In the ACE2006 help I find the following regarding adding Additional Visible Attributes to a balloon:
A single item number attribute, B_ITEM, is inserted on the balloon symbol. You can set up a template to have additional visible attributes added to the balloon automatically at insertion time. Create this drawing with the attribute definitions you want to include with the balloon symbol:
\wd\panel\wd_ptag_addattr_itemballoon.dwg.
If an existing template is found, a copy of it gets exploded and merged (i.e. blocked with the balloon as AutoCAD Electrical inserts it into the drawing).
I have created the wd_ptag_addattr_itemballoon.dwg block and placed it at C:\Program Files\Autodesk\Acade 2006\Libs\panel. When I put in the bubble now it brings in this new information and blocks it like it said it would. However, the INST attribute value in the bubble is not getting filled in from the Physical Footprint (which has a value filled in for it's INST attribute). I tried the same thing with DESC1 and got the same results. Another thing I notice is that the Visibility of the added attributes in the balloon gets set to not visible by default and the B_ITEM attribute gets set to visible be default.
Now I will explain why I am trying to do this.
In the past versions of AutoCAD Electrical we have grouped items in a Bill of Material by numbering the item number for say all the items on a particular din rail versus letting every like item have a item number. The reason we do this is because in the manufacturing process the person assembling panels needs to know how many terminals, relays, end barriers, etc is on a particular din rail. So we catered to those needs. Now what I would rather do is just let all like devices carry the same ITEM number and do the grouping by using the INST attribute. This way I can assign an INST number to each group of Devices that I want to report on. Then when I run a BOM I will simply run a "Normal Tallied Format (Group by Installation/Location)" report. This will do 2 things for me.
1. It will give me a BOM report that allows grouping the way manufacturing needs to see it
2. It will allow me to report for purchasing purposes I can run a Normal Tallied Report that groups by ITEM number since all the items belong to like devices.
That basically means that I need the INST value to carry from what is assigned to the Footprint to the Bubble. I would make the INST attribute visible for the manufacturer to see. I would make the B_ITEM invisible and simply use it to report totals.
I hope this all makes sense and hope one of you can help me. If you have alternative solutions for grouping many items on a backplate then please advise me. If you need further detail or drawings I will be more than happy to oblige.
Thanks in advance...
