panta rhei

At least Finnish and Australian authorities do not appear require this, either. At least urban planners and road engineers work quite happily with AutoCAD or MicroStation in Cartesian coordinates.

Writing one or more little scripts might be a solution for you. I'd imagine that some 20 lines of code would do the job.

Fair enough, but I'm not at all sure if this is a productive approach. Records and linked text are intended to be used for dynamic data (ie. that which may change between instances of the symbol.) The symbol name shoud, I think, be just static text. There's no added value in having that in a record and in addition, one could inadvertently change it. It is doable & quite easy, but since you have to create the linked text in each symbol definition (even with copy & paste), you won't save much time. Well, unless the relative location of the label is identical in which case the same script could create the linked text, too. Finally, linked text does not wrap so with long symbol names there may be problems.

This makes sense, sort of, technically, but once again emphasises & underlines the sad fact that VWA is not intended for international use. Here in Finland we are, by a national standard, required to have titleblocks with attributes with certain names when we submit digital files in DWG-format. Not to mention other content and the layout of the titleblock. Yes, Finland is a minuscule market... And so shall it remain. Having something like this to be defined by the user would be so simple. Well, at least similar things are simple for me in my PIOs.

Is it? OK... Yes, you're correct. I must've looked at some 3rd party displays.

How do you know? OK, here's another script: MESSAGE(GETPREF(10002)); If it returns TRUE, the script has worked - which does not mean that it would have had the desired effect... Apologies for flippancy. I'll go and install the SP into my MacBook.

Not necessarily. I don't think there is support for resolutions above 1920x1200, which is the native resolution of most 24" displays. With 30" or above, the pixels are just larger. (One may even be able to read the OI..)

Wrong renaming suggestion? I think it should be one of these .vss (preferable) .px .txt

VW 11.5 was released in 2004. Four years is a long time... Skipping two upgrades woud seem expensive. However, I understand that with many other programs it is not even possible and you'd have to go to square one, buying new licences. Another dimension to this is that due to the evolution of software, learning new tricks can be a problem if there is more than one missing link. Of this I have recent experience as a friend of mine, who last used VW 11, but in VW 9 fashion, finally upgraded to VW 2009 (actually bought it for her new employer.) After a couple of months, she is still not the least bit amused. She is not a full-time CAD user and never has been, not to speak of being a power-user, but has used MiniCAD since version 3. She'd like to have VW 9... I'd like to have Microsoft Office X instead of 2008 and would not mind having Word 3 or at least 5... And I definitely can't run WordStar, dBase II or SuperCalc on Leopard! So, as a global, regional and local training & implementation Jack of all trades except Show Business, I really recommend getting at least every second upgrade. It'll save you money! (I don't have to be reminded of cash flow issues - my Bank Manager does that on behalf of this Brave New Community - and I do not sell VW. For my training business, skipping as many upgrades as possible is good since then there is a really big cat to be skinned.)

(What is in a name? A Door by any other name...) Besides, the name 'Door' may be used by something else than an object in the drawing (including an unused symbol definition). Try a script instead: MESSAGE(GETTYPE(GETOBJECT('Door'))); You will get a number. The VectorScript Function Reference has an appendix which lists object types and their numbers. If you are sure that you don't need the whatever it is, another script will kill it: DELOBJECT(GETOBJECT('Door'));

You're most welcome! Hey, I've written a MapInfo export filter for VectorWorks but I don't expect either NNA or MapInfo to take responsibility of its functionality. Or users who do not have it, to be able to help in any way. If ArchiCAD cannot produde valid DWG-files, complain to Graphisoft. If VW cannot import a valid DWG-file, then complain here. If your translator fails, throw a tantrum in private.

Pray tell me how NNA could possibly certify trainers in the tens of countries VW is sold in... Already at present, two thirds of the users are outside North America and my totally uneducated guess is that growth, if any, will take place in minuscule markets. There may well be reevant ISO accreditation systems, but they cost easily tens of thousands (in Euros) to implement & get accreditation. I have the feeling that few VW users would pay 200 ? per hour for training (the average charge of a Microsoft Certified N or S engineer.)

Those translators... If you've created them... Well, they're your responsibility! I have reports telling me that occasionally even ArchiCAD generates valid exchange data.

Yes, so it seems. There is no "perimeter" for a 3D poly but surely the OI should report the actual "length" of one, shouldn't it? Yes, yes: the sum of lengths of 3D edges...Do you really think that I don't have a script for quantifying this? Unfortunately Mr. NNA finds this too hard.

BIM may well be happening, but it's obviously not paying. At least not to employees... Well, one who pays peanuts, gets squirrels.

What a Krazy Kat...

Jeffrey, 1. Aren't you obfuscating things? 2. Does BANG! work? In the past, it certainly did not. 3. When rebuilding formulae, one needs, if effect, rebuild the logic. 4. By forgetting Excel, one can really excel.

Your Colour Laser - does it have a duplex unit? I'm sure that in Sweden "bank notes" will be accepted even as photocopies (the paper is worth more than the nominal value), but here in the Euro region, real bank notes are still worth something and even a convenience store expects them to resemble real money (an image on both sides) instead of play-currencies such as kroner, lira or peseta. And wuddayaknow! You found an alternative and saved an Euro!

Yep. Simple and efficient BIM. However, the missing link is a Footing object that reports the length (& volume). (Or is there one? In my kit there is...) Anyway, I think I need to point out that a Floor can have a hole in it, so the Footing of the Carnegie-Mellon University Foundation Wall can look like a real foundation. Footprint. Offset duplicate. Offset duplicate. Clip surface. Floor - and Bob's your uncle! Mind you: the footing thus created can be made an IFC footing. But only (I think) in VW.

In long: You can export the data as a text file. Then figure out how many rows and columns you have. Then set up a worksheet. Then import the dumb data. Then format it. Unlike similar importing facilities by 3rd party developers, the standard issue "Import Workheet" can't even figure out the dimensions of the table. Not that any formatting or features would ever be achievable. But I think I'll continue this rant elsewhere and broaden the subject to overall ODBC connectivity once again. (Open Database Connecivity. Excel can do that. FileMaker Pro and Access can do that. VW cannot, because it is not "our focus". Quote - unquote.) So, all in all, I would recommend rebuilding your scheduling system in VW. You may even be positively surprised: you can link the schedule to Space objects.

In short, no, Except as a PDF.

Does it really? Well, why didn't you say so in the first place?

Well, that depends. (I have no idea what a CMU is. Google offers Carnegie-Mellon University and Central Michigan University.) Ideally you would use a Footing object. Whoops - there is no such thing, so that must be why I created one! Floor in a class & on a layer might be the next best thing before sliced bread. Should work nicely in Section Viewports, too.

A splendid idea! Thanks, Pat! I keep losing especially worksheets. Made this once: PROCEDURE RescueWS; CONST top = 100; left = 100; bottom = 500; right = 500; VAR worksheet : HANDLE; BEGIN worksheet := GetTopVisibleWS; { ie. the one selected from the menu } SetWSPlacement(worksheet, top, left, bottom, right); END; RUN(RescueWS);

The Macintosh Calculator does currency conversions. But it might be possible to write a plug-in object that would connect to an Internet calculator...