StarGate
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Posts posted by StarGate
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Hello,
I am doing a lot of VectorScript programming. So if you have a problem, or you are stuck with something, feel free to ask. I will try to help you.
If you have a question, use my email address :
kristiaan.verberne@skynet.be
in that way I receive your question faster.
I wish you a nice day and much programming pleasure in VectorScript.
Friendly greetings,
StarGate
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Hello,
As promised in my last message I will give you the complete code for the group solution. You will find the complete code under this message. Copy and paste the complete listing in your VectorWorks VectorScript editor, draw an unlimited number of grouped, nested group objects and so on in your document. Give them different colors and you will see that when the script finished, all colors changed color. The dark colors have no meaning, they are the last group the script encountered. Inside the script the position is marked where you have to place YOUR code. You need to place the same code in two locations. Probably you can use a procedure call.
In case you have problems or need more information, feel free to contact me on the email address mentioned in the code listing.
I wish to thank Caleb Strockbine for his help on developing this script.
I wish you a very nice day and I hope you will enjoy working with VectorScript as I do.
With friendly greetings,
StarGate
Here is the complete listing :
procedure GroupTest;
{ This procedure goes inside a group and get the individual color properties of }
{ of the different members of the group, even when they are other groups. }
{ The number of groups which can be searched is unlimited }
{ Also note that the PARENT - CHILD relationship changes depending on the group }
{ on which another group is linked. }
{ I also have to admit that I never would succeeded in developing this script }
{ without the help of Caleb Strockbine of Nemetschek, which I thankfully accepted. }
{ StarGate - Email : kristiaan.verberne@skynet.be }
{ If you use and adapt this code, please let the message below untouched, thank you. }
{ In memoriam of all innocent and good people, who died on 11 september 2001 at W.T.C. }
{ Their sacrifice will never be forgotten and they will live on in our memories. }
var
hndLayer:handle; { Active layer }
hndObject:handle; { Selected object on active layer }
hndGroupParent:handle; { Parent group }
hndGroupChild:handle; { Child member of Parent group (member) }
LintRed:longint; { Red part of color only used to show result }
LintGreen:longint; { Green part of color only used to show result }
LintBlue:longint; { Blue part of color only used to show result }
begin
hndLayer := ActLayer;
hndObject := FSobject(hndLayer);
if hndObject <> NIL then
begin { There is an object selected... }
if GetType(hndObject) = 11 then
begin { and the selected object is a group }
hndGroupParent := FInGroup(hndObject);
while (hndGroupParent <> NIL) do
begin { process individual groupsmembers }
{ $$$$$$$$ BEGIN OF YOUR CODE for PARENT }
ColorIndexToRGB(100,LintRed,LintGreen,LintBlue);
SetFillBack(hndGroupParent,LintRed,LintGreen,LintBlue);
{ $$$$$$$$$ END OF YOUR CODE FOR PARENT }
hndGroupParent := NextObj(hndGroupParent);
if GetType(hndGroupParent) = 11 then
begin { There is another group present inside the parent group }
hndGroupChild := FInGroup(hndGroupParent);
while (hndGroupChild <> NIL) do
begin
{ $$$$$$$$ BEGIN OF YOUR CODE FOR CHILD }
ColorIndexToRGB(50,LintRed,LintGreen,LintBlue);
SetFillBack(hndGroupChild,LintRed,LintGreen,LintBlue);
{ $$$$$$$$ END OF YOUR CODE FOR CHILD }
hndGroupChild := NextObj(hndGroupChild);
end; { End while childgroup }
hndGroupParent := NextObj(hndGroupParent);
end; { End of childgroup }
end; { End While }
end; { End if GetType }
end; { End if hndObject }
end;
run(GroupTest);
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Hello Caleb,
Thank you very much for your help. I appreciate it very much. I will try it today and I will let you know the results.
You know, if I can help you with something, feel free to let me know. It will be done with pleasure.
I wish you a very nice day and all the best I can wish you.
Friendly greetings,
StarGate
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Hello,
Can anyone help me with the following problem. I have 3 objects grouped (circle, square and line). Without ungroup them, I have to go inside the group with VectorScript and get the individual properties (like Penfore, Penback, FillFore and FillBack).
Can someone tell me which VectorScript instructions I have to use to go inside the group, select the individual objects and get their properties for each of them. When this action is complete, they still have to be the same group.
