Schematic child components referenced to PLC modules.
Funny, I was laying in bed last night and had a EUREKA moment (isn't it always the way that the best ideas come at a time when you can do absolutely nothing about it?).
"Fields," I thought. "I wonder if I could do it with fields..."
So I came into work today, opened up a PLC component block (Hp2w--l.dwg in this case) and added the attributes TAG1, DESC1, DESC2, and DESC3 to the file.
I then went into the attribute definition for TAG1 and added a field tied to TAG, using this as a setup:
I then repeated the process for DESC1 (tied to LINE1), DESC2 (tied to LINE2) and DESC3 (tied to DESC).
After verifying with a PLC insertion of a 1756-EN2T (because it uses the aforementioned Hp2w--l.dwg in its build) that the new attributes are in place and working as intended, I was then able to tie the child component to the PLC module because the PLC module now has a TAG1 attribute that keeps up to date with the PLC.
Presto change-o and we are not off to the races!
PROBLEM SOLVED!!!!!!!!!!!!
*dances a booty-shaking happy dance*
@Anonymous wrote:If I remember right you have a parent on dwg1 and a child on dwg2...
the child has "fields" in attributes... those fields can only be populated by things from dwg2...
so changes to dwg1 (or the parent) will not cause an update of any fields on dwg2.
I think spreadsheet, or coding, is the only way your gonna get this to do what you want.
PLC child symbols typically do not get line1, line2, or line3, or desc. So ACADE is not setup to populate them, even if they are there.
No, the fields are strictly within the PLC module, not the schematic child. What I did was to add four attributes to the PLC IO blocks that have the TAG attribute (basically, any block with the letter "L" in the file name... Hp1---l.dwg in the case shown below). These attributes are TAG1, DESC1, DESC2, and DESC3.
TAG1 has a field in the value section that ties to the value of TAG. (shown in red below)
DESC1 has a field in the value section that ties to the value of LINE1. (shown in yellow below)
DESC2 has a field in the value section that ties to the value of LINE2. (shown in green below)
DESC3 has a field in the value section that ties to the value of DESC. (shown in blue below)
These field values are solely dependent on the value they are tied to, and when the block is placed and the values filled, the information transfers directly to the TAG1, DESC1, DESC2, and DESC3 attributes, which allows the PLC module to now also serve as a schematic parent to a schematic child without compromising the integrity of how the PLC modules are made.
The schematic children are created no differently than any other, and pull that data from the TAG1, DESC1, DESC2, and DESC3 attributes in the PLC module to create the electrical link between them in the same fashion as they would from a schematic parent symbol.
When I initially drop a PLC module into a drawing, the system works as intended. TAG, LINE1, LINE2, and DESC are populated properly, and the values properly transfer to TAG1, DESC1, DESC2, and DESC3. Dropping a child component in will properly link the two components together and transfer all the data to TAG2, DESC1, DESC2, and DESC3 on the child.
The problem arises when I move the PLC module to another line reference, which forces a change in the TAG attribute. The TAG attribute will update properly, but the TAG1 attribute will not update with the new value automatically, or via any other methodology like REGEN, REGENALL, ATTSYNC, or BATTMAN>SYNC. A manual edit is possible, but that would get rid of the field and defeat the entire purpose.
As I discovered, a REFEDIT on the PLC module shows that even though the TAG attribute updated, there is a "default" value that is still the same as the original, pre-move value, and that is where I think the field is drawing its information from, which is why the TAG1 attribute is not updating. Basically, the field is not seeing an update, so it remains the same. I haven't tested it yet, but presumably the DESC1, DESC2, and DESC3 attributes have the same issue.
With this particular issue, the initial setup is fine, but changing the information after insertion will not update the children as intended. I could go in and just reinsert the PLC module, but that ALSO defeats the purpose.
I'm pounding my head on the desk trying to figure out how to fix this, but I got nothing.
Okay, UPDATEFIELD doesn't fix it. I already tried that.
That's not the problem, because UPDATEFIELD is working exactly as intended. Let me show you.
First thing I did was to insert the PLC module at line reference 15518 and input my other information, including the rack number, slot number, and description. This resulted in TAG having a value of "PLC15518", LINE1 having a value of "RACK 1", LINE2 having a value of "SLOT 2", and DESC having a value of "INTERFACE MODULE".
Next I used the Move Component tool to move the module from line 15518 to 15556, changed the rack and slot number to 2 and 6, and changed the DESC to ETHERNET BRIDGE MODULE. As you can see, the attributes updated correctly.
However, when you look at the properties for the device, you can see that even though TAG, LINE1, LINE2, and DESC updated correctly, TAG1, DESC1, DESC2, and DESC3 did not update.
Doing a REFEDIT on the PLC module shows that even though the shown value for TAG is PLC15556, editing the TAG attribute shows that the value is still PLC15518. Because the TAG1 attribute is pulling the value for TAG and the TAG value is actually PLC15518, the TAG1 attribute is pulling the "correct" information and things are getting out of sync.
My question is this: How do I get the value of this TAG to update properly when I move the device or edit it?