Reference Designators

[Anonymous]

I started with a new company and they have "different" ref des for components (example: CR=control relay, they label all relays "K", PS=proximity switch, they label "PRS" and so on). Do I have to go into each drawing file and change the default catalog family name to incorporate these?

[dougmcalexander]

You could do that but the easy way is to use a wd_fam.dat file. I will attach mine. I have to rename it to wd_fam.txt in order to attach it. Rename it to wd_fam.dat and place in your project folder or user folder. You can modify to suit your needs. It is a simple text file created with Notepad but saved with a .dat extension. The syntax is ORIGINALfamilycommaNEWfamily. For example when I place down a relay coil, I want K instead of a CR. I type into the first line of the wd_fam.dat file CR,K. To have a lamp be H instead of LT my second line would be LT,K. To convert FU to F for a fuse enter FU,F. And so forth for each component type. I have been doing this for years since I do drawing conversions from JIC to IEC. When you place symbols into the schematic from now on, they will automatically get retagged based upon the wd_fam.dat file. For a existing project, do a project-wide retag. If you need to temporarily suspend this retag function, temporarily rename the wd_fam.dat to wd_fam.txt or your initials.

[Anonymous]

You have a couple options..

Option A: flip the default attribute definition value as you describe below.

Option B: create a text file called wd_fam.dat and put it somewhere in your
AcadE or ACAD path. Each line in this file will map an old "ref des" to a
new "ref des". In your example below, add lines to this file like this:

CR,K
PS,PRS

...where the first element is the existing ref-des default, comma, the new
ref-des default. Save the file. Now restart AcadE. Insert a relay coil or a
prox switch and see if AcadE maps the new default to the component tag.

Nate.


wrote in message news:5146318@discussion.autodesk.com...
I started with a new company and they have "different" ref des for
components (example: CR=control relay, they label all relays "K",
PS=proximity switch, they label "PRS" and so on). Do I have to go into each
drawing file and change the default catalog family name to incorporate
these?

[Anonymous]

Doug is exactly right. I didn't see his reply before I replied... his
response is much more thorough!
Nate.

wrote in message news:5146338@discussion.autodesk.com...
You could do that but the easy way is to use a wd_fam.dat file. I will
attach mine. I have to rename it to wd_fam.txt in order to attach it.
Rename it to wd_fam.dat and place in your project folder or user folder.
You can modify to suit your needs. It is a simple text file created with
Notepad but saved with a .dat extension. The syntax is
ORIGINALfamilycommaNEWfamily. For example when I place down a relay coil, I
want K instead of a CR. I type into the first line of the wd_fam.d
at file CR,K. To have a lamp be H instead of LT my second line would be
LT,K. To convert FU to F for a fuse enter FU,F. And so forth for each
component type. I have been doing this for years since I do drawing
conversions from JIC to IEC. When you place symbols into the schematic from
now on, they will automatically get retagged based upon the wd_fam.dat file.
For a existing project, do a project-wide retag. If you need to temporarily
suspend this retag function, temporarily rena
me the wd_fam.dat to wd_fam.txt or your initials.

[dougmcalexander]

Correction: That's LT,H for a lamp or pilot light. H is the IEC version of LT, not K. The LT,K was a typo.