A project is a set of interrelated wiring diagram drawings. An ASCII text file, called the project file, lists the AutoCAD drawing file names that make up the wiring diagram set. You can have as many projects as you wish, but only one project can be active at a time.
An AutoCAD Electrical project file:
- Is an ASCII text file with any path and any name followed by the .WDP extension.
- Lists the complete path to each wiring diagram drawing included in the project.
- Carries default settings that can be referenced when new drawings are created and added to the project.
Project files default to the directory pointed to by your project subdirectory (given by the WD_PROJ setting in your environment file). It is not mandatory. When you create a project file, you can save it to any subdirectory. In some cases, you may want to store them in client-specific subdirectories to take advantage of the AutoCAD Electrical ability to access client-specific catalog files and library symbols.
Use recently opened projects
The Project Manager displays a list of recently opened projects so you can easily select another project to open without having to browse for it. The project list is dynamic with the last project you worked on appearing at the top of the list. The list of recent projects is saved in a text file called lastproj.fil in the user subdirectory.
- Windows XP: \Documents and Settings\{username}\Application Data\Autodesk\AutoCAD Electrical {version}\{release}\{country code}\Support\User\
- Windows Vista, Windows 7: \Users\{username}\AppData\Roaming\Autodesk\AutoCAD Electrical {version}\{release}\{country code}\Support\User\
Each line in this file gives the information for one project. The last piece of data in the line identifies what the project state is when AutoCAD Electrical is started: "2"=Active, "1"=listed as Open, "0"= not listed in window but available from the Recent Projects dialog box. If you adjust this file, either manually with a text editor or programmatically (see the AutoCAD Electrical API Help), you can control which project is active when AutoCAD Electrical starts up, and which other projects are shown in the Project Manager window.
Procedures
Work with projects
Use the Project Manager to create a project, access a project, add drawings to a project, or modify information associated with a project.
Add a new drawing to the current project
- Click
.
On the Project Manager, click the New Drawing button. - Create a new drawing and click OK.
- In the Project Manager, right-click the project name and select Add Active Drawing. The drawing is added to the end of the existing list.
Add drawings to the current project
- Click .
- In the Project Manager, right-click the project name, and select Add Drawings.
- In the Select Files to Add dialog box, select the drawings to add to the current project. You can select multiple drawings using SHIFT or CTRL.
NoteDrawings in the project drawing list display in the order in which you select them.
- Click Add.
The drawings are added to end of the project drawing list.
Open a project
To open a project and make it active, browse to the project .wdp file.
Open a recently used project
A list of recently opened projects displays with the last project you worked on at the top. You can select another project to open without browsing for it. The list of recent projects is saved in a text file called lastproj.fil in the user subdirectory.
- Click .
- In the Project Manager, click the arrow on the Project Selection menu, and select Recent.
- In the Recent Projects dialog box, select the project from the list.
- Click Drawings to see a list of the drawings in the selected project.
In the Project Drawings dialog box, double-click a drawing name to see a preview of it. To make the selected project the active project and open the selected drawing, click Pick Project, Open Drawing. To return to the Recent Projects dialog box, click Back.
- (Optional) Click Remove to remove a project from the project list.
- Click OK.
The selected project becomes the active project.
NoteIf you know the drawing name but you are not sure what project the drawing is in, click Find in the Recent Projects dialog box. In the Find Drawing in Recent Projects dialog box, enter the name of the drawing (wildcards are accepted) and click Find. A list of possible projects displays. Select a project name, and click Drawing List to see a list of the drawings in the project. Double-click a drawing name in the list to preview it. To activate the project and open the selected drawing, click Pick Project, Open Drawing.
Copy a project
Copies an existing project and project specific files to a new name, and creates renamed copies of the drawing files.
Before you run the Copy Project operation, close the drawings you plan to copy. The copied project becomes the active project.
- Click .
- Enter the name of the project to copy.
