About Panel Attributes

AutoCAD Electrical does not have attribute or naming requirements for the mechanical footprint block symbols. As AutoCAD Electrical inserts a footprint symbol into the drawing, it copies various data to the footprint block such as component/device tag name, description, manufacturer code, and catalog number. It first looks for target attributes to copy the data to. If not found, AutoCAD Electrical simply inserts the schematic values as standard AutoCAD, nonvisible extended entity data (Xdata).

Some manufacturers provide free, to-scale mechanical libraries of their control components, all in AutoCAD format. Or you may have your own in-house footprints set up. In either case, since AutoCAD Electrical does not have naming or attribute requirements, these libraries can be used as is. When AutoCAD Electrical inserts such a block footprint symbol, it immediately becomes AutoCAD Electrical smart.

Footprint block attribute/Xdata names

The following table is a list of footprint block data names that are inserted or read by AutoCAD Electrical. If the footprint block has an attribute with any name listed here, AutoCAD Electrical uses that attribute to carry the specific piece of data. Otherwise, AutoCAD Electrical uses extended entity data with names based on the data names listed here but with a VIA_WD_ prefix (ex: "VIA_WD_DESC1").

FP	identifies block as a component footprint
FPT	identifies block as a terminal footprint
NP	identifies block as a nameplate
P_TAG1	panel component tag (used on component footprints and nameplates)
DESC1-3	description line 1 - 3 (60 char max)
P_ITEM	item/detail number
ITEM_FLAG	optional attribute with a value of 1 indicates the item number is fixed
MFG	manufacturer name (24 char max)
CAT	catalog number (60 char max)
ASSYCODE	optional assembly code
INST	installation code (24 char max)
LOC	location code (16 char max)
MOUNT	mount location code (24 char max)
GROUPWITH	group location code (24 char max)
WDBLKNAM	schematic symbol block name (used for catalog lookup)
RATING1-12	rating values (60 char max each)
P_TAGSTRIP	terminal strip ID (terminal footprints only)
TERM	terminal number (terminal footprints only)
WIRENO	wire number (terminal footprints only)

Minimum attribute/Xdata requirements

The following tables are the minimum requirements for AutoCAD Electrical to recognize a block as a panel footprint, terminal, or nameplate.

Component footprint - block must carry a minimum of one of the following:

Xdata name	VIA_WD_FP
Attribute	FP (blank value)
Attribute	P_TAG1 (and no attribute NP present)

Terminal footprint - block must carry a minimum of one of the following:

Xdata name	VIA_WD_FPT
Attribute	FPT (blank value)

Panel nameplate - block must carry a minimum of one of the following:

Xdata name	VIA_WD_NP
Attribute	NP (blank value)

Terminal block footprint symbols

Terminal block footprint symbols require special attributes in their definitions to help facilitate the Terminal Strip Editor graphical layout. AutoCAD Electrical generates a physical layout of the terminal strips. It annotates the terminal number, wire number, and destination device of what is connected to the terminal block from the attributes. To accomplish this annotation, attributes are needed to accommodate the position of text relative to the terminal block symbol.

Attribute	Description
LINKTERM	Invisible attribute carrying a unique value assigned by AutoCAD Electrical. This value is used to identify a terminal and to relate a panel footprint to the schematic representations of this terminal.
P_TAGSTRIP	Invisible attribute to carry terminal strip number (24 character maximum) for terminal footprint.
LOC	Invisible attribute for optional terminal location code (for example, “JBOX1”; 16 characters maximum).
INST	Invisible attribute for optional terminal installation code (for example, “MACH1”; 24 characters maximum).
TERM or WIRENO	Attribute to carry the terminal pin number assignment (ten characters maximum). It can be related to the attached wire number or independent of the wire number.
P_ITEM	item/detail number
ITEM_FLAG	optional attribute with a value of 1 indicates the item number is fixed
MFG	Invisible attribute for optional manufacturer name or code (24 characters maximum).
CAT	Invisible attribute for optional catalog number (60 character maximum).
ASSYCODE	Invisible attribute for optional subassembly code that causes AutoCAD Electrical to look for subassembly items to extract into BOM reports (60 characters maximum). These subassembly items must be defined in the active catalog lookup file in the ASSYCODE and ASSYLIST fields. The value for this attribute is set automatically when you make a selection from the catalog "Lookup" that carries subassembly information.
WDBLKNAM	Invisible attribute that specifies the WD block name for catalog lookup (32 characters maximum). Default for terminals is "TRMS."
FP	Invisible attribute or Xdata. Identifies the block insert as a panel item (that is, a physical footprint representation).
FPT	Invisible attribute or Xdata. Identifies the block insert as a panel terminal footprint representation.
WIRENOR WIRENOL	Optional attributes for schematic interconnection annotation (24 characters maximum).
TERMDESCR TERMDESCL	Optional attributes for schematic interconnection annotation (128 characters maximum).

A multi-level terminal is represented by one terminal block footprint symbol and require the following attributes.

Attribute	Description
LTOTAL	The number of levels on the multi-level terminal.
L##LABEL	Attribute for the level description, for example "UPPER" or "LOWER".
L##TERM	Attribute for the terminal number for the level.
L##PINR L##PINL	Attributes for the pin values for the level.
L##WIRENOR L##WIRENOL	Attributes for the wire number values for the level.
L##DESC1-3	Attributes for the description values for the level.
L##INJUMP	Attribute to indicate if the level is jumpered internally to another level.
L##RATING1-12	Attributes for the rating values for the level.
L##TERMDESCR L##TERMDESCL	Attributes for schematic interconnection annotation for the level.
L##WIREPERC	Attribute for the wires per connection for the level. This value is used by Terminal Strip Editor to determine if extra terminals are needed.

The "##" represents a 2-character number to indicate the level. For example, for level 2, the "##" in each attribute name would be "02".

Note: If the attributes are not available on the symbol, the values are saved as xdata on the block. The xdata names are "VIA_WD_" followed by the expected attribute name.