Insights

ElectroPlan Helpful Hints and How-To’s

   Open a Project

Click this tool-bar button to open a widow which lists all the projects in the system.

The system will compile the list of projects and images once per launching of ElectroPlan, after that the list of projects is modified as project files are saved and deleted. This saves time when you need access to projects to reload a project or import from an existing project.

Searching for a Project – At the top left-hand corner is a case sensitive search box. Type the first characters of a project’s name to find the project by name. The list will change to show only projects starting with the letters typed into the search box.
The projects are listed initially in Project Name order. The order can be changed … see below. Once you have found the project – double click the line of the table or click the Open Project button.

Finding a Project using the Client Details — The columns of the project list show Company Name, Client Contact, Phone Numbers and Project Reference. To change to order of the list – click the column heading of the data you want the listing to be in. Clicking a second time will reverse the list order.

Importing Content from another Project — Find the project to import from as above then click the Import from Project button to bring up a selection screen of the data that can be extracted. (Client Data, Description of Work, Project Notes, Additional Items or a Selected Plan and its components and additional items – lines, images, text etc.).

Project Archive
Past projects that are no longer needed for revision but you would like to keep for future reference can be moved to the archive.
This reduces the number of  active projects in the current list.
You can archive a single project, all project versions with the same name, all projects selected by the search option or all projects last saved prior to a selected date.
Once the first projects have been moved to the archive there will be a new tab in the ‘Open Project’ window that shows the list of archived projects. The list of archived projects is not automatically refreshed when the ‘Open Project’ window is opened in order to save time.
Projects archived in the current ElectroPlan session will be shown in the archive tab.
Projects can be un-archived back into the current project area, imported from and the normal deletion functions work as well.

Deleting a Project(s) — Locate the project in the list as above and click the Delete Project button. To keep just the latest version of a project – Highlight any one of the saved versions and click the Delete All But Latest button.

Saved Versions – Each time a project is saved the system optionally saves to a new file name which includes the date and time of the save. If you don’t want to have the system save a version of a project every time you do a Save, go to the Tools and Settings window and then to the Settings and Options tab and select a suitable option from the Project File Save Options drop-down box. (see also Saving a Project)

Housekeeping of Plan Image Files — There is an additional tab that shows all the plan image files in the system an which projects in which they are used, and the number of times they are used. The list also includes images that are described in the project data file but are not actually present in the system.
Individual images can be deleted by highlighting the image in the list and clicking the Delete Image button.
There is also a button to Delete Unused Images to clear out all images that are not used in any project.
Deleted image files are sent to the Windows Recycle bin, or not, according to the setting Send Deleted Files to the Recycle Bin in the Tools & Settings panel.

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Project Information Panel

The project information tab is always present on screen with its tab to the left of all the plan tabs.

Click on this tab to see, enter or change any information about the project ….

Client Details / Project Reference – Quote/Estimate/Proposal/Invoice plus reference / Price and Cost Information / Component Price Total / Additional Items / Project Notes / Safety Certificate / Certificate of Compliance Information / Update Prices / Project Mark-up Factor

The Update Prices option can be used to update prices to the current calculation done in the Component Calculator or with reference to a defined Product Range.

Additional Items – Options and Configuration

The Additional Items are listed in the Component List section of the project export document after the actual Component List for the project.

Additional Items are intended to be used for anything that is not represented on a plan by a Component.

Heading – The heading of this section can be altered from the default of ‘Additional Items’ There is also an Extra Text line that can be used to add additional information about the Additional Items.

Items that are marked as ‘Yes’ in the ‘Show’ column will be included in the Component List documentation page.
Click in the ‘Show’ column of an item for a drop-down list to set the status of an item.

Items that are classified as ‘Yes’ in the ‘Value’ column will have the Total Cost included in the Component List documentation page if the item is set to be included in the list.
Click in the ‘Value’ column of an item for a drop-down list to set the status of an item.

Notes …
* The values are always included in the total value of the project.
* The Item Numbers are assigned each time the project is loaded. Edit these numbers to control the order of the items.
* The default settings above will be saved and recalled for future use.
* Commas are deleted from the description text.

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Placing Components on a Plan

Component Selector: At the left of the screen is the Component Selector. There are multiple tabs with various categories of components.

Select the Category and then click the component you want to use. The description, icon and price of the selected component are shown at the top of the panel.

Component Placement: The component is placed on the plan by clicking on the plan where it is to be located. The shape of the mouse cursor during placement and moving of a component can be set to one of 4 options (See Tools and Settings > Settings and Options) – Grey Square, a Square Outline, a Hand Pointer or the image of the component being placed, so you can see where it will be placed. Place components one after another on the plan if more are needed by just clicking where they are needed.

If the plan grid is on (see Toolbar section for the Grid Line Guide) the icon for the component is placed so that the top left corner of the icon is on the nearest intersection of the grid lines or a point midway between the intersections. This allows for easy lining up of component icons. If the plan grid is off then the component icon is placed so that the top left hand corner is where the mouse pointer is located. This allows for very precise location against the walls of a plan.

The component is immediately included in the project so that all the prices, component counts, legend etc. are updated.

Moving a Component:

• Move the mouse pointer over the component to be moved, the mouse pointer will change to a hand with a pointing finger.
• Click and hold down the left mouse button, the mouse pointer will change to a grey square the same size as the icon to indicate that a move is under way.
• Keeping the mouse button held down, move the component to its new location and release the mouse button. The icon will be re-placed on the plan.

Note: The new location must be outside the boundary of the current component location. This means for very short moves it is best for the initial click to be at the corner of the icon closest to its new location.

Deleting a Component: Right click the component to delete it. If the system setting to confirm component deletions is on, then there will be a confirmation message. If not them the component is immediately deleted and all the project totals are updated.

Changing the Details of a Placed Component: Double Click a component to open an edit window to change the details of the component — Special Price, Add a Comment, Rotate the Icon.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Special Price: The price for that instance of the component on the current plan – useful for costing something special for this component – Choice of component by the client, a longer cable run, etc etc.

Comment: A note about the component which will be included in the component list in the documentation for the project.

Special Component ID

Include Comment on Legend – Option to show Component Comments on the Legend.

The special prices and comments can be optionally copied to other components of the same type on the current plan. Click the check boxes to select what is copied. This makes it possible to re-price and comment a feature quickly if it applies to all components. eg a special light fitting or quality switch panel chosen by the client.

Icon Rotation: For components that have a direction, like lights and sensors. Make it clear on the plan what is being illuminated or the area being scanned.

Note: If Icon Rotation and Component ID are bot set, the display of the Component ID will take precedence.

 

Replicating a Component

Hold down the Alt key and  click the component – a new component of the same type is placed on the plan below and to the right if the clicked component.
Use this to quickly add a component if the Selected Component at the top of the Component Suite is not the one you want.
All properties of the component are copied – Price, Special Price, Rotation etc.
Drag the new component to where you want it.

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Component Find  

 

Click the Component Find text box at the top of the Component Suite and start typing a few characters of a Component Description or Category and see a list of matching components.

Click the Select Highlighted Component button (or double click the selected record) to select the selected component as if you found it in the Component Suite.

 

Note: You can also make a component on a plan the Selected Component in the Component Suite  by holding down the Shift key and clicking the component.

 

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Selecting Components for …

• Connecting Lines
• Alignment and Spacing
• Connection Curves
• Swapping
• Moving
• Deleting
  
• Adding Text or a Memo
• Cable Paths        Link to …Cable Path Calculations
  
• Component Label
• Plan Measurements        Link to … Plan Measurements      

Hold down the Control key (Ctrl) while you left click a component which has been placed on a plan, this selects the component and paints a red triangle in the upper left hand corner, as shown on the kitchen light switch in the image, and opens the Selected Components window.

If you click another component in the same way this gets added to the list of selected components and shows a pink colour in the corner of the icon.

You can select as many components as you like. The kitchen lighting components in the image are all selected.