- Click Copy active project to copy the current project.
- Click Browse to select a project to copy.
- Click OK.
- Select the directory where you want to save the new project.
- Enter the name for the new project. The .WDP extension is automatically added to the filename.
- Click Save.
- Select one or more drawings to copy to the new project.
- Do All: Selects all drawings from the project drawing list to copy to the new project.
- Process: Selects one or more drawings from the project drawing list to copy to the new project.
- Reset: Moves all selected drawings back to the project drawing list.
- Un-select: Moves one or more drawings back to the project drawing list.
- by Section/sub-section: Selects drawings by sections and subsections.
- Click OK.
- Enter the directory path where to save the new project. If the directory does not exist, it is created.
- Select the project-related files to copy. (See the following list.)
- Click OK.
- Modify the new drawing file names if necessary.
- Click OK. The new project becomes the current project.
Project-related files to copy
On the Copy Project: Step 4 -- Enter Base Path for Project Drawings dialog box you can select the project-related files to copy to the new path. Options include:
- Title block setup (.wdt)
- Project line labels (.wdl)
- Component description defaults (.wdd)
- Catalog lookup database (cat.mdb)
- Footprint lookup database (lookup.mdb)
- Family code mapping (wd_fam.dat)
- Wire color/gauge label (.wdw)
- Schematic lookup database (schematic_lookup.mdb)
- Location codes (.loc)
- Installation codes (.inst)
- Ratings defaults (.wdr)
- Component tagging (.wdx)
- Spreadsheet PLC I/O Utility settings (.wdi)
- RSLogix import mapping (.wdf)
- User-defined attributes (.wda)
- Terminal audit filter (.wdn)
Work with project drawings
Use the Project Manager to access an existing project and modify its associated information.
Remove a drawing from the active project
- Click .
- In the Project Manager, right-click the drawing name, and select Remove.
The drawing is instantly removed from the project but it is not deleted.
Note You can remove all drawings from a project by right-clicking the project name in the Project Manager, and selecting Remove Drawings. Select the drawings to remove from the Select Drawings to Process dialog box, and click OK.
Preview a drawing
You can preview a drawing from the Project Manager.
- Click .
- In the Project Manager, select a drawing from the list.
- In the Details pane, click Preview.
An image of the highlighted drawing displays. Once selected, the preview remains on. Each time you highlight another drawing in the project list the display updates with an image of the selected drawing.
- Click Details to return to the drawing description for the drawings.
References
Project manager
Opens or creates a project of one or more drawings, and configures project-wide settings.
Toolbar: Main Electrical 2
Command entry: AEPROJECTLists the drawing files associated with each open project. Add new drawings, reorder drawing files, and change project settings. Right-click the properties icon for options to move, size, close, dock, hide, or set the transparency for the Project Manager.
You can dock the Project Manager into a specific location on the screen or hide it until you want to use the project tools. Right-click the properties icon to display options to move, size, close, dock, hide, or set the transparency for the Project Manager.
Note You cannot have two projects open in the Project Manager with the same project name.
