David Aynardi

Is there a way to cause a macro to run automatically each time a file is opened? [ 07-23-2005, 02:51 AM: Message edited by: David Aynardi ]

We are exchanging drawings with a consultant who uses Acad. To do this we have been exporting dwg files with fills turned off and with minimal use of symbols. The consultant has been creating composite drawings including their work with our graphics incorporated by xref. Until recently the export process worked, but now that the project has progressed and the files have grown larger, our consultant complaines that our drawings cause their computers to crash. Our consultant wonders if the problem is due to some inherent flaw in the dwg files generated by Vectorworks. Are there any known problems with the quality of dwg files generated by Vectorworks? We use Vectorworks 11. Our consultant uses Acad "Architectural Desktop ver 3.3" [ 06-22-2005, 09:20 PM: Message edited by: David Aynardi ]

WE have a titleblock in the form of a symbol with linked text fields for sheet number, title, date, etc. Mostly it works, but occasionally the links disappear and the linked text is lost. Sometimes this is associated with a message from the OS concerning a "memory problem". Are symbols with linked text memory-hogs, do they tax the capabilities of our computers? Are there guidelines regarding how big a symbol should be? Does anyone else have trouble with instability in large symbols with linked text?

Still no satisfactory answer to this query. To repeat my old question: Is there a way to screen portions of a drawing causing the line-work to print in a dot-pattern similar to the Benday dot screen used by the printing industry. This is not the same as changing the lines to color = gray. Acad and Microstation allow layers of the drawing to be assigned standard levels of screening from a plotter control table. Once the layers are identified and plotter control (.ctb) tables are set up, consistant results can be obtained by every member of the consultant team, even though our plotters are not color-synchronized. Also, because the screens are relatively coarse, and because everything is printed in black and white, the screen tones survive being copied. (Color = gray reverts to black or drops out altogether after one or two generations of photo-copying) Is there a way to do real screening? Is this something that will become available within the next year ('05)? Is there a 3rd party utility that could add this capability? Please don't waste my time with the usual prattle about printing in gray color. I'm sick of explaining why this is not the same thing. Acceptable answers are: 1) Yes, and here is how to do it. or 2) No, VW can't do it and this capability will not be added before end of '05.

In response to Peter Cipes' comment above: My problem is not how to obtain good half-tone reproduction on our plotter (we have good luck at that). The problem is to produce a robust gray that can survive copying and re-copying by malevolent idiots using badly-maintained copy machines. To this end, a very coarse dot-screen is best because the black dots remain distinctly unlike any other part of the drawing no matter how poor the reproduction.

PS to my previous reply to Paolo Bartoli: Paolo's message states that "you can achieve B/W dot printing with MacPlot plotter driver". This might be what I am looking for. Is there a way to tell the MacPlot driver what part of the drawing gets the dot treatment, or is it indescriminately applied to the entire document? [ 01-11-2005, 01:11 AM: Message edited by: David Aynardi ]

In response to Paolo Bartoli's questions: 1, "how ACAD and Microstation achieve half tone printing?" At a detailed technical level, I don't know, (I'm not an IT guy), but as a practical matter, we could identify a layer to receive one of several degrees of screening (40%, 60% etc). Anything drawn on that layer would be rendered in that halftone screen when plotted. I was working in Microstation, our Acad-based consultants had the same capability. 2: "are you exchanging digital files or paper drawings with your partners?" We communicate by sending DWG or DXF files to our consultants for them to incorporate into their work. In my former MStation life, once we agreed on which layers would get which screens, it was automatic and not impaired by the translation process. We could translate our drawing to DWG, our consultants could print the ACAD version of our drawing, apply their version of the 40% screen, and get the same result that we had in the original. This capability was old news and was taken for granted in the MS and ACAD world. Now I am trying to do a big remodel job in Vectorworks, and discover that I have nothing but sharpened sticks to draw with. [ 01-11-2005, 01:33 AM: Message edited by: David Aynardi ]