I thought the following way. Move the group to an empty layer. Ungroup the group and select all the individual elements on that layer. Get their properties and after that select all objects again. Group them again and send this group back to their original layer and position. Then delete the empty layer again. This seems a rather complicated and no good method to me.
We use VectorWorks 8.5.2 on a Mac G4.
Please, can you help me. I will appreciate your help very much and I thank you in advance.
I wish you a very nice day and I hope to receive a solution for my problem. If I can help you with anything about VectorScript, feel free to ask, I will help you.
With friendly greetings,
StarGate
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Hello Marcelo,
Thank you for your appreciation, it was a pleasure to help you.
Friendly greetings,
StarGate
Email : kristiaan.verberne@skynet.be
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Hello,
I agree mostly with Mike except for the speed comparision. In my opinion a PC running Windows 2000 is much faster than a G4 / 733 Macintosh.
On my work we have an G4/733 and a Siemens Celsius 650 / 1 Ghz Dual processor workstation. The workstation is much faster despite Apple's claims that they have the fastest computer. Also at home I have a Siemens Scenic 860 Pentium III / 550 which outruns the G4/733. I searched a lot of what caused this lower speed on the Mac, only the necessary extensions are installed, no ATM or any other needless utility, still the G4/733 is a very poor performer in my opinion.
I came to the conclusion that there is a very great difference in the figures Apple gave us (they use processor performance figurs) and real life computing.
However, a G4/733 is a very fast machine and surely very good for using VectorWorks. However, if your boss can afford it, buy a G4/800 Dual processor because those will be the machines of the future. I am sure in the near future, you will be glad you did. And also to use VectorWorks smoothly, your RAM has to be 384 MB to be safe. When you use VectorWorks on a Mac, setup at least 150 MB to VectorWorks in OS 9.1. I found out that many Mac Errors type 1 - 2 - 3 disappear when you allow this hugh RAM memory to VectorWorks. I cannot explain why, maybe someone of Nemetschek can.
And indeed when you are used to a Mac, use a Mac. It will indeed saves your boss a lot of money on education. As a system administrator, I receive a lot of complaints when people have to switch their favourite systems they used to work. As a general rule, people who start working with us are asked which system they prefer. In this way we save money because they already know their computer, while we can help them with the real stuff of our company.
So I think it is best to see with which system you are most comfortable with. If you like to use Mac, choose a Mac otherwise choose PC. It is very important that you like the computer where you have to work 8 or more hours a day. When you are happy in your work, using the system you like, you can save your boss a lot of money because you can spend more time on your creativity than fighting a system that causes you a lof of difficulty.
I wish you very much success and very much VectorWorks pleasure.
Friendly greetings,
StarGate
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Hello Matthew,
I read your message on the message board. On this moment we still use VectorWorks 8.5.2. I tried a couple of days before to enter more than 64 characters in a worksheet cell. Regretfully I got stuck around 60. I typed by hand those characters in one cell. I can be wrong but I think that upgrading to VectorWorks 8.5.2 is not a solution.
Have a nice day and again thank you very much for your help in the past.
Friendly greetings,
StarGate
Dessel
Belgium
Europe
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Hello Keith,
Indeed I tried it out also and I get 60 characters (if I counted correct). Also the results are very unpredictable because I got at the end other characters than those I typed.
I think you have to do a little redesign to accomplish your task.. Try to use a database instead of your worksheet. Or maybe you can export your data outside VectorWorks for processing. We do so for our calculation program. I know it is a lot of work, but in the end it is worth the effort.
Try to export your data as a text file. Then use Visual Basic (on PC) or RealBasic on Macintosh to convert and calculate your data. With both programs you can create reports and you can store your data into a database.
In case you need more help with exporting your data, feel free to contact me again. If possible, please use my email address below.
have a nice day,
Friendly greetings,
StarGate
Email ; kristiaan.verberne@skynet.be
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Hello,
Indeed Mac OS X has dual processor capabilities, only one hitch; to make use of the second processor, programs has to be rewritten. If not, they only use one processor. However Mac OS X will use those two processor so your operating systems taks are faster.
Let us hope that Nemetschek will develop a multi processor VectorWorks.
Friendly greetings,
StarGate
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Hello,
If you find an tutorial and a lot of examples go to the following site :
http://www.nemetschek.net/support/custom/vscript/vsdex.html
and you will find everything you need. Have a nice day and very much pleasure discovering VectorWorks.
