Editing features
Editing covers everything after a feature exists: changing geometry, updating attributes, entering explosives, adding notes, defining relationships. This lesson focuses on which edits matter for analysis and which don't. For the click-by-click flow on the dashboard itself, see Features → How to view and edit a feature. Bulk edits across many features are covered in Module 11.
By the end of this lesson you should be able to:
- Locate each editable property on the feature dashboard
- Recognize which edits invalidate prior analysis results
- Anticipate the impact of a type-code change before making it
The dashboard tabs
| Tab | What you edit |
|---|---|
| Details | Name, type code, layer, geometry-derived metadata |
| Attributes | Construction, contents, operating posture — see Calculator: Attributes |
| Explosives | NEW (and supporting weights) by hazard division — see Calculator: Explosives |
| Relationships | Per-feature relationship codes; for at-scale management see Relationship groups |
| Calculations | Read-only; per-pair analysis results once the project has been analyzed |
| Spatial Analysis | Read-only; which features fall within this feature's arcs (and which arcs this feature falls within) |
| Errors | Read-only; reasons the engine could not analyze this feature, if any |
The first four are inputs; the last three are outputs. Edits to inputs invalidate the corresponding outputs until analysis is re-run.
Type-code edits are disruptive
Changing a feature's type code is the most disruptive edit short of deletion. The engine reloads the available attributes and explosives for the new type code, drops attribute and explosives values that no longer apply, and falls back to defaults for any newly required attributes — see Calculator: Type codes. Re-confirm attributes after a type-code change before re-running analysis.
Edits that invalidate analysis
Any input edit invalidates the calculation that used it. Re-run analysis after any of:
- Geometry changes (move, reshape)
- Type-code changes
- Attribute changes
- Explosive changes (NEW, hazard division add/remove)
- Relationship changes
- Front assignment changes
- Layer-flavor changes (QD-visible vs background)
The tool that checks if the project needs to run analysis is based on feature edit timestamps, if any features have been edited since the last analysis was ran, then it assumes a new analysis is needed.
Edits that don't invalidate analysis
A few edits are purely cosmetic or organizational and do not require a re-run:
- Name changes
- Notes
- To-do items
- Visibility toggles
Re-running after these is harmless but unnecessary.
Try it
Open a feature on a project that has been analyzed. Toggle a single attribute (e.g., Heavy Wall) and confirm the Calculate button surfaces a stale-results indicator. Re-run analysis and observe the change in the feature's Calculations tab. Now change only the feature's name and confirm no stale-results indicator appears.
Related
- Capability reference: Features → How to view and edit a feature — click-by-click steps
- Capability reference: Feature attributes — Attributes tab specifics
- Capability reference: Feature explosives data — Explosives tab specifics
- Capability reference: Feature relationships and notes — Relationships tab specifics
- Adding features — the creation flow
- Moving features — geometry-only edits
- Moving features → Changing a feature's layer — moving between layer flavors
- Calculator: Attributes — what attribute edits do downstream
- Bulk feature editing — for many features at once