Typically each project will contain a few graphics “Templates” that are referenced with aliased bindings. These template graphics will generally have a point binding like *.ZN-T where the * is replaced dynamically by the system that you click on in the graphic.
Obviously this type of point object will not resolve to a specific point object in the database if the template graphic is validated.
The MSEA Validator handles these files differently so you need to follow some different steps to properly validate aliased graphics and template graphics.
Step 1 – Validate all of the Template Graphics First
Select all of the template graphics using the document selector and run the validation. These graphics will generate a warning indicating that alias bindings were found in the graphic.
More importantly, by running the validation on these graphics, they are added to a graphic mapping table in the database. Now when a graphic is validated that contains an alias binding referencing that template graphic, the validator can locate that template and validate the alias correctly with that template.
Also, validating a template graphic will reset any associated point object references from the mapping table.
If the template doesn’t exist in the graphic mapping table, any alias referencing that template will fail validation.
Step 2 – Run Validation and Follow Links
Run the validation on the remaining (non-template) graphics with the “Follow Links” options checked. By enabling this, you are telling the validator to open the template graphic up when it finds an aliased point binding so it can validate it fully.