Jackfield Labeling

[the_fisher]

I just upgraded from Vectorworks 2019 with a stand-alone ConnectCAD plugin to Vectorworks 2020 Spotlight with ConnectCAD subscription and it seems there is a feature missing. In the previous version you could select jackfield label type as AB, CD, ... which would label jacks as A01B, A02B, etc. Sockets would be A01 and B01 on each side of the jack. This seems to not be available in the new version as the only two options are A, B, C and 01[delim]01. Choosing the A, B, C labeling type and modifying the available list of labels I can get jackfield labels in the format 01AB25 (for a 50 size field). This however, is not in line with the standards at my company, as the jack in row B would be number 1. Am I missing something?

[Conrad Preen]

Yes, this is true.

 

Back in the 90's we used to use that system. I think it originated in Sony Broadcast and got adopted throughout the UK for a while. It has some basic limitations though. You very quickly run out of jackfield letters because you are using them up 2 at a time. The problem for us programmers is the "gymnastics" required throughout the application to support it. As we were upgrading the entire plug-in from Vectorscript to SDK we had to make some decisions. Of course since you ask I will give it some thought, but I can't promise anything.

 

Last time I looked, TSL had standardised on the A, B, C system with the ports numbered 1 - 50 on the top row and 51 - 99 on the bottom row regardless of jackfield size. This is quite neat because if a cable number ends in 50+ you know it's from the bottom row. If I were designing systems today I would use this method. It's so much more consistent.

 

Don't forget that ConnectCAD is a very open system and many customers use tools like Marionette and Python scripts to implement their own specific workflows. We at Vectorworks have to balance complexity and ease of use.

 

Best regards

 

Conrad