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hello, is it possible to reposition the source/destination flag of a circuit with arrows? Using the reshape tool didn't work. I would like to have the bottom flag in the same position as the upper one without having to use a termination panel (which we don't use in this case) thanks, george (sorry, if this question has been asked before. couldn't find anything. but in that case a link to the post or the help page would be great too. 🙂 )

Thanks @Nikolay Zhelyazkov that was a lot of very valuable info. ... I sure will. 🙂 Thanks again.

Hello all, since I am starting with the documentation of a project with multiple rooms, I wanted to ask, if there are any best practice tips on how to set up my file(s)? Lets say I have a building with 40 rooms for "end users" and 5 rooms with technical equipment spread out over the entire building. Usually (e.g. in AutoCAD) I could have all rooms in one model space and just create layout pages showing the individual rooms. And blocks for all devices being used. How would I do that in ConnectCAD? a. have one Schematic design layer with all room setups? b. have separate schematic design layers for the buildings floors? c. have seperate design layers for each individual room? Or would I use separate files, e.g. one for each floor of the building? Thanks for any hints (direct or via a resource link) Best, George

Eureka. Thanks a lot for the screencast! of course I made the wrong edits to the txt-file. 😕 Regarding accessability: Makes sense to have that info in the user app data. But since I can't see the file location in the status bar in your video, it took a bit of searching for the right location to copy the file to. For anyone having the same problem (Windows): copy from... C:\Program Files\Vectorworks 2022\Plug-Ins\connectCAD_Data to... C:\Users\UserName\AppData\Roaming\Nemetschek\Vectorworks\2022\Plug-Ins\connectCAD_Data Might be worth putting this kind of info in the actual help section of Vectorworks? 😉 Okay, you losing me again, I am very sorry (and feel a bit dumb). 😄 1. the device_labels are symbols used inside devices 2. devices are (intelligent?) objects. or rather there is one object "device" which all used devices are based on 3. storing a device as a symbol to the library does not mean that I can change the library symbol to update all devices in the drawing 4. for global changes I would have to add symbols inside devices (other then device_labels), but these would apply to all devices reg. 3. why would I then want to store a device as a symbol in the library, if I don't have a central location to edit? plus, when I edit the newly created "device symbol" in the ressource manager it turns into a group (light blue text) (on the left is a device created with the "device builder", which you are saying is not a symbol but a device object.) reg. 4. I don't understand how I can do that. plus, when I say all devices I should have correctly said "all devices of the same make and model". maybe I forgot to add an output to the above Crestron NVX and want to add it later, I was hoping to just update the device definition in the ressource manager and be done with it. but you are saying that that doesn't work and I have to use the Pick Up tool instead. (having to possibly select 1000 blocks spread out over the schematic depending on the device)? thanks so much for your patience and help

hi @Nikolay Zhelyazkov, 1. Custom Field VW_Custom Device Data_20220210.mp4 the CustomParams.txt looked the same as before. as I was using the second method in the "Did you know" pdf only requiring changes within VW. (since I have to ask an admin to make changes to the files in the plugin-folder.) but I did ask the admin this morning to allow me to make changes to the plugin txt file and the first three lines look like this: Object Param LocalName (ChoiceList) Device YA_ID ;Device user2 Choice2 a;b;c;d restarted VW (do I have to do that? no mention in the pdf. 😉 ), but with no luck either. still don't have any custom parameters when selecting a device with a adjusted device_label. 2. Symbol definition 2.1. what do you mean bei "sometimes"? what determens wheither it is a 2D or a 3D device? plus, the devices only show up as symbols in my resource manager, when I add them as symbols. but then I have a symbol (connectCAD device) in a symbol (samle device), which seems odd. 2.2. the reason I am asking this is: what, if I want to make a change to a device? right now changes to the symbol definition do not change the already used symbols, which obviously is a bit annoying. (guess I was expecting an AutoCAD block like behaviour, where a change to the block/symbol definition adjusts all other blocks/symbols in the drawing without touching the attribute/linked text information) wow. that's a long post. sorry! and thanks for having made it to this last line. 🙂

Hi @Nikolay Zhelyazkov, a. Custom Field in device label thanks, did everything according to the Did you know...Custom Fields in 2020, but the last step, user1 field shows up in OIP does not work. No additional fields are shown. 🤷‍♂️ b. Symbol definition Also, when I try to do my changes in the symbol stored in the ressource manager, VW wants to open the 3D definition (in which the device symbel is nested), the 2D symbol is empty and I can't find the "root"-symbol of the device. Aren't devices stored as symbols? Isn't there any ressource available on how this is all connected? I'm totally lost. 😄 edit: think the Did you know documents might be outdated anyway, as (1) the custom fields can be changed in the dev_rec and (2) connector types (next Did you know post) can be changed in the ConnectCAD Settings menu?

Thanks @Nikolay Zhelyazkov, But the issue (well, one of many) was that I could't figure out, how to add those field. Finally I found this reference in the help docs (german, sorry). As far as I understood, not using the device labels to add info to my device blocks means, that I can't easily change the arrangement of the info by switching the respective symbol (e.g. from dev_label_generic to dev_label_custom01). Therefore I would probably prefer the second method. But then again, only the second method allows me to access data for individual devices (e.g. it's serial number). So, that's the way forward, I guess. Still trying to figure out how all the available data is connected. But I'm getting there. Thanks for your help. 🙂

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I am having a really hard time wrapping my head around the concept of device tags. In this thread the process of customizing device labels (dev_label) is outlined but I can't figure out, where I would assign a data field to my custom text to pull info added to the device (e.g. power or user1). Okay, but dev_rec is not listed as a data source in the info tab and there is no checkbox to make my text field pull it's info from a database. Not even the default tags show this (e.g. DEVICE TAG). (Sorry, German version, but I guess you get the idea. 😉 ) The checkbox "ConnectCAD linked text" only appears in my device symbol, but not when I edit the device label. This is also outlined in the vectorworks help. But again there is no mention of adding text fields to the device label, which I would like to change (dev_label_custom instead of dev_label_generic) Edit: just to be sure as I am new to ConnectCAD and vectoworks: the device labels are just symbols nested inside device symbols, right? or are devices (=what I would create with the device builder) not yet symbols? What am I missing? Or should I use data tags? Thanks for any hints. Best George

Thanks @Nikolay Zhelyazkov! Yes, found this thread already and with it a few of the promised "nuggets". 🙂 What I am mainly after is a turtorial explaining the basic functions of the software based on a real world scenario. Something like this VW-University video (MODELING TO SCHEMATICS: A FULL AV WORKFLOW) but with a focus on ConnectCAD and less on 3D visualization/planning.

hello all, started using ConnectCAD after watching quite a few short videos about it's cababilities and playing around with it for a day or two of the 5-day trial period. What I noticed before was the lack of proper freely available tutorial videos (Youtube). But I was hoping for more content in the so called VW University. Well, I don't want to sound like Larry David but my enthusiasm for the software was curbed quite a bit after the purchase. As of course a ton of questions came up. (Partly also because I am also new to Vectorworks.) tl;dr: What is a good starting point to learn more about ConnectCAD? Where can I learn more about best practices? The best so far for me was by a reseller (Youtube) And the VW Help was kind of helpful (VW) Thanks so much for any hints. ConnectCAD seems like a really powerful tool, I just need to steepen my learning curve a bit. 🙂