mcschaefer
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I'm finally coming up for air and checking out all the new features in VW 2022. Exciting stuff! One feature I've wanted for a long time is finally there- the ability to customize the "circuit graphics". One thing I'm wondering is whether it's possible to create a custom user parameter for Circuits, that's editable in the Object Info Palette? My use case is I'd like to flag all cables that were installed during construction as "PREWIRING" so that our shop techs know not to build them in the shop prior to install. Here's a screenshot of what I mean. Here, I simply typed "PREWIRING" into the formula field: As I said above though, ideally this would be a checkbox or even a field where I can type in "PREWIRING", or maybe some other note. Is there currently a way to do this? Part 2 of this question is, assuming that it's possible to create this custom field, could someone point me in the direction of what to search for/ read up on in terms of customizing the cable report? I'd then want this custom cable field to show up as a new column in the report. Thanks for your help!
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@Fig A workaround I've used to represent adapters is to create a device, as @Conrad Preen mentioned, and label the cable type for the little cable that is part of the adapter as "BUILT-IN". My staff knows that BUILT-IN means it's part of the adapter, and when I do counts and reports I just ignore those "cables". See screenshot below for an example using thunderbolt 3 to HDMI adapters to connect computer displays to a Mac Pro: In your example you'd have four "built in" cables on your device. Sometimes, you find yourself connecting the XLR connectors on these breakout cables directly to other cables. For that my workaround is to use a special custom jumper "device" that I created for that purpose. Jumpers can have one or many channels, and can be named so that they are more understandable at a glance: Lastly, the way I like to depict multichannel snakes is to group them like the below example where possible, and identify which circuits (or cables) are part of that snake through the use of a numbering system. In the below example, "A0150" is the base circuit number. The "-1", "-2", etc represent which channels of the snake each circuit belongs to. If channels from that same snake exist elsewhere on the diagram, as long as they have that same base number I know they are part of the same snake. By the way, by using Spotlight Numbering, it's easy to generate these labels very quickly. Well, that's just how I do it, but I hope that helps! As a recording studio designer snakes are a daily part of life and I've had to get a little bit creative in how to represent them.
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Hi @Conrad Preen , three quick questions for you: 1. Is there a way to edit how many rack units a device is, and whether it's full width or half width from the schematic view, or is the only way to do it on the Layout page? I see you can edit height, width, depth, weight in the object info palette but the Rack U field doesn't appear there. If no, this is a feature request! 2. I'd like to suggest adding a way to disable the library (both user and application folder versions) that comes with the device builder in future releases. As it stands, its presence adds a few extra steps to creating devices. I know it's petty but it all adds up! Having to select "new" under make and model rather than just typing the name into a text box I use all capitals on my designs. If a make exists in the library without capitals, I have to create the device then remember to edit it again in order to fix the capitalization 3. Lastly, pardon me if this was already posted on here. When I create a device in the device builder and select a number of rack units: The HeightRU field shows up blank on the layout tab Rack Width shows up as "non-rack" The device is created with a width of 19.0945 inches (485mm), when it should be 19" Is that a known bug or am I doing something wrong? Attached here is a sample file. Thanks! Matt RackU.vwx Matt RackU.vwx
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@leighmap Thanks! As far as I'm aware there is no way to make custom device label boxes scale automatically. @Conrad Preen are you aware of any way to make that happen? The device labels that come with the software get around this by having no box around the text. Since the text is always centered, scaling is not an issue. Stylistically I prefer to have a box around that text and also prefer to make all of my devices the same width for neatness purposes, but others certainly have different preferences there. As such I only made all of my device labels the one width. Sometimes devices created in the device builder do end up being wider or narrower than the standard size, and it's a little frustrating when it happens, but it's quick work to resize those and then save that device to your device library so you never need to do it again. Hope that helps!
