Autodesk AutoCAD Electrical 2008 User guide

AutoCAD Electrical 2008

User’s Guide

February 20, 2007

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Published By: Autodesk, Inc., 111 Mclnnis Parkway, San Rafael, CA 94903, USA

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Contents

Chapter 1 AutoCAD Electrical What's New . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

What's New in AutoCAD Electrical 2008 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

What's New in Previous Releases . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

What's New in 2005 Release . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

What's New in 2006 Release . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

What's New in 2007 Release . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

Chapter 2 Project Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

Overview of AutoCAD Electrical Help . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

Overview of projects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29

Use recently opened projects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29

Create a new project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31

Add a new drawing to the current project . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31

Add existing drawings to the current project . . . . . . . . . . . . 32

Group drawings within a project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34

Change the order of drawings in the project . . . . . . . . . . . . 35

Remove a drawing from the active project . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36

Assign a description to each drawing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36

Preview a drawing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37

About collaborative design . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50

Create a new drawing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63

Change drawing display options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68

Overview of project related files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70

v

Overview of the project file format . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77

Archive a project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82

Work with Multiple Clients . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83

Overview of set up for multiple clients . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83

Chapter 3 Drawing and Project Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95

Overview of project and drawing properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96

Use replaceable parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126

Save settings to the project file . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129

Create a template drawing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131

Updating the WD_M Block . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134

Overview of the WD_M block . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134

Using Layers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143

Manage layers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143

Use wire layers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150

Change wire types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156

Chapter 4 Symbol Libraries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161

Determine symbol block names . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162

Library Symbol Naming Conventions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163

Overview of symbol naming conventions . . . . . . . . . . . . 163

Split a tag name into two pieces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172

Use multiple symbol libraries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173

Overview of Hydraulic and P&ID symbols . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174

Attribute Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177

Schematic Attributes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177

Overview of schematic attributes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177

Non-Schematic Attributes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 192

Overview of non-schematic attributes . . . . . . . . . . . 192

Overview of parent and stand-alone component attributes

(TAG1) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 196

Overview of child component attributes (TAG2) . . . . . . . . . 196

Copy attributes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 196

Managing Library Symbols . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197

Substitute symbols in the library . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197

Change appearance of existing library symbols . . . . . . . . . . 197

Predefine symbol annotation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199

Create a new library symbol . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199

Overview of the Symbol Builder . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201

Swap blocks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 209

Chapter 5 PLC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 217

Generate PLC layout modules . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 218

Parametric PLC symbols vs. Full Units . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 218

vi | Contents

Insert PLC modules . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 221

Overview of the PLC database file . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 225

Single, Stand-Alone I/O Points . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 246

Modify single, stand-alone PLC layout symbols . . . . . . . . . 246

Work with PLC styles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 251

Modify a PLC appearance style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 251

Create a new PLC style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 252

Add a new PLC style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 252

Create PLC I/O Drawings from Spreadsheets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 253

Overview of the PLC spreadsheet/database format . . . . . . . . 253

Create PLC spreadsheets using RSLogix . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 267

Create PLC drawings from Unity Pro . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 270

Create XML files for export to Unity Pro . . . . . . . . . . . . . 280

Chapter 6 Component Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 283

Insert schematic components . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 284

Insert a copy of a component . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 308

Insert similar components . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 308

Insert from catalog lists . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 312

Use the schematic lookup file . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 316

Insert from panel lists . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 323

Manipulate Components . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 330

Manipulate components . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 330

Annotate ratings attributes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 337

Reverse/flip components . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 338

Swap contact states . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 340

Check coil/contact count . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 340

Follow signals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 342

Insert dashed link lines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 344

Overview of DIN Rails . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 344

Edit schematic lookup files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 349

Overview of user data records . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 351

Component Cross-References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 353

Use stand-alone cross-reference symbols . . . . . . . . . . . . . 353

Change cross-reference visibility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 361