Right-click menu
You can right-click in empty space in the Project Manager to display the following options:
New Project | Creates a project. Once created, the new project automatically becomes the active project. |
Open Project | Opens a different project from a file selection dialog box. In the Select Project File dialog box, navigate to the project to open and select it. |
New Drawing | Creates a drawing file and adds it to the active project. The new drawing displays at the bottom of the project drawing list for the active project. |
Project Selection menu
You can default to a predefined directory by adding an entry to your .env file. Exit AutoCAD and open the .env file with any generic text editor (such as Wordpad). Add this line:
WD_PICKPRJDLG, n:/{your directory}/, AutoCAD Electrical default pick proj
Recent | Opens a different project from a list of recent projects or from a file selection dialog box. |
New Project | Creates a project. Once created, the new project automatically becomes the active project. |
Open Project | Opens a different project from a file selection dialog box. In the Select Project File dialog box, navigate to the project to open and select it. |
Open Project from Vault | Allows you to browse to the vault to open a project and make it active inside of the Project Manager. You must be logged into the vault. In the Select Project dialog box, navigate to the project to open and select it. Click the arrow next to the Open button and select one of the following options: Open (Check Out), Open (Check Out All), or Open Read-only. |
Buttons
| | Open Project | Opens a different project from a file selection dialog box. In the Select Project File dialog box, navigate to the project to open and select it. |
| | New Project | Creates a project. Once created, the new project automatically becomes the active project. |
| | New Drawing | Creates a drawing file and adds it to the active project. |
| | Refresh | Refreshes the drawing list inside of the Project Manager. For Vault: Checks for changes in external file references and updates the Vault icons in the Project Manager. Files that have changed and are currently checked out to you are not updated. Files that are checked out to someone else are updated to their current version. Files that are checked out to someone else are updated to their current version on your local drive. If the Vault version is newer, then the Vault icon indicates that the file needs reloading (the Vault icon turns red). |
| | Project Task List | Performs pending updates on any drawing files inside of the active project that have been modified. |
| | Project-Wide Update/Retag | Updates the related line reference numbers, cross-reference text, device tagging, and signal reference updates on the selected drawing files inside of the active project. |
| | Drawing List Display Configuration | Configures the display options. There are ten values that can be associated with the drawings listed so you can display the information based on your requirements. |
| | Publish/Plot | Batch plots one or more drawings in the active project. |
Projects
Displays all the open projects in a list. You can have as many projects open as you need, but only one project can be active at a time. The active project appears in bold text and is always found at the top of the list. Right-click the project name to display the following project editing options: |
Descriptions | Edits the project descriptions. Displays unlimited lines describing the project. Descriptions can then be included in report headers and title blocks. |
Title Block Update | Automates updating title block information for the active drawing or for the entire project drawing set. |
Drawing List Report | Generates a report that lists project drawing information from the title blocks such as drawing descriptions, section, and file names. On the Drawing List Report dialog box, select to run a new report, redisplay the previously run report or select a format .set file to use for the report. |
New Drawing | Creates a drawing file and adds it to the active project. |
Add Drawings | Adds one or more drawings to the active project. When prompted, specify whether to apply the project default values to the drawing settings (in the WD_M block definition). |
Add Active Drawing | Adds an active drawing to the active project. The new drawing appears at the end of the project drawing list. When prompted, specify whether to apply the project default values to the drawing settings (in the WD_M block definition). |
Reorder Drawings | Moves drawings up or down in the drawing list for the project. The order determines how the drawings are processed for project-wide tagging and cross-referencing operations. |
Remove Drawings | Removes one or more drawings from the current project. Note The drawing file is not deleted, just the reference to the drawing. |
Task List | Performs pending updates on any drawing files inside of the active project that have been modified. |
Publish | Launches dialog boxes to plot the project, publish to the Web, publish to DWF, or create a zip file of the project. |
Settings | Displays the settings for the project and information about the AutoCAD Electrical environment. |
Exception List | Displays a list of drawing files that have different settings from the project definition file (.wdp). If all drawing files match the .wdp, the dialog box indicates that there are no exceptions. You can then use the Settings Compare tool to display the differences. |
Properties | Controls project-wide settings including tagging, component cross-referencing options, and catalog lookup file preferences. |
Activate | Makes an open project the active project in the AutoCAD Electrical session. This option also sends the project list to the top of the dialog box. |
