ccroft
-
Posts
522 -
Joined
-
Last visited
Content Type
Profiles
Forums
Events
Articles
Marionette
Store
Posts posted by ccroft
-
-
Thanks for trying it out and posting back.
later
c
-
Jody
I don't use door schedules, but I do this all the time with other objects that have records. Create the schedule in 'Master' file (is this known as the target?) and the worksheet will list everything in the file that's coming in from another file, as well as anything actually in the file.
I think this is the same thing as what Jim's talking about. I'm just not sure which file is called the target file. Who's shooting at who?
Charles
-
Hey Bob
Did you try ResetObject(tempHandle) in there instead of the dormer creation/deletion?
charles
-
Hey Mon
I'm pretty sure Bob is familiar with the function reference. Judging by some of his scripts I'd say he's used it a few thousand times :-)
Perhaps you, like me, are thinking that the only thing to do is go back to a simplified version and make sure that this code snip can draw a roof in the new version. Maybe try a simple script palette.
Bob
I've been watching this post, and I feel your pain. I have some tools that are versions old that are problematic now. Fortunately for me the glitches are much less fatal than yours. I just work around them. Maybe someday I'll go back in there and see what's goin on.
I guess there's not much chance that 'Eave' is now a reserved word or something.
Just wanted to give a little support. Hope you get some relief.
Charles
-
Bryan
Sorry, that's not what I meant to imply. What I was trying to say is that this 'block' must have some dimensions associated with it. A parametric object draws itself based on parameters such as height and width. Almost anything can be defined as a parameter that the object can use to adjust it's appearance. EG a fastener parameter could draw zipper or buttons or none depending on a choice field. Or... how bout a lapel length field in the OIP?
In the case of your constraints, one line can be linked to another with any kind of geometric relationship you can imagine. Multiple branching if/then logic is available as are all the arithmatic functions. If you can think of how to quantify the logic, a parametric object can look at itself and report how much material and labour it may take to build it.
The point of my post was to encourage you to investigate what can be done with v-script, and not to approach it as something esoteric and "labour intensive", even if the learning curve is steep.
A complete suite of clothing design plugins....very interesting. Vectorworks Tailor perhaps?
I also think you should see what Gerard has for you. He knows his stuff.
later,
charles
-
Ray's talking about being able to EDIT a rotated rectangle like you can an un-rotated one.
-
I've no idea what it is you're drawing, but it totally sounds like a parametric object. The kind of constraints you seem to be talking about are easily expressed in vectoscript. And much more powerful logic can be built in as well. Instead of input from a worksheet (which is currently not possible in Vectorworks without the use of script), you would be entering values in Object Info.
You should consider learning v-script. It's labor intensive to begin, but once you get a *Handle* on the language it's quite facile. I began with no experience whatsover with any programing language, but with a little help from the likes of Mr Jonker I've been able to make many custom tools,commands and objects. If you like solving puzzles at all it can be quite rewarding.
I hope you've contacted Gerard and had a look at his offering. Hopefully he's not encrypted it and you'll be able to open it in a text editor to get some idea how v-script is written.
Good luck!
Charles
-
The basic recipe your home-brew might look roughly (very) like this:
PROCEDURE ClassStyle;
PROCEDURE SetTheDamnThings(h :HANDLE);
BEGIN
SETRFIELD(h, pioName, fieldToChange, newValue);
SETRFIELD(h, 'Door'?, anotherField, newValue);
SETRFIELD(h, 'Window'?, yetanother, newValue);
etc;
etc;
and so on;
END;
BEGIN
ForEachObject(SetTheDamnThings, T = (see appendix in function ref for object types);
END;
Run(ClassStyle);
TIP: A good way to get criteria constructs that might be more complex than above is to use 'Custom Selection' menu command to make a script, and copy and paste that off the script palette (option/click for access to text).
-
Hi Vector
Windy in Bellingham today? Howling over here in Victoria.
I think you should take a look at 'Info Editor' here:
http://softwarecustomizationservices.com/
You might want to take a look at a thread just above this forum in WishList titled something like 'Editing PIO's en Masse" that discusses this tool.