Insert a dashed link line . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 361

Overview of cross-reference settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 362

Overview of graphical cross-reference formats . . . . . . . . . . 368

Overview of table cross-reference formats . . . . . . . . . . . . . 372

Update cross-reference tables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 377

Use cross-reference exception reports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 383

Circuits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 384

Use circuitry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 384

Wire Jumpers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 396

Define wire jumpers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 396

Contents | vii

Chapter 7 Component Attribute Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 399

Edit attribute values . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 400

Force attributes to layers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 403

Manipulate component text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 405

Manipulate terminal text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 408

Move description values . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 409

Manipulate Attributes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 410

Manipulate component attributes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 410

Set tags to fixed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 411

Change to multi-line text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 414

Add location codes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 414

Update child codes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 416

Location Mark Symbols . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 418

Substitute location mark symbols for text location codes . . . . 418

Change attribute justification . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 424

Change attribute text style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 425

Change attribute text size . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 425

Modify library symbols . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 429

Add attributes to blocks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 431

Chapter 8 Wire/Wire Number Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 433

Overview of wires . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 434

Insert 3-phase bus wiring . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 435

Insert wires . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 437

Trim wires . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 439

Stretch wires . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 440

Overview of wire color/gauge labels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 440

Insert cable markers into wires . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 443

Insert cable markers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 444

Insert multiple cable markers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 445

Insert shield symbols . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 466

Add a second shield to a cable/shield represenation . . . . . . . 467

Insert in-line wire markers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 467

Wire Gaps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 473

Manipulate wire gaps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 473

Ladder Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 474

Define and insert new ladders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 474

Modify an existing ladder . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 480

Wire Numbers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 484

Overview of wire numbers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 484

Set wire number placement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 492

Find or replace wire number text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 501

Encode wire color/gauge information into wire numbers . . . . 502

Fix Wire Numbering . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 506

Fix wire numbering . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 506

viii | Contents

Reposition Wire Numbers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 511

Reposition wire numbers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 511

Modify Wire Numbers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 519

Modify wire numbers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 519

Erase or Hide Wire Numbers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 521

Erase or hide wire numbers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 521

Wire Sequencing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 525

Control from/to report connection sequencing . . . . . . . . . . 525

Add custom signal arrow styles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 536

Edit the cable conductor database . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 542

Source and Destination Markers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 543

Show source and destination markers on wires . . . . . . . . . . 543

Chapter 9 Terminal Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 553

Overview of connection sequencing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 554

Insert terminals and connectors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 559

Multi-Level Terminals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 568

Overview of terminal relationships . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 568

Edit terminal jumpers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 573

Resequence terminal numbers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 578

View terminal wire connections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 579

Show terminal internal/external connections . . . . . . . . . . . 580

Mark internal connections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 580

Mark external connections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 580

Erase connection codes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 581

Terminal Strips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 581

Create terminal strips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 581

Use the terminal strip editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 585

Generate terminal strip tables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 624

Terminal Properties Lookup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 629

Overview of terminal properties database . . . . . . . . . . . . . 629

Chapter 10 Point-to-Point Wiring Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 635

Working with Connectors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 636

Use point-to-point wiring tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 636

Bend wires at right angles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 659

Insert multiple bus wiring . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 660

Import data from Autodesk Inventor Professional Cable &

Harness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 662

Overview of the spreadsheet import file structure . . . . . . . . . . . 673

Insert splices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 685

Chapter 11 Project-Wide Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 687

Move from reference to reference . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 688

Contents | ix

Start the Surfer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 689

Continue a previous surf session . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 690

Move between drawings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 693

Plot one or more drawings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 694

Create a project-wide script file . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 697

Track drawing changes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 700

Translate description text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 703

Publish to the web . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 705

Title Block Utility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 708

Use drawing title blocks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 708

Link information to the title block . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 718

Map AutoLISP values to the title block . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 724

Chapter 12 Icon Menus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 729

Overview of the Icon Menu Wizard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 730