Close | Closes an open project. Note You cannot close the active project; first activate another project in the list. |
Vault | You must be logged into the vault to see this menu in the Project Manager. The status of the selected object determines which vault commands are available for selection. |
| | Check In All | Adds the project definition file (.wdp) along with its drawing files to the vault. You can vault just the project file using the Project Check In command. You can vault the project file along with its drawing files using the project Check In All command. Note If files used to support the project (such as .wdl and .wdt) share the same file name as the project, they appear in the Vault Check In All dialog box. |
| | Check Out All | Reserves and locks the project definition file along with the associated drawing files listed in the Project Manager. If the project definition file is unavailable for checkout, you can still check out the drawings available for editing. |
| | Check In | Adds the project definition file to the vault and creates a version of the file. Use this option if you want to check in only the project definition file and none of its drawing file dependencies; otherwise use Check In All. Note If files used to support the project (such as .wdl and .wdt) share the same file name as the project, they appear in the Vault Check In dialog box. |
| | Check Out | Reserves and locks the master project definition file. Retrieves an updated copy, if necessary. Use this option if you want to check out only the project definition file and none of its drawing file dependencies; otherwise use Check Out All. |
| | Undo Check Out/Undo Check Out All | Removes the reservation/lock from the master project definition file. The master file is now available for others to check out. Any modifications made to the local copy are not checked back into the vault. Undo Check Out All removes the lock from all the checked out drawing files and project definition file listed in the Project Manager for the selected project. |
| | Get Latest/Get Latest All | Retrieves the latest master copy from the vault and copies it into your working folder. The status indicator displaying a red background indicates older files. |
Project Drawing List
Displays the drawings associated with a project. You can select multiple drawings from the project list to open, close, remove, apply project defaults, or paste properties all at once. You cannot select multiple drawings from two or more projects. The active drawing appears in bold text in the list. By default, the selected drawing highlights in the project drawing list regardless if the Project Manager is active or not. You can turn off this feature by clicking the Drawing List Display Configuration button and selecting Show selection highlight only when active. |
| | Indicates that the file is a drawing file. |
| | Indicates that a drawing file is a reference drawing. To make a drawing a reference drawing, right-click on the drawing name and select Properties Drawing Properties. |
Right-click the drawing name to display the following drawing editing options: |
Open | Opens the selected drawing in a new window. You can also double-click a drawing name or select a drawing name and press Enter to open the drawing. |
Close | Closes the selected drawing. |
Copy To | Copies the selected drawing into the same or another open project. Select the folder to copy the drawing to, enter a new file name and select the project to save the drawing to. When prompted, specify whether to apply the project default values to the drawing settings (in the WD_M block definition). |
Remove | Removes the selected drawing from the current project. |
Replace | Replaces the selected drawing with one that you select from a file selection dialog box. |
Rename | Renames the selected drawing directly in the drawing list. |
Drawing Properties | Assigns, edits, and removes section and subsection coding for a drawing. Assigns drawing descriptions to the drawing files. |
Apply Project Defaults | Applies project settings to new drawing files where the project default settings for the drawings were not applied at creation time. |
Copy | Copies the drawing settings and options from one drawing to one or more drawings. NoteDrawing-specific information (found on the Drawing Properties Drawing Settings tab) cannot be copied from one drawing to another. |
Paste | Applies the copied drawing settings and options from one drawing to the selected drawings. |
Settings Compare | Displays differences between all drawing settings and their associated defaults in the project definition file. |
Check In | (you must be logged into the vault) Adds a file to the vault and creates a version of the file. The first time drawing file is checked in, the project definition file is checked in at the same time. The project definition file is vaulted first to establish a location in the Vault database. |
Check Out | (you must be logged into the vault) Reserves and locks the master drawing file. Retrieves an updated copy, if necessary. Checks out the drawing files when the project file is under Vault control. |
Undo Check Out | (you must be logged into the vault) Removes the reservation/lock from the master drawing file. The master file is now available for others to check out. Any modifications made to the local copy are not checked back into the vault. |
Get Latest | (you must be logged into the vault) Retrieves the latest master copy from the vault and copies it into your working folder. The status indicator displaying a red background indicates older files. |
Note Two projects can reference the same drawing file. If both projects try to modify the same drawing with a project-wide tagging or cross-referencing function it can lead to conflicts.
