Electrical Design Software | Elecdes Design Suite by Scada Systems Ltd

Selecting SUB-DBF for a chosen MASTER-DBF Anchor Point

Discussion

In a Protogen "Master DBF" all of the master prototype's anchor points will appear as fields or columns.

These columns must contain the name[s] of SUB DBF files from which to extract data for each anchor point.

If you are using DBF files then the SUB DBF file names do not require a suffix OR a path. Their path is assumed to be the same as the master dbf. Their suffix is assumed to be ".DBF". If you are using tables from an Access MDB file then you must include the table name and the suffix ".MDB". If you are using tables from a SQL Server database then you must include the table name and the suffix ".SQL".


Each anchor point on a master prototype may have 1 or more SUB DBFs supplying data.

If several SUB DBF file names are to be used for 1 anchor point, the names must be comma separated.


An example of the use of anchor points and SUB DBFs is the use of an anchor point on the master prototype for locating a title-block sub-prototype and the creation of a SUB DBF to contain title block and revision data for each clone drawing produced. This SUB DBF would also be known and used as a DRAWING REGISTER!


A SUB DBF will supply the following information to be used at that anchor point; One or more sub-prototype file name[s], optional offset[s] positional information, text to insert within the sub prototype[s].

Navigating and the formation of the Selection Lists

Procedure

To select a sub-dbf for an anchor point on a master dbf;

  1. Select the column and row that represents the anchor point for the clone of interest. Anchor points always have their first character set to the underscore character e.g. _MYANCHOR, or "INSPTnnn", where "nnn" is a number. See Anchor Points.


  2. Click the right button of the mouse and choose the SUB DBF option.

  3. A dialog listing the SUB DBFs of your project will appear. Choose one or more of these sub DBFs. Then press "OK".

    Protogen determines which DBF files are sub DBFs based on their column structure. If a DBF includes an anchor point column then it is considered to be a master database and will not appear in the list of sub DBFs.

    4. The SUB DBFs will be listed in the column for the anchor point of interest.

Access MDB or SQL Server databases

If you are using an Access MDB or SQL Server database then the pick function is not available. You must instead manually enter the name of the table that is the SUB DBF. You must also include the appropriate suffix of ".MDB" or ".SQL" to identify that the SUB DBF name refers to an Access or SQL Server table.

e.g. If your are using an Access MDB database and your SUB DBF is a table in that database named "Drawing Register" then the anchor point field in the master table would contain the value "Drawing Register.MDB".