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Hi @rockfanent, If you're looking to edit the top of the device, you would edit what's called the device label. This label appears at the top of any device you create. You can see a list of the available device labels by selecting the device, navigating to the object info palette and selecting one from the dropdown titled "Symbol". You'll notice that "dev_label_generic" is likely the only one that applies to what you're doing when creating schematic devices. My understanding is that this dropdown will also be available in the device builder in a future software update. To create your own device label, what I'd recommend is open the Resource Manager, navigate to the folder "System Symbols" and locate dev_label_generic. Duplicate this and give it a unique name with dev_label_ as the prefix. For example: "dev_label_rockfanent". This will then be available in the above mentioned dropdown. From there, right click on your new device label in Resource Manager, select "edit 2D components" and you're free to edit. If you aren't already aware of how linking text to records works, this would be a good thing to look into and understand. The text at the top of these device labels is auto generated from parameters in the record named "dev_rec". You can use these records to make any parameters associated with this device appear. There are also a bunch of user parameters available that you can use to add custom parameters. When editing the device label, this text can be found by selecting its placeholder, which is essentially a text box with no text entered. You can select these "text boxes" and drag them around as you please, or create your own. Check out this screenshot of my device label in which I used the select tool to select my entire device label. You'll see that there are empty text boxes (indicated by the vertical orange lines of my selection) in each space where those parameters go. The text "MAKE" "MODEL" and "LOCATION" you see are there in my example as helpers, but that specific text is not linked to any record. Here is what it looks like when I enter data into those fields: I personally have created several device labels for various purposes (audio, video, network, etc) that all have different colors and different layouts in some cases. Others use this for different purposes. I hope that helps! Matt
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Attached here is a file. I opened the default CC template, edited dev_label_generic to remove everything below the middle point (description, location), and created a device. The space is created where the description and location information used to be in the device label, and I was wondering if it's possible for that space to not be created if there is no information below the center point on the device label. Space.vwx My apologies- it appears that this device database topic has blown out of proportion and I intended no offense. I was simply asking for more information about this new feature and offering my feedback. As a user, here's my feedback regarding this. Without you having explained it to me as you just did here on the forum, at first glance it appears that the drop downs in the device builder are intended to be a user device repository because they do save user created devices into the database (in the user folder), minus any later customizations. This was a source of confusion for me because it appeared as if you intended for that to be the way it works, but now I understand that it is not. The existing VW symbol library system does work and I'll keep using it. The device database is an improvement, yes, but as soon as the user customizes their signal types, connectors, or layouts, which I assume many of us do, it becomes unusable for us, and only adds extra clicks when we create new devices. Thanks as always for your help.
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Hi Conrad, The picture and description of the issue are described in #2 of my April 21 post above ^. Here is the screenshot again of the extra space that gets automatically added upon using the device builder as compared to my system symbol. If this is how it is and I can't make it go away, I'll just manually adapt my entire device library to match the new way. Just wanted to confirm first before putting in all of that work!: What I was wondering about the panels connectors is- is there a table where we can edit this mating, or is it only done automatically based on M vs F? Seems like an extra column in the connector types might be useful here. If not, no worries I can manually edit it each time. And, sounds good! I just wanted to shed light on the fact that the current way the device builder database works is a little strange but certainly not a major issue. I got excited to see this feature added but then quickly realized it doesn't really help anything because of how it currently works (lacking the ability to add your actual finished devices to the library). My device builder database is really just going to be full of a bunch of nonsense that I never use I suppose, since I tend to make further spacing and visual edits on my devices beyond the builder. We'll continue to put everything in our library as we have been and ignore the device builder database. Thanks for your help!
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Hi @Conrad Preen! I hope your week is going well. I just wanted to follow up on a couple of items from my April 21 Post: 1. Is it possible to remove that space on the top of the rectangle when devices are built using the device builder? This space wasn't there in 2019 and earlier versions (at least for me- maybe this was a Chuck mod?). To compensate for the space being created when using device builder in 2020, I've moved the system symbol heading down by one grid space, but now if I migrate all of my old devices from my <2019 library to 2020, the system symbol heading is too low. So, before I go and rebuild my entire device library to conform to 2020 I just wanted to confirm with you first whether it's possible to remove this space! 2. I'm curious to hear your answer to # 4 under my wishlist items regarding the mating of schematic and panel connectors. This will affect how I redesign my workflow. 3. One more new item: Are there plans to allow for devices that are too big for device builder or have custom connector spacing and/or graphics be added to the device database in device builder? As a user, it's a bit frustrating to have to maintain a device library VW file AND a separate device database, and to have to check both places for devices when creating a drawing. Double frustrating as our staff grows and this institutional knowledge of what's where has to be passed on to them. A dream of mine would be to be able to open device builder, click that drop down, and have ALL of my devices be there. Also not having to remember at the end of a project to make sure I add all new devices to my device library would also be a time saver. Not sure if this is at all possible but it would be a huge help. Thanks Conrad!
