Electrical Design Software | Elecdes Design Suite by Scada Systems Ltd

Editable Image Files

Editable image files are created by extracting component data from DWG files in your Elecdes / Paneldes project.

These files are created with the simple press of a button from Ebase or Paneldes. Re. General Global Editing Process.

These files contain editable information from the drawing files, such as attributes, spec data, sizing information, location data and link information.

Link information enables the data to be transferred back to the drawing files and SHOULD NOT BE EDITED (i.e. drawing name, DWG entity handles). Link information is protected by the Global Editor (i.e. cannot be edited) to avoid consistency errors.

NOTE: Any ~ character in the attribute or text values is converted to a ' character. This is because the ~ character is used to separate the attribute values from each other in the program. The ~ character should not be used in attribute or text values in Elecdes drawings.

File naming

The names of the image files differ depending on the program that started the Global Editor.

Elecdes Update

The Elecdes update function creates temporary editable database files.

The files are created in the current Elecdes project directory and are named:

  • xxUP$BLOCK.dbf - for miscellaneous blocks.

  • xxUP$CONX.dbf - for connection / termination blocks: crimp, wire order and ferrules(wire labels).

  • xxUP$DEVIC.dbf - for devices.

  • xxUP$TERM.dbf - for terminal strip terminals.

  • xxUP$INSTR.dbf - for instrument bubble tags.

  • xxUP$WIRE.dbf - for panel wire markers.

  • xxUP$CABLE.dbf - for cable core(conductor) markers.

  • xxUP$XREF.dbf - for cross-reference blocks.

  • xxUP$ZONE.dbf - for zone tags and single line zones.

  • xxUP$WIRETERM.dbf - for wiring diagram terminal blocks.

  • xxUP$WIREDEV.dbf - for wiring diagram device blocks.

  • xxUP$TITLE.dbf - for title blocks (which match the title block pattern in Setup).

  • xxUP$ETABLE.dbf - for extra parts table blocks. 

Where 'xx' is the name of the current user.

Once the UPDATE editing session is over these files will be automatically deleted.

Ebase 2 way data transfer

The Ebase image file creation function creates editable database files.

The files are created in the current Elecdes project directory and are named:

  • xx$BLOCK.dbf - for miscellaneous blocks.

  • xx$CONX.dbf - for connection / termination blocks: crimp, wire order and ferrules(wire labels).

  • xx$DEVIC.dbf - for devices.

  • xx$TERM.dbf - for terminal strip terminals.

  • xx$INSTR.dbf - for instrument bubble tags.

  • xx$WIRE.dbf - for panel wire markers.

  • xx$CABLE.dbf - for cable core(conductor) markers.

  • xx$XREF.dbf - for cross-reference blocks.

  • xx$ZONE.dbf - for zone tags and single line zones.

  • xx$WIRETERM.dbf - for wiring diagram terminal blocks.

  • xx$WIREDEV.dbf - for wiring diagram device blocks.

  • xx$TITLE.dbf - for title blocks (whose names match the title block pattern in Setup).

  • xx$ETABLE.dbf - for extra parts table blocks.

Where 'xx' is the current Elecdes project name.

These files are not deleted automatically. You can edit the image files created by Ebase in any DBMS system capable of editing DBASE files. See General Global Editing Procedure for more information.

$ZONE.dbf File

When you modify zone tag information in the $ZONE.dbf file the Global Editor will search for the use of that zone tag text within tag names of other components such as the TAGNAME column of the $DEVICES.dbf file and the TBLOCK and T1 columns of the $TERM.dbf file. Where the zone tag is recognised the corresponding tag names will be updated to suit the new zone tag in these files.

Paneldes BOM File

The Paneldes BOM file creation function creates a single editable database file.

The file is created in the Elecdes project directory and is named:

  • <DWGNAME>.DBF

Where <DWGNAME> is the file name of the Paneldes drawing (without the .DWG suffix).

 

File Structures

Do not modify link information i.e. DRAWING, BLOCK / CLASS and HANDLE fields. Modifications to these fields can cause errors.

Paneldes BOM File structure

Paneldes BOM file structure

Elecdes and Ebase File structures

xx$BLOCK.dbf

xx$CONX.dbf

xx$DEVIC.dbf

xx$TERM.dbf

xx$INSTR.dbf

xx$WIRE.dbf

xx$CABLE.dbf

xx$XREF.dbf

xx$ZONE.dbf

xx$WIRETERM.dbf

xx$WIREDEV.dbf

xx$TITLE.dbf

xx$ETABLE.dbf

Modifying the file structure

The structure of each of the image files is user configurable.

Customise the format of the image database files

How to Map Attribute names in symbols to names suitable for Global Editing and Reporting