Alternative selection methods …

• Hold down the Shift key and use the mouse cursor to draw a rectangle on the plan to select a group of components.
• Make sure the rectangle is started not on a component but on clear space on the plan.
• The options for the selected components are the same as if the components were selected by the previous Ctrl+Click option.
• Having selected a group this way you can select additional components to add to the group.
• The closest component to the start of the rectangle is the component highlighted in red ie it acts as the first component selected for options like Align and Space.

2 – Selecting all the Components of one type …

• Select one Component of the required type.
• Click the button Select All Same Comp. – All the components on the plan of the same type will be selected
• This is very useful for swapping all components to a substitute ie light fittings

3 – Selecting all the Components of one Category…

• Select one Component of the required Category.
• Click the button Select All Same Cat. – All the components on the plan that belong to this Category in the Component Suite will be selected
• This is very useful for moving all lighting or power components to another plan.

Having got a collection of components selected there are various things you can do with them as a set …

(Have a look at the buttons to the right of the selected component list in the image.)

Swap all the components for another (this would give an ‘Upgrade’ function to another range of lights etc)
You can reverse the swap as well.

Connect the selected components with lines of the selected type, including the ‘Connection Curve’
The lounge lights in the above image are already connected, and the kitchen lights are ready for the drawing operation.
If there are already lines between the components then these are deleted first.
Click the button to open the line configuration window to set the line draw characteristics.
Undo the Line Connect.
Note: Lines drawn using this method are linked to the components so that if the components are moved the lines are moved as well. If a component is deleted then any lines linked to the component are also deleted.
Note on Connection Curves: As the Connection Curve is a curve it can come into contact with other components which are not actually connected. To avoid confusion change the characteristics of the curve (colour, solid/dashed/dotted, width) to make it clear which components are connected.

Retrieving the characteristics of a line between two Components – Select the two Components and the use the “Configuration” button at the top of the Selected Components window to open the Configuration window. Click the “Get Highlighted Item Details” button to retrieve the configuration and rest all the controls to match.

Delete lines between all selected components.

Align Horizontally or Vertically.
Space evenly Horizontally or Vertically.
Undo the Align and Spacing functions and restore to original positions.

Quick Rectangle for Lighting Layout :

If there are 4 components selected, there is an additional button in the Align-Vertically/Horizontally area, of the Selected Components window, which allows 4 lights to be accurately positioned in a room – see above.

To the left, the 4 plights are placed in the room with the top left and bottom right locations of the final layout determined by the position of the grey arrows. The other two fittings can be anywhere.

The lights are now Ctrl+Clicked, starting with the top left light and ending with the bottom right light to indicate which lights are at the determining corners on the plan.

Once the    button is clicked the second and third lights are moved to coincide with the first and third to give the final rectangular layout. Add the the connection curves to the light switch to complete the lighting for the room.

Adjust Position
Click the Adjust Position button then move the selected component(s) one pixel at a time in any direction using the arrow keys on the keyboard. To turn off this function once the correct position is arrived at, just press any key besides an arrow key.
Use the [+] and [-] buttons to change the number of pixels moved per keystroke.
Use the [1] button to return to 1 pixel movement for fine adjustments.

Move the selected components to a new plan with the same image or to another existing plan. If there are lines connecting the selected components then they are moved as well. Lines connecting selected components and any other components are deleted.

Delete all the Selected Components

Cable Paths – Follow this link to ...Cable Path Calculations for more information.

Component Labels

Steps to create a Component Label …
* Hold down the Ctrl key and click the component to be labeled.
* Click the Add Component Label button and the Line Configuration window opens with the Path / Type  set to Component Label.
* Set the  characteristics of the label
            Line and Border Type, Colour, Width, Text Size and Font and Label Text.
* In the Selected Components window – click the Add Comp. Label button and the label will be created.

The component and its label can be moved to any location. The connecting line will be re-drawn between the two items.

To Delete a Component Label – Right click as for a component. If the Component is deleted hen the label will also be deleted.

To Edit a Component Label – Select the component and then click the Edit Comp. Label button.
This will open the Line Configuration window. Adjust the settings and click the Apply button.

Quicker Options when doing lots of Line Drawing …

If you are doing plans with  lots of lines to draw, there are two options to speed the process up by automatically closing the Selected Components window each time a set of lines is drawn.

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Viewing Components by Layer

Plan Layers are created as Components are added to a plan. Each Component Category is a new layer.

Click the View by Layer button at the top of the plan to select which Component Categories (Layers) are visible. This button changes to white text on a green background to indicate that layers view is activated for a plan and so some components will not be visible if they belong to another layer.

Components are not deleted from the plan or altered in any way, just temporarily hidden to clarify the view of the Categories of interest.

This view is on-screen only – the Plan Export still includes all Components.

Indication of Components on other Layers – In the ‘Tools and Settings’ window on the ‘Settings and Options’ tab there is a setting – ‘Appearance of Components on Hidden Layers’
This determines the appearance of Components which are in hidden Layers … This enables a guide to existing components when new components are being added to a plan or moved.
The settings are ‘Fully Hidden, White Square, Light Grey Square, Dark Grey Square’
Except for the Fully Hidden option, placing the mouse pointer over the location of a component on another layer will reveal a view of the component.

Printing and Export – Layer Settings are recognized during Export and Print.
As a reminder of active Layer settings, the plans with active layers are indicated with an * after the plan name in the plan list.

Global Layers Setting – Click the ‘Apply to All Plans’ checkbox in the Layers drop-down panel to set up a Layers selection  that will apply to all plans. This allows a quick setting to export a whole project for specific applications. ie Power and Panels, Lights and Switching etc.
With this Global application setting, plans with components that are in an active layer are indicated with a *, plans with no visible components are not selected for output by default as there are no components visible on the plan. The plan can still be selected for export if required.

Legend – The legend is updated to only show components belonging to active layers.
Also the legend has a narration of the active layers for the plan or the global layers.

Selecting All Components in the Same Layer – To select all Components in active layers …
Method 1 – Select one Component using Control+Click, then Click the “Select All in Same Layer” button in the Selected Components window, the system will select all the components in all active layers.
This is an easy way to select Components to Move to another plan.
Method 2 – The option to “Select All Components in the Same Layer” is also available on the drop-down options in the Component Details Edit window (double click a Component to open)

Copy/Move – If you click the Copy/Move Toolbar button with an activated layer the Component selection in the “COPY Plan Image and MOVE Components” window will have the components in the active layer pre-selected for a quick move to a new plan.

 

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   Saving a Project

As changes are made to a project this button is enabled to indicate there are unsaved changes. If you try to exit the system, open a new project or export documents without saving the changes you will be prompted to save the project. If you do not want to save the changes then click the appropriate button in the message window to bypass the save function.

Save Options and Project Backup Files– The date time the project is saved is recorded in the project filename so that you can recall a project development at a previous stage of development. When you open the “Find a Project” window with the Open Project button you will see the project save time as part of the project name. If you do not need to keep these intermediate saved projects then delete them using the Delete Project button. Note – this will only delete the project file it will not delete the plan images as they will still be needed for other projects of the same name.

Project Save Options – By default the system saves a project to a new version with the date and time as part of the filename. This option can be changed – go to the Tools and Settings window and then to the Settings and Options tab and select a suitable option from the Project File Save Options drop-down box. Select from ‘Retain Previous Version‘ (default) or ‘Delete the Previous Saved Version’ or ‘Offer choice of Delete or Retain Previous Version’ as required.

Saving a Project under a New Name – To rename a project, just change the project name on the Project Details tab and click this toolbar button.

AutoSave – Project details are saved in the background as you work in case of a power failure or other computer malfunction. The trigger for the AutoSave action is dependent both on an  internal timer and on the number of changes made since the last project save action happened using the Save Project toolbar button. An AutoSave is also done prior to any Component Editing or Addition.

The timing and activity levels can be set by the user … see the Tools and Settings section for more details. The file name created by the AutoSave is ‘AutoSave ‘ followed by the project name and is located in the normal location for project files (C:/ElectroPlan/Projects by default).

If the system finds such a file at startup it will be shown in the opening window and the project can be re-opened.

If you change the name of a project, any AutoSave file created while it had the old name will be still in existence. To remove these from the system click the ‘Open Project‘ toolbar button and then type ‘AutoSave‘ in the Name Search field. This will show you only the ‘AutoSave’ files, then you can delete them using the ‘Delete Project‘ button.

