Facilitating engineering analysis via a graphical database

The advent of Microsoft Windows and other graphical user interface (GUI) platforms has ushered in a host of “visual” applications that greatly simplify the task of data entry, as compared to conventional methods. This paper describes a unique Windows GUI application that enables an engineer to draw a one-line diagram, interactively enter bus end device parameters into dialog box fields, and then save this data to a power systems database. This innovative method of “visually” entering data into a power systems database is a significant addition to the one-line drawing capabilities of this application. In addition, the application makes extensive use of Windows features which enhance the robustness of the software from both the developer´s and user´s viewpoint