By pixelartworks - 7/13/2022 11:30:18 AM
Hi,
I'd like to request what I consider a really useful feature.
The ability to apply a text label to all symbols within a drawing, with a chosen attribute.
Use case scenario:
I've created product attributes for IP address, Function and DeviceID. I'd like a function that allows me to auto-generate a text label to every product in a drawing so that their Function, Device and IP shows line by line.
The long way around would be to edit every symbol and add text fields with those text attributes already applied. But we have hundreds/thousands of these and it is not viable.
The previous solution was to create a text field, but this is again not scalable for large drawings, not to mention if you group this text field with a symbol in the drawing, it "destroys" that symbol and is no longer recognised as a product.
Hopefully this makes sense!
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By Rob Robinson - 7/13/2022 2:17:01 PM
Hi Pixelartworks,
Thanks for your post and the request; it is similar to a common request that is already in our development wishlist but I'd like to ask a few questions to clarify exactly what you're after.
- "apply a text label to all symbols within a drawing" - do you mean any drawing, i.e. Block Schematic, Pictorial Schematic, Rack Layout, Panel Layout, Plan View? Or just a subset of these? Or just one drawing type? If so, which drawing type(s)?
- We've had requests for 1 or 2 Attributes to appear on a product symbol, but never 3. Are all 3 absolutely required?
- Where, exactly, should such text labels appear?
- Not all products have an IP Address. What happens in this case? Or if, like for IP Address, the value is not known at design-time?
Are you aware that UDPs support a solution for this, albeit not as quick and easy as an 'automatic' function? See the movie "Text Attributes", #17 on our Movies page.
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By pixelartworks - 7/14/2022 6:24:00 PM
+xHi Pixelartworks, Thanks for your post and the request; it is similar to a common request that is already in our development wishlist but I'd like to ask a few questions to clarify exactly what you're after. - "apply a text label to all symbols within a drawing" - do you mean any drawing, i.e. Block Schematic, Pictorial Schematic, Rack Layout, Panel Layout, Plan View? Or just a subset of these? Or just one drawing type? If so, which drawing type(s)?
- We've had requests for 1 or 2 Attributes to appear on a product symbol, but never 3. Are all 3 absolutely required?
- Where, exactly, should such text labels appear?
- Not all products have an IP Address. What happens in this case? Or if, like for IP Address, the value is not known at design-time?
Are you aware that UDPs support a solution for this, albeit not as quick and easy as an 'automatic' function? See the movie "Text Attributes", #17 on our Movies page.
Hi Rob, thanks for your reply.
To answer your questions
1. All drawings ideally, but principally the block schematic.
2. Two minimum 
3. Something akin to this?
4. I would think that perhaps we could select which attributes were to be attached to the products in the drawing, perhaps through a checkbox system. If the attribute is blank for a product (e.g. no IP address because the product is not networked), it doesn't get displayed.
If for example, I selected the attributes "IP address" and "DeviceID" to be displayed in the order as shown above, and the IP address value was blank, the DeviceID would get moved up to be positioned in place of the IP address instead of there being a gap.
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By Rob Robinson - 7/15/2022 6:58:14 AM
Hi Pixelartworks,
Thanks for the feedback - noted.
We'd need to restrict this feature initially to Block Schematics and maybe Pictorial Schematics. Other environments are problematic e.g. Rack Layouts; if a product is in a rack, there's an issue as to where the text fields would go, particularly since the rack the product is in might be adjacent to or between other racks.
Fortunately, for Block Schematics, it sounds like what we already have in mind will meet your needs.
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