Hvac system configuration with automatic schematics and graphics generation

An engineering tool for configuring a building control system, the engineering tool comprising:

• a memory for storing a Specifier Library that includes specifier options for a plurality of building control components;
• a user interface;
• a processor operatively coupled to the memory and the user interface, the processor configured to:
• accept via the user interface a selection of a building control component that will be part of the building control system;
• display via the user interface one or more available options for the selected building control component, the one or more available options determined by the Specifier Library stored in the memory;
• accept via the user interface selections of one or more of the available options for the selected building control component;
• interfacing with a diagramming application program to create a drawing instance for the selected building control component, including automatically selecting two or more appropriate shapes from a Shapes Library referenced by the diagramming application program for inclusion on the drawing instance based at least in part on the selected building control component and the one or more of the available options selected for the selected building control component;
• and
• display the drawing instance created using the diagramming application program on the user interface of the engineering tool.

A method of building a configuration project for configuring a Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning (HVAC) system, the method comprising:

• an engineering tool accepting via a user interface of the engineering tool a number of selections that define an HVAC component that will be part of the HVAC system;
• the engineering tool interfacing with a third party diagramming application program, the engineering tool instructing the diagramming application program to create a visual representation of the HVAC component by selecting two or more shapes from a Shapes Library referenced by the diagramming application program for inclusion in the visual representation of the HVAC component;
• the engineering tool instructing the diagramming application program to place the selected two or more shapes at specified relative positions to creates the visual representation of the HVAC component;
• and
• displaying the visual representation of the HVAC component via the user interface of the engineering tool.