Catalog Browser symbol 2D

[PatrickRobinson]

We are experiencing an issue when linking custom schematic footprints using the catalog browser. Here is my workflow

1) Select part in catalog browser

2) Browse to the footprint on the network

3) Select "Map symbol to catalog number"

When we go back to the catalog browser, it says that there is no symbol associated with this catalog value. 

The symbol 2D field has the symbol name

The file path to this symbol is located in the project properties. It is in a subfolder of this path.

Has anyone experienced this problem with custom symbols?

Could there be an env setting that we are missing?

[MTaylorICC]

No that's just how it works. If you look at some of the default parts, they have the same issue. The way we've worked around it is we just enter the symbol2d name on creation of the part.

The catalog browser goes off of the symbol2d field exclusively, you'll notice that only the items with the symbol2d field populated have the little icon preview when you hover your mouse over them.

[PatrickRobinson]

Are you saying that that we can not link a custom schematic footprint to a catalog number using the symbol 2D field?

[MTaylorICC]

No, that's the only way to do it as far as I'm aware.

Maybe I misunderstood, do you have the symbol2d field populated before you navigate to the location or is it populated after you select map the symbol?

[PatrickRobinson]

It popultated after i navigated to the symbol by going through the icon menu and selecting browse. The next time we go to tbe block, the symbold 2D field is populated with the block name. This seems correct

What does not seem correct is that every time i go to insert the part number, i have to go through the icon menu and browse to the block.

[MTaylorICC]

Yeah it's kind of annoying but that's pretty much how it works. Like I said, the catalog browser has no idea what symbol to use until that symbol2d field is populated, so if it's blank, it will do the icon menu navigation until you find the correct symbol for it. Once you select it, it will remember to map that catalog number to that schematic footprint.

The way to **** this in the bud is to populate the symbol2d field on the front end when you create the part. Especially when you're adding multiple parts at once, it's much faster to fill in the symbol2d field when you're creating the parts than through the catalog browser prompt.

Again, once that field is populated, the catalog browser will work perfectly, but until then it gets kind of confused and asks for guidance.

[PatrickRobinson]

Once you select it, it will remember to map that catalog number to that schematic footprint.

This is correct.

The problem is that when i try to insert the item after it is linked, it will not pull in the footprint.

[MTaylorICC]

Are your search paths mapped to where you saved the symbol?

[PatrickRobinson]

Support file search path:

Is not mapped to the folder, but is mapped to an upper level folder

[MTaylorICC]

I've had a problem very similar to that before.

Just for grins, if you move the file to the upper level folder(temporarily), does that solve the problem?

[PatrickRobinson]

No it does not,

[jalger]

Hi Patrick,

The Custom Component should be in the same location as the Library files.

So if you are using NFPA, your custom files should be in: " C:\Users\Public\Documents\Autodesk\Acade 2015\Libs\NFPA"

Otherwise you have to add an additional path for it to see the subfolder, like the -1 for one line components.

If you don't like the Catalog Browser you could always use the old icon menu.

I hope this helps,

James

[MTaylorICC · Accepted solution]

How is your folder structure set up?

All of your custom schematic symbols need to be in one folder, which is different to how the footprint folder structure is set up. We created a seperate custom lbrary path that our search path points to so we can keep it seperate from the standard JIC125 we happen to be using, to prepare for any future migration. I ran into an issue when I tried to "compartmentalize" our parts by using /custom/family/file.dwg, but once we moved it to /custom/file.dwg, everything worked fine.

[jalger]

One other thing,

If you have MS Access Installed you could go in and type the file name in. (you do not need the ".DWG")

If it links to multiple files you can use "|" (pipeline) to split them.

I hope this helps,

James

[PatrickRobinson]

It was a file path issue

Thanks for the help

[dougmcalexander]

Just to clarify, the Footprint_Lookup.mdb is still in play here,  The Catalog Browser does say Symbol2D, which leads one to think that it is for footprints, but it is for schematic symbols.  To map a custom symbol that doesn't have an icon on the schematic menu, I click Browse at the bottom of the schematic menu and my wd.env file is set to browse to my Custom Symbols folder.

I have suggested to Autodesk to consider adding a field to the Catalog Browser to allow us to define which footprint to use as well.  The problem is that this will eliminate wildcards, like it did now that the pin list is defined in the Catalog Browser.  The wildcards make the Footprint Lookup a desirable option.  You can enter a partial part number so multiple variations of the same part can map to the same footprint.  But on the other hand, you can easily copy rows in Catalog Browser to enter multiple variations of the same part, so wildcards might not seem as necessary now.