How to Extract Cable Labels and SYS-IDs Using AutoCAD

Purpose:

To provide a list of all cable labels and SYS-IDS used in a given project so that OPPS does not need to manually enter these labels into the label making software.

Guidelines:

• It is no longer necessary to extract each page individually. Best practice is to extract all labels at once for a given room. For example, if you have 5 pages of signal flows for a room then you would run the ATTEXT and select the contents of all 5 pages for the extraction.
• Cable labels and SYS-IDs need to be extracted separately, so you will need to run the ATTEXT command twice for each room to get them both extracted.
• SYS-IDs may not extract correctly if you have objects (lines, labels, flags, blocks, etc.) assigned to the wrong layers. If you have problems with there being way too much data in your SYS-ID extraction, then this is the most likely culprit.

Performing the Attribute Extraction for Cable Labels

1. Once signal flow diagrams are finalized, run the attribute extraction command (ATTEXT) in the TA6 MASTER Model space.

2. Make sure that the “Comma Delimited File (CDF)” option is selected.

3. Click "Select objects" and drag a window around the entire signal flow layout (or layouts) for which label attributes are being extracted. Then press spacebar or Enter.
   Example of single page layout selection
   
   
   Example of multi-page layout selection
4. Click the “Template File…” button.
5. In Dropbox, navigate to the “INTERNAL” folder of the project you are working on and select the “LABEL-EXTRACT-TEMPLATE-CABLE-LABEL.txt” file.

6. Click the “Output File…” button.
7. Navigate to the “INTERNAL” folder of the project you are working on.
• Click in the 'File name:' box and enter a descriptive name. TA601, TA602, etc. is fine if the room is just a single layout. If the room consists of multiple layouts, then a name like 'CONF 102', 'HUDDLE 103', 'AUDITORIUM', etc. would be a better choice.

8. Click the “OK” button on the Attribute Extraction dialog box.

Performing the Attribute Extraction for SYS-IDs

The process for extracting SYS-IDs is the same as for cable labels, however you must hide a few layers first in order for the extract to work correctly.

0. Freeze the TA-FLOW-LABL-PWR, TA-FLOW-LABL, and TA-FLOW-FLAG layers as shown below:
   

Your signal flow page will now look something like this:

Follow steps 1-8 outlined above, with the following exceptions:

• Select the 'LABEL-EXTRACT-TEMPLATE-SYS-ID.txt' as the template file
  
• When you choose a file name for the extraction add -SYSID to the end. So, if your cable label extraction is named 'HUDDLE 103.txt' then you would name your SYS-ID extraction 'HUDDLE 103-SYSID.txt'.

Note: Make sure you unfreeze the layers once you are done with the extraction.

Populating the LABEL-EXTRACTION Document

1. Navigate to the “INTERNAL” folder in Dropbox and select the cable label extraction file you want to open. Open in Notepad.
2. Use the “CTRL+A” keyboard shortcut to select all the contents of the file.
3. Use the “CTRL+C” keyboard shortcut to copy the selected content.
4. Navigate to the “CABLE SCHEDULE” sub-folder located within the project folder in Sharepoint. Select the "XXXX-SYS-ID & LABEL-EXTRACTION.xlsx” file and open it.
   
5. Navigate to "TAB 1" at the bottom of Excel workbook. Or the next unused tab if you have multiple layouts to bring in.
6. Click on Cell A2 or B2 (depends on whether you are importing cable labels or SYS-IDs), then paste in the copied labels using the Text Import Wizard.
7. Use the Paste drop down and select “Use Text Import Wizard…”
   
8. On step 1 of the import wizard, make sure that the “Delimited” option is selected.
9. Click the “Next” button in the bottom right.
10. On Step 2 of the import Wizard, make sure the selections are the same as in the following screenshot.
11. Click the “Next” button in the bottom right.
12. On Step 3, make sure you set the Column Data Format to Text. The ensures that things like DEC-01 get imported correctly and not converted to a date like 01-Dec.
    
13. Click the “Finish” button in the bottom right.
14. On the Excel warning dialog that pops up, click “OK”.
15. Check the imported data to make sure it looks right. The quotes should no longer be present, leaving only a list of labels. If you have cells highlighted in yellow, then you have duplicate labels present. In most cases you shouldn't have duplicate labels in your drawing, so investigate any duplicates to confirm whether or not you need to make any changes on your signal flows.
16. Once you have verified the data is correct, select the column and perform a Custom Sort.
1. Do not select the 'Expand the selection' option in the window that pops up. Choose 'Continue with the current selection' instead.
2. Click on the 'My data has headers' checkbox, then click on OK to sort the column.
17. Add the project number and either the TA6 page number (eg. TA601) or room name (eg. Huddle 103). This provides a useful reference to the Ops team when they print the labels out.
18. Rename the current tab from the default (TAB 1, TAB 2, etc.) to the corresponding signal flow sheet number. (TA601, TA602, Huddle 103, etc.)
1. If a signal flow sheet represents multiple rooms, then add that to the tab name ('TA601 x3', 'HUDDLE 103 x3'). This ensures that enough labels get printed out for the staging and field techs to use.

Repeat steps 5-17 for each subsequent signal flow sheet or room type. Use a new TAB at the bottom of Excel for each sheet's attribute export.

Example of completed extraction

Refer to the INSTRUCTIONS tab of the LABEL EXTRACT spreadsheet for additional information on special use cases.