autocad electrical attribute template symbol builder

Scroll down to the section for the PB01 marker block shown below. Now open in Excel and go to the 3PH_H sheet (for three-phase, horizontal circuits). …and it searches for the file and returns the full path to it. You can use the “Support file finder” idea in this posting… just type this at the AutoCAD command prompt: (c:ace_find_file 'ace_circuit_builder.xls' 3) First task is finding this support file ( ! ). How to do this? Let’s look at the ace_circuit_builder.xls spreadsheet. Popping up an alert dialog at this point would do the job. For example, let’s say that if a “stop” mushroom head pushbutton is specified for marker block “PB01” shown above, you want to remind the user to consider specifying a “jumbo” size part number. Let’s say that your users need to be reminded of something when a specific option is selected. OK, That’s how it works… now we have a need to customize… … and then here’s how it drives the Circuit Builder’s user interface, allowing the user to interactively modify the circuit as it inserts… Here is what the portion of the Excel spreadsheet ace_circuit_builder.xls looks like that corresponds with this template’s marker block marked with code “PB01″… This might be a pushbutton, a relay contact, a limit switch, or something else. The position of this in the control part of the 3-phase motor circuit corresponds to where a “stop” contact could be inserted. One of the marker blocks carries an attribute value of “PB01”. User picks option and the spreadsheet defines what Circuit Builder needs to do to insert that option into the circuit.įor example, part of the template for a full-voltage, non-reversing 3-phase motor circuit is shown here. It looks in the spreadsheet for a match on the marker block code and presents the user with the defined options that can be inserted at that marker block’s location in the template. As the Circuit Builder program runs, it processes each marker block that comes in with a skeleton circuit template. The inserted template is populated with “marker blocks” inserted at strategic points in the skeleton circuit. These carry attribute codes that maps back into the spreadsheet. The first time, it maps a skeleton template drawing to the user’s selected circuit type. The Excel spreadsheet comes into play two times.

It enables electrical circuits to be generated and interactively modified as they insert into your electrical schematic drawings. The key pieces of this process are a set of “template” drawings with “marker blocks” and an Excel spreadsheet that lists the selectable options. The Circuit Builder utility first appeared in AutoCAD Electrical 2009.

A simple way to customize the behavior of the Circuit Builder tool

Autocad electrical attribute template symbol builder