The Improvements Keep Coming - The Latest Enhancements

For a full list of new features and bug fixes, please see the ReadMe file.

Pro Version 10	Download PDF version
	Download Pro Version 10 Release Notes
Pro Version 9.5	Download PDF version
	Download 9.5 Movie	Please note that as this movie has been compressed to aid in fast download times, it may take a minute before running
Pro Version 9	Download PDF version
	Download 9 Movie	Please note that as this movie has been compressed to aid in fast download times, it may take a minute before running

In Pro Version 10!

Improved Autocad handling

Importing up to Autocad 2009 files with improved handling of layouts and Xrefs. If you have Pro Version 10 you will receive this as a patch in mid March.

Unconnected Spray Block Entity

It is now possible to specify that a sprayline block entity is ‘unconnected’ – that is create a block entity consisting of individual pipes and outlets rather than spraylines.

UncoSprayProp

UncoSpray

Hydraulic Item Creation

All hydraulic and electrical items can now be created from relevant drawing items. By simply highlighting a drawing item you can turn it into an Area, Outlet, Pipe, Control Valve, Pump, Irrigation Block, Light, Controller, Wire, Misc. Electrical, Misc. Hydraulic, Sprayline or Tape.

New Toolbars

Toolbars can now be modified and re-arranged, with better icons and big buttons for laptop screens:

Importation of GPS/GIS/CSV Data

Drawing and elevation data from CSV and ESRI SHP files can now be directly imported into IRRICAD. Elevation data is entered via File|Import Contours while File|Importis used for normal drawing information.

Valve Symbol Colors

Multi-colored symbols may be selected for Valves etc. If a symbol is specified with the "Use symbol colour(s)", in the database editor, then the symbol will be displayed using the colors contained in the symbol definition.

New Copy Tools

Mirror Copy and Offset Copy have been introduced and all Copy tools are now enabled for use with hydraulic objects.

New Modification Tools

Trim and Extend are now available to trim back to an existing item or to extend to an existing item.

Merge Designs

Yes it is finally back! IRRICAD designs may now be merged together using the Merge… option in the File menu. This function merges all drawing and hydraulic objects, as well as fittings selection, Management and Design information.

MergeDesigns

Draw Order

Z-Order tools, Move to Front and Move to Back will allow specification of which order items are drawn. Helpful when placing images on top of plot layouts.

Exporting Reports to Excel

Report templates can now be made that save directly to a file. These files may be opened by Excel.

New Manual with Pro Version 10

A new on-line manual is available with Pro version 10. This can also be downloaded as a PDF or can be purchased as hard copy.

User Attributes and User Keywords

A 'User Attributes' field has been added to control valves, water supplies, block entities and miscellaneous hydraulic items. It allows the user to attach any textual information, to these items, that can be subsequently displayed in labels and reports.

For example for an Irrigation Area:

Adding the appropriate keywords to the label settings for Irrigation blocks:-

Will produce labels similar to this example:

Hatch and Fill Editing

The colour and the layer of an existing Fill entity may now be changed. Hatch editing has also been enabled, allowing all properties of a hatch to be changed.

Multiple Water Supply Systems

Designs with multiple but separate water supplies can now be fully analyzed (and LP Design used where appropriate) directly. It is no longer necessary to 'join' the separate systems with notional pipes.

Label Changes

New Keywords - More comprehensive hydraulic labeling has been enabled with the introduction of several new label keywords. New labels include maximum and minimum Pressures, Flows , Headlosses and Velocities, Flow per Area, Number of emitters, Group Spacing, Laterals per group and Row Spacing.
Label - When updating labels, IRRICAD now retains the position you moved the label to if it has been moved.
Keyword Combo - A keyword dropdown box has also been added to the Label text dialog. This displays and briefly describes the label keywords, and allows them to be easily inserted.

TextDialogKeywords

Document Summary Info

Design details are now copied to the design file properties summary information section, allowing specific designs to be more readily identified in Windows Explorer.

SummaryTT

New Features in IRRICAD Pro Version 9.5

Automatic Flushing Manifolds

Flushing manifolds can now be created automatically for Block Entities. These manifolds may be used for fittings selection and generating Bills of Materials.

IRRICAD will automatically create the flushing manifold to your specification simply by filling in a few fields!

BOMs for Staged Development and Existing Systems

In previous versions the only way to produce a BOM/Costing report for staged development, or allow for existing equipment, was to create copies of a design and then delete the appropriate equipment as required

Version 9.5 introduces the concept of Scope. This flag can be set for all hydraulic items, both individually and globally, and allows items to be designated as BOM Only, Design Only or Design + BOM. This feature allows you to:-

- Design, Analyse and cost extensions to existing systems.

- Easily produce costings and BOM for staged developments

Mainline Hydraulic Gradeline

The “Hydraulic Gradeline” tool can now beused for Mainline pipes. The ground elevation, pipe pressure, maximum allowable pipe pressure can be shown for any or all system flows.

