This article describes how the Naming Convention rule type works and how you can configure the rule.

The article covers the following topics:

• Description of the Naming Convention Rule Type
• Naming Convention Rule Logic
• Naming Convention Rule Requirements
• Naming Convention Rule Results in Plugin

Description of the Naming Convention Rule Type

A clear and consistent naming system is essential for the success of the project. Using a standard naming convention for directories, files, parameters, and any shared elements among the stakeholders will reduce misunderstandings and errors when exchanging data. There are both international and national standards for naming convention, but projects can also have specific naming conventions.

With the Naming Convention rule type, you can specify different naming conventions and check that the components in your design match the specified naming convention. For example, you specify that a component name starts with “Project”, followed by a separator and a 2-digit numerical value (“Project-05”). To avoid duplicate names, you can also choose to select the uniqueness of the name of the selected target across the model.

Naming Convention Rule Logic

A naming convention rule checks that a selected text attribute or property follows a naming convention for all target components. You can compose the naming convention of text, numeric, and separator tokens to be suitable for your specific requirements.

Naming Convention Rule Requirements

You can define the following requirements for a naming convention rule:

• Targets: Select a target component that will be checked by the rule. Only targets with the selected IFC Schema can be selected. Currently, you can only select one target component.

• Uniqueness: When checked, the rule will check if the Name of the chosen Target is unique across their model (i.e., that there are no duplicate names). You can configure the rule to check for uniqueness only, without specifying any naming convention. You can define an error message and description specifically for uniqueness:

• Naming convention tokens: Tokens are building blocks with which you can specify the formats for naming conventions used in the model. You can compose the naming convention of text, numeric, and separator tokens to be suitable for your use case:

  Token	Value(s)	Description	Example
  Exact value	Text, number	This token checks for an exact alphanumeric value that the name should have in this exact field. Insert the text into the input field.	a project number
  Digit count	Number	This token checks for any numerical value (0-9) with a minimum and maximum number of digits. The token only checks the number of digits, not the content itself. Insert the numbers into the input fields.
  Predefined value	Text	This token checks for any value from a custom list of allowed values for this field. Provide the allowed values into the input field.	“in review”, “in progress”, “approved”
  Separator	Special character	This token checks for an exact special character value that separates the parts of the name in this field. Select from the list of available separators in the drop-down list.	- _ / \
  Character count	Text	This token checks for any alphabetic value with a minimum and maximum number of characters. The token only checks the number of characters, not the content list itself. You can choose to allow white spaces. Insert the text into the input fields.

  You can select to use a token by clicking Select or dragging and dropping the token. When you select a token, it appears in the Name preview below. The preview item corresponds to the token, and the content inside the preview updates dynamically when the you input values into the token:

  You can also define an error message and description for the naming convention part.

Naming Convention Rule Results in Plugin

If you’ve selected the rule to check for uniqueness, the rule will report an error for each target component name which isn’t unique.

The rule will report an error for each target component which doesn’t match the naming convention you’ve specified.