Capital Electra Options

Accessing Capital Electra Options

Capital Electra X comes with drawing options that allow engineers to select/deselect the automated tool needed.

To access Capital Electra Options, go to File and select Preferences, a pop-up dialog will be shown, as below:

Go to Capital Electra Options and check/uncheck the options that work best for you.

Capital Electra Options interface
Capital Electra Options interface

Automatic symbol resizing

Capital Electra X has the ability to automatically resize symbols and circuits to fit onto pages, irrespective of the page measurement units used, be it inches, millimeters, centimeters or meters.

Enable this option to let Capital Electra X automatically resize symbols and circuits to fit onto pages. When enabled, symbols and circuits that is manually resized by users will retain their sizing and will not be automatically resized by Capital Electra X.

A single symbol can be used on multiple measurement units in Capital Electra X
A single symbol can be used on multiple measurement units in Capital Electra X

Wire propagation and detection

Enable this option to let Capital Electra X automatically propagate wire name changes to all connected wires and automatically detect a wire name when it is connected to another.

Disable this option to have different wire names for wires with the same potential.

Wire name is propagated automatically

Split wires when dropping terminals

Enable this option to let Capital Electra X automatically split wire into two when terminals are placed on wires.

Wire is split into two when terminal is placed on it

Manage connection dots for wires

By default, Capital Electra X has the ability to automatically manage connection dots for wires.

Enable this option and Capital Electra X will automatically show dots for a connection, and remove them when there are no connections.

Connection dots are also automatically hidden when you connect a wire end to another.

Disable this option to manage connection dots manually.

Connection dots for wires can be managed by Capital Electra X
Connection dots for wires can be managed by Capital Electra X

Adjust and straighten wires

Enable this option to let Capital Electra X automatically straighten slanted wires when connected to another. Disable this option to keep wires in drawn position.

Capital Electra X helps you straighten your wires automatically

Pop-up when no cable core available

Enable this option to let Capital Electra X show a confirmation dialog that asks for further actions if no cable cores are available.

 See also 

Renumber symbols/wires in ladder zones

Users can choose to either retain the symbol/wire reference when it is moved within the ladder zone or to automatically renumber it according to its rung number. Do note that the symbol/wire will be renumbered when dropped within the ladder zone regardless of whether the function is enabled or disabled.

To enable or disable this option:

  • Go to File | Preference | Capital Electra Options | Renumber symbols/wires in ladder zones
When "Renumber symbols/wires in ladder zones" is enabled
When "Renumber symbols/wires in ladder zones" is disabled

Automatically wire symbols on drop

Enable this option to speed up the process of drawing a schematic diagram by connecting the symbols automatically when a symbol is dropped next to another symbol.

The automatic wiring is more intelligent than before as it will only wire the symbols when you align them with their connection points accurately, preventing you from making unnecessary errors.

The stencil that contains Wire, Hose, or Tube are expanded automatically when connecting the symbols. Disable this option to prevent automatic wiring between symbols.

Automatic wiring when dropping symbol

Use smart renumbering without popups

When disabled, a popup dialog appears whenever a circuit is dropped onto a drawing.

When "Use smart renumbering without popups" is disabled

Enable this option to let Capital Electra X renumber circuits automatically when dropped onto a drawing without displaying the popup dialog.

Renumber wires after splitting

After a component is dropped on wires, the wires will be split and renumbered. Users can choose to either retain the existing wire numbers or renumber it sequentially.

To enable or disable this option:

  • Go to File | Preference | Capital Electra Options | Renumber wires after splitting
When "Renumber wire after splitting" is enabled
When "Renumber wire after splitting" is disabled

Enable panel prefix on references

Once enabled, Capital Electra X will automatically insert a panel name in front of your symbol references and maintain it across all panel prefixes.

How page prefix works

Page Prefix in Capital Electra X is powerful and automatic. Once enabled, Page Prefix adds a page number in front of your symbol reference or wire name and automatically keeps track and update this page number even when you rearrange your pages, all automatically.

Page prefix will be updated automatically after page arrangement
Page prefix will be updated automatically after page arrangement

On the example above, there is a coil named 1R1 on page 1, another coil 2R1 on page 2 and 2 contacts, each of them belonging to the coil at page 1 and 2 respectively (top row of the image).

When page 3 is rearranged as page 2 (bottom row of image), the coil 2R1 previously at page 2 is now automatically renamed to 3R1 on page 3. The contact 2R1 is also renamed to 3R1 since the coil it is belonging to, is now renamed to 3R1 on page 3.

Enable page prefix on references

Users can select to prefix a page number on all symbol references by enabling this option, and Capital Electra X will automatically insert and maintain all page prefixes. Alternatively, right click on a symbol and select Edit Reference to use Page Prefix.

Enable page prefix on wires

Users can select to prefix a page number on all wires by enabling this option, and Capital Electra X will automatically insert and maintain all page prefixes. Alternatively, right click on a wire and select Edit Wire to use Page Prefix.

Page prefix separator for wires

The default separator for wires is the "." character (e.g. 1.100). Page prefix separator for wires can be any character but cannot be numeric (e.g. 0-9) and can consist of more than one characters.

Page prefix separator for wires
Page prefix separator for wires

Automatically Place on Rails

Capital Electra X has the ability to automatically attach and arrange layout symbols when dropped on rails. Uncheck this option to disable automatic placement of layout symbols to rails globally.

Alternatively, each layout symbol can be individually disabled from automatic placement by right clicking on the symbol and choose Disable automatic placement.

Initial Placement Offset

When layout symbols are placed on rails, Initial Placement Offset specifies the distance between the edge of the rail and the first layout symbol.

Set initial placement offset to specify the distance between the edge of the rail and layout symbol
Set initial placement offset to specify the distance between the edge of the rail and layout symbol

Export Format

Capital Electra X has a list of reports which can be exported as tab separated values (.tsv), comma separated values (.csv), or javascript object notation (.json). Use these options to select a format for exporting reports. Once set, Capital Electra X will subsequently export reports using the selected format. To select a format, click on the export format drop down and select the required export file format.

Location zone options

Capital Electra X reports shape locations (e.g. /1.A1 : Page 1 - zone A1) by dividing a drawing page into zones. To modify the location zones, click on File | Preferences | Location and enter your preferred zone spacing.

  • A: Denotes the starting spacing for vertical zones.
  • B, C: Denotes the repeated spacing for vertical zones.
  • 1: Denotes the starting spacing for horizontal zones.
  • 2, 3: Denotes the repeated spacing for horizontal zones.

Location format

To configure how Capital Electra X displays location information, use these options:

  • Page: Denotes characters used to prefix page numbers.
  • Separator: Denotes characters used to separate page numbers and location zones.
Examples of location format
Examples of location format
Capital™ Electra™ X