Circuit Builder Child Cable Marker Rating and wire gauge labels

[Anonymous]

Hello,

I am getting started with Circuit Builder creating the common circuits we use here. I have successfully created my first common circuit that is almost 100% like the circuit we draw normally. I have two problems I can't figure out how to do.

First is wire gauge labels. Is there a command to do this or a way to put these on the wires?

Second is Cable child marker ratings. I have a cable marker in my circuit and have set the catalog data to what we always use. I would like to also set the wire label which is in rating 1. Is this possible?

This is what I was able to create. I want the child cable markers to be BLK2 and BLK3

Here is the command I am using for the cable marker.

(c:ace_cb_multipole  #xyz nil "HW01" 3 #scl 4  "MFG=LAPP;CAT=221004;RATING1=BLK1;DESC2=10/4 CABLE")

My first guess is that I would need to insert a parent cable marker then 2 children. Would this be correct? The question then is how would I link them? 

Thank you

[Anonymous]

For anyone else that might be working through a similar problem I was able to get the cable markers to work the way I wanted to. I needed to make 3 markers in the template drawing and have them in the spreadsheet with the link command added. now the output is correct. 

Template drawing

New Spread Sheet data.

CBL01	Cable marker	X	Cable	Yes	1	1	(c:ace_cb_insym #xyz nil "HW01" #scl 8 "MFG=LAPP;CAT=221004;RATING1=BLK1;DESC2=10/4 CABLE")(c:ace_cb_save_for_link 0 1)
CBL02	Child Cable Marker	X	Child Cable Marker	Yes	1	1	(c:ace_cb_insym #xyz nil "HW02" #scl 8 "RATING1=BLK2")(c:ace_cb_save_for_link 0 2)
CBL03	Child Cable Marker	X	Child Cable Marker	Yes	1	1	(c:ace_cb_insym #xyz nil "HW02" #scl 8 "RATING1=BLK3")(c:ace_cb_save_for_link 0 3)

This then outputs the circuit the way I wanted. 

Still can't figure out how to add wire gauge labels. Could use some help with that if it is possible to do.

[Jon.Dean]

Hi @Anonymous,

Take a look at the following Help entry, search for "Add wire guages to a wiring diagram?" explaining how you would place wire gauge labels.

Hope it helps.

Jon.

[rhesusminus]

Did you try to insert the Wire Labels in the template? I was thinking that they updated automatically when the wire type is changed by the circuit builder?

There's no documented API call to insert wire color/gauge labels...

[rhesusminus]

And @Jon.Dean ... Please read the entire ticket. He clearly wants to do this using the circuit builder, not manually.

[Anonymous]

I tried inserting the wire gauge labels in the template drawing. This didn't work as in the template it is just a regular CAD line. If I try and add a gauge label ACE wants to insert the WD_M block. Which I don't want to happen. I tried inserting a label from another drawing to get the text in there. But this then didn't update. 

So it seems it can't be done. It would be a nice feature to add as it would complete the circuit and wouldn't require extra work after being inserted. 

Thank you for the assistance. 

[rhesusminus]

the UNDOCUMENTED call to create a color/gauge label is the lisp function wd_colga. Maybe someone from Autodesk can help you with what the seven parameters for this command are, so that it can be used in the circuit builder spreadsheet. @Jon.Dean @Anonymous

[Anonymous]

Thank you. I will give this a try. 

[PatMurnen_Adsk]

I don't think using wd_colga is an option. To gather the information that the arguments require would take quite a bit of programming I think.

Also, the calls documented in the API Help for AutoCAD Electrical are public API calls that are available and and supported. A new release of the product shouldn't break them by adding or removing arguments to the call. The one mentioned, wd_colga, is not a public API but an internal call. These can change at any release as improvements are made to the product. Even if we could figure out the arguments for it I don't think I would recommend using it.

I tried the other suggestion of adding the wire labels to the circuit builder template but that caused an error in Circuit Builder and it wouldn't even build the circuit. Right now I can't think of a way to have Circuit Builder add the wire labels. I don't see any way to bypass the dialog that comes up. But, I will think about it and ask some co-workers here if anyone has any ideas. If anything comes up I will post. 

Regards,

Pat Murnen