It looks it will do want you want (and a lot more), but I couldn't tell from the documentation if it does class styles for sure.I'm almost certain it does. I don't use doors and windows, but I'll probably get this anyway.
There's not much chance you or I could write a more powerfull and flexible tool.
However, if you want to try I can help send you in the right direction. Check back in a day or two. And if you do get InfoEditor, let us know what you think.
I assume you've read the v-script language guide in help?
Later
Charles
-
Hey Willof
Some of us have had probs with cutting or deleting while in groups, including viewports. One thing that at least 3 of us have in common is that we were all using old templates. In my case going back to V8. I haven't seen this since remaking a fresh template from a blank doc.
The idea is that something in the template has been corrupted at some point in the updating that happens when old files are converted for the new version.
It was a pretty random crash for me, so I'm not 100% sure yet that it has been solved.
Are you still using a template from an earlier version?
Charles
-
Memory handling error? I'd head over to VersionTracker, download Rember and run continuous Ram test for a few hours. Flakey ram does happen, and with 3 gigs you have a higher risk than some, especially if you've gotten it from third party vendors.
Good Luck!
Charles
-
Thanks Miguel. The array just happens to be the way I've done it before and so I already have some of those routines. In this case there's no sorting, so you're right, it isn't actually needed. And you touch on my concern about size. It sounds like this would be 7,800 x 10. I've never been in that territory. If he sends me the stuff this may be one of the things I'll learn about!
-
OK then...
Lyle: If you would like some help, email the drawing and excel file to chacroATshaw.ca.If you're working in VW12 you'll need to export it as a V11.
I have a bit of spare time and the weather report for the next few days isn't too enticing. Maybe I can do something for humanity and learn a thing or two as well.
Charles
-
Back to the records. My understanding so far is that we have a drawing with 7,800 polygons in it, each with one record already attached and a name showing in the data pane. I'm wondering about that record format. It sounds like you have some number of fields named by type. These are boolean fields then?
If I'm right so far, the script looks at a polygon's name, finds it's name in the database, looks to see what artifact types are associated with that name and ticks off the appropriate fields in the polygon's record. If that's all we're doing this should be fairly straightforward.
Petri: Have you ever built an array with 7,800 locations? I've never worked with one that big and don't know the implications.
Charles
-
Lyle
How many artifact Types are there in total?
My guess is there's more than one artifact type associated with each feature....is that correct? In this case I would think class visibiliy would be fairly useless, since each feature could only have one class/type.
Could you have layers for each type and turn polygons off and on with saved views? A script could quite easily duplicate and move polys to their appropriate layers. This way a feature could have more than one type associated.
If all you finally wish to achieve is the ability to turn polygons on and off according to their type, this might be worth considering. For one thing it would eliminate the need for records. I don't know if you want them in the drawing for some other purpose though.
Sorry to be asking so many questions, but they are all pertinent to the task. The first step is to understand precisely what you are trying to achieve. Do you wish to do more with the VW file than simply make various polygons appear and disappear according to their type?
Charles
-
I'm not sure how to 'run' VW from an outside data base, but what you asked for in your original post can be done. It would be anywhere from difficult to impossible depending on the structure of your spreadsheet, and the structure of your drawing. I think this is what Petri is talking about regarding names.
The script would need to read a line of the spreadsheet and know which object to assign that info to. So if you have given each of the features a name that exists in that row, you're most of the way there.If there is co-ordinate info the row, and it correlates to the 'feature's' position in the drawing, that may work as well. If you created the objects in EXACTLY the same order they are listed in the spreadsheet, that could also be used.
Some other things about your task that aren't totally clear to me. Is there more than one 'artifact' in each 'feature'? Are these represented as objects in the drawing? Will each 'artifact' have a record attached, or is there one record attached to the feature with a field for each artifact. How many columns are in the spreadsheet? Will every cell need to be read into a record?
Once you have the record info properly placed, you could do your searching within VW. For example, you could have the script assign classes to the artifacts and turn them on and off using simple class visibilities. You could use the built in custom selection command to create scripts to select objects that have record fields that match whatever criteria ("Select all objects whose record field Type is 'Chevron Surface'") and then do whatever.
