IfcObject

Semantic definitions at the entity

Entity definition

An IfcObject is the generalization of any semantically treated thing or process. Objects are things as they appear - i.e. occurrences.

NOTE Examples of IfcObject include physically tangible items such as wall, beam or covering, physically existing items such as spaces, or conceptual items such as grids or virtual boundaries. It also stands for processes such as work tasks, for controls such as cost items, or for actors such as persons involved in the design process.

Objects can be named, using the inherited Name attribute, which should be a user recognizable label for the object occurrance. Further explanations to the object can be given using the inherited Description attribute. The ObjectType attribute is used:

to store the user defined value for all subtypes of IfcObject, where a PredefinedType attribute is given, and its value is set to USERDEFINED.
to provide a type information (could be seen as a very lightweight classifier) of the subtype of IfcObject, if no PredefinedType attribute is given. This is often the case, if no comprehensive list of predefined types is available.

Objects are independent pieces of information that might contain or reference other pieces of information. There are several relationships in which objects can be involved:

Association to external/internal resource information - an association relationship that refers to external/internal sources of information. See supertype IfcObjectDefinition for more information.
Assignment of other objects - an assignment relationship that refers to other types of objects. See supertype IfcObjectDefinition for more information.
Aggregation of other objects - an aggregation relationship that establishes a whole/part relation. Objects can either be a whole, or a part, or both. See supertype IfcObjectDefinition for more information.
Assignment of a type : IsTypedBy - a definition relationship IfcRelDefinesByType that uses a type definition to define the common characteristics of this occurrences, potentially including the common shape representation and common properties of all object occurrences assigned to this type. It is a specific - occurrence relationship with implied dependencies (as the occurrence properties depend on the properties of the type, but may override them).
Assignment of a partial type : IsDeclaredBy, Declares - a definition relationship IfcRelDefinesByObject that uses a component of a type definition (a part of a type, called the "declaring part") to define a component of an occurence (part of occurrence, called the "reflected part"). This is also refered to as a "deep copy". The common characteristics of all parts in the occurrence are defined by parts in the type. It is a specific - occurrence relationship with implied dependencies (as the occurrence properties depend on the properties of the type, but may override them).
Assignment of property sets : IsDefinedBy - a definition relationship IfcRelDefinesByProperties that assignes property set definitions to the object occurrence.

NOTE See IfcRelDefinesByType for an explanatory figure. Also see there for how to override type properties by occurrence properties. See IfcRelDefinesByObject for an explanatory figure for the assignment of a partial type.

HISTORY New entity in IFC1.0

IFC4 CHANGE The inverse relationships Declares, IsDeclaredBy, and IsTypedBy have been added, types are not longer included in the IsDefinesBy relationship. IfcProject has been promoted to be a subtype of IfcObjectDefinition -> IfcContext.

Informal Propositions:

A partial type assignment, i.e. the inverse attribute IsDeclaredBy, or Declares shall only be used, if the object is part of a decomposition, i.e. if either IsDecomposedBy, or Decomposes is exerted.

Attribute definitions

#	Attribute	Type	Cardinality	Description	R
5	ObjectType	IfcLabel	?	The type denotes a particular type that indicates the object further. The use has to be established at the level of instantiable subtypes. In particular it holds the user defined type, if the enumeration of the attribute PredefinedType is set to USERDEFINED.	X
	IsTypedBy	IfcRelDefinesByType @RelatedObjects	S[0:1]	Set of relationships to the object type that provides the type definitions for this object occurrence. The then associated IfcTypeObject, or its subtypes, contains the specific information (or type, or style), that is common to all instances of IfcObject, or its subtypes, referring to the same type. IFC4 CHANGE New inverse relationship, the link to IfcRelDefinesByType had previously be included in the inverse relationship IfcRelDefines. Change made with upward compatibility for file based exchange.	X
	IsDefinedBy	IfcRelDefinesByProperties @RelatedObjects	S[0:?]	Set of relationships to property set definitions attached to this object. Those statically or dynamically defined properties contain alphanumeric information content that further defines the object. IFC4 CHANGE The data type has been changed from IfcRelDefines to IfcRelDefinesByProperties with upward compatibility for file based exchange.	X

