I love what SW can do. Designing supports with weldements is amazing and very intuitive. Modelling stuff works great. But then one uses Routing.

Now the recent "survey" about the piping routing module made me think about "basic" piping things that were MIA.

I don't mean the things that marketing drones, managers, the un-informed nor ill-informed people think that we need but really run of the mill things. Things that actual make sense, that are used across the board no matter if you are in petro-chemical, utilities, waste water or another branch. Things that are standard as well as common in professional piping drafting around the world and that would be usuable no matter if you work for a small company or for a multinational conglomerate.

In no particular order the things I can think of are :

• slope
• dimensioning from CenterLine to FOF : no      more having to dimension from Centerline to the CP point (which is the      wrong side of the flange) or having to use work-arounds. or being able to dimension from one CL to another although they one is vertical and the other horizontal without having to fiddle with it.
• spoolpieces
• piping class
• fully automated totals of all pipe      lengths, perhaps even so that it will even keep into account the 'Make      Lengths' and rounding it of to the next standard length.... but now      I'm daydreaming.
• ability to put dimensions on Isometric      view in a drawing that actual depict the measurements that are needed and      that can easily be added. Perhaps even having the dimension text slanted as it should on piping iso's instead of having to end up with a drawing that seems to be dimensioned by a nincompoop.
• breaks in Isometric views that don't      result in the route depiction ended up being jagged
• logical built of library items that are      fully documented so that the user don't have to wonder what is and isn't      necessary
• library of piping parts that only contain      items that are built purely according to the rules and have no built in      errors (unlike at the present). Even if it means only one set in a size      that nobody really uses (perhaps even best that way). Afterall, there are      so many different standards that no matter how many SW would put standard      into them it would still leave a far chunk of it's user base having to      make there own.
• Clouds : so that we finally can make clear      what parts on a drawing are HOLD or revised in a manner that is internationally quite standard.
• Having accommodations for other kinds of connecting practices as well as having the program not buckle when one has to use socket weld - but weld - screw fittings - etc... all in one route.

All things that I would expect the majority of piping professional would have a use for, unlike for instance weldgaps. Which, be honest now, even if you do have a need for it, it could just as well be covered by a note in the key on the drawing stating what the weldgap(s) are that should be taken into account. I guess some big client was asking for it.

In short perhaps certain people in the routing department at SW should leaf though "Piping design" by Rip Weaver so that they would know what people actual used to draw before they had to get accostomed to the limitations in SW Routing and Slddrw's.

PS: if there exist a work-around for something it means that it's broken and should be fixed quickly, it should not mean that seeing as that there is a work-around that it should be put on the back burner because developing a "new" feature takes precedence.