There are no attribute or symbol naming requirements for the mechanical footprint block symbols. When a footprint inserts, the program looks for certain attributes to hold the electrical data. If the attributes are not found, the program saves the values as extended entity data (Xdata).
Some manufacturers provide free, to-scale mechanical libraries of their control components, all in
.dwg format. Or you may have your own in-house footprints set up. In either case, these libraries can be used as is. When the program inserts such a block footprint symbol, the needed intelligence is added.
Minimum Attribute/Xdata Requirements
The following are the minimum requirements for a block to be recognized 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)
Footprint Block Attribute/Xdata Names
The following is a list of footprint block data names that are inserted or read. If the footprint block has an attribute with any name listed here, that attribute is used to for the specific piece of data. Otherwise, extended entity data is used with names based on the data names listed here but with a VIA_WD_ prefix (ex: "VIA_WD_DESC1").
- P_TAG1
- Panel component tag, used on component footprints and nameplates (255 characters maximum).
- DESC1-3
- Description line 1 - 3 (60 characters maximum).
- P_ITEM
- Item/detail number
- ITEM_FLAG
- Value of 1 indicates the item number is fixed
- MFG
- Manufacturer name or code (24 characters maximum).
MFGn: Manufacturer name or code for up to 99 extra part number assignments. The "n" is the sequential code value "01" through "99". If these attributes are not present, the data is saved on the inserted symbol as Xdata.
- CAT
- Catalog part number assignment (60 characters maximum).
CATn: Catalog value for up to 99 extra part number assignments. The "n" is the sequential code value "01" through "99". If these attributes are not present, the data is saved on the inserted symbol as Xdata.
- ASSYCODE
- Subassembly code that links subassembly items to the main catalog value and extract into BOM reports (60 characters maximum). Define these subassembly items 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.
ASSYCODEn: Subassembly code value for up to 99 extra part number assignments. The "n" is the sequential code value "01" through "99". If these attributes are not present, the data is saved on the inserted symbol as Xdata.
- INST
- Installation code (255 characters maximum).
- LOC
- Location code (255 characters maximum).
- MOUNT
- Mount code (24 characters maximum).
- GROUPWITH
- Group code (24 characters maximum).
- WDBLKNAM
- Catalog lookup table name.
- RATING1-12
- Rating values (60 characters maximum each).
Terminal Block Footprint Symbols
Terminal block footprint symbols use special data to help facilitate the Terminal Strip Editor graphical layout; a physical layout of the terminal strips. It annotates the terminal number, wire number, and destination device connected to the terminal block. To accomplish this annotation, attributes are needed to accommodate the position of text relative to the terminal block symbol. Following is a list of data unique to terminals.
- LINKTERM
- Attribute used internally to associate schematic terminals within a multi-level terminal, or to associate a schematic terminal to its panel representation.
- P_TAGSTRIP
- Attribute to carry terminal strip tag name (64 characters maximum).
- TERM or WIRENO
- Attribute for the terminal pin number assignment (ten characters maximum). It can be related to the attached wire number or independent of the wire number.
- WIRENOR, WIRENOL
- Left and right schematic interconnection wire number annotation (24 characters maximum).
- TERMDESCR, TERMDESCL
- (128 characters maximum).
A multi-level terminal is represented by one terminal block footprint symbol and require the following attributes.
- LTOTAL
- Number of levels on the multi-level terminal.
- L##LABEL
- Level description
- L##TERM
- Terminal number for the level
- L##PINR, L##PINL
- Left and right pin values for the level
- L##WIRENOR, L##WIRENOL
- Left and right wire number values for the level
- L##DESC1-3
- Description values for the level
- L##INJUMP
- Value to indicate if the level is jumpered internally to another level
- L##RATING1-12
- Rating values for the level
- L##TERMDESCR, L##TERMDESCL
- Left and right schematic interconnection terminal description annotation for the level
- L##WIREPERC
- 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". The LTOTAL number must be equal to or greater than all of the "##" values used on terminal.
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.
Attribute Template Drawings
You can set up to have visible attributes added to any footprint automatically at footprint insertion time. Using non-intelligent footprint representations can insert with smart AutoCAD Electrical toolset attributes added automatically, on the fly.
There are five attribute template drawings:
-
wd_ptag_addattr_comp.dwg. component footprints
-
wd_ptag_addattr_trm.dwg. terminal footprints
-
wd_ptag_addattr_wtrm.dwg. terminal with wire no. as terminal number
-
wd_ptag_addattr_itemballoon.dwg. balloons
If the appropriate attribute template exists, the following steps are performed when a panel footprint is inserted.
- Find the center of the footprint by collecting and averaging the objects that make up the footprint.
- Insert the attribute template at the calculated center of the footprint.
- Make sure there are no duplicate attributes. If duplicate attributes are found, the attribute from the footprint is kept.
- Reblock the added attributes with the inserted footprint.
- Add the schematic data to the footprint. If the target attribute exists, the data is added as attribute data. If the target attribute does not exist, the data is added as invisible Xdata.