terminal strip editor problem

[wjszczep]

Hello,

I have a problem that has me stumped.  I am running Autocad Elctrical 2013 on a Windows 7 platform.  I have suddenly lost the ability to add terminals in the terminal strip editor.  We use the Allen Bradley 1492 terminals.  I can open the editor and insert a strip based on the schematic drawings, but to add end barriers, end anchors, or spare terminals, I can look the parts up in the catalog but I can't select them after and add them.  I have attached a couple of screen shots.  I have not had this problem until yesterday and have not changed anything on the setup.  the other designer does not see this issue and we are referencing the same catalog. 

[PatMurnen_Adsk]

I am not sure I fully understand your issue but I have one guess (might not be a good guess though). Looking at the catalog search, the results are found in the MISC_CAT table. So I am wondering what your project settings are for using the MISC_CAT table. On Project Manager, right-click and select Properties. Towards the bottom of the Project Settings tab see which radio button is selected -

• Use component-specific tables
• Always use MISC_CAT
• Use MISC_CAT if component specific not found.

Compare this to the other designer who does not have this problem and see if the project settings are different. 

If this isn't it, can you provide more details on the exact steps you are taking and maybe that will help diagnose. Also, what is the catalog display sorted by? Can you sort by the first column and take a screen shot of that along with a screen shot of the actual database sorted by the catalog? It might be hard to fit in all the columns from the database so maybe multiple screen shots. 

Regards,

Pat Murnen

[wjszczep]

Thanks for the reply Pat!

Both of us are setup to access the catatog database file (misc_cat) on the network drive.  I can add items in the terminal strip editor, but when I try to look up the part in the catalog, I could type in the first part of the part number to perform a wildcard search (1492*).  A seperate window pops up and I can select the item.  When I select OK, it goes back to the catalog lookup screen but does not show the part.  It does the same thing if I add the part and then select the Catalog Code assignment  tab and select assign catalog number.

If i manually insert a part, everything works correctly.

[wjszczep]

The proble as near as I can tell is that the editor is changing the  columns in the database.  I have attached 2 screen shots.  the first shows the lookup after manually inserting the terminal.  The 2nd  shows what happens when trying to use the editor to assign the catalog information.

[wjszczep]

The columns apper the same but the information without being sorted is different.

[PatMurnen_Adsk]

Is there any way you could send me your catalog database file? My email is pat.murnen@autodesk.com. 

Can you provide step by step details in the email as well for both inserting manually (works) and this catalog problem? I need to be able to reproduce what you are seeing and sometimes the smallest detail can make the difference.

If the database is too large to email, still send me an email with the details and I can send you an email of a place to copy the database where only you and I would have access.

Regards,

Pat Murnen

[wszczep1]

Sorry for the lateness of this reply but I have not had a chance to work on this much.  You are correct Pat when you said it is an issue with our database.  I Copied our the information from our Misc_Cat table into the Default Autocad Datatabase Misc_Cat table.  Our table had A column named Style and did not have the Rating Column.  By moving what was in the Style (Rating) Column into one of the User Columns, the catalog lookup now appears to be working correctly.  I suspect that when someone hits the update database in MS Access after adding a part in the system, that it appears to mess up the Misc_Cat table because the Ratings column is not there and the system writes to that one instead of the User Columns. 

I just need to work with IT to adjust the Macro and write to the correct columns and I am confident that everything should work.

[PatMurnen_Adsk · Accepted solution]

Ok. Let me know if you still need help then. By the way, I did a blog post on the do's and don'ts of editing the catalog database. The steps are based on AutoCAD Electrical 2015 but the ideas are the same.

Best Practices for Customizing the Catalog Database

The number of columns in a table is important. The column order is extremely important. The field length of the fields in the table should not be changed. The column labels can be changed since it is the order that matters.

Regards,

Pat Murnen

[wszczep1]

Thanks Pat.  I have confirmed that it is on our end.  If the column names are changed in the Misc_Cat table and MS Access writes information to this table then Autocad has trouble finding the information.  If I type in the whole part number, then it shows up.

We do not have all of the tables in ours that give just the components from the family code.  Everything is from the MISC_Cat so whoever the consultant that set this up was should have left the columns that autocad uses alone and used the Miscellaneous and User Columns.  My next step is to change the column names names back to the structure of what you sent me and have the IT department adjust the Query for the update.  Then if I do a lookup, if the part is not there and I open the database and hit update, the new parts are loaded to the table and will show up when I do the lookup in Autocad.