Adapter Label Legend Support

[CharlesD]

I am curious if any other users are using records + labels for adapters?

 

I am using adapters to represent modular cards. One thing I've found is that without a label on it it's a little hard for people who not familiar with the specific equipment to understand what the adapter is. I'd love to see a Make_Model (i.e. Description) field or some type of label on the adapter object. Ideally it would have a Label Legend.

 

Otherwise, the adapter as card workflow feels like a good step forward.

(cc @alexmootv, since you've been playing around with the same stuff)

Edited September 20, 2022 by CharlesD

[Nikolay Zhelyazkov]

Hello @CharlesD,

 

Adapters, like devices, can display attached custom record data in their layout. So if you are missing any data in the adapter you can always attach your custom record to it, then enter the adapter layout by double clicking on it, insert new text object, make it dynamic in the bottom of its OIP and link it to the value of a field of the custom record.

 

Let me know if you need any help getting this running and if it gets the work done.

 

Best Regards,

Nikolay Zhelyazkov

[Conrad Preen]

@CharlesD Since adapters always go on a device socket we decided to keep them light and small. I wanted to avoid  clutter. In the circuit report they are listed by their symbol name and you can always put that in as a static text in the adapter when you create it. What you are showing in your drawing above is a pretty good use case. As Niko says you have lot's of possibilities to add your own linked text if you need to. In the case of your Barco I/O cards I would just put the model number in as static text inside the adapter. Once you save that breed of adapter as a symbol you have it forever.

 

C

[CharlesD]

Fair enough, sounds good!

[alexmootv]

Hi @CharlesD,

 

I'm a bit late to the party on this. Like everyone, I've been extremely busy. Thanks for showing an example of how this works with something like an E2. I have messed with adapters in pretty much the same way you are showing. I currently don't use them for cards as I just haven't had the time to finish vetting the process and what it may impact in our workflow, such as circuit worksheets. I suspect I will move that direction eventually.

 

One of the downsides I have found, not any fault of ConnectCAD, is the reality that large frames will always end up being large even if they aren't fully populated. While this does standardize the size of a symbol for a device, sometimes it is nice to have the ability to make the symbol smaller if it's not fully populated.

 

Currently I am just editing the instance of a device to give it the sockets I need rather than using adapters, but it's not the most elegant and then the cards don't show up in the BOM list. I'll eventually revaluate Adapters. I need to find the time.

 

As far as Make_Model labels at one point I stumbled upon a way to bind a text field to the name of the symbol name which made managing that process easy. However, I can no longer figure out how to do that. Maybe @Conrad Preen knows. I feel like it wasn't a standard text field linked to a record, but a special ConnectCAD text object I had copied off of something else in the system that allowed me to do that.

 

Thanks,

Alex

[alexmootv]

Hi @CharlesD,

 

Following up here. I did some digging and finally found where I grabbed the special textbox from that lets you bind to data from the Adapter object that is not in a record. If you navigate to C:\Program Files\Vectorworks 2023\Libraries\ConnectCAD\Adapter there is an Adapter.vwx file that has some SFP adapters in its resource manager. If you find the symbol "EB30HD2T-LN" it has a textbox in the middle of it that on first glance looks like a normal textbox except that at the bottom of the Object Info pane there is a section labeled ConnectCAD Text Link Data. If you click the "Is linked text" checkbox it then allows you to bind it to the symbol name, make, or model. Or create a custom schema. I have no idea how to give a normal textbox these properties so the only thing I know to do is to copy the textbox into other symbols and use it. While linking to records works, this is linking directly to the object data. There has to be a better way that I don't know of to do this @Conrad Preen. 

 

-Alex

[Nikolay Zhelyazkov]

Hello @alexmootv,

 

7 hours ago, alexmootv said:

Hi @CharlesD,

 

Following up here. I did some digging and finally found where I grabbed the special textbox from that lets you bind to data from the Adapter object that is not in a record. If you navigate to C:\Program Files\Vectorworks 2023\Libraries\ConnectCAD\Adapter there is an Adapter.vwx file that has some SFP adapters in its resource manager. If you find the symbol "EB30HD2T-LN" it has a textbox in the middle of it that on first glance looks like a normal textbox except that at the bottom of the Object Info pane there is a section labeled ConnectCAD Text Link Data. If you click the "Is linked text" checkbox it then allows you to bind it to the symbol name, make, or model. Or create a custom schema. I have no idea how to give a normal textbox these properties so the only thing I know to do is to copy the textbox into other symbols and use it. While linking to records works, this is linking directly to the object data. There has to be a better way that I don't know of to do this @Conrad Preen. 

 

-Alex

 

Any text object inside of a Device, Socket, Equipment Item or Adapter should have these options in its Object Info Palette. Just double click one of these objects in the drawing to enter the layout group and if you create text objects there they should have these options. If this is not the case for you, can you share a screen recording of what exactly you are doing?

 

Best Regards,

Nikolay Zhelyazkov

[alexmootv]

Hi @Nikolay Zhelyazkov,

 

I currently don't have the time to setup a scenario and screen record it. Maybe someday I can follow back up with this. For now, to reproduce what I am talking about, take a blank file, go to the resource manager Adapter Symbols>Default Adapter. Make a duplicate of Default Adapter. We can name it "Custom Adapter". Edit 3D component of Custom Adapter. Use the textbox tool to drop a textbox anywhere. Type in some random text so the textbox persists. While that textbox is selected, look at the Object Info pane. You will notice that ConnectCAD Text Link Data is not available to a normal textbox inside of an adapter.

 

Thanks,

Alex

[Nikolay Zhelyazkov]

14 hours ago, alexmootv said:

Edit 3D component of Custom Adapter. Use the textbox tool to drop a textbox anywhere.

- This is the wrong step here. Once you enter the symbol you are in the symbol and not in the adapter. You still have to double click the adapter object in the symbol to enter it and then insert the text.

 

Let me know if this helped.

 

Best Regards,

Nikolay Zhelyazkov

[alexmootv]

Thank you @Nikolay Zhelyazkov. This works. My confusion.

 

So, to summarize for myself and anyone who stumbles upon this later:

 

To create an adapter within the resource manager go to the resource manager Adapter Symbols>Default Adapter. Make a duplicate of Default Adapter. We can name it "Custom Adapter". Edit 3D component of Custom Adapter. Then double click on the adapter object nested within the symbol. Now you are editing the adapter. Use the textbox tool to drop a textbox anywhere. The ConnectCAD Text Link Data propery will be displayed in the Object Info pane.

 

Thanks,

Alex