Within the next couple weeks, we will be releasing a new product that could save you a lot of time (time = money!). I wanted to post a bit about the product, and some other things we are thinking about as well.
As part of our services here at ECAD, we provide services to customers who need customization done. Often times, we find that people don’t have the time to learn the nuts and bolts of non-design software. So, to help you have more time designing we provide installation services, training, and customization on our products.
During a visit to GWD Design, my role was to migrate them from an old database format to the newer ICES database. After a sitting down and getting a list of questions they had about CADWorx (I can’t resist knowing what people are doing with CADWorx), a question was posed. Is there a way to publish a Bill of Materials in a consistent Excel format using CADWorx? Short answer…there wasn’t.
Thanks to the proposition from GWD, we created the BOM Gather spreadsheet. Priced at $300 (per company) the spreadsheet will eliminate a lot of manual effort in Excel and streamline your BOM production. Since this is a sneak preview…I’ll post one sentence 
. The BOM Gather spreadsheet will virtually eliminate BOM formatting time by importing BOM items (minus the mark column) from spreadsheets (or Access queries!) into an Excel workbook, and allowing dated export to a new file.
Moving on…another feature on our agenda is consolidating some of our tools. We’re planning to package the CADWorx Properties palette with the ribbon, to add access to the palette via ribbon. One topic I’m reflecting on is whether to combine the P&ID Ribbons and the Plant ribbons, obviously it’d be much easier to release/handout one all inclusive package than several smaller packages. In addition, I’d like to add commands to display the ribbons and/or add them to a workspace.
Let me know if you guys have any thoughts on these topics!
Hello all. For my first post, I want to show how to add the CADWorx ribbons that Kyle has been handing out. Click here to get the pdf with screenshots or watch the video version. Enjoy!
Load the Ribbon
After receiving the ribbon via email or download, save them to a location that you will be able to access momentarily. Start CADWorx Plant and in a blank drawing start the CUI editor (CUI at the command line). Scroll down to the Partial Customization file node, right-click it and select Load Partial Customization file.
Browse to the location you’ve saved the ribbon, select it and click Open. In the Customizations in Main File drop down, select All Customization Files. Depending on the settings 1 of 2 things will happen. In most cases, the ribbon tabs are now added to every workspace, so you can click OK to close the dialog. However, you still should know how to add tabs to a workspace.
Create a Plant Workspace
Select the “3D Modeling” workspace at the top left and right-click to copy and paste the workspace. Rename the new workspace to Plant Ribbon, select it and click the Customize Workspace button.
Let’s assume that in this case we need to add the ribbon tabs to the workspace. Once you are in workspace customization mode, items can be added to the workspace from the files in the left panel. Scroll down to PIPE_ALT_RIB under partial customization file and expand the ribbon node. Expand the tab node. The tab node displays all of the tabs available from the customization file. Check all of the tabs to add them to the workspace, or check the Tabs box. In the workspace contents panel, the contents of the workspace we are currently customizing are displayed. Expand the Ribbon Tabs node. At the end of the tabs list are the Plant tabs. Drag and drop them to the front to have them display as the far left tabs. Click the Done button. On the left, select the Plant Ribbon workspace, right-click and set it current. Click OK to apply the changes and exit the dialog. After the CUI file saves, and updates the screen, your display will show the Plant Ribbon workspace with the CADWorx Ribbon included.
Having trouble viewing the video? See it here.
David Wolfe
Okay, so by now a lot of people have seen these. The Process and Power team at ECAD has put together a standard set of ribbons for CADWorx Plant and P&ID 2010 on AutoCAD 2010. All you got to do is shoot me an email (check out the store), and I’ll send them right over to you! We’re going to continue to work on more, so stay tuned!
KP
