Mulilevel Terminal Help

[Anonymous]

I have MulitLevel Terminals in my schematics.  How do I arrange them to go by the top terminal, then the bottom terminal? There is only 2 numbers on Top, so the bottom needs to be in order.  

I would also like to show a Tabular Terminal Strip for my Top, Middle, and Bottom separated.  One strip for my Top Row.  One Strip for my Middle Row.  Etc.  

Any help would be appreciated.

[dougmcalexander]

One method I use is to insert the terminal symbols in the schematic with no part number assignment. When I get to the panel layout I use the Terminal Strip Editor to assign the part numbers. I can select all terminals in the strip and assign the part number for the multilevel block I want to use, for example a 3-level terminal block. Next I use the Multilevel Association tool to move terminal number 2 to become the middle level of the block where terminal 1 is the top. I then move terminal number 3 to the bottom level of the block where terminals 1 and 2 are located. I then delete the two leftover blocks. I continue this workflow until all terminals have been associated. After the strip(s) have been inserted, the software will back annotate the related schematic terminal symbols with their respective part number and level assignments.

[Anonymous]

Thank you for your response.

I am not having trouble with associating the terminals. When I try to show
a tabular table to have a terminal rotation on my drawings, it is showing
them all in order. I would like to have 3 different tables. One for the
top row, one for the middle row, and one for the bottom row. The whole
point of a terminal rotation is so the panel builders can make terminal
markers, and having them take time to separate it themselves seems counter
productive.

[rhesusminus]

I had a quick look to see if this can be done via a user post, but there is no indication in the data to what "level" the terminals are.
Do you use some kind of "prefix" for the terminal numbers, like "1T", "1M" and "1B" to separate the Top, Middle and Bottom level of the terminals?
Or maybe some other rule that separates the levels?

If so, it would be possible to create a small program that does what you want.

[rhesusminus]

@PatMurnen_Adsk Do you know of a way to see what "level" the terminal belongs to? Maybe use the dwgix/handle to find some info in the project database?

[PatMurnen_Adsk]

I don't think I fully understand what is being used here, a report or the Terminal Strip Editor. But to answer your specific question - the schematic terminals do carry xdata to indicate its level. If it is xdata it is called VIA_WD_LNUMBER. I am not sure if it is supported as an attribute but if it does it would be LNUMBER.

There are API calls to pull out attribute value or xdata you know the block's handle and drawing name. The API looks first for an attribute and then xdata if the attribute doesn't exist on the block.

Active drawing 

(c:wd_get_pnlval ben attnam) 

if you have the HDL (handle) from a report you would use (handent hdl) for ben and "LNUMBER" for attnam.

Drawing is not active. 

(c:ace_get_pnlval_dbx dnam hdl attnam options)

Parameters Description
dnam = nil for active dwg or full path/dwg name (use double backslashes or single forward slashes)
hdl = AutoCAD entity handle of block insert instance.
attnam = Attribute's name to query for its value.
options For future use.

Regards,

Pat

[ccad2509]

surprised president Doug didn't try to sell him a solution !!!!!

but out of the box i can do this 

set the level inside my terminal properties

define a series of terminals top middle and bottom

edit them in my terminal browser

sort the terminals by level

generate a single terminal diagram sorted by level

i can also set a trigger that will start a new terminal diagram when the level changes 

so three different terminal diagrams one for top ,middle and bottom 

once created it stays in the project or you can export it out as a xml file to be imported into another project

over to you Doug to come  up with an out of the box solution 

[Anonymous]

For some clarification, here are the examples I have to show what I would like to do.  

The first is the representation of my terminals on my back plate.  It is not important that those show any information.  They are just a physical representation for layout of the panel.  

The second picture is of the Tabular Terminal Table that was created by the Terminal Editor.  Here is where I would like to separate the Top, Middle, and Bottom.  The top should be 1171, then 1172.  The Middle should be only 1122.  The Bottom is all different.  As you can see it shows top, middle, bottom, top, middle, bottom.  

ccad2509, I do not know where you are getting that Properties popup.  When I right click and go to Edit Component, it does not look like that.  

[Icemanau]

To clarify, you want three tables with each table showing a different level of the three level terminals.

I don't think that this is possible straight out of the box, but maybe @rhesusminus or @PatMurnen_Adsk will be able to help you with a script file to use as a 'user post'.

As for CCAD2509, he tends to bag ACADE and push other programs without helping users in the forums. I haven't seen a helpful post from him in a long time. Those screen shots would be from a totally different program and not relevant to ACADE so don't waste your time looking for a matching screen.

Regards Brad

[rhesusminus]

Your goal is to get a list of the terminal numbers, divided into the different levels?
Would you be fine with doing this with the report generator? Then, you can save/export it to whatever format needed...

[ccad2509]

Well Hello Brad another theory on what I’m up to

This is what I truly love about ACADE your own response sums it all up

It don’t work Out Of the Box (OOTB)

The point I keep making to those who blindly believe ACADE is a good engineering tool is this

This guy wants to do something yet you have to rely on two people one who doesn’t even work for Autodesk to solve his problem’s (ON WHAT PLANET IS THAT THE RIGHT!!!)

