How Do I Get My Supplier's Catalog?

You can use Plandroid just with the demonstration catalog to generate attractive plan diagrams, but naturally the program is much more powerful when you are working from your supplier's real catalog. When you use your supplier's catalog, you are using the correct part numbers and prices. Plandroid comes with a large number of part and unit catalogs as part of the installation. However, if a catalog has been newly released or updated since the last program release, you can download and install the latest catalog version from the website.

Downloading a Catalog

The latest catalog versions will always be available for download from the website on the Catalogs page. You can check the catalog release number on the website to see if the version is later than the one you have on your system, which will be shown under the menu item Tools -> Select Catalogs. On the catalogs web page, click on the Download link for the catalog you require and note where you save it. If the catalog is in .zip format, you will first need to unzip it using your preferred unzip program (for example, in Windows 10 right click on the file name in your file explorer, and choose Extract All).

Installing a Catalog

To install a new catalog follow these steps:

Start the Plandroid application
Go to the menu item Import -> Catalog or Icon File
Browse to where you saved (or unzipped) the downloaded catalog, and press the Open button

The new catalog will now be copied into Plandroid's catalog directory, along with any new icons that were in the subdirectory <CatalogName>_Images. The new catalog can be selected as an active catalog and used immediately.

Creating a New Catalog

If your catalog is not yet available on the Plandroid catalog download page, you can request that we provide the catalog for you. We do aim to provide as wide a range of catalogs as possible, although this service is not automatically included as technical support under an ordinary licence. Will need technical and pricing information on the items going into a catalog, so you would normally need to contact your parts supplier and ask them to contact us at catalogs@plandroid.com to arrange for their catalog data to be made available.

Using the Catalog Editor

Plandroid comes with its own dedicated catalog editor that you can access from the menu item Tools -> Catalog Editor. This allows you to create and edit your own catalogs, or modify the supplied catalogs. However, this is does require some technical skill and background knowledge of the Catalog File Structure. Also note that any catalog must be digitally signed by DelftRed Simulation Technology before it can be used generally.

Licences can be locked to a supplier

Plandroid supports a licence mechanism whereby the program can be locked to one or more specific suppliers. With such a restricted licence, the program can only be used with parts or units catalogs from the allowed supplier. You can check if your licence is locked to a specific supplier by looking at your licensing information in the menu item Help -> Licensing Info.

All Generic catalogs can still be read with a locked licence.