How to Customise the Format of the Image Database Files

General

The image database files contain the information extracted from the drawing when using the Global Editor. They determine what attributes you can edit inside the Global Editor.

When an image file is created, EDS first checks for an image template file to define the field structure of the image file. The image template files are provided so that you can modify the field structure. If an image template file does not exist then default fields / columns and the attributes extracted from the symbols will be used to create that image file.

Image template file location and naming : \RTEMPLATE

Image template files can be stored in three different locations. EDS will first check the current project directory for an image file templates, followed by the <EDS>\USER_SYMB sub-directory and finally the <EDS>\RTEMPLATE sub-directory of your EDS installation. This allows the user to have a custom image file format per EDS project by placing a template in the project directory.

The template files found in the <EDS>\RTEMPLATE and <EDS>\USER_SYMB sub-directories are named "template_", followed by the name of the image file to be generated from that template. For example, the discrete terminal image template is named "template_$TERM.dbf". This would be used by an example project to create the image file "exampleProject$TERM.dbf".

The template files placed in the current project directory are named differently and must have the EDS project name as a prefix. For example, a project named "NewProject.prj" would have a discrete terminal image template named "NewProject_template_$TERM.dbf".

Image template contents

The image template files are database files in dBase 3 format. They contain a single blank record. The important information stored in the template is the fields / columns in the database header.

The blank record allows the file to be opened and edited in Database Editor.

The fields / columns of the image files are listed in Editable Image Files and their structure.

Image file customisation

Edit the field / column structure of an image template file to:

Add fields to the image file - if you add attributes to the symbols.
Change the width of existing fields in the image file.
Rearrange the fields in the image file and the fields in the symbol-insert dialog in Elecdes.

Miscellaneous block and Cross-Reference block image files $BLOCK.DBF / $XREF.DBF

Non-Elecdes blocks and cross-reference blocks generally have a diverse range of attributes since these categories contain a variety of block definitions rather than a single type of block. For this reason, the columns or fields of these image files are numbered anonymous columns for the attribute values and numbered anonymous columns for the attribute tags. Compare this to the standard image files where the columns of the image files are the attribute tags.

The attributes of these blocks are loaded into the columns of the image file in numerical order (unlike Elecdes' blocks, which are loaded by name).

Since the attribute tags are loaded into the TAG_n data fields, not into the names of the fields of the image files, the miscellaneous blocks image file will work with attributes tags that are longer than the EDS imposed limit of 10.