Rules are the basic building blocks of Solibri. A rule can check a model from a single aspect (e.g. duplicate walls are not allowed) or from some specific point of view (e.g. usage of correct construction types). Some rules also report a key characteristic (e.g. list of window types and sizes) of a building.
Overall checking results are displayed in Rule Tree Table. Detailed checking results, on the other hand, are displayed in the Issues in Results View. Issues are part of a structure, which contains also categories and associated components.
As a result of checking the rules in Checking View, rules generate issues and optional reports. Issues are grouped into categories, which makes it easier to understand and deal with them. Issues also have associated components.
Rules are parametric, which means that you can control their behavior by setting the parameter values. This makes the system extremely flexible; rules can be configured to check, for example, project specific issues. Its important to understand that the rules do not change the model; they only find potential problems. It is always up to the user to decide, which issues are important and what actions to take.
Results are expressed in Results View in a hierarchical form. Results consist of categories, sub-categories, issues and components, see the image below:
1. Category is '0.Ground floor [0/1]'.
2. Issue is 'Too Few Close Components in Space.1.16 : Restroom[204][0/1]'.
3. Component having the actual problem.
4. 'Related Components' add more information and description to the issue.
An Issue is a single problem with components associated to it. As examples a few issues are presented here:
Too Few Close Components in Space.1.16 : Restroom[204] [0/1] (as shown in the image above).
Component Wall.1 is inside component Wall.2
Both walls are attached to the issue
Walls, whose length is less than 200 mm (the rule requires, that minimum length walls is 200 mm)
Wall with the length and construction type are same are attached to the issue
There is an issue for each wall length under 200 mm
There is own category for each construction type including walls, of whose length is less than 200 mm
Space 1 doesn't touch slab surface below itself
The space is attached to the issue
All possible slabs, which are neat space bottom surface), are attached to the issue as Information
Information components are those components which help user to understand the issue, but aren't really part of the problem
Issue types, and number of components attached to them, depend on the rule. Each rule has an own way to create and organize issues.
An issue has a name (shown in Issue Tree Table in Results View) and a description (shown in Info View). The user can add a comment and save the slide to issues or categories in Results View.
A Category is a group of issues, which have something in common. There can be e.g. all components with the same construction type, or component located in the same building storey. Categories can be nested, so a category can have subcategories. All categories have issues or subcategories. A category has a name.
Issues and categories of a rule can be browsed in Results View.
Result Structure:
Together categories, issues and attached components create a result structure shown in Rule Tree Table in Results View.
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1 Category states the problem in general and also indicates the total number of issues in the category.
2 Sub-category specifies the problem e.g. with a particular attribute of the component such as Type.
3 Issue states the real problem exactly.
4 Component having the actual problem.
Severities:
Every issue has a severity set by the rule during checking. Possible severities are:
Critical (
)Moderate (
)Low (
)
Severities help user to concentrate to critical problems. They are used in filtering in Checking View and Results View. They can be used also as a filter in report creation. Symbol of the category is a folder with most important severity symbol, e.g. a symbol of the category with critical problems is 
.
Decisions:
The user can make a decision (Reject 
, Accept 
, Undefined or Unhandled) to any component, issue or category. In some cases, a rule (intersection rule) rejects a component automatically.
Decisions are used in filtering just like severities. Symbol of a category contains Accepted symbol 
, when all issues in the category are accepted. If all issues have a decision, and at least one of them is rejected, the category symbol contains Rejected symbol
Importing Data from External Data Sources
Some table parameters in rules allow users to read external data from Excel files to them. In these cases, parameter panel is enabled for the ruleset and it includes a possibility to import external data, which can be used in the rules in the set. Each different external data type has an own panel in the Rule Parameter panel. See Using External Data in Rule Parameters.
Rule tools are like small applications that support the rule it belongs to. Because of the nature of rule tools, the appearance and functionality varies considerably between the different rules. Typically rule tools are used for advanced visualization of the checking results. The tools are shown in the Tools view:
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In addition to checking the building model, rules have the ability to report information from the model. Some rules report in addition to checking the model and some rules only report without checking anything. The report is shown in the Report View:
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You can save report to Excel sheet from Export to Excel button in toolbar of the Report View.