Tab Terminal

In this dialog, you can specify or modify the properties of terminals. Properties which cannot be changed are grayed out.

In the Properties (global) editing mode, you edit the properties for all representations of the terminals at the same time. In this case the additional tabs Terminal strip definition (device) and Parts (Device) for the associated main function are displayed.

Overview of the main dialog elements:

Displayed DT:

The displayed DT is displayed in the graphical editor on the component. If you have defined in the project settings that devices are to be automatically numbered when symbols are inserted, then a DT is automatically suggested here. You can accept this DT or overwrite it manually.

In addition you can use the popup menu or the [...] button to create or select a DT.

Full DT:

This field displays the full DT (i.e. structure identifier of the current environment + displayed DT) of the component / item. Use the [...] button to open the Full DT dialog. You can edit the structure identifiers there and select, e.g., another mounting location.

Designation:

This field shows the terminal designation. The terminal designation determines the position of the terminal in the terminal strip. The value entered here is saved in the Terminal / pin designation property.

Tip:

If you enter a colon in the Displayed DT field, all the characters that follow the colon will be automatically transferred to the Designation field.

Description:

Enter the terminal description here.

Connection point designation:

This field displays the connection point designations of the current function, as well as the connection point designations of the functions that adopt the DT from the current function.

You can manually change the connection point designations for the function / device or select an entry from the drop-down list. Several connection point designations are separated by a paragraph mark. When manually editing multiple connection point designations keep the following in mind:

You may change specific individual connection point designations by entering the value at the actual place between the paragraph marks.
If you overwrite the entire entry with one single value, this value will be assigned to the first connection point. The connection point designations of the other connection points will remain unchanged.
If you delete the entire entry, all connection point designations will be deleted.

Notes:

The contents of this field is not stored in just one property. You can use the Connection point designations (all) (ID 20038) property to display the connection point designations at the component. This property displays all connection point designations of the current function. The connection point designations of other functions that are displayed in the field Connection point designation are not included in this property though.
Use the option Display rotated connection point designation in the project settings (File > Settings > Projects > "Project name" > Graphical editing > General) to specify a rotated display of the Terminal / pin designation and Connection point designation fields. This setting will only be considered for the property arrangement "Default setting.".

Connection point description:

Enter the connection point descriptions for the function / device here, or select the data from the drop-down list.

Level:

Here, you can specify whether the terminal is a multi-level terminal. Multi-level terminals consist of multiple terminal levels arranged on top of one another.

If you enter a value > 0, the terminal is defined as a multi-level terminal. The value "1" corresponds to the lowest level.

If you enter "0", the terminal is defined as a "simple" terminal.

Function text:

Here you enter the function text for the function / device.

Aside from the manually entered function text, there are other (automatically determined) function texts that you will find in the table of properties:

Function text (automatic): Displays the content of the manually entered function text or, if it is empty, the path function text. If you edit this function text in the Properties (global) processing mode, the content is returned to the function where the function text was entered originally. When this property is displayed on a project page, the line breaks are removed.
Function text (common): Displays the function text (automatic) of the function or, if it is empty, the function text (automatic) of the associated main function.

Saddle jumper:

Specify the position of the saddle jumper. The option for an automatic saddle jumper formation is preset in the function definition of the terminal (additional Saddle jumper option property). The following options are available in the drop-down list:

Automatic: Terminals lying next to each other on a terminal strip, and which are connected to each other in an arbitrary manner, are automatically connected with saddle jumpers.
Automatic, start of jumper: Start of an automatically generated saddle jumper. Prevents a saddle jumper being generated to a preceding terminal in the sorting order.
Automatic, end of jumper: End of an automatically generated saddle jumper. Prevents a saddle jumper from being generated to a subsequent terminal in the sorting order.
No automatic jumper: Prevents generation of saddle jumpers at both sides.

Note:

Manual saddle jumpers can be specified in the Edit terminal strip dialog. The settings for the saddle jumper are stored at that terminal that represents the jumper start. To this purpose the terminals dispose of the properties Manual saddle jumpers (internal) and Manual saddle jumpers (external).

Function definition:

Click [...] to open the Function definitions dialog. The function definitions are already filtered here, and only terminal definitions are offered. Select the desired terminal.

This field is synchronized with the Definition field in the Symbol / function data tab.

Main terminal:

If this check box is selected, the terminal is a main terminal and behaves in the same way as a main function. For example, for a main terminal the function templates are displayed in the terminal strip navigator, and a device selection can be performed. A terminal strip can contain as many main terminals as you want.

If the check box is not selected, the terminal is an auxiliary terminal.

Distributed terminal:

If this check box is selected, the terminal is a distributed terminal. A distributed terminal can represent one or more connection points on the terminal. The Connections tab is not displayed for distributed terminals.

If the check box is deselected, the terminal is complete, i.e. all the terminal function's connection points are shown on this terminal.

Properties group box

The following properties, among others, are available for terminals:

Terminal category: This property is used to characterize a terminal in greater detail. A terminal may be a feed-through terminal, isolating terminal, switching terminal, diode terminal, etc. This property is available in terminal reports and can be used there to output terminal graphics.
Allow same designations: You can use this property to specify that EPLAN should not display messages if multiple terminals have the same terminal designation. This can make sense, for instance, for PE / PEN terminals.

Note:

If you place the terminals in several representation types, you should not activate this setting and define each terminal uniquely. Otherwise there may be problems in global editing.

Terminal: Device position: Terminal devices (for example multi-level terminals) are identified through this property. All the terminals of a terminal device have the same device position. The sort code also specifies the order of the terminals within a terminal device.