A wire symbol is the graphical symbol of a wire. Numerous wire properties such as wire color, cross-section, outside diameter, wire stripe color, etc. can be determined for objects in the 2D window of the wire symbol. The wire symbol is assigned to a nailboard display configuration, and it is displayed inside the 2D pin to which a wire is connected. Wire properties which are defined in the 2D window are filled on the basis of the particular wire connected to the pin; typically a circle (rectangle) inside another circle (rectangle). The bigger circle may represent the wire color, the smaller circle could represent the wire stripe color. Circles can be filled with a certain fill color, while the wire / wire stripe color can be assigned to the Solid fill property. Any object that consists of a closed loop - ellipse, circle, rectangle, etc. - has editable properties to which wire properties can be assigned (i.e., a line has less editable properties since it does not consist of a closed loop). The editable properties are contained within a gray box in the Properties panel. Once a wire property is assigned, the box color becomes blue.
The following properties can be modified:
- Visible: Condition when the object is visible. For instance Multi-color means that the object is only visible if the wire has a stripe color.
- Color: Color of the object (line, border).
- Line thickness: Line thickness of the object (line, border).
- Fill color: Color of the filling (i.e. hatch).
- Fill background color: Color of the background if a hatch is enabled.
The following editable properties are available for texts:
- Text: A static text can be defined or text based on an available property.
- Visible: Condition when to display the text.
- Color: Color of the text.
Edit a property / remove an assigned formula
- Select an object.
- Double-click on the desired property, or right-click and select the Edit menu item.
The Formula editor dialog is opened. - Right-click on the desired property.
- Select the Clear menu item to remove the assigned formula.
The following is an example of how to create a wire symbol showing wire color, wire stripe color, and wire name. Wire properties such as Name,
- In the 2D window of the wire symbol, place two concentric circles, one bigger than the other one. The smaller circle will show the stripe color.
- Determine the Fill color property of the bigger circle in the Formula editor: Wire > Library color.
- Activate the Enable fill check box.
- Determine the Fill color property of the smaller circle in the Formula editor: Wire > Library stripe color.
- Activate the Enable fill check box.
- Determine the Visible property of the smaller circle in the Formula editor: Wire > Multi-color.
The smaller circle will be shown only if the wire has a stripe color. - Place text anywhere inside any circle.
- Determine the Text property of the text in the Formula editor: Wire > Name.
If the text has the same color as the background (i.e. the wire color), it won't be visible. A condition can be defined to display the text in a different color so it will be visible in the wire symbol.
The following is an example of how to create a condition for text to be displayed in white if the wire is black or green. For any other wire color the text will be displayed in black.
- In the 2D window of the wire symbol, place two concentric circles, one bigger than the other one. The smaller circle will show the stripe color.
- Determine the Color property of the text in the Formula editor: Wire > Library color > +Boolean > +Color.
- In the +Boolean area, add two rows.
- Enter the black color into the first row and the green color into the second row.
- Determine the will turn into entry as True.
- In the +Color area, determine the color White for Color for 'true' and Black for Color for 'false'.
- Click [OK].