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AutoCAD Electrical 2008
User’s Guide
February 20, 2007
2007 Autodesk, Inc. All Rights Reserved
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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
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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