Inherited definitions from supertypes

Entity inheritance

Attribute inheritance

#	Attribute	Type	Cardinality	Description	R
IfcRoot
1	GlobalId	IfcGloballyUniqueId		Assignment of a globally unique identifier within the entire software world.	X
2	OwnerHistory	IfcOwnerHistory	?	Assignment of the information about the current ownership of that object, including owning actor, application, local identification and information captured about the recent changes of the object, NOTE only the last modification in stored - either as addition, deletion or modification. IFC4 CHANGE The attribute has been changed to be OPTIONAL.	X
3	Name	IfcLabel	?	Optional name for use by the participating software systems or users. For some subtypes of IfcRoot the insertion of the Name attribute may be required. This would be enforced by a where rule.	X
4	Description	IfcText	?	Optional description, provided for exchanging informative comments.	X
IfcObjectDefinition
	HasAssignments	IfcRelAssigns @RelatedObjects	S[0:?]	Reference to the relationship objects, that assign (by an association relationship) other subtypes of IfcObject to this object instance. Examples are the association to products, processes, controls, resources or groups.	X
	Nests	IfcRelNests @RelatedObjects	S[0:1]	References to the decomposition relationship being a nesting. It determines that this object definition is a part within an ordered whole/part decomposition relationship. An object occurrence or type can only be part of a single decomposition (to allow hierarchical strutures only). IFC4 CHANGE The inverse attribute datatype has been added and separated from Decomposes defined at IfcObjectDefinition.
	IsNestedBy	IfcRelNests @RelatingObject	S[0:?]	References to the decomposition relationship being a nesting. It determines that this object definition is the whole within an ordered whole/part decomposition relationship. An object or object type can be nested by several other objects (occurrences or types). IFC4 CHANGE The inverse attribute datatype has been added and separated from IsDecomposedBy defined at IfcObjectDefinition.	X
	HasContext	IfcRelDeclares @RelatedDefinitions	S[0:1]	References to the context providing context information such as project unit or representation context. It should only be asserted for the uppermost non-spatial object. IFC4 CHANGE The inverse attribute datatype has been added.
	IsDecomposedBy	IfcRelAggregates @RelatingObject	S[0:?]	References to the decomposition relationship being an aggregation. It determines that this object definition is whole within an unordered whole/part decomposition relationship. An object definitions can be aggregated by several other objects (occurrences or parts). IFC4 CHANGE The inverse attribute datatype has been changed from the supertype IfcRelDecomposes to subtype IfcRelAggregates.	X
	Decomposes	IfcRelAggregates @RelatedObjects	S[0:1]	References to the decomposition relationship being an aggregation. It determines that this object definition is a part within an unordered whole/part decomposition relationship. An object definitions can only be part of a single decomposition (to allow hierarchical strutures only). IFC4 CHANGE The inverse attribute datatype has been changed from the supertype IfcRelDecomposes to subtype IfcRelAggregates.	X
	HasAssociations	IfcRelAssociates @RelatedObjects	S[0:?]	Reference to the relationship objects, that associates external references or other resource definitions to the object.. Examples are the association to library, documentation or classification.	X
IfcObject
5	ObjectType	IfcLabel	?	The type denotes a particular type that indicates the object further. The use has to be established at the level of instantiable subtypes. In particular it holds the user defined type, if the enumeration of the attribute PredefinedType is set to USERDEFINED.	X
	IsTypedBy	IfcRelDefinesByType @RelatedObjects	S[0:1]	Set of relationships to the object type that provides the type definitions for this object occurrence. The then associated IfcTypeObject, or its subtypes, contains the specific information (or type, or style), that is common to all instances of IfcObject, or its subtypes, referring to the same type. IFC4 CHANGE New inverse relationship, the link to IfcRelDefinesByType had previously be included in the inverse relationship IfcRelDefines. Change made with upward compatibility for file based exchange.	X
	IsDefinedBy	IfcRelDefinesByProperties @RelatedObjects	S[0:?]	Set of relationships to property set definitions attached to this object. Those statically or dynamically defined properties contain alphanumeric information content that further defines the object. IFC4 CHANGE The data type has been changed from IfcRelDefines to IfcRelDefinesByProperties with upward compatibility for file based exchange.	X

Definitions applying to Reference View

Instance diagram

Concept usage

Object User Identity

The Object User Identity concept applies to this entity.

An attribute Name and optionally Description can be used for all subypes of IfcObject. For those subtypes, that have an object type definition, such as ifcBeam - IfcBeamType, the common Name and optionally Description is associated with the object type.

Object Predefined Type

The Object Predefined Type concept applies to this entity.

This concepts utilizes the additional level of specializing objects. At the level of subtypes, an PredefinedType enumeration attribute is introduced to select a more specific object occurrence category. If the current precompiled enumeration does not include the specific category, a user defined value can be set.

Object Typing

The Object Typing concept applies to this entity.

Any object occurrence can be typed by being assigned to a common object type utilizing this concept. A particular rule, restricting the applicable subtypes of IfcTypeObject that can be assigned, is introduced by overriding this concept at the level of subtypes of IfcObject.

Property Sets for Objects

The Property Sets with Override concept applies to this entity.

