Use Copy Project to create a new project
This will demo how to create a new project by using an existing project and the ACE Copy Project tool. In this example when brackets are used [x] the brackets and contents are to be replaced with project specific information. I will use [schm_sample] for this example. To Copy a project is usually simple and quick when using the Copy Project tool. If the New Project tool is used there is will be a lot of project configuration setup required.
If the project to be copied is the ACE active project it is ready for the Copy Project tool. If the project to be copied is not the active project then use the Project Manager fly out and select Open Project.
Traverse to the folder with the Project Manager .wdp file for the project you want to copy. Select and open it.
When the project opens ACE will set it as the Active Project. This is indicated by the project title being at the top of the list and in bold type.
Do not have any drawings in the project you want to copy open at is time. You can have any other drawing open just not one in the project to be copied. The Copy Project tool will not act on a drawing that is open.
With the project to be copied as the ACE active project click on the Projects tab. Hover the cusor over the Project selection in the flyout window to open the next window. Click on the Copy Project selection.
The next window has two options. One is to click on the Copy Active Project button. The path and file name will be filled in with the ACE active project. If you are going to copy a file that is not the active project use the Browse button to locate the project folder to be copied and select the .wdp file. With either option selected, once the path and file name information is entered, click on the OK button.
In the next window create or open the existing folder where the new project will be saved to. In this example a folder called Sample_Proj_Copied_From_Example_Widget_Prototype_1a has been created. Productivity note, use a folder name with meaningfull description and the name of the project manager to easly find it a year or two down the road. For this example Sample_Proj_Copied_From_Example would be the description (it could just as well be Marathon_2014), Widget_Prototype_proj_2214_rev_X1(it could just as well be 1524690 A) is the name of the project manager with revision level. Productivity note, the revision level will increment X1 through Xn until the prototype development is complete, then the finished build will be released as a revision A. Open the target folder and save the Project Manager.
Once the Project Manager has been saved with the new name in the new folder, this is the next window. This shows all of the drawings assosicated with the project being copied from. Note that in the Project Drawing Listcolumn, one path points to the Schematic fold and the other path points to the Assembly folder. Files in a project can be located in multiple folders. The drawings selected for processing will be copied to the new project folder and/or sub-folders. Individual drawings can be selected or you can simply click on the Do All button to copy all of the drawings. Productivity note, these are the basic drawings I use in the majority of my electrical packages. Having an example like this to copy from in the format you most commonly use will get each new project off to a quick start. In this list, the first 5 drawing are for the schematic using the schematic title block. Using the mechanical title block the bottom 3 drawings are the panel component balloon layout, the Bill Of Matierials, and the last drawing is for dimensioned mechanical modification such as cutting holes in the electrical enclosure.
After selecting the files to be copied clicking on OK. The next window will show the supporting files that can be carried over from the the project which is being copied from. Depending on how the project was setup it may have more supporting files or less supporting files. These files are optional and specific to the project configuration.
The next window is to either Edit file names or do a Find/Replace on the file names.
The Find/Replace button will allow for the search and replace of charicter strings. For this example each file will be renamed from [schm_sample] to Widget_Prototype. Make sure the Include Drawing Path is not check! If it is checked ACE will create a changed path and creat a new folder at the end of the new path. Productivity note, the Find/Replace tool can be run muliple times. If the project name and revision level are both being changed, run the Find/Replace once to update the [schm_sample] name then run it again to update revision X1 to the new revision level. That way the individual drawing number (-01, -02 etc) is not changed.
When the OK button is clicked ACE copies, renames, saves files and file structure. The process will be displayed in the command line bar, then ACE opens the new project as the Active Project and opens the first drawing in the project drawing list.
The new project has been created with a new name and it has also copied all of the project configuration property settings. The drawings have been renamed but they have all of the same drawing configuration properties as the original drawing so they will behave the same as they did in the old project. Productivity note, individual drawings can have configuration setting that will override the Project Manager settings. For example the Project Manager can have properties set for numbering wires in the format of 100-1, 100-2, 100-3 etc. but any drawing within the project can have override properies set to number wire format of 100A, 100B, 100C.
