Validation Rules help you check the data in your model and find potential errors in NTI COMANAGE.

You can create Validation Rules in three ways:

• Create an IFC Rule manually
• Create a Revit Rule manually
• Import rules from an IDS file, also known as an Information Delivery Specification

After the rules are created or imported, they are added to the project and shown in the Validation Rules table.

Create an IFC Rule

Use Create IFC Rule when you want to manually create a validation rule for one or more IFC versions.

1. Go to the Validate module.
2. Open the Validation Rules page.
3. Click Create IFC Rule.
4. Select one or more IFC versions that the rule should apply to.
5. Define the rule using the Filter and Requirement sections.

6. Choose the facet type you want to use.

   You can choose between:

   • Entity
   • Property
7. Fill in the required fields.
8. Click Add.

The rule is created and added to the Validation Rules table.

Create a Revit Rule

Use Create Revit Rule when you want to manually create a validation rule for Revit data.

1. Go to the Validate module.
2. Open the Validation Rules page.
3. Click Create Revit Rule.
4. Define the rule using the Filter and Requirement sections.

5. Choose the facet type you want to use.

   You can choose between:

   • Entity
   • Property
6. Fill in the required fields.
7. Click Add.

The rule is created and added to the Validation Rules table.

Filter and Requirement sections

Both Create IFC Rule and Create Revit Rule include a Filter section and a Requirement section.

Use the Filter section to define which elements the rule should check.

Use the Requirement section to define what those elements must contain, or what they are not allowed to contain.

Entity facet

Use the Entity facet to define which Revit category the rule applies to, and whether the rule should apply to types or instances.

When creating an Entity facet, you can define:

Revit Category Name

Choose how the category name should be matched.

The match type can be:

• Exact match
• List of values
• Regex pattern

The input field supports autocomplete based on the available Revit categories.

Element Type

Choose whether the rule should apply to types or instances.

The options are:

• Type
• Instance

The default selection is Instance.

Property facet

Use the Property facet to validate elements based on their parameters and values.

When creating a Property facet, you can define:

Cardinality

Choose whether the property is required, prohibited, or optional.

The options are:

• Required
• Prohibited
• Optional

Required means that the property must exist. It does not necessarily mean that the property must have a filled-in value.

If the property must be filled in, you must also define a Value requirement.

Parameter Group

Choose how the parameter group should be matched.

The match type can be:

• Exact match
• List of values
• Regex pattern

Name

Choose how the property or parameter name should be matched.

The match type can be:

• Exact match
• List of values
• Regex pattern

Value

You can also define a value that the property must match. Use the Value field when the property must have a specific value, follow a pattern, be within a range, or be filled in.

The match type can be:

• Exact match
• List of values
• Regex pattern
• Range
• Length

To check that a text value is filled in, set the Value match type to Length and set Min Length to 1. This checks that the text value contains at least one character. You can also use a regex pattern such as .+.

If you add a value, you must also select a Data Type.

The Data Type is selected from the available data value types in NTI COMANAGE, for example Text, Number, or Yes/No.

Match types

Depending on the field you are filling in, you can choose different match types.

Exact match

Use Exact match when the input must match one specific value.

You enter the value in a text field. Autocomplete may be available.

List of values

Use List of values when the input can match one of several values.

You can add multiple values. Autocomplete may be available.

Regex pattern

Use Regex pattern when the input should match a regular expression.

You enter the regex pattern in a text field.

Range

Use Range when the value should be within a number range.

You can define:

• Min Value
• Max Value

Both values are optional, so you can define only a minimum value, only a maximum value, or both.

For both minimum and maximum values, you can choose whether the value should be inclusive or exclusive.

Length

Use Length when the value should have a specific text length.

You can define:

• Min Length
• Max Length

Both values are optional, so you can define only a minimum length, only a maximum length, or both.

Add rules from an IDS file

You can also create Validation Rules by importing an IDS file.

1. Go to the Validate module.
2. Open the Validation Rules page.
3. Click Add IDS in the upper-right corner.
4. In the Add IDS dialog, upload your IDS file. 
   1. You can either browse for the file, or drag and drop the file into the dialog.

5. A specification group is automatically created based on the IDS file name. 

   1. You can also choose an existing group if you want to add the specifications there.

6. Select the specifications from the IDS file that you want to add to the project.
7. Click Add.

The selected specifications are added to the project and shown in the Validation Rules table.

Where: HOME / <project name> / PROJECT HOME / VALIDATE / Validation Rules