Friendly greetings,
StarGate
Dessel
Belgium
Europe
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Hello,
The company I am working for is making houses in massive wood. Now we like to add electrical symbols to the drawing so we can make based on the drawing the necessary one cable schemes. Also we like to make a list of all used electrical components at which an automatic order is placed to our suppliers. We have also to make a power line scheme, so the people who have to install the electrical installation know which component on what line and where it has to come.
I did a lot of thinking about this and I am sure it can be done with VectorWorks. I think I will attach a database record to every electrical symbol containing the price, and electrical information.
Does someone have experience with making such an electrical scheme? Can someone tell us how it is best done?
I will share every information of my findings with all the people on the message board.
I thank you for your corporation and I wish you a very nice day.
With friendly greetings,
StarGate
Dessel
Belgium
Europe
[This message has been edited by StarGate (edited 10-02-2001).]
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Hi,
We are using VectorWorks 8.5.2 NL. We are experiencing a very nasty problem with worksheets inside a VectorWorks document.
We developed a calculation document which calculate the prices of houses. So our designers draw the houses and the price is calculated in several worksheets.
We receive a lot of #CELVALUE errors randomly. Regretfully it is no human error or wrong code which is the cause of this error. One time all worksheets are working fine and another time those same worksheets get error #CELLVALUE.
We can fix the error by taking a new worksheet and copy the contents of the faulty one into the new one. Without any alterations the #CELVALUE error disappears in the copied version while remaining in the original one.
Early this year someone removed or renamed the document in the Macintosh finder while it was open and afterwards saved it. Since then we got those errors. We made a completely new document ("Nieuw") and copied everything into it. But we still get those errors.
Does anybody know how we can solve this nasty problem forever. Within a few weeks we will upgrade to 9.1, would this automatically solve our present problems?
We would appreciate your help very much because those errors cost us time and money. Can we contact someone from Nemetschek technical department?
We thank you very much in advance and wish you a nice day.
Friendly greetings,
StarGate
System-administrator Woods
Email : kristiaan.verberne@skynet.be
Dessel
Belgium
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Hi,
I read your message on the message board. I do a lot of VectorScript programming in Vectorworks 8.5.2.
If you like I can help you. Send me a message on my email address explaining what you like to know and I will send you some code as an example.
Have a nice day.
StarGate
Email : kristiaan.verberne@skynet.be
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Hi,
It is a shame that Apple build Dual processor Macs but that programs like Vectorworks do not use it. On my work we have a Dual processor Siemens Celsius workstation (2 x Pentium III /1Ghz). In a recent test among workstations, it was the fastest. And when I compare it to the Macs my collegues use (G4 dual processor 450 - G4 single processor 733), the Celsius is more than twice as fast (sorry Apple despite your speed figures which are based on processor speeds, real life computing shows very different results).
What use is the kind of dual processor Macs when most programs only use one processor? Programs as VectorWorks should use both processors to speed things up.
Despite Apple claims that the Macintosh is a graphic machine, for programs as VectorWorks you can best use PC workstations. They are much faster, far more reliable (the Celsius workstation never crashes, while the Macs do at least 3 times a day) and they fall into the same price category high end Macs do and at last, there are a lot more people who can help you if you have problems.
To end this letter, I work on both PC and Macintosh. And I like both computer systems very much. It was not my intention to discuss here which system is best. But in my opinion, every program should take advantage of the dual processors on the operating system level. It is very pitty that Apple relies on software developers to make use of the second processor. In that way development costs are raised for the developers while it keeps Apples costs and efforts down.
So the question we have to ask ourselves is the following : Do we like to accept the higher development cost for a dual processor version of VectorWorks? Because Vectorworks is a great program (in my personal opinion) my definite answer is YES!!! So I hope to see in the future a dual processor version of VectorWorks. In the meantime, keep up with the good work and use your creativity to make your work standout of the crowd.
Have very much VectorWorks fun!
Friendly greetings,
StarGate
(Vectorworks freak since 1994).
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Hello,
A couple of months we had the same problem as you. We are using VectorWorks 8.5.2. We found out that there is another cause of this problem.
If you are working on a VectorWorks document and rename it in the finder or Windows while it is open, your document will be damaged severly and becomes useless. The same applies if you move a document which is currently open in VectorWorks while you move it. Also while working on a network, never save a Vectorworks document along the network. It is safe to open it and view it. But when you have to save it again, use "save as..." and save it onto your local hard disk. If you save along the network and a network error occurs, your file will become also severely corrupted and useless.
In all the above instances, repairing the damage is no longer possible. So be warned!
Wish you a nice day and much VectorWorks pleasure.
