Creating fiber catalog entries

[ptc-5359773]

Is there a clean way to export a CSV file of the fibers I now have in my catalog?

I have dozens of different wires to get into the catalog. If I could edit a CSV of the exisitng entries, i could complete this job in a fraction of the time required to enter each wire type into the catalog using the Catalog Explorer.

I also want to be able to look over the entries for previously entered fibers, to make sure they all have the same format and parameter names.

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[JimBarrettSmith]

Chuck

you should only really have one fiber in the catalog which has a dataset. Every fiber must have a dataset in order to drive cabling design.

So create a fiber.

Create your dataset

Import your dataset

Apply the dataset to the catalog fiber

thanks, jim

[ptc-5359773]

I guess what I really need is a way of seeing what the dataset I already have looks like, so I can modify it to add the different wires I need.

I have the standard ten colors for several AWG wires now - I need to add multiple color wires and some additional AWG sizes. If I could do this in Excel and import the CSV file rather than use the catalog explorer to create every new wire, I would be very happy.

So - how do I get into the dataset?

[JimBarrettSmith]

Chuck

Open the dataset explorer, select the dataset of interest and choose save to disk.

Edit the CSV and then using the Dataaset explorer re-import back into Creo Schematics.

Thanks, Jim

[ptc-5359773]

OK. Opened Creo Schematics, loaded my project. Went into the Admin tab, opened the Datatable Explorer.

This is, I hope, where the wire data is hiding. Selected the CSV button and tried to save the dataset so I could look at it.

My projects are saved in "C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Documents". When I try to navigate to that directory, I see this:

I can't navigate to the unnamed directory, and I can't see the directory where I want to save the CSV file.

[JimBarrettSmith]

Chuck

When you save the dataset the message area will tell you where the file was saved e.g.

[wires, <215098618-2188>, Datatable] (and associated objects) has been successfully saved to directory d:\Temp\wires

[ptc-5359773]

I think I see the issue - the "type" selection at the bottom of the window only allows "directories". I cannot enter a CSV file name.

Why the project directories don't show up is another issue - here's a screenshot of my computer:

I do note that the project directories are read-only...

[ptc-5359773]

So, I now have a saved CSV file. Thanks, Jim.

Could the file selection window be looked at by your programmers? It seems awfully clumsy and obtuse the way it works. When I see a window like that, I expect to be able to tell the computer what to call the file and where to put it. Simply clicking "save" is totally unobvious.

[ptc-5359773]

And I now have a new dilemma. The dataset CSV file "spool_params.csv" appears to be something totally at odds with what I have been painstakingly entering in Schematics for my catalog.

I have entries for many different AWG sizes that do not appear in the CSV. Some of the colors I have entered also don't show up.

I am back to my original question - how can I enter wire data simply without going through the catalog explorer interface again and again for each new color or size?

[JimBarrettSmith]

Chuck

The fiber looks at the information in the dataset to apply the information. So whatever you have parameters you have appended to the fiber in the catalog will have zero impact on CSV file.

So as above, edit the CSV, Import into Dataset explorer, select fiber in catalog, edit the parameters, click choose dataset, select the imported dataset.

Instance a fiber on the sheet, edit the parameters and apply dataset of choice

[ptc-5359773]

Jim,

Does this mean I have to edit every single wire's parameters individually through the catalog explorer's two pop-up parameter windows?

This is exactly what I am trying to avoid. Time is money, and time I spend navigating through those windows is time I could be entering schematic routing data for my cabling guy to work with.

We can't afford a full-time person do do nothing by fill the catalogs.

[JimBarrettSmith]

Chuck

No it is quite the opposite

In the CSV file enter all the parameters and associcated values you would like to appear on a wire - In creo schematics a CSV file this is called the Datatable.

.

Then when you instance the Fiber all you need to do edit the parameters and select a line in the CSV file, In creo schematics a line in the CSV file is called the dataset. All the information on that selected line will be applied to the instanced fiber.

[ptc-5359773]

Also, the dataset appears to have been made by someone else. Where does the original come from? Is this the default?

It looks like it includes some of the wires' parameters I entered - but many of the wires I defined last week are missing. If I could simply add those in the CSV file, it would help a lot.

[ptc-5359773]

I see a difference in interpretation here. When you say "instance a fiber", I read "select a catalog entry to place in the design". If the desired wire color and guage does not exist in the catalog, I need to create it, correct?

I don't want to lose the data I have alerady entered, but if I edit the dataset csv as it stands, I will lose over twenty wire definitions I now have in the design.

It seems to me that there are two different but related databases in use here. The dataset which I have the csv file from, and the catalog entry. The catalog entry is the one I am concerned with in drawing the schematic - when I am finished, I need to export the XML file for cabling which should include all the information on wires and connectors for the cabling guy to use to route the cable in the product.

Again - how do I enter WIRE data into the catalog without opening every single wire one at a time through the catalog explorere interface? Is there any hope I can get this done in a simple cut and paste of a CSV file, or am I doomed to slog through the parameter and sheet windows of the catalog explorer for the next millennium?

[JimBarrettSmith]

Chuck

Please edit the CSV file and add two lines which replicate the information for two of the wires you have already created in the catalog.

Then follow my steps described in this thread. Once you have done this you will answer your own questions

[ptc-5359773]

Hi, Jim,

I did that - added lines for the new colors and for the new gauges. Imported the CSV file. No errors appeared.

I added ten lines for the 22 AWG wires I needed. None of these show up in the catalog explorer.

So - back to the original question, still unanswered - is there any way to avoid the catalog explorer and its' painful editors when creating a new catalog full of dozens of wires?

[JimBarrettSmith]

Chuck

Can you confirm you can see the ten lines in the datatable explorer?

thanks

Jim

[ptc-5359773]

Screenshot of the datatable explorer, showing my additions:

Catalog explorer after loading CSV:

None of the new lines I entered show up.

Earlier, you said "The fiber looks at the information in the dataset to apply the information. So whatever you have parameters you have appended to the fiber in the catalog will have zero impact on CSV file. "

So - I've wasted all that time entering data in the catalog?

Who's on first here?

[JimBarrettSmith]

Chuck

if you do not see the new lines the datatable explorer then the file was not uploaded.

As the datatable already exists in the design you need to select the existing datatable in the datatable explorer and choose RELOAD

and keep and eye on the message window for any errors

[ptc-5359773]

I updated the datatable immediately before taking that screenshot.

I still don't have the answer I am looking for - is there any way to avoid all that fiddling in the catalog explorer?

Or, has Bergstrom, Inc. wasted a lot of money buying Creo Schematics, and even more on the library files we got from Virtual Interconnect?

My cabling guy informs me that setting up cabling without Schematics is not only possible, but fairly easy. I've gone through the Creo 2 Cabling on-line training, and have yet to see any real benefit to having Schematics at all.

[JimBarrettSmith]

Chuck

Attached is a video on how to Save, Edit, Reload and Utilize the Datatables using the sample catalog as an example