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Component IDs

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cable-labelA Component ID is the unique identifier that is assigned to every product that you add to an SI5.5 project.  Component IDs display on most of the Visio shapes and AutoCAD blocks and are used on the Installation reports within SI5.5.  Although every product is assigned a Component ID, this number is often referred to as your “wire number”.

The Component ID Format determines the, uh, well format for the ID that is generated.  The default Component ID Format is set to pull the first three characters of the “Type” field for a product to be followed by a dash and then a number that increments as more products are added.  In the example below I have added two speakers to a Plan view page in Visio.  The “Type” field for the speakers is set to “Surround” so the Component IDs that are generated are “SUR-001″ and “SUR-002″.


There are two places where you can set your Component ID Format.  The first is your default setting under Setup->Formatting in the SI5.5 Navigator and the other place is within a specific project via D-Tools->Project Information->Component ID:


You are not limited to just using the “Type” field for product and you are also not limited to one field choice for your Component ID Format.  Below is a list of all of the fields available to you for use with your Component ID Format:

*Custom Properties 1-8: these are the Custom Properties associated with the Product, not the Project.  You define the names of your Custom Properties for Products within the MMPD interface->Administration->Custom Properties.  Note: Custom Properties 9-10 are not available for use within you Component ID Format because their “Type” is set to “Date” format:

Assignments for values for the Custom Properties that you define here can then be assigned to each product in your database.

*Location1-5: These reference the five possible levels available to you for your Location Types within a project.  The default Location Types hierarchy in SI5.5 uses only three of the available five levels: Building->Floor->Room.  These three levels would correspond to Location1, Location2, and Location3 respectively.  Selecting one of these Location fields for use in your Component ID format does not pull the Name of the location, but rather the Comp ID for the location.  The Comp ID for a location is the by default the first five characters of the location name but this can be changed to anything you desire:

Example: I have a project where my Location Types hierarchy is set to Building->Floor->Room.  In the project I name my room locations and fill in the Comp ID for the rooms with the room number exactly as it appears on the floor plan that I received from the architect.  For example, on the plan the Kitchen is designated as “06″ so I used “06″ as my Comp ID:

Inside of this project, I set my Component ID Format to pull the first five characters of the Type field followed by the first two characters of the Location3 field (Location3 being the Comp ID for the Room field in this example).

I add a CAT5 wire to the project and assign it to the Kitchen location.  The Component ID generated for this wire is CAT5-06-001:

You can manually adjust a Component ID that by opening the properties of the product and typing in the ID you want.  The only rule here is that the Component ID must be unique for that project.  If it is not you will not be permitted to change the Component ID:

If you make changes to your Component ID format under the Setup tab, remember that those changes will affect all future projects and will not affect your existing projects.  If you change your Component ID format within a project, the changes will affect all future products added to the project but will not change the Component ID of any existing products in the project unless you click the [Recalculate] button:

Reporting

Besides displaying with most SI5.5 shapes and blocks, Component IDs are used on the Installation Reports to identify wire connections.  The Wire Checklist report lists all of the wires in your project and will display any connections that you have made using Plan and Schematic shapes (in Visio) and Schematic blocks (in AutoCAD).  For the sake of these examples, I have added one wire to the project and made a connection between a keypad and a multi-zone device.  I have also added a second wire to the project but have made no connections with it yet.

Wire Checklist Report – the Kitchen location has full connection information.  The wire CAT5-06-001 is coming from the device KEYPA-06-001 and is connected to device MULTI-19-001 and is assigned the Head End “AV Rack 1″.  The wire CAT5-08-001 that is in Bedroom 1 has only been assigned a Head End and since no wire connections have been made, no other information is available for the report.

Wire Connections Report – the wire CAT5-06-001 has full connection information with the Manufacturer, Model, and Component ID for the two devices.  Wire CAT5-08-001 has no other information than the location and the Head End.

 

Brother Wire Label Connections Report – only wires that have been connected to shapes (or blocks) on drawing pages will be available for printing, notice that our CAT5-08-001 wire does not display.  SI5.5 is compatible with the Brother PT-9500PC printer.

Wire Label by Location Report – this report can also be run “by Head End” and “by Wire Number”.  All wires will display on this report, regardless of whether connections are made in drawings or not.  You can order the label sheets for this report from D-Tools (sales@d-tools.com, 866.386.6571 x 1) or you can use out built-in Report Designer to format this data for your own label sheets.

-Seth Enos

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