ConnectCad 2020 - Device Numbering

[JonnyAVC]

The device numbering function has changed significantly. 

Where we used to be able to specify any number, we are now limited up to 256. We regularly have more than 256 devices in a solution.

Is this going to change? Its a huge issue for us.

 

Also - Occasionally devices will have their Names replaced with just the device number when re-numbering. But not all. I have to go back and rename the device with the device number appended.

Edited July 21, 2020 by JonnyAVC

[Daniel Dickman]

It seems that when using the ConnectCad "Renumber Devices" function, your staring number can't be higher than 256. You could always select all of the devices and then renumber starting at 1. I just tested this and it worked with 600 devices.

 

Another option, which in my opinion gives the user much more flexibility is to use the Spotlight numbering tool. Check out this post for a tutorial.

 

 

Edited July 22, 2020 by Daniel Dickman

[Conrad Preen]

Hi JonnyAVC,

 

Sorry it took me a while to get to this. My guess is that you are talking about the Renumber Devices menu command?

 

So we're talking about the Start: popup which has values 1 thru 256. How large a number do you need?

 

The other thing about the device Name occasionally being replaced instead if the number being appended sounds like a bug. Next time this happens could you save the file and make a note of exactly what you just did and send it all to me? If we can reproduce this it should be easy to fix.

 

Thanks

 

Conrad

[Conrad Preen]

As Daniel says the Spotlight Numbering tool is another way. It let's you do incremental numbering of any parameter which is more power than you need.

 

I'm just wondering if I make the popup go from 1 thru 512 if that will sort out the problem for you. It's only the start of the number series - if you begin at 256 the devices get numbered 256, 257, 258 etc.

 

Conrad

[Daniel Dickman]

7 hours ago, Conrad Preen said:

I'm just wondering if I make the popup go from 1 thru 512 if that will sort out the problem for you. It's only the start of the number series - if you begin at 256 the devices get numbered 256, 257, 258 etc.

 

Conrad, is there any reason the start number couldn't be input by the user into a text field as opposed to a dropdown with limited options? 

[Conrad Preen]

Hi Daniel,

 

Well I am pondering that also. Basically the difference is that if it was a text field it would have to be validated as a number and an alert displayed if it wasn't. Pretty standard stuff. Ideally I'd like both: an editable popup to quickly select "normal" values but be able to type in if it's something extreme, and then I woke up 🤣

 

Conrad

[JonnyAVC]

First off - thanks for the responses and I’ll try and keep this as concise as possible.

Agree with Daniel – if we could get a text field as per VW 2019 then great.

 

1.                  Daniel you mentioned you selected 600 devices and renumbered them – were they on the same design layer? Is there a way to select all devices in a file, across all design layers? We typically have multiple rooms in a design across multiple layers. So if we can select all devices across all design layers we can use the renumber devices in the ConnectCad menu.

Problem solved. 

 

2.                  Adding in the Spotlight numbering function. On the face of it, this looks like a great option, albeit not really part of ConnectCad. In practise, it doesn’t work as expected. The ‘Renumber Devices’ function in ConnectCad appends the number to the device Name. Ceiling Speaker210 for instance.

The Spotlight numbering doesn’t. On the design layer there is no change to the name - but do an ‘All layers device report’ and it has changed the name on that. 

 

 

3.                  Now this is a problem when linking devices across design layers, because the link takes the design layer name, device name and port and uses that as the link name. But it doesn’t take the name of the device on the design layer, it takes the device number that Spotlight gave it - so from layer to layer you cant know what is connected to what. See screen shot.

Left screen shot is on Design layer 1 – Right hand screen shot is on design layer 2.

So not something we can use, as it is, unfortunately. 

 

 

Conrad – I have replicated that bug where the Renumber Device deletes the name – do you want me to post the file here?

 

 

New bug / issue I found. Using the Multi Connect tool. This is awesome and is going to be a huge time saver for us. However it only works right to left. If I have a wall plate on design layer one that I want to connect back to my patch panel in design layer 2 – I cant use the left hand outlets of the data wall plate. However, go to single connect mode and you can. Let me know if you need more detail on this.

 

Cheers

Jonny

 

 

Edited July 24, 2020 by JonnyAVC

[Conrad Preen]

Hi Jonny

 

Regarding the "Renumber Device deletes the name" bug please me the file as a private message here on the forum. Also tell me the steps I need to take to reproduce. Thanks very much for reporting. We'll get that fixed right away.

 

With the Renumber commands Start field I will add a 'Custom...' choice to the popup so you can type in any value and it will be added to the available choices for the session.

 

Spotlight Numbering can be used but it is arcane. You need to append the number to both the Device.Name and Device.Tag parameters. Remember the Name is shown in lists, the Tag is shown on the drawing. That's to let you save drawing space by abbreviating and leveraging the context.

 

Multi-Connect is very simplistic in the way it works and very predictable: it connects outputs on the right-hand-side of devices to horizontally opposite inputs on the left-hand side of other devices. I don't think there's a good way to make it connect across layers.

 

Conrad

[jcogdell]

On 7/24/2020 at 6:28 AM, JonnyAVC said:

1.                  Daniel you mentioned you selected 600 devices and renumbered them – were they on the same design layer? Is there a way to select all devices in a file, across all design layers? We typically have multiple rooms in a design across multiple layers. So if we can select all devices across all design layers we can use the renumber devices in the ConnectCad menu.

Problem solved.

You should be able to use the 'Select Similar Tool' from the basic tool-set for this (it looks like a magic wand). You will probably have to experiment a bit to find the correct settings to select devices across multiple layers as that will depend on your workflow and class/layer structure but once you have the settings you can save them as a set  for use in new projects.

[JonnyAVC]

Thanks Jesse,

I gave that a try - but it would need an option for TAG for this to work I think. When I selected Name in the options it wouldn't let me select any device. 

As all the devices are essentially the same class, this limits this tool for this application.

[CHA]

On 7/24/2020 at 7:18 AM, Conrad Preen said:

Regarding the "Renumber Device deletes the name" bug please me the file as a private message here on the forum. Also tell me the steps I need to take to reproduce. Thanks very much for reporting. We'll get that fixed right away.

 

Has that bug been fixed? I'm facing the same problem in VW2020 SP4.

 

 

[Conrad Preen]

It is fixed in ConnectCAD 2021. Release coming soon.

 

Conrad