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@Conrad PreenJust following up on one item in my most recent post here to report more about that bug regarding the CTP Equipment Items: If I select any panel connector that I personally created or modified from the connector dropdown, the connector completely disappears. Also, just thought I'd let you know that some of the panel connectors that ship with the software are slightly off-center (for example NE8F-C6). I'm currently going through and rebuilding my entire panel connector library. Along the way I'll be fixing centering issues and such. Will also be creating both top text and bottom text versions, and am adding my own custom field to the record where you can optionally enter a cable number. Lastly, adding text styles and classes to that text so I can hide the cable number on exports for manufacture but show it for installers. Happy to send them your way if it's helpful!
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@rbjackson85 Conrad and the ConnectCAD team might have more to add to this, or alternate methods, but my go-to method has been: Go to ConnectCAD, Documentation, then generate a cable report Copy/paste the resulting database into Google Sheets, Excel, etc. In your spreadsheet software, write a formula using a COUNTIF function to count each type of connector in the Skt_Conn columns: https://support.google.com/docs/answer/3093480?hl=en You can also count estimated cable required using the length parameter on circuits and the SUMIF function using the Cable and Est. Length Columns! https://support.google.com/docs/answer/3093583?hl=en Here's a screenshot of my internal spreadsheet that I built for this purpose. Essentially I created a BOM sheet that auto counts the items from the database export (on another sheet). I also added another column for manual entry which overrides the auto counted quantity if needed. Things get a little hairy when you're dealing with multipin connectors (EDAC, DB25, etc) and multichannel snakes but there are certainly creative ways around it. I've come to treat adapters as devices, and created a cable type called "BUILT-IN" for cables connected to those, since they aren't actually cables. I instead count the amount of adapter devices by doing a device report export from CC. Soon going to rebuild my device library to create a set of adapters with an "ADAPT" prefix for easier counting. Molded cables are also another tricky beast. I have a somewhat complex spreadsheet system that essentially identifies molded cables separately so that I can count them and order the appropriate amount and length (using the length parameter). Aside from that, the only other option I can think of is to manually count them. Hope that helps!
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@Daniel Dickman Just came back here to let you know about a solution I'm trying. Will report back if there are issues: 1. Sync all of our machines to a shared Google Drive using Backup and Sync 2. In our drive is a shared folder that we have set as our user folder in Vectorworks. Within that folder, under Plug-ins, create your own connectCAD_Data folder. 3. Place all of your signal and connector types in there, and these override the defaults that come with the software. All machines will sync to this folder. Check out this video to learn about setting the user folder/ how it works (if you aren't already aware): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BqvZL_VHqdU
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@Mike Williams That's correct- you'd make your own ConnectCAD_Data folder in there.
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Got it. Thanks for confirming! Perhaps a feature request: for those of us who have our own signal types, connectors or device layouts the default device DB automatically becomes a hinderance rather than a help. It's an enormous amount of clutter since none of the devices match our signal types, preferred connector naming, or device layouts. Also a point of confusion for the more junior users on our teams since there are potentially multiples of certain devices (our way vs the default way) I'm not sure what the solution is but perhaps some sort of preference setting where the user database overrides the default database would do the trick, if possible. This also prevents us from having to remember to manually empty the default application folder database on multiple computers upon each software update. Anyway, for now I'll play with deleting that database at my own risk and will report back if there are any issues. PS sorry for hijacking your thread!
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Hi @Conrad Preen, When I added ConnectorTypes and SignalTypes to this folder, instead of appending as you mentioned, they replaced the data in the application folder (when using the software). This is actually the behavior I prefer but is this normal? The only reason I ask is because there is another ConnectCAD Devices DB.txt file that contains one or two user devices I've created, and on the contrary, this is appended to the data in the application folder. This relates to one of my outstanding questions in the thread I started where I'd like to only use my devices, and completely remove any that come default with the software. Thanks!
