Using the ecad_hint.add File
When ECAD creates a component .prt file automatically during import, it:
• Combines the ecad_name and ecad_alt_name as an mcad_name for the part file, and
• Records the creation of the component in a text file called ecad_hint.add.
Do not confuse this with the ecad_hint.map file. However, you can use the .add file as a template for a .map file.
In the ecad_hint.add file, each part receives the following entry (examples shown as values):
Map_objects_by_name ->
ECAD_NAME "CSTCS"
ECAD_ALT_NAME "N7414N"
ECAD_TYPE " "
MCAD_NAME "CSTCS_N7414N"
MCAD_TYPE "part"
END
Component names that include a dollar sign ($), slash (/), period (.), or percent sign (%) are not valid. Creo Parametric uses the ecad_hint.add file to change each of these characters to an underscore (_). If this adjustment causes the file names to be identical, new file names are created. To use the translated names, edit the ecad_hint.add file and append it to the ecad_hint.map file.
If the ecad_hint.map file contains names that are the same except for a symbol that Creo Parametric does not use, it creates a new part name and notes this in the log file. For example, ecad_name Aaa$ becomes mcad_name AAA_ and ecad_name Aaa/ becomes mcad_name AAA_1.
When you do not use the ecad_hint.map file to determine the correspondence between ECAD part names and Creo Parametric part names, Creo Parametric interprets the part names of components in all uppercase letters. For example, Creo Parametric searches for a component named AaaA in an ECAD system as AAAA.
If you do not want the system to create an ecad_hint.add file, set the ecad_create_hint_add configuration file option to no.