Add a new icon to the menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 732

Edit the properties of an existing icon in the menu . . . . . . . 733

Use alternate icon menus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 759

Modify Icon Menu File Directly . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 760

Overview of the icon menu file . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 760

Chapter 13 BOM and Catalogs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 765

Use catalog tables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 766

Catalog table naming conventions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 766

Family tables in the default_cat.mdb . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 768

Overview of the catalog database table structure . . . . . . . . . . . . 777

Use the merge utility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 781

Catalog Assignment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 785

Assign catalog information to components . . . . . . . . . . . . 785

Overview of the LISTBOX_DEF catalog database table . . . . . . 788

Copy catalog assignments from component to component . . . 790

Show missing catalog assignments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 793

Contact Quantity/Pin List Lookup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 793

Use pin lists . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 793

Set pin list assignments for special uses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 800

Chapter 14 Reports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 803

Generate reports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 804

Schematic Reports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 897

Generate schematic reports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 897

Panel Reports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 923

Generate panel reports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 923

Overview of format files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 938

Run automatic reports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 991

x | Contents

Modify spreadsheet data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 996

Create user-defined attributes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1005

Export to Autodesk Inventor Professional . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1008

Set up for export to Autodesk Inventor Professional Cable &

Harness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1008

Chapter 15 Panel Layout . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1021

Overview of panel layouts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1022

Automatic schematic/panel update . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1022

Relationship between schematic drawings and panel layouts . . . . . 1026

Overview of footprint attributes/Xdata . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1028

Footprint/Terminal Insertion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1031

Select and insert footprints . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1031

Insert a copy of a panel footprint . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1061

Copy code values to components . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1061

Use panel templates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1064

Select component data from a spreadsheet . . . . . . . . . . . 1066

Layout Wire Connection Annotation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1074

Merge schematic wire numbers onto footprints . . . . . . . . . 1074

Add wire information to footprints . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1077

Lookup Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1081

Use the footprint lookup file . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1081

Item Numbers/Balloons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1087

Assign an item or detail number to a footprint . . . . . . . . . 1087

Nameplates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1091

Insert nameplates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1091

Panel Leveling/Sequencing Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1093

Remove sequencing assignments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1093

Show sequencing assignments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1093

Swap terminal strip wire text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1095

Chapter 16 Conduit Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1109

Overview of conduit tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1110

Conduit Marker Intelligence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1110

Overview of conduit marker support files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1116

Generate a conduit marker report . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1118

Generate a conduit routing report . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1120

Chapter 17 Conversion Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1123

Convert promis.e drawing files to AutoCAD Electrical . . . . . . . . 1124

Convert non-AutoCAD Electrical blocks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1128

Finish mapping values from non-AutoCAD Electrical

blocks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1128

Convert text to an attribute . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1131

Contents | xi

Convert Arrows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1132

Convert non-AutoCAD Electrical arrows . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1132

Overview of ECDS legacy conversion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1133

Tagging and Linking Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1137

Use tagging and linking tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1137

Overview of block/attribute mapping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1151

Chapter 18 Miscellaneous Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1157

Overview of power check tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1158

Overview of pneumatic tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1161

Insert hydraulic components . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1166

Insert P&ID components . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1171

Troubleshooting Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1176

Overview of real-time error checking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1176

Modify invisible data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1184

Chapter 19 Advanced Productivity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1187

Set up peer-to-peer component relationships . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1188

Create automated pin assignments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1190

Set up AutoCAD Electrical for multiple users . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1193

Show source and destination markers on cable wires . . . . . . . . . 1197

Use the PLC Database File Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1205

Add your own symbols, circuits and commands to the icon

menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1214

Build your own symbols . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1223

Configure projects for various drawing standards . . . . . . . . . . . 1243

Use Autodesk Vault with AutoCAD Electrical . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1250

Chapter 20 AutoCAD Electrical Command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1257

