Customizing 2D and 3D Connector Names

This task shows you how to create customized names for 2D and 3D connectors and describes the naming rules you should follow to ensure the automatic association of 2D and 3D connectors.
There are two types of connectors involved in this task: electrical equipment connectors and equipment connectors.

This release provides the following sample files that follow the naming rules for automatic association:

  • For 2D Equipment:
     ConnectorNames.txt, located in
    ...intel_a\startup\EquipmentAndSystems\DiscreteValues.
  • For 3D Equipment:
     
    • Equipment-ConnectorsNames.txt, located in ...intel_a\startup\EquipmentAndSystems\Equipment\General\DesignRules\DiscreteValues
    • ElectricalEquipment-ConnectorNames.txt, located in ..intel_a\startup\EquipmentAndSystems\Equipment\Electrical\DesignRules\DiscreteValues

The contents of these files become available to users through the Add Connectors dialog box, as shown in the following diagram at left, or the Name Connector dialog box (for 2D connectors) shown at right, which users can access immediately after placing a connector by right-clicking and selecting Rename from the menu that displays.
 

3D Dialog Box 2D Dialog Box

When users design using a schematic, the connectors are associated using the following rules:

  1. If the 3D equipment contains one connector only, that connector is associated with the 2D connector.
  2. If the there is more than one connector on the 3D equipment, that connector is associated with the identically named 2D connector.
  3. If there is no identically named 2D connector, the first 3D connector that contains the same prefix as the 2D connector is associated with that 2D connector.
    An underscore must separate the prefix from the rest of the connector name.
  4. One or more 2D connectors can be associated with one 3D connector, however, one 2D connector cannot be associated with multiple 3D connectors.

Examples:

 2D Connector Name(s)   3D Connector Names   Resulting 2D/3D Association
PowerIn, PowerOut PowerIn, PowerOut PowerIn and PowerIn
PowerOut and PowerOut
PowerIn_C1, PowerIn_C2 PowerIn Both PowerIn_C1 and PowerInC2 are associated with PowerIn
PowerIn_C1, PowerIn_C2 PowerOut, PowerIn_C4 PowerIn Both PowerIn_C1 and PowerInC2 are associated with PowerIn_C4
PowerIn_C1, PowerIn_C2 PowerOut
PowerIn PowerIn_C1		 PowerIn_C1 and PowerIn_C1
PowerIn_C2 and PowerIn
PowerIn_C1, PowerIn_C2 PowerOut
PowerOut_C1		 None

Users can view and confirm the association between the 2D and 3D connectors using the Associate Cables button .
1. Using a text editor, open Equipment-ConnectorsNames.txt, and add the equipment connector names your project requires, noting the rules described above.
2. Save Equipment-ConnectorsNames.txt.
3. Repeat the previous two steps for ElectricalEquipment-ConnectorNames.txt and ConnectorNames.txt.