Drawing Index

The drawing index is a folder holding one JSON file for each drawing you save, saying what the drawing is: where it is, its units and when it was saved, what it is (its classification) and its notes, its labelled variables and their values, its size, its elements counted and measured by layer, and what the save extensions gave back. With it, your drawings can be searched, listed or loaded into a database without opening them.

Turn it on in Preferences (Keep an index of saved drawings) and choose the folder: a shared folder works, so a team can keep one index. It is off unless you turn it on.

When it is written

Each time a drawing is saved (File › Save, Save As…), after the file is written and the save extensions have run, the drawing is described and its entry is written to the index folder, away from the window, so saving isn't held up. Saving it again replaces its entry. An entry that can't be written (the folder is gone, say) is said in the Interactive window; the drawing is saved anyway.

Each drawing's file is named after it, then an id worked out from its full path: Shipper-3f2a9c0d1e4b5a67.json. The same drawing always gets the same file; two drawings of the same name in different folders get different ones. A drawing that is moved or renamed gets a new entry; the old one stays until you delete it.

What a file holds

A JSON object, with the same fields for every drawing (a field with nothing to say is null, or an empty list or object), so the files can be loaded into one table:

Field	Type	Meaning
`schema`	number	Which set of fields this is: `1`. It goes up if they change in a way a reader would notice.
`id`	text	The drawing's id: 16 hex digits worked out from its full path (the end of the file's name). The same for the same path each time: a key for a database.
`path`	text	The drawing file's full path.
`folder`	text	The folder it is in.
`fileName`	text	Its name with its extension: `"Shipper.piq"`.
`name`	text	Its name without: `"Shipper"`.
`fileSize`	number	The file's size in bytes.
`saved`	text	When it was saved, in UTC: `"2026-11-03T14:05:00Z"`.
`user`	text	Who saved it (the computer's user name).
`machine`	text	The computer it was saved on.
`product`	text	The app that saved it: `"ParametrIQ CAD"`.
`productVersion`	text	Its version.
`format`	number	The drawing file format version it was saved in.
`units`	text	`"mm"` or `"in"`: the units of every size and length below.
`classification`	object	What it is, as Drawing Properties sets it: `category`, `style`, `product`, `tags` (a list), `description` and any other field, each text (`""` when not given).
`notes`	object	The drawing's notes, by name: `{"Customer": "Acme"}`.
`variables`	list	Its labelled variables (those it asks for when it is run), in order, each `{name, label, value}`: `value` a number, text, true or false, a position `{x, y}`, or `null` if it can't be worked out.
`size`	object	The drawing's extent: `width`, `height`, and its corners `minX`, `minY`, `maxX`, `maxY`; `null` if nothing is drawn.
`pages`	list	Its pages, each `{name, elements}` (how many elements are on it).
`elements`	number	How many elements the page worked on has (those exported).
`length`	number	Their total length.
`layers`	list	The layers with elements on them, each `{layer, name, cutting, count, length, area}`: its number and name, whether it is cut (Cut, Partial Cut, Perforation …), how many elements, their total length, and the area the closed ones enclose.
`kinds`	object	How many elements of each kind: `{"LINE": 4, "ARC": 2}`.
`saveExtensions`	list	What each save extension did when it was saved, each `{name, file, record, error}`: its name, its file, what it gave back (as JSON, or `null`), and why it went wrong (`null` if it didn't).

For example:

{
  "schema": 1,
  "id": "3f2a9c0d1e4b5a67",
  "path": "D:\\Drawings\\Shipper.piq",
  "folder": "D:\\Drawings",
  "fileName": "Shipper.piq",
  "name": "Shipper",
  "fileSize": 4210,
  "saved": "2026-11-03T14:05:00Z",
  "user": "ana",
  "machine": "STUDIO-2",
  "product": "ParametrIQ CAD",
  "productVersion": "3.2",
  "format": 1,
  "units": "mm",
  "classification": { "category": "Box", "style": "FEFCO 0201", "product": "", "tags": ["shipper"], "description": "" },
  "notes": { "Customer": "Acme" },
  "variables": [
    { "name": "L", "label": "Length", "value": 300 },
    { "name": "W", "label": "Width", "value": 200 }
  ],
  "size": { "width": 1030, "height": 560, "minX": 0, "minY": 0, "maxX": 1030, "maxY": 560 },
  "pages": [ { "name": "Page 1", "elements": 38 } ],
  "elements": 38,
  "length": 9120.5,
  "layers": [
    { "layer": 0, "name": "Cut", "cutting": true, "count": 22, "length": 6410.2, "area": 0 },
    { "layer": 1, "name": "Crease", "cutting": false, "count": 16, "length": 2710.3, "area": 0 }
  ],
  "kinds": { "LINE": 36, "ARC": 2 },
  "saveExtensions": [
    { "name": "Order", "file": "orders.js", "record": { "order": 4711 }, "error": null }
  ]
}

Loading it into a database

Each file is one row: id is its key, and the other plain fields (path, name, saved, units, format, fileSize …) are columns. The lists (variables, layers, pages, saveExtensions) fit tables of their own, keyed by the drawing's id and the variable's name, the layer's layer, and so on. Most databases read JSON files directly; a script that loads the folder's newest files every so often keeps the database up to date.

To write to a database yourself as each drawing is saved, use a save extension: what it returns is kept in saveExtensions here too.