AutoCAD Electrical Commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1258

Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1271

xii | Contents

AutoCAD Electrical

What's New

In this chapter

■ What's New in AutoCAD

Electrical 2008

■ What's New in Previous

Releases

■ What's New in 2005

Release

■ What's New in 2006

Release

■ What's New in 2007

Release

1

What's New in AutoCAD Electrical 2008

PLC I/O Import/Export

You can now communicate your electrical designs between AutoCAD Electrical

and Schneider Electric’ s Unity Pro. Employing the widely used XML language

format, you can transfer design data back and forth while maintaining structure

and organization.

Use the new Unity Pro Export to Spreadsheet tool to import Unity Pro XML

export files to aid in the creation of PLC-style ladder drawings and panel layout

drawings (in both vertical and horizontal format) in the active project. The

Unity Pro export files also contain catalog information. You can reformat it

to generate an equipment list to aid in the creation of a rack layout drawing

used in panel layouts or separate rack layout drawings.

Use the new Unity Pro Export tool to create a Unity Pro I/O variable file (*.xsy)

in the Unity Pro XML format from your AutoCAD Electrical drawings. The

Unity Pro export file is generated from the PLC drawings and their respective

PLC symbols.

For More Information (page 270)

PLC I/O Libraries Enhancements

You can quickly create PLC I/O drawings by selecting from a library of over

3,000 intelligent PLC I/O modules from the industry’s most popular

manufacturers.

Spreadsheet to PLC I/O Utility Enhancements

You no longer have to create and save the starting drawing for the Spreadsheet

to PLC I/O Utility tool. You can now define a starting drawing file name or

start with the active drawing. Additional enhancements include:

■ Default settings are now read automatically the first time you run the tool.

■ You can select a settings file and make it the default.

■ You can have the newly created drawings added automatically to the end

of the active project.

For More Information (page 257)

2 | Chapter 1 AutoCAD Electrical What's New

Surfable Reports

When reports are placed into a drawing as a table, you can click on various

report cells to quickly find the corresponding devices within the schematic

or panel layout drawings in the active project.

When surfing on a table inserted by the Terminal Strip Editor, you can click

the title cell to surf on the Tagstrip value, even if the Tagstrip is not included

in the title. If you select a cell that is not surfable (such as the Tag, Catalog,

or Wire Number cell) the Tagstrip value is surfed for the terminal strip.

For More Information (page 688)

Insert Component and Insert Footprint Enhancements

The Insert Component and Insert Footprint dialog boxes are updated to

improve ease of use when selecting components to insert into your drawing.

Enhanced dialog box controls include:

■ Menu tree structure

Displays the main menu and submenus from which you can freely navigate.

Clicking the menus displays the corresponding menu icons in the Symbol

Preview window. The menu is created by reading the *.dat file defined in

the Project Properties dialog box.

■ Symbol Preview window

Displays the symbol icons and submenu icons corresponding to the selected

menu. Clicking an icon performs one of the following functions based on

the icon properties as defined in the *.dat file: insert a component or circuit,

display a submenu, or execute a command.

■ Recently Used

Displays the last components inserted during the current editing

session.The most recently used icon displays at the top. This list follows

the view options setting in the symbol preview window and the total

number of icons displayed depends on the value specified in the Display

edit box.

■ View

Changes the view display for the Symbol Preview window and Recently

Used window. The current view option is indicated with a check mark.

Options include: Icon with text, Icon only, or List view.

■ Tooltips

When you move the cursor over an icon, the icon name and

block/circuit/command names display as tooltip information.

What's New in AutoCAD Electrical 2008 | 3

Icon Menu Wizard Enhancements

The Icon Menu Wizard allows you to easily customize the icon menus. You

can now copy and paste icons from one submenu into another, drag and drop

icons to place those that are commonly used at the top of the Symbol Preview

window and those that are used less frequently at the bottom of the window,

and create new icons to use when inserting components.

