Pat Stanford

Data Tags don't have the ability (easily) to report on anything except the object they are associated with or manually entered data. I don't think there is a way to get a drop-down list of viewports that you could select from. You could probably make a field that you could type into. Sorry.

Post the file so we can take a look please.

@Tom W. has the best option for now. Dimension Standards are not currently resources as of VW2023. Hopefully at some point in the future they will be. So either add the standards to your template file or a library file. The down side to this is that you have to open than file and Import the standard rather then being able to Export from the Resource Manager.

@Mike MoranExcellent point about have to Open the file to delete resources even though you can Export resources from the current file to any VWX file open or not. The Export can be very useful so you can make new Resources as you need them in the current file and once you are happy with them Export them to your "library" for reuse on future projects.

All Resources (including Text Styles and Title Block Styles) are stored in regular VWX files. Those files just have to be stored in the correct location so the tools know where to look for them. If you are doing custom things for yourself you are probably best off storing them in your user folder. If you need to share them with co-workers store them in the Workgroup folder. The Workgroup Folder can be on a shared network if you are all together or on a syncing service like Dropbox if you are working remote. Just make sure that you have those files set to sync to the local computer rather than be set to "online only" or something like that. They delay in accessing them from the cloud will cause issues. Finally, it is best to not store your custom content in the Application Folder. If you need to reinstall VW and forget to "salvage" your custom stuff first, it will be overwritten. If VW decides they need to change that file in a future update it will overwrite your custom stuff. It does not happen often, but it can happen. Personal library files in the User Folder or Workgroup Folder are better choices for Shared content that you want as "defaults". If you don't need something to show up as a style for a tool or as a default option you can just store it in a library file that you add to your Favorites in the Resource Manager for easy access.

The only thing I can think of is to edit the Design Layer Use Coinident Selection to select the item you need to tag Go to the Annotations, Tag the object. Repeat at necessary. I just tried this and it seems to work. I got two coincident objects each with their own data tag in a Viewport Annotations Group.

There is a Contextual Menu option called Select Coincident Objects. It has a 'helper' key of "J" in the stock Designer workspace. If you hold down J when you click on the object you will get a popup window that shows you the coincident objects and you can then click or arrow key and Return to select the object. The Data Tag tool will then preferentially tag the selected object. So you can either go to the Selection tool and then back to the Data Tag tool. Or you could do something like: With the Data Tag tool selected hold down the Space bar to get the activate the Boomerang mode. This will give you the Pan (Hand) tool. With the Space bar still down hit the X key to select the Selection tool. With the Space bar still down hold the J key and left click on the coincident objects to bring up the selection dialog box. Release the Space bar. This will return you to the Data Tag tool. Select the object to select from the dialog box. Click to add a Data Tag and Associate it with the selected object. It seems it should be easier. 😞

I believe that in hybrid objects with components, the Top/Plan view is normally set by the Attributes of the object. The 3D view is set by the Attributes of the Component. So if you set your component Attributes to By Class you should be able to override them. And you don't have to override the outer component, but any component that is specified By Class.

Complete guess, but it sounds like you are working from a blank file and the "Truss Defaults" have not been set for the file. If you work from a template file, add a truss object manually first so you get the dialog box to set the defaults. You can then delete that truss and save the template. Then when you bring in a Red Symbol truss it should not ask for the type. $0.02

It is doing exactly what it is supposed to do, but not what you want it to do. The difference is between the 2D and 3D views of a hybrid object. Duplicate your Plan viewport and set it to a Front view and update it. You will get both boxes showing thin lines which is what the 3D portion of the slabs is set to show. You are getting the thick line on the Section because you have the Section Viewport set to use the attributes of the Section Style class to show the section plane profile of the objects. Change the settings in Advanced Section Properties to be Separate Cross Sections and Use Attributes of original objects. Update the section viewport. You will now get both slabs showing in the section at the same thin line weight. You changed the left slab to use a thick line weight, but you did not change the component. It Is still set to use the thin Class line weight. Look at any view other than Top/Plan and you will see that the lines are thin. Change the Class attributes or the Component attributes to be a thick line weight and you will get what you are expecting. The Section Viewport can only show what you have set for the 3D portion of the hybrid object. HTH. Ask again if I need to explain it differently.

I think because it is not an XML It is a TXT and the code is not designed to handle "comments".

And Ashot is a structural engineer with a lot of experience in steel. 👍

I don't know what the last two values are either. Based on reviewing the data for the Wide Flange object from the Detailing Palette which I think uses the same source for the original data file, the 0.75 is probably the filet radius on the connection between the Web and the Flange and the last value would be the width of the bottom flange if you were using a beam with different flange widths. @JuanPI don't know who else to ask. Can you please get someone to point us to the column definitions for the StructShape_WFlange-Inch.txt file. Actually it would be best if the column definitions for every StrucShape file and all of the structural shapes in the Detailing palette were listed somewhere in the documentation.

Post them here and someone should help.

VW does a lot of different modeling options, but what you are trying to do is Solid Modeling. After you cut the hole the object should be called a Solid Subtraction in the Object Info Palette. You can edit the history of the object by using the Edit Solid command from the Modify menu. Edit Solid and you should now see the cube and the object that was created to cut the hole. Select that object and delete it or move it to where you need it to be. Then click the Exit Solid Subtraction button at the upper right of the screen. If you model more steps you can continue to select objects and Edit Solid to get as far back in the history as you need to go. Nothing we can do about her university not helping, but Universtiy.Vectorworks.Net has as lot of good videos on how to accomplish things in VW. Also, please don't assume that you will do things in VW the same way you do them in other programs. That is a path to frustration. HTH.