make Subfolders independent

[mbrown2N7T5]

It seems that right now, all that a subfolder does is put your drawings in a group, with no real function. Why can't ACAD make the subfolders so that we can create subfolders in a project for each panel in a project, so that each panel can have the same wire numbers and tag numbers as all the other panels but ACAD knows that they are in different panels(subfolders). ACAD could just add a code like they do for location and installation, so that it knows that wire number 1 in panel A is different than wire number 1 in Panel B, even though they are in the same project. It would also make it possible to use the source/destination and parent/sibling tagging over multiple subfolders. They can also add a selection in the main folder properties where you can select whether the subfolders are to be independent of each other or treated as one unit. 

 We do projects that contain 8 to 10 different panels and we have to create a different project for each one. That means we have to manually add any contacts, wires, or PLCs that originate from a different panel 

 It does not seem to me that this would be very complicated, especially for the money we pay every year to use this.

[rhesusminus]

So, you mean, like in all competing products?

Support for installation/location codes for wire numbers would be great!

If it could be inherited from the subfolders.. even better.

[amokhin]

It's been a while since the post was created but I just wanted to share my experience.

I use section numbers for that. If I have several similar panels in one project, my wires have numbers  011212,021212,031212 etc (format %A%S%N).

It works not only for wires, but for all components in respective subfolders. Let say fuses would be FU%A-%S%N - FU11-1111, FU12-1111, FU13-1111 etc.

This approach is pretty easy to setup once and maintain for all projects with multiple similar panels.

[rhesusminus]

We of course know about this, but the whole idea here was to group the drawings into "sets" in the project navigator. This cannot be done using sections/sub-sections.

[mbrown2N7T5]

We should not have to have work arounds to get our $5,000 program to do something that I could probably write a lisp to do. If we have a big project with 5 of six control panels in it, there should be the main project folder, and then a subfolder for each panel. These folders should all be tied together so that when you have the coil for CR4 in one panel, you can grab the contacts for that relay from any of the subpanels you want. You should also be able to have wire X1, 24VDC, COM, or whatever your wire numbers are, and have the same wire in a different subpanel without Autocad thinking they were the same wire. It is not rocket science. 

[amokhin]

>>have the same wire in a different subpanel

I consider that as very bad design approach if the wires have different sources but are in the same project. I acknowledge that using sections is not ideal, but from my perspective there should be no CR4 in different panels within one project.

Most likely your original post meant that you may need a project grouping in the project tree as @rhesusminus mentioned because it looks like your subpanels are completely detached from each other which can fall under definition of different projects (in terms of ACADE, not in terms of your company). Well, I wouldn't mind to have that feature as well, but it's irrelevant to how the ACADE project operates.

[mbrown2N7T5]

We have multiple panels in the same project. Sometimes a relay in one panel controls an input in another. Example: an Output relay in a Generator panel closes a contact telling the PLC in the Main Panel that the generator is running. E-top contacts usually bounce from panel to panel, also. It is not bad design. It may be something you don't deal with, but we don design bad panels where I work. We are one of the top integrators in the country.

Also, A lot of other comments seem to agree with me, and see the need for this feature. If you upgrade a WTP and the project has 5 panels, all communicating with each other, they are part of the same project. The way you suggest doing things in clunky and forces people to abandon their standards for what ACAD can do. That is unacceptable.

[amokhin]

>>Example: an Output relay in a Generator panel closes a contact telling the PLC in the Main Panel that the generator is running.

I feel you're talking about something different as it clearly shows that your panels are connected with each other, in this  case having them in one project makes sense. I was talking about a case when panels don't have any connection.

But lets consider your example (let me know if I have implemented it not in the way you meant):

If I haven't made any mistake - it means that there will be 24VDC wire which is not the same as 24VDC on terminals inside the same panel - it  has a different power source. Nobody will ever persuade me that it's not an awful design, even a top integrator, sorry. 

UPD: It might've had sense if the projects were different for panels, but in this case the reference would contain the full description of external project which mitigates the conflict.

[rhesusminus]

Why is this all of the sudden about being "right"?
Most companies have different ways of doing stuff, "just because".

This is thread about making the software adapt a little bit better to whatever way a company works, instead of companies adapting to how the software works. Making this idea happen would increase the value of the software, and you would be free to choose whether to use it or not.

[testsubject]

I think the dissenters do not understand how IEC works.

It is very possible to have "24VDC" in 3 panels of the same project because the location is also part of the wire number.

+PEN1-24VDC

+PEN2-24VDC

+PEN3-24VDC

These are 3 different wire numbers but the schematics/Panel layouts are the same.

[mbrown2N7T5]

What about the customers that do not want the prefix, or the company standards that do not allow the prefix, or if you simply do not have room on a terminal for you 10 digits? 

It is not rocket science to fix Autocad so it can see different panels in the same project as separate entities, and allow you to use the same wire numbers in different panels, the same goes for components. Autocad has options for many other items, why not this.