You can also easily modify the existing icon or menu properties like changing

the name, image or block name. Right-click the menu or icon on the Icon

Menu Wizard dialog box and select Properties. The existing data is overwritten

in the *.dat file with the new changes.

For More Information (page 730)

Direct Wire Sequencing

You can now use the Edit Wire Sequence tool to define additional

direct-to-terminal wire connection sequences in schematic networks. For

example, 1 side of a schematic terminal might be connected to 3 field devices.

A specific wire connection sequence can be defined to force the connection

reporting, but it is limited to reporting the terminal as a common connection

point for only 2 of the 3 field devices. The third has to be reported as jumpered

to 1 of the other 2 devices. Now, with the support for secondary

direct-to-terminal sequences, the third field device can be sequenced directly

to the terminal and the Wire From/To report shows all 3 field devices tied

directly to the terminal.

For More Information (page 528)

Visual Wiring Sequence Indicators

Once you define additional wire connection sequences, use the Show Wire

Sequence tool to graphically show the new sequencing. When any changes

are made to a wire sequence, the updated information is accurately reflected

in the from/to wire list report.

For More Information (page 530)

Terminal Strip Editor Enhancements

The Terminal Strip Editor provides an easy way to manage and edit terminals

used throughout a project. You can now start designs with a terminal strip

layout drawing representing the terminal strip. In the modified Terminal Strip

Selection dialog box, you can either select a terminal strip for editing, or create

4 | Chapter 1 AutoCAD Electrical What's New

a new terminal strip definition in the project and maintain its properties in

the graphical terminal strip layout drawing.

The Terminal Strip Editor dialog box now has an enhanced grid control with

bolder grid lines that provide better visual definition for the terminal strip.

Other enhancements to the dialog box include:

■ The Terminal Pin (TPin) column is now “T.”

■ The TERM column is now “Number” to indicate the terminal numbering,

whether it is a wire number or user-defined number.

■ The Function column is now “Installation.”

■ A new column (on the far left side of the grid) indicates the level definition.

■ Tooltip instructions display once you move your cursor over 1 of the tool

buttons in the dialog box.

■ There is better context menu support that is based on individual cells.

■ The Preview tab is now “Layout Preview.”

■ The Cable Preview tab is now “Cable Information.”

New tools are available on the Terminal Strip Editor dialog box to create

associations, separate levels from a multiple level terminal block into separate

terminal blocks, reverse the left and right wiring information for a terminal,

and edit terminal block properties such as the number of levels and number

of wires per connection.

The Layout Preview tab of the Terminal Strip Editor dialog box has been

enhanced to allow AutoCAD’s table objects to be inserted as a terminal strip.

This allows for more accurate representations of what is in the Terminal Strip

Editor, more flexibility with the style, and provides a means for automatic

updating.

For More Information (page 585)

Inserting Spare Terminals

Extra terminal block definitions and accessory information is now maintained

and saved on the graphical terminal strip layout. You can insert spare terminals

and have them accurately update the Bill of Materials as well as various

terminal reports.

For More Information (page 614)

What's New in AutoCAD Electrical 2008 | 5

Multi-Level Terminals

Multi-level terminal blocks are quickly becoming an industry standard. Using

AutoCAD Electrical, you can define and manage the terminal numbers and

levels as well as all connectivity information with no added complexity.

You can now associate schematic terminals to build a multi-level terminal

block that is limited to the number of levels defined in the block properties.

Use the new Add/Modify Associations tool to search project terminal strips

for existing multi-level terminal blocks so that you can define and maintain

terminal associations. Terminals must be in the same terminal strip and be in

the same project to be associated together. You can also remove a terminal

from any multi-level relationship and copy terminal properties from 1 terminal

symbol to another.

Associating schematic terminals combines the terminals into a single terminal

block property definition. The number of schematic terminals that can be

combined is limited to the number of levels defined for the block property.