 

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Protecting your Data / Moving Projects and Data between Computers

The default installation location for the ElectroPlan system is in the folder – \ElectroPlan located on the C: drive of your computer.
ElectroPlan may also be on drive D: if this was taken as an option at the original install process.

The \ElectroPlan folder contains the main system files and five sub-folders:

• Components – contains the component configuration file and component image files.
• Documents – contains the files that are used for Documentation content.
• PlanImages – contains the images used for project plans.
• Projects – contains your saved project files.
• Quotes – the folder reserved for PDF export files. This folder may also contain some sample document export files.

All of these folders and your selected location for export files should be backed up (ie copied to another secure location) to protect your projects from accidental loss or hardware failure. The easiest way is to use a USB device or external hard drive to which the \ElectroPlan folder and all content (including sub-folders) is copied. Another option is to copy \ElectroPlan to a Cloud Drive (eg. Google Drive or Dropbox etc.)

Moving your work between computers :

Knowing where ElectroPlan is installed on your computer as described above for backups gives you the option to move your work between computers so that you can work in more then one location.

Note: Be very careful not to ‘split’ your work between the two locations ie take all files from location A to location B and work on them there, then bring them back to location A before continuing working at location A again.

Follow these steps to relocate ElectroPlan to another computer …

1. Using Windows Explorer, navigate to the \ElectroPlan folder on C: drive (or the drive that ElectroPlan is installed on)
2. Right click the \ElectroPlan folder and select Copy from the menu.
3. Connect your external hard drive or flash drive to the USB port and navigate there in Windows Explorer.
4. Right click the drive letter of the external drive and select Paste. The files should begin copying.
5. At the other computer plug in the external drive and navigate there using Windows Explorer.
6. Right click the \ElectroPlan folder and select Copy from the menu.
7. Navigate to the destination drive on the other computer and right click the drive you want to install ElectroPlan on. Select Paste from the menu.
8. Once you have completed your work at this computer – reverse the procedure to return the system to the first computer.

Notes:

Once you have made the first transfer the \ElectroPlan folder will already exist when you do the Paste step. You will get messages from Windows asking confirmation that you want to overwrite or replace files and folders that already exist.

To run ElectroPlan in the new location you will need to create a shortcut to the file \ElectroPlan.exe (with the ElectroPlan ‘E’ logo) in the \ElectroPlan folder or pin that file to the task-bar of the computer. Right click this file

You can also run ElectroPlan directly from the external hard drive and not copy any files or folders. You will still need to create a shortcut to the file ElectroPlan.exe in the \ElectroPlan folder. The disadvantage of this is that you will have only one copy of all of your work so make sure you copy the \ElectroPlan folder to the hard drive of at least one computer as a backup.

You can also use Dropbox or Google Drive as the intermediate transfer location. Make sure you understand how these option work before committing your ElectroPlan files.

Follow this link to find more information on using ElectroPlan on Cloud Drives (Dropbox and Google Drive) … Cloud Drives

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   Creating a New Plan

Important Note …
ElectroPlan can work with plans and images that are larger than the screen size, so the area of the plan that is exported is determined by the Plan Frame and not the screen boundaries.
See also the section ‘Setting the Plan Frame for a Plan‘ for more details and how to navigate across plans which are larger than the screen.

A project can have any number of plans depending on what is required; Have a plan for each room, floor or building depending on the scale of the plans provided. Plans can be repeated to separate a lighting plan, from a power outlet plan, or data plan in the same floor area.

The background image for a plan can be obtained from a PDF file from an Architect, a graphics file from a camera or graphics program, or the plan can have no image and have the building outline or other features created by line drawing within ElectroPlan. (see the “Line / Rectangle / Text / Label / Image Drawing” section below)

Click the “Add a New Plan” tool button or the [+] button next to the existing plan titles to bring up the menu of import options.
Menu options …

• Get Plan Image from PDF Document and then select your PDF document, then see “Adding a New Plan from a PDF File” below
• Get Plan Image from an Existing Graphic File (JPG/PNG/GIF/BMP/TIF) and then select the graphics file
• Get Plan Image from another Application Window
• Get Plan Image from an Existing Plan.
• Add a Plan with No Image

Adding a New Plan from a PDF File

Once you have selected the PDF document to extract from the above options are presented.

• If you know the page number that the required image is on you can enter the page number and optionally set the image resolution and click the “Extract” button.
• If you need to see all the images in order to make a choice just click “Extract”, the system opens the file and extracts the images and displays them for you to choose the page/image you require. If there is only one image, that image is automatically selected and the system moves on to the next stage. If there are more images that can fit on the selection screen you can use the mouse wheel to scroll down to see more images or use the vertical scroll bar at the right hand side of the screen. This initial extraction is done by default at the lowest resolution (110) for speed. If you like you can increase the resolution in order to see more detail.
  Double-Click the image you want to use or click the “Cancel” button to abandon. If you cannot see enough detail in the image click the “Large Images” check-box. if this does not show enough detail then you will have to open the file in a PDF reader and note the page number to select.

Once you have made your selection the process continues as outlined in the next section below …

Adding a New Plan from a Graphics Image file.

There are two options at this point … adjust the size and orientation of the image before import, to capture a suitable section of it,
or
Click the ‘Use Whole Image‘ button to use the whole image. If you select this option the whole image is imported with no further adjustment. (See the section ‘Plan Details‘ for details on adjusting the plan image (zoom and location) after it is imported.)

Tip: Using the ‘Whole Image’ option generally results in a better quality image for the plan background as there are no losses resulting from  the screen captures process.

Tip: Use the ‘Whole Image’ option import the first plan into a project. Then use the “Copy Plan” tool-bar button to copy the image to another plan. Repeat for as many plans as are needed. The image can be positioned and zoomed to feature any part of the plan image for the placement of components.

Adjustments …

Use the [Zoom In] and [Zoom Out] buttons to make the image the right size.
Use the sliders at the right and beneath the image to frame the image in the right place.

For the best result in your finished document make the image as large as possible so that the details are clear.
Once the image has been imported it can be adjusted further for both size and location but it is best to make it large at this stage.

If required the image can also be rotated left or right by 90 degrees.

If the resolution of the image is not good enough to see all the details in the image the page can be re-extracted from the PDF at a higher resolution and with an angle rotation where needed. A setting of 100 – 300 should cover most situations. Values over 500 are for really large detailed plans. Higher resolution settings will create a larger extract file and there will be a longer delay while the system processes the additional data.

The default setting for the resolution of the extract can se set in the “Tools and Settings” window on the “Settings and Options” tab. Follow this link to Tools and Settings

Once you are happy with the image … Click the “Image size Ok, Go to next step” button on the left hand panel to move on to the next stage of the image import process, or cancel to abandon the process.

At this point in the process there are two ways to erase any part of the image before selecting the area of the image to use as the final plan image … 

1. Select a rectangle to erase
2. Select a custom shaped figure to erase

This erase step is useful for removing dimensions, notes, symbols etc from a plan so that your electrical plan is clearer.
The colour used for the erased area is the same as the colour at the point where the mouse is clicked to begin the selection rectangle.

Select a rectangle to erase …. imagine the rectangle that surrounds the area to remove.
Move the mouse pointer to one corner of this rectangle and then press the left mouse button.

Now drag the mouse pointer to the diagonally opposite corner of this rectangle and let go the mouse button. As you drag the pointer you will see a dotted line enclosing the selected area. When you let go the mouse button, two option buttons appear at the top and bottom of the selected area.

Click the “Erase” button to erase the selected area.  (see below about undoing erase steps)

Select a custom shaped figure to erase … Click on the “Custom Erase” tab of the left hand panel.

Imagine the area you want to erase. Click on all the corners until you have defined the figure – the outline is drawn in blue.
Click on the “Corners Complete” button to complete the figure in magenta as below. This figure will remove most of the dimensions and floor pattern on the kitchen.

To complete the erase – Click on any point inside the figure just defined.

The next image shows the erase complete and a new figure defined to clear the remaining area in the kitchen.