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Hi Conrad, My apologies for wasting your time with such a simple VW question that I could have easily figured out on my own. My knowledge of VW is unfortunately formed around only ConnectCAD and I clearly need to expand my horizons, so thanks for your patience! Here's my next batch for you: Device Database: One final followup question on this: none of the devices that come default with the program are usable for me because I have my own signal types, connector list, etc. I'd like to completely delete the default device database to remove all of the clutter. Before I attempt this, if I simply delete all of the entries in the ConnectCAD Devices DB text file would that potentially corrupt the software, or would it accomplish what I'm looking to do? When the Device Builder builds a device, it leaves a 1 grid space above the connectors for where "Description" field went in the default symbol heading. I created my own symbol headings, and a to mitigate this I dragged the heading down by 1 grid to fill the space. A little bit of awkwardness ensues because of that space (see screenshot). Is there any way to not have that space be created? Otherwise, I'll just live with it. Wishlist: I've seen mentions of a wishlist thread but can't seem to locate a specific ConnectCAD one. I'll drop these here for now, but please point me in the correct direction if I should put these elsewhere. Or should I just drop them in the general Vectorworks Wishlist forum? I know I mentioned this one in another thread, but changing the "Cable Type" field to a dropdown would be super helpful in eliminating human error and typos! Someone in another thread mentioned wishing for a way to mark sockets/terminations and circuits as "on-site" (can't build in shop prior to installation) vs "in-shop" (can build in-shop prior to installation). Perhaps there may be other uses of the ability to mark a circuit or socket. This is also something I would love to have, as I'm sure would many other users, but I understand your sentiment about not being able to build a solution for every fringe case into the core software. Anyway, feel free to ignore this but here are some thoughts: One idea that comes to mind is to create a user field that displays an "x" next to the connector. However, this would be much better if it instead behaved exactly like the "is terminated" checkbox, where upon checking the box the graphic changes. This is also slightly lacking in that these custom fields don't appear on the CableReport database. An even better idea to me is if we could have a small handful of user parameters for CIRCUITS. Being able to create an optional second or third flag (similar to the one used for "cable") would be huge. Also huge bonus would be being able to have these fields appear on the cable report. Potential uses: "on-site" vs "in shop" (both for instruction to technicians and also for separating BOM for prewiring cable vs rack build cable) Installation status, such as "run" "terminated" "tested" etc (may be cumbersome in practice but could also be useful to indicate on a diagram whether a particular circuit is pre-exisitng) Cable Model It would be nice if the user parameters didn't have to be named "user1" etc and could have meaningful names. Totally understood if this isn't an easy thing to implement. As an experiment I created a bunch of "XLR3M" panel connectors on the schematic (XLR3M meaning what connector on the cable connects to the panel connector). Much to my surprise and delight, when I "got" those connectors on the Equipment Item, "XLR3F" panel connectors showed up. Where are these relationships made? Is there anyplace that those of us who have extensive custom connector lists can make or edit these automatic connector relationships? And lastly, a bug (unless I'm doing this wrong): When I add a new connector symbol to the panel connectors folder in resource manager, selecting a connector from the dropdown menu on the Equipment Item depiction of the panel selects the next connector image for any name that is alphabetically after the connector I added. For example, if I create a connector called "con_Y" When I select "XLR3F" from the dropdown on the panel, "XLR3M" appears. Thanks Conrad!
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Just came here to put in a request to create a "setting up your workspace"/ "best practices" guide in VW university which includes information like this. Thanks!
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As always, thank you for your sage advice, @Conrad Preen! I like the idea of using an external for floating cables, and am happy that setting the length default is as simple as setting the first value to 0. A few followup questions: My apologies, pardon my naivety here, I'm unfamiliar with this/ how it works. Could you clarify this? What/ where is the user folder? Do my entries appear in addition to what's in the application folder, or do they replace what's in there? If it's easier, I can save this one for a zoom session. To clarify my question, is it possible to manually edit the ConnectCAD Devices DB text file to create, delete, or modify devices? Or must this specifically be done within VW? Thanks Conrad!