Terminal associations can also tie together a set of schematic terminal block

symbols to one panel representation of a terminal footprint.

For More Information (page 568)

Terminal Properties Database Editor

Terminal properties data is now managed based on manufacturer. Use the

new Terminal Properties Database Editor tool to select the manufacturer table

to edit or create a new one in the catalog database for the active project.

Terminal Jumper Support

Use the new Edit Jumper tool to add, edit, or remove jumpers between

terminals that share the same potential in a schematic drawing. You can

display temporary line graphics between the primary terminal and secondary

terminals within the same drawing.

Jumpers now display on the panel drawing so you have a visual representation

of jumpers that appear on tabular terminal strips. Cells of a table row are

joined with a graphical jumper that looks like 2 circles connected by a solid

thick line. Three columns of jumpers are supported within a single jumper

column in the table.

6 | Chapter 1 AutoCAD Electrical What's New

Pin List Data Management

Pin list data is now managed based on manufacturer. Use the Pin List Database

Editor tool to select the pin list table to edit or create a new table.

The _PINLIST table in the default_cat.mdb file now uses a single PINLIST

column and a single PEER_PINLIST column. The continuation columns have

been removed.

For More Information (page 795)

Installer Improvements for Manufacturer Content

You can now selectively install content based on manufacturer, reducing the

size of the content databases and data redundancy. If you later decide you

want to install content from another manufacturer, open the Add or Remove

Programs tool in your Control Panel, select AutoCAD Electrical 2008, and

click Change/Remove. Click Add/Remove Features, click Next on the first

screen, and then select the manufacturers to install on the Manufacturer

Contents Selection screen.

Catalog Content Updates

AutoCAD Electrical ships with a manufacturer’ s catalog database that contains

over 350,000 components from the industry’s most popular vendors. These

components provide a full spectrum of input and output devices including

switches, sensors, lights, and numerous panel devices, such as wireway and

panel enclosures.

Improved Performance

Significant improvements in running commands that affect other drawings

have dramatically improved the performance of AutoCAD Electrical 2008.

Most notably, the Project Database Service (PDS) now only monitors the active

project.

64-bit AutoCAD Electrical

AutoCAD Electrical now ships in 64-bit and 32-bit versions. The 64-bit version

supports the same functionality as the 32-bit version.

DWG product recognition

Easily identify which Autodesk product created a DWG file and open the file

with the application that owns the DWG file. For example, if the DWG file is

What's New in AutoCAD Electrical 2008 | 7

owned by AutoCAD, double-clicking the file in Windows Explorer

automatically opens the file in AutoCAD. When you move the cursor over a

DWG icon, the tooltip identifies which Autodesk product and version was

used to create the DWG.

Parametric Twisted Pair Symbol Enhancements

The icon menus are enhanced to include three new parametric twisted pair

symbols. To insert a twisted pair symbol, click Components > Insert

Component. On the Insert Component icon menu, click Cable Markers.

User’s Guide

A User’s Guide for AutoCAD Electrical is now available in PDF format. This is

accessible from the Launchpad and the homepage of the Help.

InfoCenter

A new search engine, InfoCenter, is included on the title bar of the main

AutoCAD Electrical window. It searches AutoCAD and AutoCAD Electrical

Help systems to give you the most relevant information for any query you

enter. You can filter content and add frequently used content to the “Favorites”

section.

InfoCenter replaces the Communication Center. It provides notifications of

software and content updates through a balloon notification mechanism. You

can also publish internal content within your team, support RSS feeds, and

easily provide feedback to Autodesk.

What’s New for Previous Releases

You can now quickly see which features were added or enhanced in past

releases of AutoCAD Electrical. This PDF is accessible from the homepage of

the AutoCAD Electrical Help. Click on the “x” for a particular feature to get

more information about what functionality was added for that release.

8 | Chapter 1 AutoCAD Electrical What's New

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Autodesk AutoCAD Electrical 2008 User guide

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