Nate,
Thank you for taking the time to write such a detailed response. It is
good to see that Autodesk is aggressively supporting it's "new" product,
even during the holiday season!
--Brian
"Nate Holt (Autodesk)" wrote in message
news:3ff18ac6_6@statler...
> The catalog part number database that ships with the product is called
> default_cat.mdb and installs (default) to the "c:\documents and
> settings\{your user name}\AutoCAD Electrical
> 2004\....\Support\AeData\Catalogs" folder. For doing massive changes to
this
> file, it is probably easier to open it up with your own copy of Microsoft
> Access and edit it. You have several choices: 1) replace the CAT part
number
> column data with your own internal part numbers, 2) leave the existing CAT
> column vendor part numbers in place and put your internal part numbers in
> the "USER1" column (which will then show up in the BOM reports along with
> the original vendor part numbers as well), or 3) carefully cut the
existing
> data in the CAT column and paste it into the USER1 column. You can rename
> USER1 column to VENDOR or something like that if you want. Edit your
> internal part numbers into the now vacant CAT column (which must remain in
> the first column position!). The key is that the position of these columns
> cannot change. The column that AutoCAD Electrical always uses for the
> catalog lookup selection pop lists is always going to be this: it expects
> the catalog part number column to be the 1st column, manufacturer in the
> 2nd, the middle and right hand selection pop lists tied to the 4th and 5th
> columns, and the first "USER" field is pulled from the 10th column.
>
> In operation, #1 will no longer have any reference to the original vendor
> part numbers. You will only see your internal part numbers show up in the
> catalog lookup dialog selection/ pop lists and in the BOM reports. For #2,
> you'll see the original vendor part numbers show up in the catalog lookup
> dialog and your part numbers in the large, middle window of this dialog.
> Both numbers will show up in the BOM report. For #3, you'll see your
> internal part numbers in the catalog lookup dialog selection / pop lists,
> the original vendor part number in the large, middle window of this
dialog,
> and both numbers show up in the BOM reports.
>
> This file ships in Access 97 format so you'll probably have to use the
> Access "Tools" > "Database Utilities" > "Convert" to flip it to your
current
> version of Access. Back up your old copy of the default_cat.mdb (just in
> case!) and overwrite it with the converted version. AutoCAD Electrical
> should automatically adjust to reading the Access file in whatever format
it
> finds it in.
>
>
> "Brian Gaither" wrote in message
> news:3ff07ee8$1_1@statler...
> > Is there an easy way to change the part numbers to our company standards
> on
> > the standard components that come with ACAD E? Such as a database file
> that
> > could be opened up and changed...
> >
> > Thanks in advance for any help or direction,
> >
> > Brian
> >
> >
>
>