Pat Stanford

Perhaps we could get the long dash enabled as a kind of "unit mark". That would provide the visual separation, but not be interpereted as a mathamatical operator. Actually on second thought, that is a really bad idea. How confusing would it be to try to always use the right dash. If you entered 1?1/16" it would be right, but if you entered 1-1/16" you would get 15/16". I don't think the visual difference between the two is as great in most fonts as it appears in this post. Pat

A viewport is just a set of Layers and Classes visibilities (Plus some other things) that act as an object. If you have the design layer set to look the way you want the viewport to look, and create the viewport from the Design Layer, all of those settings are included automatically. If you create the viewport directly on the sheet layer, then you have to manually set all of the settings. No matter where you create the viewport, you have all of the same controls over the content and apperance once it is created. Pat

Copyright is boilerplate (something that just gets added to every document). I should probably switch to Creative Commons and use a Share Alike for scripts I post here. Dimensions do not respond properly to the same code that works for other objects, so I check for them and handle them separately. I had gotten to the point of Dims not working and went searching my archives. Gerard Jonker had posted a script (via Matt Panzer) to the VectorScript List last week that supposedly does the same as mine, but must do much more because it is about 200 lines long. I noticed that he had pulled the dims out separately and this gave me the key I needed to make it work. Pat

In the Worksheet, there is a SUM icon at the top. Select the header row of the schedule and then drag the SUM icon to the column(s) that you want to sort by. You can edit the schedule as much as you want. Select a cell in the header row and you can see the formula for the cells in that column. CHange it as you need. To add addtional columns, click on the little black triangle at the top left of the worksheet. If you need to change the doors shown in the schedule (only doors on first floor for example), click and hold on the row header (e.g. 2) for the database and select the Edit Criteria option. Pat

It was the critical thing. For a texture to show on an object, it must have a solid fill (any color). No fill, no texture. I am not sure exactly how or why you ended up with NURBS. I took a wide flange, ungrouped it and got a polyline. I then extruded it and went in to edit the profile. It was still a polyline. You must have converted the extrude to NURBS. I don't think that gets you any real benefit unless you need to texture different sides of the beam with different colors/textures. If you leave it as the extrude, you will have an easier time editing the profile and length if changes are necessary. Pat

Double check your profile object. It is probably not a closed polygon/polyline. If it is a polygon, make sure the closed check box is checked. If it is a polyline, use the arrows in the OIP to step around each vertex. Look for the button that says Hide Next Edge to change to Show Next Edge. If so, click the button to show that edge. Repeat around the entire object. Then make sure that the object is assigned a fill in the Attributes Palette. Pat

David I think that what you suggest will only work if all of the layers are at the same scale. If you have multiple scales in the drawing, you would have to repeat for every different scale. You would also have to go in and do any viewport annotations separately. I think, that the script will handle all of the above challenges directly. Pat

How about this script. It will replace the font of every object with the current default system font. Thanks to a script by Gerard Jonker for a hint about handling the Dimensions separately. ========================= Procedure ChangeAllFonts; {Changes all of the fonts in a document to the current default font} {? 2007 Coviana, Inc.} {Vectortasks Training - www.vectortasks.com} {PodCAD Podcast - www.podcad.tv} Var H1:Handle; DefaultFont,TextLength,Kind:Integer; S1:String; Procedure ChangeFont(ThisObject:Handle); Begin Kind:=GetType(ThisObject); If Kind <>63 then Begin TextLength:=Len(GetText(ThisObject)); SetTextFont(ThisObject,0,TextLength,DefaultFont); End else Begin SetObjectVariableInteger(ThisObject,28,DefaultFont); ResetObject(ThisObject); End; End; Begin DefaultFont:=GetFontID(GetPrefString(100)); {Get the ID of the active font} ForEachObject(ChangeFont,(INSYMBOL & INOBJECT & INVIEWPORT & (ALL))); RedrawAll; End; Run(ChangeAllFonts); ===================== Pat

They already did that at least once. Back in MiniCAD 4/5/6 (I don't remember exactly which one), the grand piano symbol shipped with the long side on the right. Pat

Petri, It might be worth trying to change the field type again. In VW12.5 the Space Object shipped with the Volume as a text object. It still seemed to work fine with it converted to a number. Perhaps the same would apply to the table/chairs. Pat

Select the header row of the database. Drag the sum icon down to the column header. Repeat for the second column. Pat

My 1 GHz G4 Powerbook takes about 40 seconds to load designer. Pat

Try putting a sum icon in both the type and length columns. Add an additional column with a function of =count The other possibility would be to add an additional field to your record format that would specify exactly the type and lenght together and use that to do the summary. To set a record to be attached to every instance of a symbol, your first create the symbol then edit it. Deselect everything and then attach the record and set the "defaults" for that symbol. Exit the symbol. When you next place an instance of the symbol, it will have the record attached. Instances that have already been placed will not update. Thanks to Julian Carr for the background on this functionality. I stole this from a post he put on the VectorList back in 2006. Pat

I agree. Not only the name, but all of the basic information about the selected object(s), [number of object, object type, name] should be available a the top of every pane. Panes are really a pain. Pat

While the fact that bugs that effect your work are certainly frustrating, please take a step back and consider how much work goes into a release of VW. Have you never sent out a drawing, only to have someone point out an error that you missed? Or sent out a document with a typo on the first page? That is the kind of thing we are talking about. With the thousands of different hardware and software combinations that exist, it is impossible to test every option in every way on every system. Does NNA every choose to ship a product with known bugs? Yes, absolutely. Do they like to do so? I don't think so. They have a pretty good record of fixing the things they can, and the field length bug should be fixed soon. All of the people I know at NNA (dozens) are hard working and really care about what they do. But they are limited by the same kind of time and resource constraints that effect all of us. And it really does not help to make you case and get you bug fixed sooner by being nasty and claiming that they have done this on purpose. Pat

