Custom Signal and Connection Types

[rockfanent]

Hi everyone,

 

I'm a new user, so please forgive me if this has already been posted.

 

Couple of questions.

 

1) How do you add signal and connect (on cable) options to the drop down lists in device builder?

 

2) Is it possible to edit devices created by the user, in the 'user folder'?

3) If the pre-made devices have errors, is it possible to report these? 

 

Thanks!

 

[Conrad Preen]

1) Signal and Connector types added to the Did You Know thread - many people ask this.

 

2) if you modify the device saved with the same make and model it will be overwritten.

 

3) For now please do a forum post - separate topic. And I'll get another comms channel open for this.

 

Conrad

[rockfanent]

@Conrad Preen Thank you! I found the post on the "Did you know" thread, very helpful. Do you think a "add new" will ever be added to the drop down list?

 

[Conrad Preen]

48 minutes ago, rockfanent said:

Do you think a "add new" will ever be added to the drop down list?

No, because it would have to be implemented in several places. Yes, I do want to bring this up to date - editing text files is so 90's.

[leighmap]

Hi @Conrad Preen - apologies for coming back to this topic. 

I have tried adding the 2 x  .txt files (as per your "Did you Know" instructions) for Custom Signal and Connector types and then whenever I click on the Device Builder or Socket functions my VW crashes. I am simply adding the .txt files into the folder, have yet to edit them. Has there been any other reports of this occurring? I'm hoping it's not something in my setup.

[Conrad Preen]

Hi Leigh

 

Sounds like I should take a look at those text files. Could you send them to me as a PM?

 

Conrad

[JamesW]

hey @Conrad Preensorry I just found this thread, I had asked this on your did you know post but feel free to delete.

 

I don't even have the /plugins/connectCAD_data folder in my users folder, I created it and added the text files but nothing appears at all in device builder. VWX 2023 SP4 is what im using, any ideas? I don't have the same folder in the application folders either and the only connect CAD plugin is a VWX library. Do you have any ideas of how I can make this work? Thank you!

[Nikolay Zhelyazkov]

3 minutes ago, JamesW said:

hey @Conrad Preensorry I just found this thread, I had asked this on your did you know post but feel free to delete.

 

I don't even have the /plugins/connectCAD_data folder in my users folder, I created it and added the text files but nothing appears at all in device builder. VWX 2023 SP4 is what im using, any ideas? I don't have the same folder in the application folders either and the only connect CAD plugin is a VWX library. Do you have any ideas of how I can make this work? Thank you!

The location of this folder changed to "Libraries\Defaults\ConnectCAD\" so you should be looking for it there.

[JamesW]

4 minutes ago, Nikolay Zhelyazkov said:

The location of this folder changed to "Libraries\Defaults\ConnectCAD\" so you should be looking for it there.

 

[JamesW]

The Signal Types text file doesn't seem to make sense in relation to the real output in device builder, can you please help? Screenshots attached, the line 5 DMX in Vectorworks is just one I added that is the standard add (not the line 3 with TERM connector)

[Nikolay Zhelyazkov]

Can you send me the signals txt file so that I can check if it is correctly set up? Anyway, in VW 2023 you should not be editing the txt file directly, you can add/delete signals from inside of VW using ConnectCAD settings dialog.

[JamesW]

Just now, Nikolay Zhelyazkov said:

Can you send me the signals txt file so that I can check if it is correctly set up? Anyway, if VW 2023 you should not be editing the txt file directly, you can add/delete symbols from inside of VW using ConnectCAD settings dialog.

no worries attached. ah, I was just going from the forums that came up on google search, I hadn't found that section, thank you

SignalTypes.txt

[JamesW]

1 minute ago, JamesW said:

no worries attached. ah, I was just going from the forums that came up on google search, I hadn't found that section, thank you

SignalTypes.txt 8.28 kB · 0 downloads

its fine now I've done it via the settings. thank you. what do the prefixes relate to, for example I just made it X and it just comes up as attached

[Nikolay Zhelyazkov]

2 minutes ago, JamesW said:

its fine now I've done it via the settings. thank you. what do the prefixes relate to, for example I just made it X and it just comes up as attached

The prefixes are used for the numbering done with Number Cables menu command.

[JamesW]

2 minutes ago, Nikolay Zhelyazkov said:

The prefixes are used for the numbering done with Number Cables menu command.

ok thanks, it was interesting in the text file when I did prefix as "S", it brought that up in the description. The text file in the user folder shows it as per creation in VWX. I guess just don't edit the application defaults because thats where it all went weird.

[Nikolay Zhelyazkov]

2 minutes ago, JamesW said:

ok thanks, it was interesting in the text file when I did prefix as "S", it brought that up in the description. The text file in the user folder shows it as per creation in VWX. I guess just don't edit the application defaults because thats where it all went weird.

You have messed up the txt file formatting by editing the txt file directly. Edit only from ConnectCAD settings dialog and everything should be working as expected.

[JamesW]

1 minute ago, Nikolay Zhelyazkov said:

You have messed up the txt file formatting by editing the txt file directly. Edit only from ConnectCAD settings dialog and everything should be working as expected.

yep all sorted now. Is there a way of maintaining this in Vectorworks cloud services for a workgroup? I haven't delved into workgroups properly yet but under cloud services can I just add the connectCAD database folder I have as there's no database folder in there? last question I promise! 

[Nikolay Zhelyazkov]

9 minutes ago, JamesW said:

yep all sorted now. Is there a way of maintaining this in Vectorworks cloud services for a workgroup? I haven't delved into workgroups properly yet but under cloud services can I just add the connectCAD database folder I have as there's no database folder in there? last question I promise! 

Yes, you can have the connectCAD database in the workgroup, but you cannot directly edit it from VW then. So your workflow would be to set up the database in the user folder and then cut&paste the user folder files in the workgroup folder and then restart VW so that it reads the new workgroup data.