Shared Objects Overview

A shared object is a design object that can be added to multiple designs but, physically, is one object.

Devices, plugs, jacks, inlines, ring terminals, nets, wires, splices, multicores, overbraids, highways, and single lines can all be shared objects. Shield terminations cannot be shared on their own, but do become shared objects if they are part of a multicore or overbraid that gets shared.

Once you have created a shared object, you can add instances of it to diagrams in any logical design in the project.

Note

To improve project performance, referenced designs for shared objects load on‑demand (specifically when the shared object is accessed on a diagram) rather than during initial project startup.

When opening a diagram for the first time that contains shared objects referencing multiple designs, you may experience a brief increase in load time while these designs are loaded.

If you have two separate harnesses (in separate designs) that will both connect to the same device, you must create the device as a shared device so that it can exist in both designs. Figure 10 shows an example where two separate harness connect to a jack on the same device.

Figure 10: Shared Device

Creating Shared Objects

To create a shared object you first create a non-shared object and then “promote” it to be shared. Shared multicores, shared overbraids, and shared devices and splices that are based on a symbol can also be created directly, without having first created a non-shared object. See Shared Devices and Connectors and Shared Conductors. Once you have created a shared object, you can add instances of it to diagrams.

Note

You cannot add an instance of a shared object until you have created the shared object itself. If there are no shared objects in your project, the Add Shared ribbon items are unavailable.

You can also create and manage Shared objects in Capital Project Manager. See “Shared Object” in the Capital Project Manager User Guide. In Capital Project Manager, you can create shared objects as parameterized objects (with pins but no symbol) or based on symbols.

Once you have created a shared device, plug, jack, inline or ring terminal you can edit its shared object definition (its pins, pin reservations, associated symbols and associated Capital Analysis models) in the Edit Shared Dialog Boxes. See Editing Shared Devices and Connectors.

Since instances of the same shared object can exist in different designs, shared objects have their own individual revision schedules which are separate from the revision schedules of the designs in which instances of shared objects have been placed. When you create a new revision of a design, the revision schedules of shared objects in the design are not affected. See Creating a New Revision of a Shared Object or “Creating a Design Revision” in the Capital Project Manager User Guide to create a new revision of a shared object or design.

Freezing and Unfreezing Shared Objects

You can freeze a shared object revision to prevent changes being made to it. When a shared object is frozen you cannot edit its shared object definition in Capital Logic Designer (though in Capital Project Manager you can still change the Pin Reservation Status of the shared object’s pins), you cannot edit its library part association and you cannot edit the properties or attributes of it, or of its pins. However, you can still add new instances of the shared object to diagrams, change the appearance of instances of the shared object on diagrams, place pins that exist in the shared object definition onto instances of the shared object and remove pins from instances of the shared object.

To make changes to the shared object definition, library part association, or properties or attributes of a frozen shared object, or the properties or attributes of its pins, you must unfreeze it or create a new revision of it and swap out (replace) the old revision with the new revision in the designs that you want to make changes to.

Note

You can only unfreeze a frozen shared object if your user account has the Unfreeze Shared Objects permission. See “Permissions” in the Capital Access Manager User Guide.

If you release a design revision using the Release Designs Dialog Box to a release level that has the Frozen Shared Objects release level behavior the shared objects in the design revision get frozen automatically and you cannot swap out shared object revisions on the design revision. You must change the release level to a level that does not have the Frozen Shared Objects behavior to swap out shared object revisions on such design revisions. See “Release Level Behaviors” in the Capital Project Manager User Guide.

Using Shared Objects in Designs

All the shared objects that exist in the current project are listed in the Shared Objects Browser. In the Shared Objects Browser you can freeze / unfreeze shared objects, create a new revision of a shared object and add an instance of a shared object to a design. On icons in the Shared Objects Browser and Design Browser a hand indicates that an object is shared and a blue snowflake indicates that a shared object is frozen. See Icons in Browsers. Cross-references can be displayed to indicate which designs other instances of a shared object have been placed on. See Cross-References on Objects or Pins.

You can use the pin reservation status of pins on shared devices and connectors to reserve pins for use on certain designs, or alternatively, to enable duplicate instances of pins to be placed in designs. See “Pin Reservation Status” in the Capital Project Manager User Guide. Additionally, on instances of a shared object in designs in the active build list you can place duplicates of pins placed on instances of the shared object in designs outside the active build list. See Place Pins Dialog Box [Shared Objects] for a description of the factors that affect which pins are displayed in the Select Pins table and can be placed on an instance of a shared object. You can also add reference pins to an instance of a shared object. See also Reference Pins.

Special Considerations

If a shared object has symbols associated with it, you can add a symbol as an instance of the object. Alternatively you can add instances of the shared object as a parameterized object.

Note

Like shared objects, Design-Wide Objects can also have multiple instances of the same object added to diagrams. However, unlike shared objects, design-wide objects are specific to a particular revision of a design and do not have their own separate revision schedule. All the instances of a particular design-wide object must be placed within the same design revision.

When copying and pasting an object to create a new instance of the same object, use Ctrl+Shift+V when pasting. See “Copying and Pasting an Object in a Diagram” in the Capital Design Tools - Common Functions User Guide.

Before you commit to sharing an object (to create a new shared object or a new instance of an existing shared object) or to make certain types of changes to a shared object that cannot be undone, a message is displayed to confirm if you want to continue. Creating or editing shared objects can cause changes across many designs in a project. If you are not sure that you want to continue, click Cancel. If you do decide to continue and do not want the message dialog box to display again, select “Don’t show again” before clicking Share, Share Into or Save.

Note

Any new property, when not present on the target shared object, gets automatically propagated and this is not reported in the Resolve tab on the Merge Into Dialog Box.

Additionally, Part Number attributes and all attributes that are sourced from library part are not populated.

Parent Topic:

Shared Objects

Capital Logic Designer User Guide, 2512

Unpublished work. © 2025 Siemens