Contents - Index

ATPDraw files


ATPDraw includes the following files and documents:
  • ATPDraw for Windows (ATPDraw.exe). Enables you to edit project files. Installation is not required; the exe-file can just be copied.
  • ATPDraw Help (ATPDraw.chm). Describes how to use ATPDraw for Windows. The file is a compiled HTML file.
  • Initialization file (ATPDraw.ini). Contains customizable program options. This file is stored in the %APPDATA%\ATPDraw directory.
  • Standard component library file (ATPDraw.scl). Contains zipped support files for standard components and TACS objects (299 in total). The support file contains information about the component data, node, icon and help.
  • In addition the Toolbar.cfg is a file on Delphi format used to store the customizations of the toolbar. This file is stored in the same location as the ATPDraw.ini file. When upgrading to a new ATPDraw version this file should be deleted, in order to reset the toolbar and main menu item correctly.

    Prior to version 5 the project files were zipped binary files (PKZIP 1 format) that contained information about the circuit, support file for non-standard components, and in addition external data files (models, user specified, bctran, lcc, xfmr, nonlinear characteristics). This is changed from version 5.

    Support files do not follow the project any more; when a component is added to the circuit the properties of the support file (icon, node and data layout) are copied to the the data structure and thus become component properties. These properties can later on be changed locally using the Edit Definitions button. A reference to the original support file is kept in the project though. 

    From version 5.0 the project file follows the PKZIP 2 standard. From version 5.4 the project contains a single compressed file:
  • The circuit (.$$$). All components with their data, icon, position and connections along with circuit specific data like the values found under ATP|Settings. External data files (mod, lib, bct, xfr) are now included directly into each component's data structure. 
    As default the project files have extension acp (ATP circuit project).
    When loading and building a circuit project all data (including lib-files) are stored internally in memory.

    The single project file (acp) is sufficient for distributing the data case to other users.

    When creating an ATP case (via ATP|Run ATP, or ATP|Sub-process|Make ATP file) all result files (lib-files + the main ATP file) is written to the same Result Directory as specified by the user. The default Result Directory is given under Tools|Options/Files&Folders-ATP folder, and a button on the toolbar is available to inspect and change it. Using ATP|Sub-process|Make ATP file will also change the ResultDirectory. The *.lib files (for lines&cables, user specified components, and windsyn components) are dumpted from memory to disk each time the case is created. There is thus no more any risk of file sharing conflicts with other open projects. Since all $include files are stored in the same directory using the same extension (.lib) the Insert $prefix and $suffix cards can always be checked from ATP|Settings/Format. In order to avoid conflicts in names between lines&cables and user specified components the latter is proceeded with the letter 'u'. This is user editable from ATP|Settings/Format.

    In the default directories the user can specify the structure of the global library. The specified paths appear as the default choice when the user tries to save data to disk (for instance when importing/exporting models, lcc, bctran, xfr, lib-files).