2011

Table Of Contents
around the insertion point of the symbol in temporary graphics.
A REDRAW restores the screen to its original state.
Extracts the information from the active drawing or project and
displays a list of parent or stand-alone components without
catalog information.
Report
TIP Extracted BOM data can be output to a spreadsheet file,
mdb database file, text report file, or comma-delimited for export
to a spreadsheet or database program. It can also be inserted, in
tabular form, on the current AutoCAD drawing.
Contact Quantity/Pin List Lookup
Use pin lists
AutoCAD Electrical can automatically track how many contacts were assigned
to a device like a relay or timer coil. When a newly inserted contact exceeds
a predefined limit, AutoCAD Electrical can alert you. AutoCAD Electrical can
also track available terminal pin number pairs as you insert each new contact.
It can also automatically give you the next available pair as a default.
To enable this feature, maximum contact count and pin number pair
information is assigned to the parent symbol (ex: relay or timer coil symbol).
It is carried as Xdata under the name VIA_WD_PINLIST. If a PINLIST attribute
is present on the parent device, the pin list is carried on this invisible attribute.
A copy of this pin list data is carried in the Access catalog database file of the
project (<project>_cat.mdb or default_cat.mdb) in a table called _PINLIST or
_PINLIST_{manufacturer}. This information can be assigned manually. It can
also be automatically retrieved from a pin list database table when a catalog
part number is assigned to the parent device. As each contact is inserted and
referenced back to the parent, AutoCAD Electrical checks the pin information
carried on the parent and verifies that a contact of the proper type is available.
If so, it retrieves the next pair of contact pin numbers from the parent and
displays as defaults for the new contact.
The AutoCAD Electrical automatic pin list lookup and assignment at
component insertion time is not limited to devices that have contacts. You
can encode two wire devices like pilot lights or proximity switch into the
database file. Insert the MFG and CAT numbers and fill in the COILPINS field
with the terminal pin numbers. Leave the PINLIST field blank. When you
1304 | Chapter 17 BOM and Catalogs