NOTE : This erase method can also be used to clear an area around the plan area you are planning to use.
Create the figure as described above. Click on a point OUTSIDE the defined figure to erase everything outside.

 

 

You can define as many areas to erase as required.
Switch back to the “Select” tab to define a rectangular area to erase or to make the final selection of the area to use.

Undoing erase steps …

You can undo the last erase step if required by clicking the “Undo Last Erase” button.
To undo all erase steps and return the image to its original condition click the “Undo All Erasing” button.

Tip: If you miss erasing something you can still blank out sections of a plan by overlaying a blank image file onto the plan. Refer to the Section on Line / Rectangle / Text / Image Drawing.

Selecting the area to use for the plan image … (make sure the “Select” tab is selected)

As for selecting a rectangular area to erase – hold down the mouse button and drag the mouse pointer diagonally across the area to be selected and then let go the mouse button.

Click the “Select” button if you are happy with the area selected. The system will alert you if the selected area is larger then the available viewing area in the main application window. If the selection is not OK, repeat the selection process. Once the image is selected the new plan is created and the Plan Details window is opened (see also the section “Plan Details” below)

To Change the Image behind a Plan – see the “Replace Plan Image” button in the Plan Details window.

To Copy a Plan and and all its components the best method is to save the project and use the “Import from Project” option on the “Open a Project” window.

To Copy a Plan with a selection of the components, use the “Copy Plan” toolbar button.

 

Get Plan Image from an Existing Plan.

Having imported an image for one plan this option allows you to re-use the image in another plan. Using this option is similar to using the ‘Copy Plan’ function to copy a plan but with no components copied.

Get a Plan Image from another Application Window

• This method of obtaining a plan image is useful if the PDF file image extraction process does not give satisfactory results and the file can be opened in a PDF viewer or your internet browser.
• This is also a quick way to import a number of pages from the one PDF source file … return to the application displaying the PDF file and scroll to the next plan.
• This method is also useful for extracting images from a password protected PDF file that cannot have its images extracted by the standard extraction process and you do not have the password.

Before selecting this option make sure you have opened the image to be used for the plan in its own Windows application and the area to be selected is as large on the screen as possible. To open a PDF file in your browser … look for the “Open” option on the “File” menu in Firefox, or just do Control+O in a new tab in Chrome.

This option opens a window with a list of all the applications running on your computer and a panel showing the content of the highlighted application window.

Find the application displaying the image … The “Window Title” text may not show the actual application name, it may just have the name of the file as it appears in a browser tab. You can search through the list to get a preview of the application image. Click on the list entry to display the application screen image.

Note : If a PDF is opened in a browser by clicking on an attachment and the image does not appear correctly, try downloading the PDF to your computer and opening it with a PDF reader eg Adobe Reader or similar.

When you have located the window with the image, click “Import Selected Window” and the importation process carries on in the same way as for a PDF or graphic file.

Other controls available …

“Refresh List” – If you don’t see your plan in it’s application widow, click this button to refresh the list of windows. If you need to swap out to another Windows application to make an adjustment to the content – click this button on your return to ElectroPlan to get the most up to date content.

“Update Image on Scroll” – the window image is updated immediately on scrolling the list of windows.

“View Whole Window” – Check this box to see the whole window image not just the top left corner.

“Omit Window Title” – remove the window title to give a little more area.

“Maximise – Minimise” – Toggle the window to full screen to improve the view.

“Close” – Close the window and abandon the import of the new image.

 

Adding a Plan with No Image: 

Plans with no images have their uses – Floor plans can be created with the Line Drawing facilities in ElectroPlan if no image file is available, Power Distribution Boards can be laid out with fuse and circuit breaker components.

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   Setting the Plan Frame for a Plan

ElectroPlan is able to work with plans which are larger than screen size either because a whole image was imported from a PDF file or other image source, or the plan has been zoomed in and is therefore larger than the screen.

* Scroll down for information on navigating across a plan which is larger than the screen.

ElectroPlan uses the Plan Frame to determine which parts of the plan, (or all of the plan) will be exported to PDF document or JPG image file.

When a new plan is created or a project is loaded, the system adds three additional components as shown above …
two Corner Markers and the Legend (see image above)

• The two Corner Markers determine the top left and bottom right corners of the area of the plan that will be exported or printed.
• The Legend component shows where the top left corner of the legend will be.
• If the Legend is turned off it, appears as the icon above.
  If it is turned on, all components are listed using the number of columns set. The default is one column wide.
• The Legend should located so it is clearly visible and not cover any components.

* See the section ‘Plan Legend‘ for details on positioning the Legend and other options.

Setting the Plan Frame Corners – 2 options

1. Drag the corner icons to the required location
2. Click the “Plan Menu” tool-bar button or Right-click either Corner Icon to open a pop-up menu …

Popup menu options in detail …

Set Plan Frame relative to SCREEN …

Scroll Plan : Plan Frame to TOP LEFT of SCREEN
The plan is not altered but is scrolled so it comes as close as possible to the top left corner of the screen. Handy to relocate a large plan after scrolling.

Move Plan Frame : Set to SCREEN EDGES
The plan and components are not adjusted in any way. The Plan Frame is moved to match the screen size and location.
NOTE : This option maintains compatibility with projects created with earlier versions of ElectroPlan in that the location of the Plan Frame remains at the screen border even if the plan is moved or zoomed.

Resize Plan : Plan Frame to SCREEN SIZE
The plan area enclosed by the Plan Frame is adjusted to fill the scree. The plan is zoomed in or out to achieve this.
The adjustment will not necessarily bring the Plan Frame to coincide with the screen edges as the Plan Frame may not be the same shape as the screen.
NOTE : Selecting this option will un-do the maintenance of the Plan Frame at the screen edges as described above in ‘Set to SCREEN EDGES’.

Set Plan Frame relative to PLAN …

Set Plan Frame to PLAN SIZE – NO MARGIN
Used to quickly match the Frame to the entire plan if a whole image, not a selected part of an image, has been imported from PDF.

Set Plan Frame to PLAN SIZE – WITH MARGIN
As above but with a margin.

Set Plan Frame relative to COMPONENTS …

Centre Plan Frame on COMPONENTS and LEGEND
Set the Plan Frame to surround all the components, lines and legend including a margin.

Centre Plan Frame on COMPONENTS, LEGEND and PLAN
As above but includes the plan image itself as well in the position determination.

Select All Components within Plan Frame
Adds all components within the Plan Frame to the list of Selected Components – This is a preliminary step to doing something from the Selected Components window … This most useful is to move all the components to a new plan.

Check Plan Frame and Legend Alignment
Makes sure there are no components, lines or parts of the legend outside the Plan Frame area. Also that no components are hidden behind the legend.

Reflection and Rotation Options (Flip Components Horizontal/Vertical or Rotate) …
Toggle Plan Frame Mid-Point Lines … Show the mid-point lines of the PlanFrame which are used as the mirror lines.
Mirror Horizontally / Vertically … Mirror the Component layout and Plan Image to facilitate mirror image floor plans. Import a completed plan, mirror the component layout, then import a new plan image.
Rotate the Plan Image and Components 90, 180, 270 – Useful to re-orientate the plan or circuit diagram.

HELP …

Help with Plan Frame location
Access this section of the Help system.

Help with Scrolling Plans Larger than Screen
For plans larger than the screen the position of the screen over the plan can be changed in 3 ways …

* Hold down the Control key and drag the plan
* Use the scroll bars at the bottom and right hand side of screen
* Mouse wheel – press Shift to change orientation

Additional Notes:

The position of the Plan Frame is saved for each plan as part of the project data.

