ok, Thanks again CAB. I will answer the question. And let me appologize now for the book that will follow.
All of the Rack heights that are listed in the code are the correct numbers. the 25, 30, 35, 40, 45 rack heights are the actually number of "panels" that each should have.
Rack units or RU's is just a way of designating the height of a rack in the industry.
The height of each rack unit is actaually 1.75" this is the actual size. This is also the size of the blocks that will be used in this program. SO....
Rack Height:
25 = 25ru's
30 = 30ru's
35 = 35ru's
40 = 40ru's
45 = 45ru's
any combination of numbers that can add up to those numbers are the amount of Panels that can be in a rack.
A "panel" is basically just another name for the Rack units. But a panel can be 1-12 ru's in height.....I know its confusing...so...the least amount of panels that can be in a rack with the height being 25 is:
(2) 12 RU's and (1) 1 RU panel = 3 total panels
the most Panels in a rack with the height of 25 is:
(25) 1 RU = 25 total panels
anything can be added together that will create the rack height number is the amount of panels that can be in that rack.
For example:
2+4+2+3+5+6+1+2 = 25 total RU's = 8 total panels
9+4+6+6 = 25 total RU's = 4 total panels
5+6+8+1+1+3+1 = 25 total RU's = 7 total panels
Each RU is basically stacked ontop of each other. so by saying Panel #1 is 3 RU's you are actually saying that Panel #1 is basically (3) 1 RU's on top of eachother....but, they are combined and not seperate peices of equipment.
Typically a VCR in a Rack is 1 RU, same for a DVD player...this means there would be a VCR in one panel and then a DVD in the next panel. if you were putting in a (tower) CPU in a rack you need more RU's cause of the size so maybe it would be 10 RU's for a CPU a 1 RU for the keyboard and mouse and 11 RU's for a monitor (ofcourse depending on the size).
So that would mean that the 10 RU's are one panel the 1 RU is one panel and the 11 RU's is one panel....and if you are using a 30 unit rack you still have 8 RU's left....that are blank or are for future expansion for network devices and such.
The name panel doesnt mean that there is actually something there, there might be 1 RU panel that is blank or there might be a 12 RU panel that is blank but these still need to be accounted for when desiging a rack.
This is the way I understood the Panels.
So when you hit the next button you are looking at the next panel and it starts
at the next unused Rack Unit which may be 2 to 13 depending on how many you allocated
to the first panel.
Somewhat correct...it should be "So when you hit the next button you are looking at the next panel and it starts
at the next unused Rack Unit which may be 2 to 13 depending on how many you allocated to the previous panel."
Do you find it necessary to keep track of which Rack unit you are at?
If by Rack unit you mean Panel #, then yes..but this is already accomplished....so I am assuming you mean "RACK" as whole, the caseing and the panels included...then this would be No. Once the the set up is completed and you hit Insert the process will be done and if there is another "Rack" that is needed then the ercc will be ran again.
I hope that clearified this alittle more. If not please let me know.
Now, As I played with new files...here is what I noticed.
The RU balance is great I like it...but it updates immediatly...can it update after you hit next? I was a little confused when I first saw this cause I thought the numbers were adding up wrong but in fact they are correct. What was confusing me was that the balance was always -1 of the rack height when first selected not realizing that 1 RU was being selected already. Maybe if the selection block was blank instead of haveing the 1 RU being the default selection. I tried to just add a "" in the list but it would still subtract 1 form the balance.
Also, can the RU's be linked to the Panel # (what you have called out as Page #)...so that if for example:
Panel #1 = 3 RU's hitting the next button would jump to the next availbe panel. In this case it would be Panel # (page #) 4
Also the Panel #'s (again what you have as Page #) needs to stop at the correct number of units. For some reason they all go 1 past the limit. I tried to fixed this by changing the p-max to 24 instead of 25 but I am not sure this is a correct fix.
I really hope this all made sense....I think it did...atleast in my head it did..
Uh...I think I just hurt my head!