Any object occurrence can hold property sets, either directly at the object occurrence as element specific property sets, or at the object type, as type property sets. In this case, the properties that are provided to the object occurrence are the combinations of element specific and type properties. In case, that the same property (within the same property set, is defined both, in occurrence and type properties, the property value of the occurrence property overrides the property value of the type property.

mvdXML Specification


<?xml version="1.0"?>

<ConceptRoot xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xmlns:xsd="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema" uuid="0380f338-fa4c-4c87-a589-e76064244e60" name="IfcObject" status="sample" applicableRootEntity="IfcObject">

  <Applicability uuid="00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000" status="sample">

    <Template ref="295c8d9d-9720-4a78-a620-c0502c0169c5" />

    <TemplateRules operator="and" />

  </Applicability>

  <Concepts>

    <Concept uuid="bee60286-4b6c-47c3-9294-e7161749bf49" name="Object User Identity" status="sample" override="false">

      <Template ref="c19ec186-9cfd-47fc-a4d4-9fb35008d04a" />

    </Concept>

    <Concept uuid="1a3a5bfe-eb65-4d91-965a-a0b24b89dca6" name="Object Predefined Type" status="sample" override="false">

      <Template ref="25248261-98df-4d0a-9364-5653575ca421" />

      <Requirements>

        <Requirement applicability="export" requirement="recommended" exchangeRequirement="dcd96125-898e-4ff0-b294-eb02afe953aa" />

        <Requirement applicability="import" requirement="recommended" exchangeRequirement="dcd96125-898e-4ff0-b294-eb02afe953aa" />

      </Requirements>

    </Concept>

    <Concept uuid="ed2ff5fb-f5ee-434d-91ce-a218ce5108b6" name="Object Typing" status="sample" override="false">

      <Template ref="35a2e10e-20df-40f4-ab2f-dacf0a6744f4" />

    </Concept>

    <Concept uuid="72460826-3578-44f7-b2d3-226beb725fbe" name="Property Sets for Objects" status="sample" override="false">

      <Template ref="e26040e8-82e2-4f6a-bc63-ac8e6da2d0ae" />

    </Concept>

  </Concepts>

</ConceptRoot>

Concept inheritance

#	Concept	Template	Model View
IfcRoot
	Identity	Software Identity	Reference View
	Revision Control	Revision Control	Reference View
IfcObjectDefinition
	Classification	Classification	Reference View
IfcObject
	Object User Identity	Object User Identity	Reference View
	Object Predefined Type	Object Predefined Type	Reference View
	Object Typing	Object Typing	Reference View
	Property Sets for Objects	Property Sets with Override	Reference View

Formal representations

XML Specification

 <xs:element name="IfcObject" type="ifc:IfcObject" abstract="true" substitutionGroup="ifc:IfcObjectDefinition" nillable="true"/>

 <xs:complexType name="IfcObject" abstract="true">

  <xs:complexContent>

   <xs:extension base="ifc:IfcObjectDefinition">

    <xs:sequence>

     <xs:element name="IsTypedBy" type="ifc:IfcRelDefinesByType" nillable="true" minOccurs="0" maxOccurs="1"/>

     <xs:element name="IsDefinedBy" nillable="true" minOccurs="0">

      <xs:complexType>

       <xs:sequence>

        <xs:element ref="ifc:IfcRelDefinesByProperties" minOccurs="0" maxOccurs="unbounded"/>

       </xs:sequence>

       <xs:attribute ref="ifc:itemType" fixed="ifc:IfcRelDefinesByProperties"/>

       <xs:attribute ref="ifc:cType" fixed="set"/>

       <xs:attribute ref="ifc:arraySize" use="optional"/>

      </xs:complexType>

     </xs:element>

    </xs:sequence>

    <xs:attribute name="ObjectType" type="ifc:IfcLabel" use="optional"/>

   </xs:extension>

  </xs:complexContent>

 </xs:complexType>

EXPRESS Specification


ENTITY IfcObject

 ABSTRACT SUPERTYPE OF(ONEOF(IfcGroup, IfcProduct))

 SUBTYPE OF (IfcObjectDefinition);

  ObjectType : OPTIONAL IfcLabel;

 INVERSE

  IsTypedBy : SET [0:1] OF IfcRelDefinesByType FOR RelatedObjects;

  IsDefinedBy : SET [0:?] OF IfcRelDefinesByProperties FOR RelatedObjects;

 WHERE

  UniquePropertySetNames : ((SIZEOF(IsDefinedBy) = 0) OR IfcUniqueDefinitionNames(IsDefinedBy));
END_ENTITY;

 EXPRESS-G diagram

	Objekt
	Object
	Objet