Compatibility with Previous Versions of ElectroPlan:
When a project is loaded that was last saved by an older version of ElectroPlan, (versions 17-01-01 Jan 2017 and before) the Plan Frame is set to the current screen size and will remain at that setting until specifically altered using any of the the above options.
To again lock the Plan Frame to the screen edge use this option … Move Plan Frame : Set to SCREEN EDGES

Plan image size in exported documents:
The size of the image of the area inside the Plan Frame is increased or decreased during the export process to match the size of the plan area in the exported plan page.
To avoid components being very large or very small in the exported image for a PDF file keep the size of the Plan Frame so that it approximately fills the screen.
Exporting to JPG format does not have this limitation. The image size id determined by the Plan Frame size and the resolution of the image. (Print or Screen)

Top Left Corner of Screen vs Plan Frame:
The Plan Frame cannot be moved by any of the above options to be above or to the left of the top left corner of the screen. If more space is needed to the top or left of the Plan Frame then the plan image and components should be moved using the relocation options in the Plan Details window. (Use the Plan Details tool-bar button)

Line Draw Mode:
The Plan Frame cannot be moved while Line Draw mode is active. Click the ‘Lines +‘ or close the Line Configuration window to exit line draw mode.

 

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   Plan Details

There are several things you can do …

• Enter or Edit the Plan Name – make sure the name is not already used for another plan.
• Change the Plan Position relative to other plans so it appears in the right order.
• Reflect or Rotate the Plan and Components – see below.
• Fine tune the location of the image on the plan.
• Zoom the Plan Image to better suit the screen size.

Note – If the plan image is moved or re-sized the components are NOT immediately relocated to match, as this could take several seconds or more for a complex plan. The components are moved to match the new image characteristics once the
Save and Close button is clicked providing the Relocate Components etc when Details are Saved checkbox remains checked.
Changes to the plan and component positions now happen immediately.

Click Save and Close button to exit and save the changes or Cancel to abandon any changes.

Reflection and Rotation Options (Reflect Components Horizontal/Vertical or Rotate 90, 180, 270) …
The mid-point lines of the PlanFrame are used as the mirror lines.
Reflect Horizontally / Vertically … Mirror the Component layout and Plan Image to facilitate mirror image floor plans. Import a completed plan, mirror the component layout, then import a new plan image.
Rotate the Plan Image and Components 90, 180, 270 – Useful to re-orientate the plan or circuit diagram. The centre of rotation is the centre of the PlanFrame

• Important …
  Notes on Reflecting and Rotating …
  SAVE THE PROJECT so you have a fallback project version in case of unexpected effects.
  The process happens immediately not when the Plan Details window is closed.
  Uncheck the “Move Components to match image transformations” checkbox to prevent components being moved.
  Images placed on a plan are not moved.
  Try not to rotate or reflect a plan image off the screen as it may be cropped.
  The Legend is only moved for a Horizontal Reflection.
  Component Labels are moved relative to their new component’s location.
  The PlanFrame is not moved.
  Try not to reflect or rotate off the screen as the image may be cropped.
  Large plan images can take time to process
  Screen images may look double or dislocated until the screen is properly re-drawn.
  Rotated components are rotated again to match their new location.
  Check the position of Measurement Markers after the process is complete.
  Check the location of Components relative to the plan image and adjust if needed.

Changing the Order of Plans in the Project – The order the plans appear across the top of the screen is the order they will appear in Exported Documents. Use the Change Pan Position arrow buttons to move the plan to a new position in the order.

Re-positioning a Plan Image – The plan image can be moved within the display area. Using the array of buttons arranged in a cross pattern in the edit window, move the image by 100, 10 or 1 pixels at a time depending on the total distance to be moved.
If there are components or lines already placed on the plan, these will be adjusted immediately. To stop components being moved uncheck the “Move Components to match image transformations” checkbox. There are also other buttons to locate the image to Top Left, the Last Saved position or to the Centre of the display area.
Lines drawn across areas which are outside the area of the plan image may not be immediately re-drawn but will be when the Plan Details window is closed.

Zooming a Plan Image – The plan image can be zoomed in or out within the display area using the  [+] and [-] buttons.
To return to the size the plan was at the opening of the window click the Last Save button or the 100% button for no zoom.
You can also enter a percentage figure to be more precise in the setting of the image size.

Note: This same Zoom In / Zoom Out functionality is available using the Zoom In and Zoom Out buttons at the top of the plan without having to open the Plan Details window..

If there are components or lines already placed on the plan, the positions of these will be adjusted after the edit window is closed using the Save and Close button providing the Relocate Components etc when Details are Saved checkbox remains checked.

If zooming out then the components will get closer together or even overlap in the final positioning, so there may need to be some re-positioning for clarity. Larger icons may also need a small degree of adjustment if they are placed in relation to their right hand side or lower edge.

Legend Columns –

• Number of Columns – by default this setting is for one column. Increasing the number of columns makes the legend wider and shorter which may be a better suit for the shape of the image.

Move Components to match image transformations – This checkbox determines if the components and lines and other items on a plan are are adjusted to a new location during plan image adjustments. Uncheck this box if you are trying to line up a new plan image to the existing components.

Replace Plan Image – Use this option to use the image selection procedure to change the plan image. This is useful if there is a change to the plan (eg walls moved, added etc etc). The updated image can be inserted without having to redo all the components.
Options – Get Image from a PDF file, Import an Image File, Get the Plan from an existing Plan in the project.
This last option allows edited plan images to be used in more then one plan.

Editing a Plan Image

Click the [Edit Plan Image] button the he Plan Details window.

This opens the defined Graphics Editor Application, as defined in Tools and Settings >> File Locations.
This graphics application then in turn opens the plan image for editing.
You can make and changes to the image. Changing the size is not recommended as this might produce unpredictable results with positioning and zooming the image.
Once your changed are completed, save the image before exiting the graphics application.
When you return to ElectroPlan, click the [Refresh Image] button to re-import the updated image into the project.
If a plan image is used for more then one plan, the user has the choice to update the current plan or all plans using the image. Images can be used for more then on plan where a plan is copied.

Problem Defining or Starting the Graphics Editor Application ? …
Click the Tools and Settings tool-bar button and then select the File Locations tab.
Locate the “Plan Image Edit Application” setting.
The entry in this edit box tells the system the location and application name of the application that will be started in order to edit plan images. Use the Browse button to navigate to the location of the desired graphics edit application.
Examples …
Default Windows graphics editor …
MS Paint under Windows 10 …. C:\Windows\System32\mspaint
MS Paint under Windows 11 …
          C:\Program Files\WindowsApps\Microsoft.Paint_10.2108.1.0_x64__8wekyb3d8bbwe\PaintApp
           Note – for Windows 11 you may need to set view permissions to navigate to the location of the application.
                 Also the numbers may vary from above.
You can also find and download other graphics editors …
Paint.Net under Windows 10 ….C:\Program Files\Paint.NET\PaintDotNet

Note – If the above methods do not work you can start a graphics editing application using the normal Windows methods then open the plan image from the applications File menu. The location and name of the plan image file are shown on the Plan Details window.

 

Enter the Marked Dimension on the Plan for Cable Path Calculations and Plan Measurements.

 

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   Copy a Plan and Move Components to the new plan

This function allows a plan image to be COPIED to create a new plan and optionally, a selection of components to be MOVED to the new plan.

Use this to move components, lines and rectangles to a new tab for clarity, for example, move all lighting components to a new plan to separate power from lighting.

Selecting the Components to Move – The components and lines on the plan are summarized in a check-box list by type and grouped by category. Click the check-box of all the components you with to move and then click Crate New Plan. Once the new plan is created the Plan Details window will open so that the details of the new plan can be edited.

Alternatively …

To create a copy of a plan and copies of some or all of its components …

1. Save the project
2. Click the ;Open Project; toolbar button
3. Locate this project in the list of saved projects
4. Click the ‘Import from Project’ button
5. Select the Plan and Components to import

 

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   Deleting a Plan

This button delete the current plan and all its components. The plan image file is not deleted in case the image is used in another plan in the same or another project. Orphaned plan images can be deleted by going to the Plan Image Files tab of the Find a Project window and clicking the Delete Unused Images button.

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   Plan Legend

The legend is list of components placed on a plan (with a count for each type) which is updated as you add or delete components.

Select a plan to display a Combined Legend to save space on individual plans.

When a new plan is created the legend location marker is created on the plan, along with the two  corners defining the area of the plan to be exported.
The legend is always included in a plan print and plan export.

 

Setting the location of the Legend

• Move the Legend icon, or the full legend if it is visible, to the required location by dragging with the mouse – like moving a component.

