Template Creatioin Issue

[Anonymous]

Hello ACE forum,

Before using AutoCAD Electrical, I used Altium and PADs for electrical and electronic circuit design and PCB layout.  Both Altium and PADs are very good and friendly user interface application software.  I remember that it only took me 5 hours to complete a very intelligent schematic drawing template in Altium.  Now, I moved to a new company which requires AutoCAD Electrical 2011 for drawings.  I have spent 3 days to watch DVD ACE training to create my own drawing template but still not able to make it work, so I come here for some advice and help.

Here are the steps that I used to create my own template in ACE:

1)     I opened ACE template named ACE_ANSI_D_Color.dwt.  The reason I used this template is because the size of ANSI_D is exactly what my company requires.

2)     Then I deleted the original title block from ACE_ANSI_D_Color.dwt, and built a new title block by adding my own attributes in using command ATTDEF and MTEXT.

3)     After complete of building a new title block, I saved it as template.dwg file.

4)     Then ran Project->Other Tools->Title Block Setup->Method 2

5)     In the Title Block Setup window, I picked LINE1 to LINE21 for the attributes that I created in step 2 by using User Defined feature, then saved the file.

6)     Opened a template named acad.dwt file and used INSERT command to insert the template.dwg file that I created from step 1 to step 5 stated above.

7)     Ran Schematic->Other Tools->Drawing Properties and made some necessary changes and saved the file as template.dwt (attached here).

8)     Created a project named ABC and added a new drawing to this project by inserting the template.dwt that just created in step 7.

9)     Right clicked on the project name and selected Descriptions and filled in a few of LINEs shown on the Description windown.

10)  Right clicked on the project name again and selected Title Block Update, but the title block did not update at all no matter how I tried. 

What did I do wrong?  Thank you so much for the help in advance.

Kent   

[dougmcalexander]

Go to my web site tips and tricks page. There you will find a guide for creating a template.

[Anonymous]

Doug,

Thanks a lot for your great website tips.  However, I followed the 12 steps to recreate my template but the template still did not work.  On step 2, it mentioned that the Border_Template_wdtitle.wdl needed to create.  Can you give me details how to create this Border_Template_wdtitle.wdl?  For now, the Border_Template_wdtitle.wdl in my folder is empty.

Thanks,

Kent

[Icemanau]

You need to insert the title block as a block. Do NOT explode the block.

ACAD is looking for a block that has the attributes to change and not finding it.

Regards Brad

[Anonymous]

Thanks Brad!  When inserting the title block .dwg file into the acad.dwt, I did not check the Explode box.  Would you know if there is direct technical support from Autodesk?

Thanks,

Kent

[testsubject]

Kent,

As far as I know, direct tech support provided by Autodesk is via subscription.

Now, there are Autodesk members that do provide support via the forums but that is more like us providing help.

[Anonymous]

Thanks Bob.  Autodesk appears not being very supportive like other CAD vendors such as Solidworks, Mentor and Altium as far as I've seen so far.  My company bought AutoCAD Electrical 2011 and a few people tried it out but now they all stopped using it before I came to the company and no one was ever good at it.  I guess this is part of AutoCAD Electrical problem, not being good to use.  I also went over the DVD the provided by Retrieve Technologies but did not give me much help on this matter.  Well, I think the final option I have is to look at the DVD again or hopefully can get some help from others.

Thanks,

Kent 

[dougmcalexander]

Hi Kent! The _wdtitle.wdl file is one you must create, or copy one from a another project folder. You can create it from scratch as a text file, but be sure the extension is .WDL. The file contains lines such as:

Line1=Drawing Number:
Line2=Drawing By:
Etc.

This replaces the generic prompts you see when you right-click a project and select to enter data into the description lines. It also helps when mapping the title block attributes.

AutoCAD Electrical is a very powerful tool. I use others as well but AutoCAD Electrical is my favorite. But with all the capabilities it has proper training is a must.

[dougmcalexander]

I will be teaching an open 5-day class in Atlanta the week of July 8th at Applied Software. Seating is limited but if you can attend we cover much of the configuration tasks, while also designing a control panel from schematic to panel to reports.

[Anonymous]

Doug,

I could either enter the values from Project Descriptions or created .wdl file placed in the project folder.  I tried both and unfortunately neither worked.  You are probably right, professional training must need up to this point.

Thanks,

Kent  

[Icemanau · Accepted solution]

Found the problem after playing around with your template.

First off, you have used punctuation in the attribute names. Remove the punctuation as it may cause problems.

Secondly, you have the WD_TB attribute specifying what lines to use in what attributes for the title block, but then you have those same attributes being set to text. ACADE is a computer program and is doing exactly what you tell it.

It's updating the title block with the line values and then overwriting those values with the set text. Remove the sections where the attributes are set to text and it will work.

Third, try reducing the length of the attribute names. Instead of having 'ProjectDescriptionLine1' try something like PD1 as the attribute name.

I've attached the template I played around with so you can see what I've done to it. I added an additional project/title description line and changed the title description lines to look to the drawing properties for their information. The filename, sheet and sheetmax are also removed from the Description Lines and set to look at dwg properties.

I shortened the attribute names and removed all punctuation from them.

Regards Brad

[dougmcalexander]

The .wdl file is not enough. You must create the mapping. The method I use is to insert the WD_TB attribute into the title block at the same level as the attributes it maps to. That is covered in my 12 step guide.

[Anonymous]

Brad and the rest of you,

Thanks for putting such great efforts to help me out.  Much appreciated!  Now, the template is working, wow!

Kent