About Parameters in Diagram
Diagram reference objects (components and connectors) and connections (wires, cables, and rails) have parameters associated with them. For connections, some parameters are passed from the spool that the wire or cable is added from, and other parameters are specified for the individual wire or cable after it is added to the diagram. Every entity has the following parameter types:
• Required—The conductor or component must have values defined for these parameters.
• Optional—These are not required to define the object, but are included as commonly used informational fields, for example, COLOR_CODE (Wht, Blk, Rd, and so on.). If the value is numeric, the parameter may be used in manufacturing design calculations, for example, MINIMUM_BEND_RADIUS for a cable.
• Optional user-defined—You can define a new parameter and value for informational output as required, for example, SUPPLIER_NAME.
Double clicking on a wire, rail, cable conductor, cable symbol, component view, or a connector view for a MVC, Parametric, inline, or a component group opens the Electrical Parameters dialog box. Use the Electrical Parameters dialog box to add or edit parameters for the selected diagram objects. You can edit a single parameter or make global edits. For example, you can assign a common value to all parameters of the same name, across selected objects.
Components vs. Connectors
A component is a symbol with the OBJ_TYPE = COMPONENT parameter associated with it. Components use reference designators as unique identifiers and include properties for pins.
Connectors are a subtype of components with the OBJ_TYPE value of CONNECTOR. A connector can use two additional parameters:
• GENDER (MALE or FEMALE)—At the component level
The gender is a design reference for the intended solid model and is required for connectors.
• ENTRY_PORT—At the pin level
The entry port is the name of a coordinate system on the solid model that specifies the beginning or end of a connection.
These parameters are specifically used to pass information to Cabling. In Cabling, the ENTRY_PORT parameter designates pin to pin wire and cable connections for manual cabling or autorouting.