Details
Switches between displaying drawing previews and drawing descriptions. The drawing details are updated when you highlight a drawing file and remain visible until a new drawing file is selected. Use the up and down arrow keys on your keyboard to switch drawings.
Details | Displays project and drawing detail based on what is highlighted in the Project pane. Information listed includes the status, file name, file location, file size, last saved date, and the name of the last user who modified the file. |
Preview | Displays the last saved thumbnail view for the highlighted drawing in the drawing list. |
Vault Status Icons
(you must be logged into the vault) The Vault Status Icons indicate the status of your local copy of the files as compared against the master copy of those same files in the vault.
The Vault Status indicate when the local copy is in sync with the master and when it is not. The tooltips help guide you to the next logical steps - especially when the local copy is no longer in sync with the master. These icons are crucial to the overall understanding of how to work in a vaulted environment.
Icon | Meaning |
| | File is not in the vault. |
| | File is in the vault and available to be checked out. The version in your working folder is the same as in the vault. Also referred to as the Latest Version. |
| | File is in the vault and available to be checked out, but the local version is newer than the latest version in the vault. This status typically means that your local file was changed without checking it out. If you want to save these changes, check out the file with the Don'tGet Local Copy option. |
| | File is in the vault and available to be checked out, but the local copy is out of date. Get the latest version from the vault. |
| | File is checked out to you and the local version is the same as in the vault. Also referred to as the Latest Version. |
| | File is checked out to you and the local copy is newer than the latest version in the vault. This status typically means that you changed the file since it was checked out but have not checked it back in. |
| | File is checked out to you and the local copy is older than the latest version in the vault. This status typically means that you started with aversion for the vault that was older than the latest version, and then checked it out to promote it to the latest. |
| | File is checked out by someone else, and the local copy is the same as in the vault. Also referred to as the Latest Version. This condition typically occurs if the other person did not check changes back into the vault. |
| | File is checked out to someone else, but the local copy is newer than the latest version in the vault. This condition typically occurs if the other person checked changes into the vault, but kept the file checked out. Use Refresh from Vault to update to the latest available version. |
| | File is checked out to someone else, but the local copy is older than the latest version in the vault. Use Refresh from Vault to update to the latest available version. |
Create new project
Defines the minimum requirements to create an AutoCAD Electrical project definition file (WDP), the folder in which the project is maintained, and the settings and options defined within the project.
Toolbar: Main Electrical 2
Command entry: AEPROJECT Click the New Project button or select New Project from the Project Selection menu.
Note You can also create a project by right-clicking at the bottom of the tree inside the Project Manager, and selecting New Project.
Name | Specifies the name for the new project. Enter a name to define any of the project properties. Note The .wdp extension is not required in the edit box. |
Location | Specifies the location for a project definition file and folder definition. If left blank, the project definition file is created at the WD.ENV project location. Click Browse to pick a folder where the new project file/folder is created. Note You cannot have duplicate project names in the same location. |
Create Folder with Project Name | Creates a folder with the same name as the project where the drawing files and project definition are stored. The folder is created following the path defined in the project location edit box. |
Copy Settings from Project File | Specifies the project settings. You can select a previously defined project setting and apply it to your new project definition file. Click Browse to select a previously defined project definition file to copy over and apply settings to the new project being created. Note If blank, copies the settings from the active project. |
Descriptions | Specifies the project descriptions. Descriptions can be included in report headers and title blocks |
OK-Properties | Creates the project definition file in the specified location before opening the Project Properties dialog box where you can define default settings and options for your project which are saved in the project definition file. |
Copy project - step 1 - select existing project to copy
Toolbar: Project
Command entry: AECOPYPROJECT Note If the active drawing is one of them to copy to a new project, cancel the dialog box, open a new drawing, and then restart the Copy Project command.
Copy Active Project | Copies the active project. |
Browse | Selects another project to copy. |
On the Project Manager, click the New Project button. 
