ComponentID Auto Increment - D-Tools Forum

TouchToBegin · 10-30-2009, 05:03 PM

If I drop in for example, 10 wires into a project, they auto increment their ID's as ID-001, ID-002, on through ID-010. If I delete the last 4 wires and then add 4 new wires, they auto increment ID-011, ID-012 etc. Is there a way to reset the count so it ends up back at first available number in the sequence?

**Ryan Brown** · 10-30-2009, 05:41 PM

There is a 'recalculate' feature for the ID's. As a disclaimer you just need to be really careful how (more like when) you use this. Make sure never to recalculate the ID's after you've ID'ed wires in the field for example, your project will no longer match reality.

There are 2 ways to recalculate the ID's.
1. All items in the project
From D-Tools menu inside your project go to Project Information -->Component ID. This is where you can reset the scheme used to generate the Id's and also where you can recalculate every ID in the project in order to remove gaps in the sequence (or to change all ID's to reflect a new scheme)

2. One item at a time
In the Data Matrix you can select an item, right click and choose the 'Regenerate Component ID' option. This will only recalculate the one item.

Just be careful and think it through when performing a universal recalculate - consider any ramifications before performing it - as there is no undo.

TouchToBegin · 10-30-2009, 06:07 PM

Originally Posted by Ryan Brown

There is a 'recalculate' feature for the ID's. As a disclaimer you just need to be really careful how (more like when) you use this. Make sure never to recalculate the ID's after you've ID'ed wires in the field for example, your project will no longer match reality.

There are 2 ways to recalculate the ID's.
1. All items in the project
From D-Tools menu inside your project go to Project Information -->Component ID. This is where you can reset the scheme used to generate the Id's and also where you can recalculate every ID in the project in order to remove gaps in the sequence (or to change all ID's to reflect a new scheme)

2. One item at a time
In the Data Matrix you can select an item, right click and choose the 'Regenerate Component ID' option. This will only recalculate the one item.

Just be careful and think it through when performing a universal recalculate - consider any ramifications before performing it - as there is no undo.

Yes, I don't want to recalc the whole drawing. 'Regenerate' suffers the same sequence problem. I don't mind digging to reset the base number if someone can point out where it lives, i.e. shape sheet or dtl file.

grichards · 10-30-2009, 06:42 PM

Originally Posted by Ryan Brown

...There are 2 ways to recalculate the ID's...

a third way is to Shift or Ctrl click multiple items in the PDM then right click an item in the selection and regenerate component ID.

TouchToBegin,
I think regenerate will always start from the lowest available base number with your prefix and increment upwards, skipping over any "taken" base numbers.

e.g. if you have VID-001, VID-003, VID-004 then regen will leave those items the same and create VID-002, VID-005, VID-006 and so on for each additional item included in the regen. Even if your existing items were included in the regen selection they will retain their base numbers if the ID prefix is the same.

If you wanted to renumber a whole group, regen it with some bogus id (e.g. XXX as the prefix) then regen it a second time with the prefix that you actually want.

I would reiterate Ryan's caution: regen will disconnect your drawings from reality if you've already released drawings for production/install/build/etc... so regen with care
hope this helps

TouchToBegin · 10-31-2009, 01:39 AM

I found that I had deleted a group of wires from the drawing, but not from the project grid. These were messing up my regenerations and in turn had made me question the use of regenerate, even though I've used it time and again. A little time away from the monitors sure helps. Thanks for the responses.

grichards · 11-02-2009, 04:12 PM

Originally Posted by TouchToBegin

A little time away from the monitors sure helps.

...and coffee