After taking a look at the file, I can unequivicably state that we are both right!!! VW does correctly put the Volume units in when formated to do so and the column contains a number. Your formula of =(space.volume) is the correct one to get the data you want. The problem is that there is a bug in the Space Object!!! The Volume parameter is formatted as Text rather than a Number. This means that you are getting a column of text where you think there should be a number and the volume units are not showing. Two possible work arounds: 1. Go into Tools:Scripts:Plug-In Editor. Select the Space plug-in. Click the Parameters button. Scroll down to and hihglight the row that says Volume. Click Edit. Change the Type from Text to Number. Click OK. 2. Put in a different formula. Instead of using space.volume use (Space.Area)*(Space.'Extrusion Height') This has a minor difference from the space. volume, probably due to rounding errors, but it does not seem like much. Pros and cons: 1. Pros: Fixes the problem. Seems to be stable. Cons:Fix will have to be repeated every time the Space plug-in is updated. If you are already on 12.5.2, there will probably not be more updates and this should not be a problem. 2. Pros: Must remember and use the more complicated formula every time. Cons: Slight Rounding Error. In either case, the Space object has been substantially reworked in VW2008, so this does not appear (tested) to be a problem there. space.volume shows the unit marks OK in 2008. Pat

Take another look at your volume formula. The number in the database header is 29 Cu. Ft. I bet you have 29 rows in you database. The number in the database header is normally either a count of the number of items in the column if the items are not numbers, or the sum of the column if they are numbers. The "value" in row 2.1 is 328.7. This is way more than the "sum" of 29 that I would expect. I think your formula is somehow returning a string rather than a number. The worksheet can then not apply the formatting to it becasue it is not a "number". Pat

I can't duplicate your problem here on a PPC OS 10.4.10 Designer w/ RW 12.5.2. Check that the formula you are using is truly generating a number rather than text of digits. The column header of 29 looks like the number of items, not the total which it would give if you had numbers in the column. Pat

How about a slightly longer routine that will do the check for you? Procedure Test; Begin If VerifyLibraryRoutine('Fit to Window') then DoMenuTextByName('Fit to Window',0) Else DoMenuTextByName('Fit to Page Area',0); End; Run(Test); Pat

The other useful source if the VectorWorks Mail List. It is similar to this forum, but runs as email. You can sign up on the NNA web site, under the Community section. Pat

I doubt you will like the end result of this, but here is another option. The attached script will go through and modify every symbol definition in a file to insert as a group rather than as a symbol. You can then go back and change the class of the inserted group and it will ask if you want to convert all of the sub-objects. Click the Yes or Yes Always button and the objects inside the group will be converted to the new class. If they were set to take the attributes by class, then you will see the attributes adjust also. The second script will go through and change all of the objects of a group to use class attributes. WARNING!!! The following script will permanently alter your drawing. There is not Undo available. Please use with extreme caution on a backup copy of your drawing. The recommended usage is to create a new "Library" file that contains the symbol definitions for each of the symbols you want to modify and then run the script only in that library file. If you run the script in a file that contains existing symbols (such as door leafs), it is likely that those objects MAY BE DAMAGED. NO WARRANTY IS EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED. USE AT YOUR OWN RISK. SHAKE WELL BEFORE USING. TAKE WITH FOOD. Ok, if you still want to try, here they are Copy the lines between the ===== to a blank VectorScript window. Script 1 ============= Procedure SetSymbolsToInsertAsGroups; {Copyright 2007, Coviana Inc} {Pat Stanford , pat (at) coviana.com} Var H1: Handle; Begin H1:=FSymDef; While H1<>nil do Begin SetObjectVariableBoolean(H1,127,True); H1:=NextSymDef(H1); End; End; Run(SetSymbolsToInsertAsGroups); ================ Script 2 ================ Procedure GroupedObjectsToByClass; {Copyright 2007, Coviana Inc} {Pat Stanford , pat (at) coviana.com} Var H1:Handle; Begin H1:=FSActLayer; H1:=FInGroup(H1); While H1<>nil do Begin SetFillColorByClass(H1); SetFPatByClass(H1); SetLSByClass(H1); SetLWByClass(H1); SetMarkerByClass(H1); SetPenColorByClass(H1); H1:=NextObj(H1); End; End; Run(GroupedObjectsToByClass);

Also, remember any changes that you make will probably be overwritten the next time NNA updates the Door PIO. They will almost certainly not survive an upgrade to VW2009 and if there are nay interim fixes to the Door Tool, you will have to go back and make the changes again. Pat

If you use a NURBS curve for the path, then the path does not have to be planar. Draw the poly defining your outline and then convert it to a NURBS curve. Use the 3D reshape tool to adjust the Z-heights of the curve and then do the extrude along path. Pat

Short answer is no. Longer (tongue in cheek) answer is isn't that what a viewport is?a Do you actually mean a way to work on the design layer and see the updates on the sheet layer in real time? Again the answer is no. The closest work around is to double click (or right click) on the viewport and select the "Edit" option. From this dialog select the Edit Design Layer button and the Display using Viewport Attributes check box and click OK. This will take you to the design layer you selected with the zoom and pan set the same as the viewport. VW2008 has added a Return to Viewport (Sheet Layer? I don't have 2008 open right now) command that will take you back the other way. Pat

They should just be text in a cell above the database row. Select the cell and type in whatever you want to display. Pat