Improved Gradeline Dialog

The HGL dialog has been significantly enhanced with print, copy and save functionality added. Additionally the display of elevations, pressure ranges and limits can now be controlled.

Faster access to Snap Settings

A Snap Panel has been added to the Status Bar. This panel shows the currently selected default snap mode and allows quick access to the Snap and Grid settings.

Selection Filter Panel

The selection filter is a very useful tool but everyone who uses it will have at some time forgotten that it was on and wondered why they were unable to select anything. The new Selection Filter Panel helps to alleviate this problem by showing the status of the selection filter - a red panel indicates that the filter is active. The filter settings can also be accessed, and filter state toggled, from the panel.

Quick Access to Layer Visibility

A fast method to enable or disable layers has been added to the right-click menu of the selection tools.

New Selection Methods

The way the selection tools operate is now switchable. Two modes are available: the standard Irricad mode and a new “Windows Style” single selection method.

Clicking and dragging in the Select Object now operates as a Window Select.

Selecting Block entities can sometimes be difficult. Holding down the key while clicking on any item that is part of the required block (e.g. one of the laterals) now selects the block entity.

Object Info

The display of hydraulic information can now be controlled directly from the Object Info dialog.

Major New Features in IRRICAD Pro 9:

Block Entities

IRRICAD Pro introduces the concept of “Block Entities”. Block Entities retain the drawn boundary of the block tools and “group” the laterals contained by them. They include the facility to automatically place control valves and submains, and greatly simplify the process of changing the type and spacing of laterals. Additional options include the ability to specify headlands/sidelands and lateral grouping.

Subdivision of Large Blocks

The new Subdivision tool allows Block Entities to be subdivided into smaller sub blocks, streamlining the whole process considerably. When the subdivision dialog has been closed, a preview of the subdivision is displayed and a dialog listing the areas of the proposed subareas shown. At this stage sub-areas may be joined together, the current arrangement accepted, or the process repeated.

Graphical Representation of the System Operation

Arranging the system operation for designs that have a large number of zones can be difficult and time consuming. This process has been greatly improved by the introduction of a new graphically based management tool using color coding.

Enhanced Reports

Design reports have been enhanced and are easier to use and read.

Convert Drawing Items to Hydraulic Items with Ease

It is now possible to convert drawing items (both those drawn in IRRICAD or imported via DXF/DWG file) to hydraulic items by simply selecting the required tems and then applying the appropriate hydraulic tool.

New Hydraulic Calculation Options

There is now a choice of the calculation formula used for analyzing tape hydraulics. The Diskin method may now be selected instead of the current Darcy-Weisbach method. In addition the Kinematic Viscosity may be specifies to account for a range of water temperatures and qualities.

Visual Connectivity Check

The connectivity check has been improved to visually display hydraulic items that are not connected, enabling the designer to quickly identity unconnected items.

New Highlight Elevations Tool

The new “Highlight Elevations” tool colours contours and spot heights based on their elevation making any anomalies much easier to locate and correct.

Design Based Label Settings

Label Settings are now design based. This means it is now possible for each design to have a unique set of label settings.

Enhanced Zone Design Configuration

The Zone Design Configuration dialog has been significantly improved, to include zones listed by zone name order. The actual valve pressure and minimum/maximum emitter pressures are displayed in the dialog and a facility to override the pressure range, calculated from the database defaults, used in the design process has been added.

Create Empty Template Designs with Retained Hydraulic Dialog Settings

Values entered or database items selected, in all Hydraulic Item dialogs, are now retained with each individual design. This makes it possible to create empty“ Template” designs that can be used efficient starting points for different types of irrigation systems.

Advanced Method for Elevation Data

A new method of analyzing tapes is included, so that the elevation at each emitter is used in the calculations. This method utilizes a Digital Elevation Model (DEM).

View Elevations as a 3D Representation

With a 3D DEM view you get a 3 dimensional view of the property and its topography.

New DXF Importation Features

The number of individual segments is now counted during the contour importing process and a warning issued if the internal limit is exceeded. "Import Contours" now allows for multiple entities sections and also for LWPOLYLINE DXF entities.

Easy Contour Simplification

Enhancements have been made changes to the "Convert to Elevations" tool so that only items on visible layers are considered when attempting to join lines to create contours.

OLE Functionality

It is now possible to embed documents, spreadsheets and other objects in your IRRICAD design.

Valve Connector Tool

A new tool has been added that will automatically connect valves to the nearest mainline pipe.

Management Symbol

When graphical management is performed, a symbol representing the shift pattern is automatically created. This symbol can then be included in the design.

Hydraulic Gradeline

A new tool has been added which can display the hydraulic gradeline for spraylines, tapes and submain pipes.

Min/Max Pressure Labels

A new tool has been added that will display the location and value of the minimum and maximum emitter pressures for each zone.