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Hi Conrad! I've been spending a lot of time over the past few days rebuilding my template from the ground up and customizing ConnectCAD2020 for our workflow. Throughout this process I've been keeping a list of random questions that come up. I'll probably have a few batches of them, which I'll post in this thread. In an effort to potentially help the community I'll post them all here rather than email you. Anyway, here's the first batch! Cross-machine synchronization: We have two seats of ConnectCAD, and I have the one I use shared between my desktop and laptop. My goal is to have all of my ConnectCAD_Data synchronized between these machines, so if I add a connector or signal type for example, everything is updated. In the older versions I solved this by moving the ConnectCAD_Data folder to a shared google drive folder that is synced to each of these machines, and would move aliases of that folder to the appropriate location in Application Support. Upon attempting this in 2020 where the folder is inside the actual VW application, VW crashes immediately when I try to use Device Builder if this folder is an alias. Do you have any suggestions for how I can synchronize this data across multiple machines? I'd hate to have to remember to do it manually. As we grow and add more seats this becomes more and more important. Is it possible to set the default length value for circuits to 0? I use an external spreadsheet to generate my BOMs off the CC database for each project. Because we use multichannel audio snakes so frequently, I set the length on channel 1, and then have the rest of the snake channels set to 0 so that the same snake length isn't counted multiple times. Right now I have been manually (and frustratingly!) going through and changing every length from 2 to 0 on these snake channels. Or perhaps I can just add my own field. Sometimes in my diagrams I need to depict cables that are hanging but unterminated or not connected. An example would be a pair of XLR Male connectors sitting on a desk for a future pair of alternate speakers. Do you have any suggestions about how I can depict this using the current ConnectCAD tools? Sometimes I need to depict one cable plugging into another cable. For example, I might have a USB extension cable that connects to a short cable coming off of a USB hub, or I might have an 8 channel DB25 to XLR Male audio snake in which some of the connectors on that snake connect to other cables that go to a different location. A while back you had suggested that I duplicate the audio jack tool and customize the connections on each side. It was a bit cumbersome to create, was one more thing I had to remember to do on updates, and was a bit unclear in depiction. I'm wondering perhaps if this is some sort of tool that can be created, along with my request in question 3? Or perhaps a skinny device can be created. It sometimes can get a little cluttered up, and having floating individual connections like this would be much better. Out of curiosity is there any workflow where I can create devices directly from a spreadsheet and import them into the ConnectCAD Devices DB file? This would be immensely useful in helping me undertake the massive project of rebuilding my device library. In the mean time I'll play with it and report back. Also, I'm just wondering if you could shed more light on what each of the columns in this document are used for. Thanks Conrad! I'm sure more will come up but this will push me along.
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Just adding my +1 for the request to have Cable Type (and Signal Type) appear as dropdown menus inside object info. Cable Types can just be another .txt file that we can edit like how Signal Types is. I too am struggling with myself and other designers on our team accidentally writing slightly different formats for the same cable type on the same diagram! This wreaks havoc when I export the cable database to Google Sheets for further processing, aside from being inconsistent on the diagram.
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Anyone want to share examples of connectcad projects or workflow?
mcschaefer replied to spljohn's topic in ConnectCAD
If it's helpful, here is a workaround I have been using to draw feed-thru panel connectors in a way that is similar to what Conrad suggested: I created a "Panel" device label. On one side is the back of the connector denoted with a leading "$" and on the other side is the front of the connector. The front/rear of the connector can be on either side of the "device" depending on whether it's an input or an output: The connector type will be whichever connector is on the cable that plugs into it. If it's Solder or Punchdown you could use "----". I personally use "SOLDER" and "PUNCH" connector types. One thing worth noting is that this schematic panel representation is no longer linked to the panel drawing in any way. I generally prefer to do it this way because the text on my panels isn't always conducive to schematic representations. For example, I may have a Macro Label that says "----MIC INPUTS ---" and then the numbers 1 through 8 above the XLR connectors. This wouldn't automatically translate well to the schematic. For others the default ConnectCAD workflow may be preferable. -
Thanks Conrad! That fixed it. I'll keep playing with it and will let you know if anything else comes up. By the way, I'm impressed with how fast and smooth ConnectCAD seems now.
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Hi @Conrad Preen , Great to hear from you again and happy to see you still involved. I'll send that file to you today. Excited to hear your thoughts. Thanks for offering to Zoom with me. I'll be in touch in the coming days to set something up once I've had a chance to take a deeper dive and can come up with a more specific list of questions. I'll also make an effort to share Q&A with the community here. Matt
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Hi All, Long time ConnectCAD user here. I finally dove into VW and ConnectCAD 2020, and am excited to set up my workflow in the new version! Right off the bat, I opened one of my 2019 files to test it out and it doesn't work properly. In reference to the attached screenshot, if I modify an existing circuit or create a new circuit, it shows up as "Disconnected". Also, connecting circuits behaves strangely. I have to click well inside the device in order to make the connection. That's all I've found so far, but I'd say that's pretty important. Is there any way to fix this? I have a bunch of different designs in progress right now and would hate to have them break, not to mention how important it is to be able to update older as-builts. Currently keeping 2019 alive so that I'm able to continue to work, but that isn't a viable long term solution. Sooner or later an OS update or the like will invalidate my old ConnectCAD license. Is there anyone at VW who knows ConnectCAD 2020 inside and out who I can hire to do a few Skype training sessions with me while I make the leap from 2019 to 2020? I'm going to rebuild my template and workflow around this new version and due to the current lack of documentation on the VW website It would be incredibly helpful to be able to do a Q&A session from time to time. Thanks for your help!