Other Legend Options

Click the “Legend Menu” tool-bar button or Right-click the Legend to open a pop-up menu … these are the options.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Options in detail …

1. 1. Create Plan With Combined Legend for Project – A new plan named ‘Legend’ with no plan image is created with a Combined Legend for all components on all plans.
      The name of this plan can be changed in the Plan Details window.
      All the usual controls (position, columns, font size, order apply to the Combined Legend.
      You can delete this new plan and all legends on all plans will be reset to normal ie a legend on each plan.
   2. Set Combined Legend on this plan –  The legend of the currently selected plan becomes the Combined Legend for all plans showing all Components. All other plans will no longer display a legend.  
      All the usual controls (position, columns, font size, order apply to the Combined Legend.
      (To reverse – Locate the item of the Legend Menu  – ‘Combined Legend on this plan – Click to unset’)
      On plans other than this one the legend menu will be disabled and the plan showing the Combined Legend will be listed.
   3. Find Legend – Move to top left of screen
      Sometimes the Legend icon or the Legend is not visible on the screen. This option is a quick-find that moves the Legend to the top right corner of the screen to then enable the correct position to be set.
   4. Set Number of Legend Columns – the default is one column.
      A sub-menu allows you to select 1,2, or 3 columns or more via the Plan Details window.
   5. Order of Legend Items …
      – Description
      The Legend items are listed in description alphabetical order. Where there are multiple columns the order is across then down.
      – Description within Category
      The Legend items are listed by Category (ie Lighting Power etc) then description alphabetical order. This brings all the components together by type. Where there are multiple columns the order is across then down. The initial setting is as per the setting on the ‘ Tools and Settings‘ > ‘Settings and Options‘ tab.
   6. Set Legend Font Size – 7 – 13 points (default font size- See Tools and Settings)
   7. Toggle Legend On/Off
      Same action as the Legend button on the tool-bar.
   8. Check Legend Location
      Makes sure there are no components, lines etc are hidden behind the legend.
   9. Help with Legend and Legend Options
      Access this area of the help system.
      

Legend Settings

To configure the legend … Click the Tools and Settings tool-bar button and select the Legend/Grid Config tab.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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   Grid Line Guide

The plan grid is used to align components on the plan either by actively moving components to align with the grid lines or as a visual guide only.

To configure the grid … Click the Tools and Settings tool-bar button and select the Legend/Grid Config tab.

When the grid is visible components are automatically aligned to the grid so that the top left corner of the image is either on an intersection of the grid lines or some way between depending on the setting of ‘Snap to’ .
This should be set to the same as the Grid Size or half of it to position components at half spacing.
Set to 1 to allow positioning of components anywhere, effectively removing the ‘Snap to’ effect

 

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Add More Information to Plans …
Lines / Rectangles / Text Labels / Connection Curves /
Images / Memos / Cable Paths / Plan Measurement Options

This feature can be used in a variety of ways …

• • Place text or a multi-line notes on a plan.
  • Place Component Labels on a plan.
  • Place lines of various types on a plan, including rectangles.
  • Connect components with lines – like on a circuit diagram.
  • Show which switches control which lights – Connection Curves.
  • Show Cable Paths and cable entry points.
  • Calculate distances and areas.
  • Place images on a plan eg Company Logo, Component details etc etc.
  • Create a building or room outline when no plan is available.
  • To draw a plan within a plan to show an area in more detail.
  • To place a switchboard layout on the same page as a floor plan.

This is the set of options …
They are within the Component Selector. (normally located at the left of the screen) Look for the category: PLAN LINES ETC

Options  …

Cable Calculation (Cable Path) … A path through a series of components, or points where there are changes in direction or height.

Component Label … A piece of text with additional information about a selected component. There is a line drawn from the text to the component.

Connection Curve … A curved line between components indicating that they are connected. ie Lights and their controlling switches. Power point on the same cable run.

Direct Line … A straight line directly between to points or selected components.

Image on Plan … An image placed on the plan.

Line Corners, Line Doglegs … These are lines for circuit diagrams or plan walls that have corners included.

Memo on Plan … A multi-line text box with additional information.

Plan Measurement … A line or rectangle with a calculated size or area based on Measurement Markers placed on the plan to define a known dimension. Used for room area calculations, dimension lines, distance measurements for cable runs etc or just indicate a distance on a plan.

Rectangle and Text … A one or two line rectangle containing text. There is a line drawn from the text to the component.

 

There are 3 ways to access these options …

1. 1. Click the ‘Lines ++ On / Off‘ Tool-bar button.        
   2. Open the ‘PLAN LINES ETC‘ Category in the Component Suite.           
   3. Select a Components or Components, then one of the options involving Selected Components – (see ‘Selecting Components’  Selecting Components below)     

Each of these opens the Configuration Options window … (see below)
In the case of option 2 above the Configuration Options window is configured for the option clicked and the default setting for that option is retrieved from the library.

Clicking the ‘Lines ++ On / Off‘ Tool-bar button …

Use this button for Turning on Drawing Mode … use this for placing or editing items that are not connected to components.
Click again to Turn off Drawing Mode and return to Component placement mode.

These actions also turn off Drawing Mode – Double Click any component on the plan OR Select any component on the Component Selector OR Change to another Plan

Configuration Options Window …

The controls in this window let you set the characteristics of the item to be added.

Characteristics

Path / Type: 

• Corner (Horizontal-Vertical) or (Vertical-Horizontal)
• Direct
• Dog-Leg (Horizontal-Vertical) or (Vertical-Horizontal)
• Rectangle
• Rectangle with Text
• Connection Curve – indicates related components.
• Image
• Rectangle with Memo
• Cable Path
• Component Label
• Plan Measurements

The controls shown in the Configuration window vary depending on the selections made.

Line Style: Solid, Dashed, Dotted, Dash-Dot, Dash-Dot-Dot (Note: Lines wider than 1 pixel are always solid.)

Line Width : 1 – 10 pixels, or Zero for text only with no surrounding rectangle.

Line Colour: Any colour as selected from the drop-down list

Line Style: Solid, Dashed, Dotted, Dash-Dot, Dash-Dot-Dot (Note: Lines wider than 1 pixel are always solid.)

Placing a Line, Rectangle, Image or Memo on a Plan: When you click the location on the plan to locate a line the two line-end / rectangle-image-corner icons appear as a marker for the location.

1. See CABLE CALCULATIONS in the Components Suite.
2. Place and move the Measurement Marker icons to indicate a known distance or dimension.
3. Enter that distance into the Plan Details window … see the Distance between Markers field.
4. Click the Lines++ toolbar button and set the Path / Type option as Plan Measurements.
5. Set the colour, line width and font size.
6. Edit the Text box to determine how the measurement is to be displayed.

   To assist with basic format options … use the drop-down arrow at the right hand end of the edit box.

Format options …
Distance (D.D mtrs)
Area (Area A.A sq mtrs)
Width (Width W.W mtrs)
Length (Length L.L mtrs)
Perimter (Perimter P.Pmtrs)
Size (Width W.W mtrs;Length L.L mtrs)
All = Width= W.Wm Length= L.Lm ;Dist= D.Dm Area= A.Asqm

This formatting text can be edited to suit … see below.
Width is the horizontal distance on the plan – W.W is replaced with the actual value.
Length is the vertical distance on the plan – L.L is replaced with the actual value.
Dist is any line length on the plan – D.D is replaced with the actual value.
Area is the area defined by the rectangle – A.A is replaced with the actual value.

Samples of Formatting Text … (the ; character indicates a line break)

D.D mtrs displays as 12.3 mtrs (to show a fixed dimension just enter the actual value ie no D,D)
Width= W.Wm Length= L.Lm ;Dist= D.Dm Area= A.Asqm
displays as … Width= 7.1m Length= 4.7m
                        Dist= 8.5m Area= 33.4sqm
Room Area;A.Am displays as … Room Area
                                                      25.9m
Minimum W.Wm displays as … Minimum 3.3m

1. Click the plan where you want the length or area to be measured and then move the corners to the correct position as in the image.

Shortcuts to adding information to a plan

A Component Category in the Component Suit allows for a faster access to controls to add Lines, Rectangles, Connection Curves and Lines, Text, Images, Plan Measurements etc to a plan.