Just some ideas, some of which you've probably considered. In any case, this script would be specific to your task and how you have set things up to this point. I'm sure you're not too pumped about redrawing 7,800 polygons!
If you have no knowledge of V-Script, or no experience with another language, I would venture to say that it could take you almost as long to get a working tool as it wouldl to manually enter all the info. But once you have learned how to build this tool you will be able build many others.
Does your budget allow for hiring a programmer?
In all sincerity,
Charles
-
Can't you just double click on the call-out?
-
Sorry for the confusion on 2 accounts.
I am not Charles Chandler (My last name is Croft)
And while last nite I was sure that I was seeing this en masse editing, today I am not. Believe it or not I thought that I had confirmed it a few times. And no, I didn't stop at the pub on the way home.
What got me going was Christian talking about libraries of PIO's. I don't use vWorks for architecture, and so I don't know about wall styles and rarely use window or door PIO's. Sorry for jumping in.
I can agree, however, that the ability to edit plug-ins as described by Pete would be a powerful feature. I guess the behavior I hallucinated yesterday was just wishful thinking! If there was a link between a PIO inserted from a symbol as a PIO to that symbol definition, then what I described would be quite useful. The problem is that the instances of this PIO would have to know which symbol it came from, and keep a watch on that definition for any changes.
I do understand enough about how the program works to know better. How can a plugin know where it came from?
Carry on!
Charles W Croft
-
I'm sure you guys already know about creating symbols from a PIO and setting insertion options to "Convert to PIO". If you insert multiples of this symbol and then edit the symbol, you'll see all the parameters of the PIO in the OIP. Changing any of these will change all the PIO's that were inserted from this symbol. At least that's how it works here. Not sure how wall styles work cause I've never used them.
Kinda sounds like what Christiaan is asking for. I keep libraries of pre-configured PIO's saved as symbols and set to insert as PIO's. This has the added advantage of not having to re-set the params for often used configurations....multiple defaults if you will.
Later
Charles
-
I have run into this, but only under very exact circumstances. If ALL the components of the symbol are grouped AND the insertion options are set to 'Convert to Group', the record won't stick. I guess the record gets confused about which group to attach to.
If you edit the symbol and deselect Convert to Group the record will stick.Also if you edit and add an element outside the group the record will stick.
I'm not sure why you would construct a symbol as a goup that inserts as a group. It's only happened to me by mistake, but I just tested this in 11.5 to be sure cause it sounded familiar.
-
Hmm....pogostick PIO...
Petri, would it be possible write this such that if boolean param 'Jump' is true a param 'How High' would be enabled?
:-)
Charles
-
=12.75 DIV 1+1 will return 13 in a worksheet cell.
DIV returns the quotient...throws away the fraction. It needs to be separated by spaces.
=12.75 DIV 2+1 will return 7
Hope that works for you
Charles
-
Joe
While you may have the correct syntax for the formula, it still has to match the criteria. So if your criteria lists all objects with record name 'Info' and your formulas are looking for record fields that don't exist, you'll get no data.
I'm afraid I can't be of much help with wall data specifically, cause I'm not an architect and don't use walls. I do, however, depend on worksheets for a ton of other things. Just keep applying boneheaded determination, and they will bend to your needs. Worksheets are hugely powerful in my world.
BTW...looks like we're neighbours!
Charles
-
To see the formulas, click 'Database Headers' under the downward pointing rectangle at the top of the first column. Then click in the other columns accross from the empty triangles on the left to see formulas.
To see the criteria that sets which objects will be listed, highlite the database
header and go to 'Edit Criteria' under the downward triangle.
To refresh the list choose 'Recalculate'.
If your formulas aren't returning data it's because there's something wrong with the syntax of the formula. Field names are very literal.
I personally think the best way to get a handle on database worksheets is to start from scratch and make a couple of simple ones. Seems to me that a lot of people go with 'Create Report' and then don't know where to go from there.
Hope that helps
Charles
door schedules
in General Discussion
Posted
I'm not sure Jody, but I think you need to play around with the sort and sum widgets some more. You can have up to 3 in a database header. I can usually get the kind of sorting I need, even though I don't fully understand how these things actually work. I just add,remove and drag em aroung til I get what I want.