Custom Parent and Child Symbols with Split Tags

[hcorry]

Hey guys,

I am currently transitioning many of my P&ID Symbols into Autocad Electrical Symbols. Currently I am working on creating a Parent Scada Block with a Child Panel Bubble Block. I have created both with the attributes required.

Whenever I change the parent symbol's tag (its loop number for example), the child symbol's tag (TAG2_PART2 in this case) does not update even though the relationship was already established.

I am new to using split tags with parent/child relationships and if anyone has any guidance it would be greatly appreciated. I have attached both custom blocks below.

Thank you,

Hunter

[jalger · Accepted solution]

Hi Hcorry,

It won't work unless you have the proper naming Scheme.

The are required Characters (5-6 characters that are preset)

1 char (Orientation)

H - Horizontal Component

V - Vertical Component

2nd & 3rd Char (Family name)

DV - Device

LT - Light

PB - Push Button

4th Char ( Parent / Child)

1 - Parent

2 - Child

5th Char ( Optional Contact State)

1 - NO

2 - NC

6th + - Unique Identifier

_ACME

_SCADA

-1234

In your case you would need.

HDV1_Scada

and

HDV2_Scada (For the Bubble)

That way AutoCAD Electrical understands they are parent and child.

Currently the name on the devices are I_SCADA and I_BUB_Panel they won't work togther.

Quick question for you  are you use the bubble in a Panel Drawing?  or is it just labeled "panel:?

Based on the answer you may need to change how it calls out the "Child" Device.

Regards,

James

[hcorry]

Thank you for your reply jalger,

Based off this and trying to keep our symbols' names with as little change as possible, would it be a better route to treat the I_BUB_PANEL as a footprint, which then would also allow for bidirectional updates?

The bubble is in a P&ID drawing: most of the time (but not always) the same drawing as the scada block.

Thanks,
Hunter

[jalger]

Hi Hunter,

You could make it a footprint.

you will need a Catalog number to tie the footprint to properly.

The other thing you could do is have it link as a peer device.

Add WDTAGALT and WDTYPE (With a Vaule orf PI [P&ID]).

that way you can link them (Tags Used Section select "Schematic or panel) Select the device, then press Copy Tag, and choose "WDTAGALT")

It Creates a Peer to Peer Link. (Electrical to Non-Electrical Device) Normally we use it for motors, Drives, etc.

I hope this helps,

James

[hcorry]

Hi jalger,

I just realized we cannot make I_BUB_PANEL a footprint as the parent scada block is already connected to a footprint.

What we are trying to do is have the bubble in the field section of our P&ID drawings inside a symbol for a panel. The bubble needs to be able to grab the loop number of the scada block, but does not have to bidirectionally update. Because of this, I thought a child block would be the correct choice but we want to avoid having to change our naming scheme for our symbols. Peer to peer would be okay but not ideal, as we don't want it displaying another tag, we want it to have the exact same tag as the parent.

Do you have any advice on how we can achieve this? Also, can the WDTAGALT attribute solely grab the TAG1_PART2 attribute value and not the whole value of TAG1? If there is a way to do this (WDTAGALT_PART2?), a peer to peer relationship would be perfect.

Thanks a ton,

Hunter

[jalger]

Hi Hunter,

I can't think of another way to do this without alot of coding or Renaming the Blocks.

You may want to rename them anyway so you can link to the database properly.

Maybe someone else has an idea?

Regards,

James

[hcorry]

Hey jalger,

I am attempting to make the I_BUB_PANEL have a peer to peer relationship with the I_SCADA block. I added the WDTAGALT and WDTYPE attributes to both blocks, but I made the WDTAGALT attribute invisible on the I_SCADA block as the information it would contain would not be relevant or useful for our drawings. After I choose "Tags Used:" > "Schematic", select the correct scada block, copy tag, and then WDTAGALT, the alternate tag attribute on the I_BUB_PANEL drawing updates accordingly. However, the attribute on the scada block does not update its value. Is this because it is hidden?

Also, whenever I update the tag on the scada block, the WDTAGALT attribute on the bubble block does not update to match the new value. Would you mind taking a look at my blocks and see if there is anything wrong with them that would cause this to be the case?

Thanks a ton,

Hunter

[jalger]

Sure I'll take a look at them.

James

[jalger]

Hi Hunter,

Ok I tried it out played with a few different Options, and the Best thing for your current setup is renaming them.

You want the second half of the Scada marker to pass the info back and forth, you need to have the Parent-Child realationship.

So if the are named

HDV1_Scada

and

HDV2_Scada

They link properly, if you make a couple of quick changes. 

Tag1_Part1, and tag_Part2 in the I_Bub_Panel (the child Component) will go to Tag2_Part1 and Tag2_Part2.

And make sure they have the same Family (DV for device is ok for now)

after that it works correctly (but really Slow, looks like you have a lot excess attribtutes).

What are you doing with the attributes Wireno001 - Wireno004?

If you are trying to pass pins you should use a pinlist.

I hope this helps,

James

[hcorry]

Thanks for taking the time jalger.

The only thing is we are trying to avoid changing the name at all costs. My idea was to make the TAG2_PART2 on the I_BUB_PANEL invisible and place the WDTAGALT in that location. That way it would just display the whole tag of the scada block, but that would be better than having to change the names. Did you happen to get the peer to peer working with these two symbols as I could not?

Thanks,
Hunter

[jalger]

Hi Hunter,

Yeah I was able to get it working with the WDTAGALT, You need to Remove the WDTYPE from the Parent component.

Then Match the Family code (Just type DV in the FAM Attribute).

(it might work without the family code, but i had trouble having populate in the list without it)

If your having Trouble Let me know, and on Monday I'll save the symbols again and send them your way.

I'll post a copy with both methods so you can play around with them.

Regards,

James

[hcorry]

James,

Okay thank you so much, I haven't done any peer to peer in the past so I was unsure on which attributes were needed to correctly make the relationship, so thank you for looking into my blocks for me.

I'll try out these methods and see if I can get a desirable result. If I have any issues I'll let you know.

Thanks a lot,

Hunter

[hcorry]

Hey James,

I hope you had a great weekend.

I have removed the WDTYPE attribute on the I_SCADA block and have added matching family attributes and values to both blocks, but I am still encountering the issue of when I update the tag name on the scada block, the WDTAGALT attribute does not update on the I_BUB_PANEL block.

Would you mind taking a look at my blocks?

Thanks,

Hunter

[jalger]

Hi Hunter,

I'll try to take a look ast them this afternoon.

Regards,

James

[hcorry]

Hey James,

I finally got it to work, but we are still not 100% happy with the results. We've decided that we cannot use the ACADE features here in this one scenario to help speed up our drawings.

Thank you so much for all of the time and effort you have put in to helping us out. The information you have taught me about both Parent/Child Relationships and Peer to Peer Relationships will be very helpful in the near future.

Thanks again,

Hunter

[jalger]

Hi Hunter,

Well here are the Renamed ones.(these ones work with the parent/child relationship).

I can't find the other ones I did for just the WDTAGALT (I must have deleted them / overwrote them on my computer)

I hope these help,

James