The Category – PLAN LINES ETC (see left) has a button for each type of item that can be added to a plan.

When a button is clicked …
* Drawing Mode is turned on ie all non-component items are activated for editing, deleting or moving.
* The Configuration window is opened with the selected option highlighted.
* The default configuration for the option is retrieved from the library.
   (See note below)
* An assistance widow can be opened showing  context sensitive hints – click the ‘Tips …’ button to open and close the assistance widow.

The selection of the type of item to be added can be altered by clicking the buttons on the left hand side of the assistance window or the buttons in the Component Suite.

Default Configurations held in the Library – Each Path / Type option can have a default configuration which is retrieved whenever the option is chosen either by clicking the corresponding icon or selecting from the drop down list in the configuration window. Use the ‘Set as Default’ button to save the current settings to the library. Use the ‘Save to Library’ button to save the current configuration as a named entry in the library. Use the ‘Get Default’ button to retrieve the default settings from the library.

Note: The options can also be used in conjunction with selected components.
See the section Selecting Components for … for more information.

 

Placing your company logo on a plan … and saving it to the item library.

1. Click the Lines +On/Off button to turn on Line Drawing mode which includes the Image placement function.
2. Select the Image option from the selection of items to add to a plan and click the Continue with Selection button.
3. In the Line / Rectangle / Text Label / Image Configuration window click the […] button next to the File field and navigate to your logo file. Once selected you will see the logo displayed in the upper section of the window. It may be somewhat distorted as this display area has a fixed location for lines and images. You will be able to correct this on the actual plan.
4. Check the other settings in the window for Line Style, Width and Colour, as they will determine the frame around the logo. If you don’t want a frame then either make it white in colour, to match the plan background, or zero in width.
5. Set the ‘No Zoom’ checkbox if you want the image to stay the same size on the plan and not respond to zoom-in and zoom-out changes.
6. Click on the plan at the location for the logo. Two small icons with red crosses will be placed on the plan with your logo drawn between them. These icons define the size of the rectangle for your logo location. The logo retains its original proportions.
7. Drag the icons to the correct location for your logo and to give it the desired location and size.
8. To save the logo settings for the next plan, click the Save Configuration to Library button and enter a description for the logo image. Click Save to complete saving the item to the library.
9. To add your logo to a plan from the library … at step 3 above select the Library tab and then find your logo entry in the library and click it to display the logo in the upper section of the window. Re-select the Configuration tab and then carry on from step 5 above.

Notes: There is a maximum of 100 characters available in File field to define the location of the logo file.  If you change the location or the name of the logo file you will need to repeat the above procedure to set up a new logo image item.

 

Import an Icon Image

Import Component Icons from Graphics files.

Under the Icon Design Space the is a button ‘Import Image‘ which accesses this screen.

Below is the Icon Import Screen with a graphics file containing a range of images loaded. Any graphics file can be used as a source of images.

Click the ‘Open an image file to select and import a Component Icon‘ button to open a file with the required image.

Select the area to be converted to a 16×16 or 25×25 pixel icon by moving the selection tile (initially at the top left of screen) to the part of the image to be selected. In the image above the red prizes ribbon area is selected.

The size of the square can be altered using the mouse wheel. For file size adjustments, hold down the shift key while turning the wheel.

The selected area can be re-imported for a better selection – click the ‘Open Selection Area as a new image file’ button.

Once you have the appearance right, enter a name for the icon file and click either the 16×16 pixel or 25×25 pixel buttons to save the image.

Once the image is saved it will be available for assigning to a Component or further editing in the usual way.

Notes :

• • Component Icons created in this way have a different somewhat softer look depending on the context of where they came from due to subtle changes in colour. They also have a little less contrast. Over to you to create the look you want for your plans.
  • The Component Icons used in ElectroPlan are either 16×16 pixels or 25×25 pixels. Obtaining image fragments from a larger file with result in a pixelated result to some degree depending on the dimension of the source file.
  • Source files which are close to 16 or 25 pixels in size might result in an image that needs a little editing for the desired result.

Follow these steps to import an image file for an icon….

1 – Obtain your source image file – photograph, diagram, logo etc etc. and load it into a graphics editor – Microsoft MS Paint comes with Windows and will work as will Paint.Net which is available as a free download.
2 – In the graphics editor look for the controls to Select a Rectangle within the image and to Crop the image to the selected area.
3 – Using these controls, select a square within the image that defines the area that you want for your icon and Crop the image so only that area remains. It does not have to be exactly square as the resize process below will stretch or compress it to be square.

4 – Look for the controls to Resize the image.
5 – Resize the image to 16×16 pixels or 25×25 pixels. You might need to uncheck a check-box that is the option to maintain the aspect ratio (shape) of the image so that the result is square and 16×16 or 25×25. This step will pixelate the image as there will be much fewer pixels to define the image and a degree of averaging will have been done with the colours. At this stage you can do a bit of editing to correct any features in your image, or you can leave that until the image is in the Icon Editor in ElectroPlan.
6 – Save the image to the ElectroPlan\Components  folder (by default this will be on drive C: – or another location if ElectroPlan has been installed elsewhere) with a suitable name and as a Bitmap type image.
7 – Start ElectroPlan and click the Tools and Settings tool-bar button, then open the Settings and Options tab if it is not already shown.
8 – In the lower left corner of the tab set the Component Icon Management setting to User management of …. – the lower setting, and close the Tools and Settings window.

9 – Select and Edit or Create the Component you are going to use the image for.
10 – The Component Image for an icon is selected using the drop-down list control – click the arrow at the right hand end of the control and select your file from the list.
11 – If the image does not immediately appear in the icon editor, click the Edit Image button.
12 – Edit your image as normal and save it when you are done. You can rename it if you need to.
13 – Exit the Component Edit window and the Component Suite will be reloaded with your new image used for the component.

 

This image shows the Circuit Counter in the Component Suite.

The 4 light switch components that will be used to substitute for the Counter as the number of connected circuits is increased are shown below. These light switch component can be defined by the user and configured as the substitute components.

Up to eight substitutions can be defined.

The configuration can be edited by clicking the ‘Configure Substitutions‘ button

 

The two images below show a lighting layout  …  first with four Circuit Counters on the plan and then with the final connection lines added. The light switches have now assumed the component appropriate to the number of circuits connected.

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Cable Path Calculations ……

Overview – Cable Path Calculation Steps …
1 – Place Measurement Markers on a plan and specify their distance apart.
2 – Place all the Components on the plan that are on the Cable Path.
3 – Place any additional junctions or cable turning points.
4- Select all the Components on the Path and define the appearance of the Cable Path – the total length is calculated.
5 – Add drops, height changes, termination lengths etc and a total length for the path will be calculated.
6 – Add a Component Calculator Cost Code for the cable type and the total cost and price will be calculated.

 

Step by Step …

To the left is the Cable Calculations section of the Component Suite

There are two special components for use in defining Cable Paths …

Cable Path Junction – A point on the plan that a Cable Path passes through and changes direction, or height. Use this where cables pass through openings, change direction or height on cable trays etc.

Measurement Marker – There are two of these on a plan placed at two points on the plan where the distance between them is known. This can be on a marked dimension or any two points where the distance apart is known.

There are two controls buttons here as well …
* Cable Specifications – this button opens the specifications of all the defined Cable Paths on a Plan.
* Help – this button brings you to this page for all the details on Cable Paths.

 

1 – Place Measurement Markers on a plan and specify their distance apart.

• Select the Measurement Marker component and then place on the plan as for any other Component … Two measurement markers are  placed on the plan side by side. Reposition them to two points where the distance apart is known.
  The top left corner of the icon is the point that is used for distance calculations.
• Click the Plan Details tool-bar button and enter the dimension (in meters) that the two points are apart.
  Click the Save and Close button to save and exit.

To show the dimension on the plan …
* Right Click either of the markers and select Show Measurement Dimension on Plan
* The default appearance of the dimension is controlled as if it was a black Rectangle + Text on the plan with no line width. You can configure the appearance using the usual Lines++ configuration window.

