Auto-Generating Control One Lines

[gmitera]

The team I'm a part of creates TONS of these very simple one line diagrams. No built-in information, just the linework.

Some of these can have 50 or more devices connected to a single panel. We're wondering if there's any way we could automate this process using a spreadsheet. The goal is to be able to list each device's tag, description, and type of wiring in a spreadsheet and then have it autogenerate a diagram like this. We'd really like to be able to specify whether each device branches off of another one. The closest I've come is using an action macro to generate a generic diagram and stop for user input for each text item. This, however, isn't much faster than just copy-pasting things I've got no idea how to reference the data from Excel, and I really have no idea how we could dynamically deal with the branching. Thanks in advance!

[Tomislav.Golubovic]

I *think* AutoCAD Electrical can do what you want? I haven't used it in years but I have a feeling it has something like that. I could be wrong, but looking at what you do, AutoCAD Electrical might be a good fit.

[leeminardi]

The simple answer is yes, Excel could be used to create an AutoCAD script file to complete the drawing. It would help to see a few examples of possible drawings.  For example, what would a drawing with 50 devices look like (along with the corresponding Excel file)? Would the "JB" block be stretched to accommodate 51 lines coming into it?  The script would be run in a file that has the lines and components that are common to any configuration. 

[gmitera]

The problem I'm running into with circuit builder is that it's almost too heavy duty for what we're doing. Simple linework only, in this very specific style.

[gmitera]

Here would be an example of a larger diagram. The most I've seen for branches is 4 or 5.

[leeminardi]

Perhaps a good place to start would be to create a script that would generate the text that's inside the red box from an Excel file.

Can you post the Excel file that you would see generating this text and the AutoCAD drawing that would result?

[gmitera]

For a diagram like this:

We'd like to start with something like this in Excel:

Thanks to everyone!

[leeminardi]

Can you post the Excel and AutoCAD files not just an image?  I'd like to experiment with them.

[gmitera]

Here you go. I really appreciate you taking the time to look this deep into this!

[leeminardi · Accepted solution]

@gmitera Attached is a VBA Macro enabled Excel file that includes a program to create an AutoCAD script file that can be used to create part of your drawing from data contained in an Excel file.  I concentrated on placing text in approximately the correct locations.  The program is a work-in-progress and can be enhanced to add additional geometry.  I thought I would share this version with you so you could assess whether this has potential for developing further.

Open the Excel file and click the "Create Script File" button.  Add additional rows of data as you want.  

The user interface could be more friendly but this is a start.

Lee

[gmitera]

This is awesome. A few tweaks and it'll be perfect. THANK YOU!

[leeminardi]

@gmitera You're welcome.  I hope you find the program helpful.  I would have liked to clean up the user interface  and some of the line creation  functions a bit before posting the file but had to turn my attention to other matters.

Let me know if you have any questions o would like to add other features.

Lee

[gmitera]

Honestly, a less involved UI is going to suit us better. I haven't had a chance to dive into the VBA macro yet, but as of right now the code only seems to place boxes around VFDs. I'm planning on jumping in and working on it a little bit, but as the creator do you have any high level suggestions for me?