A project can have all of it’s associated files grouped into one folder. It can also be arranged such that the files are spread over several folders. The project that this was copied from had a main folder. Under the main folder were two more folders. Thefirst contained the Project Manager file (.wdp) and other supporting files along with schematic drawings. The Second folder folder contains the panel assembly and associated drawings. When the project was copied for this example the Project Manager file and its supporting files were directed to be placed under the main folder and the schematic and assembly files were directed to be place in their respective folders.
Note that the folder and files should be checked to verify that all were copied and renamed corretly. The file [project_number]_X1_wdtitle.wdl did not take on the project name. This will have to be manually renamed Widget_Prototype_proj_2214_rev_X1_wdtitle.wdl. This file is support for the Title Block Update tool and needs to have ‘wdtitle’ in the file name for the Title Block Update tool to recognize it.
Right click on the project title, in the flyout select Descriptions.
The Product Description fields are linked to every visible attribute in the title block. The left and right arrow buttons in the bottom right of the window will scroll through more windows that access more attributes. In this example there are a total of 68 attribute fields for this title block. Updates to these field will not make changes to any Title Block. Values are written to the database. The Title BlockUpdate tool must be used to write values from the database to the Title Block
NOTE: This example shows an optional title block attribute. It is a default for ACE but it is not necessary. It is not used with the title block used in this example.
With the current drawing in the active project select the tab Projects > Project-Wide Update or Retag. BE CAREFUL WITH THIS SCREEN IT WILL IMPACT THE ENTIRE PROJECT. The only thing normally sellected here is the Drawing (%D value) check box. At this time make SURE no other boxes are checked. In the data entry box enter the base number for the schematic. The idea here is that a schematic is really just one drawing top to bottom. It is only presented on multiple sheets for convience, so the base number is the schematic drawing. The sum of the individual sheets together comprise a single schematic which is a single part number. There are reasons for this but we will not go into them at this time.
Righ click on the Project Title again and now select the Title Block Update. Check the boxes for the fields to be updated. You can do this for the active drawing or the project wide. If you select the Project Wide buttona new widow will open, one or all of the drawings in the project can be selected in the next window.
Productivity note, if a field is checked but has a (blank) value the assosicated attribute will be cleared when the title block is updated. So if the schematic being copied from has a value in Rev History 2 for example, checking the box for that attribute will erase whatever is in that field.
Productivity note, if the data fileds are not titled Main Title, Job Number, Revision Level, etc but they instead have labels Line 1, Line 2, Line 3 etc the wdtitle.wdl file did not get renamed correctly or it is not in the correct folder for the specific project.
Legacy notes For Title Block Update tool: The lower panel is fixed, it’s values are defined mostly by the drawing properties, not the project properties. Drawing Description 1, 2, 3 are defined in the drawing properties. Drawing 1 is typically specific to the drawing as in POWER ENTRY or INFEED CONVEYOR. Drawing Section is typically an abbreviation of Drawing Description 1. This field is useful when doing batch operations on the project because the field is displayed along with the drawing number. The Filename is exactly what what the file name is in the project folder. Drawing (% value) is the base number for the project. Sheet (%S value) is the individual sheet number. Sheet maximun is the sum of all drawings in the project, NOTE that if there are assembly drawing included in the project, the Sheet maximun will display the number of sheets in the schematic PLUS the number of assembly drawings. As to RESEQUENCE SHEET %S VALUES, do not use this unless you really know what the impact will be. This command will renumber sheets, renumber devices, renumber wires. Test drive this command on a dummy project before you use on a real project.
For this example only schematic drawings are selected for Processing. Click the OK button. The files will process with each file opening, attributes are updated, the file is saved and the next drawing is processed. The current progress will be displayed on the command line.
All of the Tilte Blocks of the drawings that were selected should be updated with the new information. Check to be sure all of the changes have been made. If there is an error or if a attribute field has not updated as expected, run the Title Block Update again but only select the fields that need correction.
The drawing package is ready for schematic and panel development.
That should be the basic nuts and blots for copying a ACE project. There are other fun things that can be done with these tool processes but I will let you find those on your own. Have fun.
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