2 – Place all the Components on the plan that are on the Cable Path.

3 – Place any additional junctions or cable turning points.

Using the Cable Path Junction add points on the plan that a Cable Path passes through and changes direction, or height.
Use this where cables pass through openings, change direction or height on cable trays etc.

4- Select all the Components and define the configuration of the Cable Path – the total length is calculated.

• Starting at one end of the Cable Path, hold down the Ctrl key and click each Component along the path. This opens the Component Selection window with all the normal options.
  

 

 

Click the Create Cable Path button, this will open the Lines++ Configuation window and set the Path/Type to Cable Path. Sett the other options including the addition of a Path ID for the Cable Path which is unique for the project.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Once the settings are complete, click the Apply button or the Create Cable Path button and the cable path will be created.

5 – Add drops, height changes, termination lengths and a cost code for the cable type and the total cost and price will be calculated.

Once the Cable Path is set the Cable Specifications window opens … (see below)
* The green arrows indicate lengths calculated for the cable path between components based on the Measurement Marker positions and entered Measurement Dimension.
* The other lengths next to Components are manually entered and are for changes in height from the cable path to the Component and an additional length for a connection.

To save the Cable Path Specifications click the Close button.

To delete a Cable Path – Click the Delete Cab Path button.
Note : The Selected Cable Path tab must be selected for the button to be enabled.

Three Ways to access Cable Path details …

1 – Right Click the Measurement Marker Component to see the menu below with 5 options…

 

 

 

Options …
* Opens the Cable Specifications window (above) for all Paths on the Current Plan.
* Opens the Plan Details window to edit the Marked Dimension.
* Deletes the Measurement Markers.
* Sets the appearance of the Marked Dimension on the Plan.
* Within the Project Details tab there is a Price / Cost Info tab which in turn contains a  Cable Path Details tab with a total length for each Cable Path in the project.

2 – Double Click any Component on the Cable Path, to open the Component Details Edit window, then click the Cable Paths Details button. If the component is on two paths there will be a menu option to choose the path.

3 – Select any Component on the Cable Path (Hold down the Ctrl key + Click the Component) – This opens the Selected Components  window. Click the Select all Cable Path button.
(If the component is on two paths there will be a menu option to choose the required path.)
Now click the Cable Path Details button to show the details of the Cable Path and all Cable Paths on the Plan.

Adding / Removing Components on a Cable Path

Adding  …
– Select one Component on the Path, then click “Select All Cable Path”
– Select the Component(s) to be added then click “Extend Cable Path”

Removing the Last Component on Path
– Select one Component on the Path, then click “Select All Cable Path”
– Click “Reduce Cable Path” to remove, repeat for the next Component if needed.

Costing and Pricing for Cable Paths  …

This requires the enabling of Cost Items withing the Component Calculator … 
Follow these links for more information …

Pricing with Cost Items using the Component Calculator

Add or Edit a Cost Item

In the Cable Specifications window (above) check the Set Cost Item for Cable Run check-box and then select a Cost Item from the drop-down list. As long as the unit of measure for the Cost Item is in meters (the default unit for cable length) the correct Cost and Markup values will be calculated for the Cable Path.

IMPORTANT NOTES:

1. A Component can be on more than one Cable Path eg Distribution Panels and Cable Junctions
   – Values for end length  and changes in height, direction etc must be added for each Cable Path that the Component is on.
2. Importing, Copying, Moving Components on Cable Paths – Make sure the whole Cable Path is included to avoid broken paths.
3. If a portion of a Cable Path is Imported, Copied or Moved to another plan with no Measurement Markers, the system will alert you to added these components and also add a dimension.
4. The total value of the Cable Runs are NOT automatically added to the project Total Price
   – Use the Additional Items area to add the cable pricing to the total price of the project.
5. If the Cost Item for a Cable Path is also in the Component Calculator for a Component on the Cable Path then that contribution to the Cost Item total from the Component Calculator is NOT included in the project cost.
   ie If a power point with a length of cable in its Component Calculator is on a Cable Path with the same cable type then the value from the Component Calculator is not included as the Cable Path has taken care of the cabling.

 

To add a new profile click the ‘Add New Profile’ button and follow the steps provided in the instruction panel that will be shown.

Additional text fields or blank fields can be added if required by clicking the ‘Add Text Field’ button. Enter the text to be entered as data into the column and the number of times it should be repeated (default is 1)
If the text is blank and the number entered is 1 or greater then repeated blank fields will be added for the stated number of columns. This allows for multiple blank columns to be inserted match the required profile as specified for the target software system.

ElectroPlan can be set for all project content to be taxable, and also for a selection of content to be exempt from tax.
If you find your own tax situation is not catered for, please contact us at ElectroPlan.

The settings in the Free Trial Download edition of ElectroPlan are for GST (Goods and Services Tax) with a Tax Rate of 15% and no exemptions – as below (part of Terms and Financial Details tab)

If in your jurisdiction all your content is taxable, all you need do is change the “Description of Tax” field and the “Tax Rate” and the system is ready to add tax to your project prices.

Content that is exempt from tax can be dealt with in two different ways.
Either or a combination of these two methods can be used.

1 – Additional Items – The settings below are for a Sales Tax with a rate of 5% and the opportunity to designate certain Additional Items to be exempt from the tax and be shown as “Exempt Tax”

2 – ElectroPlan Component Calculator – If Labour or Time is tax exempt – the TIME Category Cost Items will be totaled as the Tax Exempt content for the project.

To set up ElectroPlan for your situation check the box for the method you want to use in the “Tax Exemptions” area .

The “Designated Text” field is the text that will be added to the description of an Additional Item to set that item as tax exempt.
This is also the text that will appear alongside the amount on the Total Page of the project export file that is designated as Tax Exempt by either of the above methods.

Additional Items Method …

The second additional item has the designated text “(Tax Exempt)” added so it is totaled as (Tax Exempt).
There is a button that allows this text to be quickly and accurately added to the description.
Below is how the above looks in the final tax calculation.

 

 

 

 

Component Calculator Method …
Below is a sample Component Calculator summary of a project.
The category ‘TIME’ has a cost of $600 which will be designated as Tax Exempt and deducted from the taxable total for the project if the “Exempt Time Content from Component Calculator Total” checkbox is checked.
Follow this link for more details of how to use the ElectroPlan Component Calculator

 

Grid Configuration

Refer to the Grid Line Guide section … Grid Line Guide

 

A single ElectroPlan installation can be used by more then one person …

• On the same Computer
• On the same Network Location
• On the same Cloud Drive

Note : An ElectroPlan registration is required for each person using ElectroPlan.

Please check out these links for information on how ElectroPlan files are stored and things to consider for use of ElectroPlan by more then one person.

Protecting your Data / Moving Projects and Data between Computers

Using ElectroPlan on Cloud Drives – Dropbox and Google Drive

Each person using the system can have their own Configuration (File Locations, Documentation Options, Components, etc etc).

Any of the many configuration items can be set for an individual user, as well as there being separate project save history and drawing line library.

To set up ElectroPlan for Multiple Users – ie the first Group User …

1. Start ElectroPlan with an existing valid registration and go to ‘Tools and Settings’
2. Open the ‘Registration Details’ tab and click the ‘Set as new Group User’  button.
3. Exit ElectroPlan – On exit, the system will save the current configuration settings to a new file in the name of the current user. There will also be a new Desktop Shortcut created with the name of this user which must be used to start the system for that person.

To add a new Group User …

1. Obtain a new ElectroPlan Registration for the new person.
2. The registration email will have a Registration Details File attached which holds the registration details of the new user. Download this file to the folder where ElectroPlan is installed.
3. On the computer that will be used by the new user – Start ElectroPlan from Windows Explorer by navigating to the folder where ElectroPlan is installed and double-clicking the ElectroPlan.exe application file. The registration details will be imported from the downloaded file.
4. Repeat steps 2 and 3 in the previous section to establish the new user’s configuration and shortcut.

Note: The shortcuts created for each user as part of this process must be used from this time onward to run ElectroPlan for each user so that their own configuration is loaded and saved when they exit and that their save history and line drawing preferences are preserved.