Friendly greetings,
StarGate
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Hello,
I had also problems with Vectorworks 8.5.2. I contacted Nemetschek who solved our problem.
I think it is best that both of you contact Technical support of Nemetschek and ask them for a solution that works for you.
I received an answer in 3 days which solved all our problems.
I readed a message from several persons at Nemetschek that they take the printing problem very seriously and that this problem have the highest priority for them. So I believe them.
I hope you will find a solution for your problems very soon, so you can work again normally.
Friendly greetings,
StarGate
(Chrissy)
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Hello,
Can you help me with the following problem. We use VectorWorks 8.5.2. We like to fill a combobox (listbox) with all fontnames in the system. So on whatever computer our document is used, we got every time we call the script all the present fonts.
Is there a buildin function to get those fonts?
I thank you very much for your help.
With friendly greetings,
StarGate
(Chrissy)
[This message has been edited by StarGate (edited 06-14-2001).]
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Hello Mark,
Thank you again for your help. Regretfully on the moment it does not work for us because probably you have VW 9 and we have VW 8.5.2. We have to wait until september before we can upgrade to VW 9. However I am glad with your answer because now we know what we have to use in VW 9. It will be a great improvement.
I thank you for your time and I wish you a nice day.
Friendly greetings,
StarGate
(Chrissy)
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Hello Mark,
Thank you very much for your help. Your command worked without problems. Because this function was mentioned obsolete, we never tried it. However Nemetschek said that the funcntion
DoMenuText('wsRecalculate');
will be supported for two more versions (10 and 11). After that it becomes useless.
I thank you very much for your help and I wish you a nice day.
With friendly greetings,
StarGate
(Chrissy)
Dessel
Belgium
Europe
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Hello,
Can someone help us with the following problem.
We need to recalculate our worksheets withing VectorScript. We take the example in the VectorScript Function reference :
<b>DoMenuTextByName('WSRecalculate',0);</b>
But this doesn't work. VectorWorks tells us that the menu item cannot found. We are using <b>VectorWorks 8.5.2 NL (Dutch edition)</b>. We tried every combination but nothing works. And we desperatelly need this function because a <b>DoMenu(1500,NoKey);</b> does not work on the PC version (surprisingly on the Mac it still works).
We will appreciate your help very much because this is a very nasty problem for us.
We thank you in advance for your support and your help. We wish you a very nice day.
Friendly greetings,
StarGate
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Hello,
I readed the latest reply about using Worksheets to export your data. We are using VectorWorks 8.5.2 and worksheets on the moment to calculate our prices. Because we have so much trouble and problems with Worksheets in VectorWorks, we decided as you do now to use a database for calculating our prices based on the drawings of our designers. VectorWorks is a very good program but its worksheet capabilities are pre-historic in my opinion. But I agree with you, that your idea to do the calculations in a database problems is the best way to success.
Friendly greetings,
StarGate
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Hi,
Indeed it will be not easy to accomplish your task but I think it can be done. I think you have to export your data inside the database to delimited textfile so VectorScript can read that file. The other way back, you need again a textfile to export your data back to your database.
But you have to find a way to let both programs know that when there is a change in the drawing or symbol. I think you have to use an API Windows call to accomplish this, or you can design a program which monitors the activity in your document and your database program.
I am sure it is difficult to accomplish but I am also convinced that it can be done.
I wish you every success with this very interesting project.
Friendly greetings,
StarGate
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About the missing handles. We also experienced this problem with VW 8.5.2. We solved the problem with reducing the colors to 256. Maybe you can try this when the other methods do not work.
One note about those people who always complain about their Mac or PC platform. THE GRASS SEEMS ALWAYS GREENER IN OTHER FIELDS THAN YOUR OWN. I am working multi-platform and I can assure you that both PC and Mac platforms are fine.
starting out with V-Script
in Vectorscript
Posted
Hello,
I do a lot of VectorScript programming so maybe I can help you.
In case you need help, feel free to contact me. You can reach me on my email address mentioned below or here on the message board.
Also you can buy books about Pascal programming but in my opinion VectorScript is very different. And most times you have difficulty with VectorScript commands who are specific to VectorWorks. However a beginner book about Pascal can help to give you a general idea. But in the end there is only one way to succeed, doing it yourself and keep trying. Search for workarounds for problems you cannot solve directly. BE CREATIVE !!!
Wish you a nice day and many success with VectorScript.
Friendly greetings,
StarGate
kristiaan.verberne@skynet.be