Object Snaps in BCW

[JulieP]

Noticed I can't keep my object snaps on when I'm placing Wire Count Symbols manually. I can set the object snap on, after selecting a symbol, but then when it reloads, the object snap has been turned off again. Is there a way to keep the object snap on?

[forumadmin]

Hi Julie,

The default behavior for wire count symbols is to seek out the nearest BCW line and automatically snap and rotate to it. We designed it this way so you can quickly click anywhere near where you want the wire count to end up and DraftLogic Electrical will take care of the rest. Some default osnaps are turned on for this, but really it is all about clicking nearer to where you want the symbol to end up than nearer to any other part of that BCW line or other BCW lines.

If you still want the auto snap and rotate to happen but want to choose your own osnap settings, go to Operations Center > User Preferences and uncheck the 'Actively Manage Osnaps' box. With this setting off, DraftLogic Electrical will no longer temporarily change osnap settings when entering a function that places any symbol.

If you don't want the auto snap and rotate to happen at all for particular symbols (the wire counts symbols, for example), we can remove the entry in the database that tells those symbols to be treated that way. The column that controls this is the DL-Control..ACAD_SYMBOL.SYMBOL_ANGLE.

Lastly, a third option is to leave all the automation in place and just alter the default osnaps that are executed for the particular symbols you are concerned with. The column that controls this is the DL-Control..ACAD_SYMBOL.INSERT_OSNAP.

If you want to change anything in the DL-Control or DL-Config databases, however, contact me and we'll work out a script for the change as you need to be able to rerun it when we ship new versions to you.

[JulieP]

Hi Dean,

Thanks, unchecking the Actively Manage Osnaps, in the Operations Center did the trick.

When I create the conduit lines using DL, I want the Wire Count Symbols to work as intended. However, sometimes I just need to add wire counts to drawings that have conduit lines already run as normal Acad lines and splines. In this case the wire counts won't snap and rotate to a normal line.

[forumadmin]

In case you want to leverage off the auto snap and rotate for your non-DraftLogic Electrical drawings, note that the wire counts will snap and rotate to any nearby arc, line, or pline that is on any DraftLogic Electrical Branch Circuit Wiring layer. So if you want, you could temporarily (or permanently) move branch circuit wiring created with any means onto DraftLogic Electrical BCW layers & then have auto snap and rotate do the trick for you!

If you want to see all the relevant layers in the AutoCAD Layer Manager, just hit the Command tool palette > Drawing Discovery tool group > Create All Layers tool. Layers that the wire counts will auto snap and rotate to arcs, lines, and plines are all the ones that have any of these suffixes: *_COND, *_BX, *_LUM, *_COND_UG. There is a lot of them, we have a complete set for each different building electrical system.