaces. Drawings, layers, images and OSM objects cannot be renamed; a double-click there opens the respective editing dialog instead (see below). An empty name is discarded, and duplicate names are made unique automatically. Renaming can be undone.

Locking objects

The lock icon protects objects from being moved or deleted by accident. It is only available for drawings, individual layers, images and the OSM map – typically for an imported site plan that serves as a drawing background.

A locked object:

• can no longer be selected and therefore not moved or deleted,
• but remains visible and continues to serve as a background for network planning.

Clicking the lock locks or unlocks the object together with its child objects (Shift = only the clicked object; the OSM map always includes its child objects).

Editing drawings and DXF

A double-click on the name of a drawing opens the Drawing properties dialog:

Field	Meaning
Offset: (x, y, z)	Moves the entire drawing in space [m]
Scaling factor:	Unit of the source file (Meter, Decimeter, Centimeter, Millimeter) or Custom – converts the drawing to meters
Custom scaling factor:	Free conversion factor when Custom is selected
Line weight:	Scaling of the drawing’s line weights
Text size:	Scaling of the drawing’s text elements

This lets you position an imported DXF site plan in the project and scale it to match the network. The individual layers of the drawing appear as child entries (see next section).

Drawing layers

Every imported drawing holds its layers as child entries in the object tree – just like the layers in a CAD program. Each layer offers the same icons as the drawing itself:

• Light bulb: show/hide individual layers to display only the relevant information of the site plan.
• Lock: lock individual layers against selection.
• Selection box: select the layer together with its drawing elements.

This way you can, for example, hide dimension or annotation layers and keep only route or building edges as a drawing background.

Editing images (bitmaps)

A double-click on an image opens a dialog to adjust its appearance:

Field	Meaning
Brightness:	Brightness of the image
Saturation:	Color saturation of the image
Transparency:	Transparency, to display the image as a subtle background

Images are used, for example, to place a scanned plan or an aerial photo as a background beneath the network.

Reassigning missing files

If a project references a drawing, image or OSM file that cannot be found, the entry appears as Missing or invalid file ’…’. A double-click opens a file dialog to reassign the file; the objects are then re-read automatically.

Removing objects

The button Remove (Del) deletes the selected objects. If drawings or drawing layers are affected, a dialog asks for confirmation, because these objects often serve as a background. Removing can be undone.

Related topics

• User Interface and Navigation
• Network Model and Terminology
• Importing a Drawing (DXF)
• Keyboard and Mouse