Whereas other products have already though through these issue and have an “Out of the box Solutions”

Again and again people post wanting to do something and its talk to Pat or Trond because ACADE don’t do it and you need custom code

Take a look at the ideas forum it’s now become a long endless moan about small tiny issues none of the big issues in the product have been addressed thats why I removed about 25 big ideas a number of years ago

While ACADE is still struggling to even connect with phoenix clip project (BTW it doesn’t write back into ACADE at the moment why would anybody do that whereas the beauty of clip project is you can allocate all those tiny items and write it directly back into your ECAD package)

Other products have moved on years ago and developed interfaces to different PLM systems, CNC machines, Sistema, thermal calculation software,direct to PLC's 

And my favourite at the moment is Manufactures parts data THAT IS UPTO DATE AND ON MANUFACTURES WEBSITES see my previous posts on this

So why do I post other peoples solution

It’s the shame game over the years I tried to be polite in pointing out ACADES deficiencies I’ve been downright rude and aggressive at times that doesn’t work

But maybe when somebody posts a problem THAT ACADE CAN’T DO OUT OF THE BOX AND A COMPETITOR CAN MAYBE THAT WILL SHAME THE PEOPLE AT AUTODESK INTO RETHINKING THE WAY THEY DO THINGS AND START TO ADDRESS THE OBVIOUS DEFICIENCIES IN THE PRODUCT)

I mean EN 81346-1-2009 defines “+” as mounting location not Installation yet it’s not been addressed in ACADE for 8 years now ACADE cannot claim comply with the latest IEC/EN standards

And to add final insult if you bother to follow what’s happening in the ECAD world rather than sticking your head in the sand and repeating ACADE is Good ACADE is the Best there is no other ECAD programs)

Then you might have noticed that Schneider Electric one of those massive multinational component manufactures have put in a bid for See electrical now what does that do well when it’s all done and dusted you can bet all those Schneider sales engineers worldwide who actually deal with people who design and build electrical automation systems will be pushing See electrical

Whereas Autodesk is reducing its dealers worldwide and going on-line you now have 3 major players in the Automation components industry with their own ECAD solution

Rittal with Eplan, Siemens with Cosmos (which scares the s&*^ out of me) and now Schneider Electric with See electrical

This is a start of a trend which leaves AUTODESK OUT IN THE COLD

They could go to Rockwell automation and cut a deal with them as the preferred ECAD solution but guess what Eplan beat them to that one a number of years ago

So here’s the deal when you post you need to talk to Pat or Trond to solve your problems and it’s an OUT OF THE BOX SOLUTION FOR ANOTHER COMPANY AND IM IN THE MOOD THEN MAYBE I WILL POST THE SOULTION 

[Anonymous]

Thanks for all the help.  

I am OK with third party solutions, as long as they aren't too cost prohibitive.  In regards to the posts using third party solutions, can you let me know what you are using?  I understand no program is able to do everything, that's why I asked. 

I am going to look into reports to see if there's an solution there.  

I hope everyone is having a productive day.  

[PatMurnen_Adsk · Accepted solution]

Hi sburbankMCAV5,

Here is one way you could do this with the Terminal Numbers Report.

First you need to get the actual level number value in the report. Even if you don't want to show it in the report output it can be used to filter the report. To get this field into the report you can add it using the User-Defined Attributes feature. These steps assume you don't already have a user-defined attributes file (.wda) for the project.

1. On the ribbon, select Reports tab > Miscellaneous panel > User Attributes

2. Enter LNUMBER in the first Attribute Tag field

3. Click OK

4. Put it in the same folder as your project file and give it the same name.

Next, unzip the attached updated User Post Files (term.lsp and term.dcl) into the same folder as the project and the .wda file you just created. If you want this available for all projects you can put these in the shared folder, for example C:\Program Files\Autodesk\AutoCAD 2018\Acade\Support\en-US\Shared. But, create a backup copy of the default ones first.

Run the report:

1. Click Reports tab > Schematic panel > Reports

2. Select Terminal Numbers report and whatever drawings you want to process

3. When the Report Generator dialog comes up, first make sure the LNUMBER field was added correctly by going to Change Report Format, scroll to the bottom of the left-hand list and see if it is there. You can add it to the report if you want to see it.

4. Back on Report Generator dialog, click User Post.

5. You should see 3 check boxes labelled Level 1, Level 2, Level 3, check one of them and OK.

6. Back on the report it should now be filtered by the level selected.

I tested this with a very small sample, i.e. one drawing, 2 multi level terminals with 3 levels each. So we might need to do some back and forth to work out any bugs.

I made certain assumptions to get this to work but it is mainly to give you the idea of what can be done with the User Post option in any report that is close to what you need. For example, it could have a list of levels if you want more than the 3 options.

Regards,

Pat

[Anonymous]

@PatMurnen_Adsk, 

I have tried this, and it is exactly what I wanted.  Thank you!  I'll have some massaging to do with my associations, but that's fine.  This also shows me simply where errors in my associations might have happened.  

[PatMurnen_Adsk]

Glad it's what you needed. The User Post files are supplied in the original source code .lsp and the associated .dcl file so you can make changes as needed. Let me know if you need help on any other changes for it.

Regards,

Pat