Still no satisfactory answer to this query. To repeat my old question: Is there a way to screen portions of a drawing causing the line-work to print in a dot-pattern similar to the Benday dot screen used by the printing industry. This is not the same as changing the lines to color = gray. Using color produces unreliable product, especially if the resulting hard copy is xeroxed, which frequently happens. Screening, (which is actually all black) better withstands photocopying and is immune to color synchronization problems. Working drawings are frequently sent out of office in electronic form, and frequently exchanged with consultants who work in ACAD. If everyone has screening capability, we can all produce consistent results. (My 20% screen looks like my consultant's even though produced with different software) If we rely on color rendition, there is no hope. This is a very big deal to anyone who is trying to produce drawings for remodel work and is a problem which was effectively solved by the competition many years ago. (Acad and Microstation have always had screening capability). When I've asked about this in the past, the response has veered into a discussion of printing in color (gray). I need to know if screening (NOT COLOR=GRAY) is possible within VW or if there is a work-around OTHER than using gray to produce a real dot-screen pattern. [ 01-11-2005, 12:54 AM: Message edited by: David Aynardi ]

I need an example showing how to capture the input from the "yes" button in the AlertDialog command. Simply placing the command in a script causes the alert to pop up, but then the program halts and waits for the button to be clicked. Please post a fiew lines of script showing how I can resume execution after reading and dismissing the alert box.

I've been using list boxes with some success, but find that I must parse the text each time anything is selected or added. (The boxes have several columns). It would be nice to keep the data in dynamic arrays, and use the list boxes simply to display, not to store the data, but I can't figure out how to keep the array synchronized with the list box if an item is deleted from the center of the list box. There must be a standard way to keep data arrays synchronized with list boxes. Example?

I have a script which uses "paste in place" to move graphic elements from one layer to another. Works well except if there is anything at all (incluidng text from other applications) in the Windows Clipboard, this is pasted into the drawign file. How can this be avoided? Is there a way for the script to purge the clipboard before starting the "paste in place" operation?

Ok, whats up with this? I make a list box and populate it with a fixed number of elements. When I click on one of the items in the box to make a selection, everything in the box (actually in all boxes) is duplicated. The box keeps growing every time I make a selection. What is happening? How do I prevent it? And where can I find some examples of basic user interface stuff so I don't need to keep asking dumb questions? {/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// Listbox Test By: DAynardi Built with Dialog Builder 4 © 2001 Nemetschek North America. ///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////} PROCEDURE Listboxt; VAR ln,dlogID,dlogResult, Nlayer : INTEGER; dialogIsOK,rsrcOK : BOOLEAN; Lh : Handle; Layer : STRING; Layerlist: DYNARRAY[]OF STRING; { dialog related subroutines } {Load the list box} PROCEDURE Layerload; BEGIN Ln:=1; Lh:=LLayer; Nlayer:=NumLayers; ALLOCATE Layerlist[1..Nlayer]; REPEAT Layer:=GetLName(Lh); Layerlist[Ln]:=Layer; Lh:=prevlayer(Lh); INSERTCHOICE (4,0,Layer); Ln:=Ln+1; UNTIL (Lh=NIL); END; { Dialog definition function subroutine } FUNCTION Define_ListboxTest : INTEGER; VAR dialogID : INTEGER; BEGIN dialogID := CreateLayout('Untitled Dialog',True,'OK','Cancel'); CreateListBox(dialogID,4,25,25); SetFirstLayoutItem(dialogID,4); SetHelpString(1,'Accepts dialog data.'); SetHelpString(2,'Cancels operation without changes.'); SetHelpString(4,'A list box control.'); Define_ListboxTest := dialogID; END; { Dialog driver function subroutine } PROCEDURE Drive_ListboxTest(VAR item:LONGINT; data:LONGINT); BEGIN Layerload; CASE item OF SetupDialogC:BEGIN END; { user selected OK button } 1:BEGIN END; { user selected Cancel button } 2:BEGIN END; 4:BEGIN END; END; END; { main body of script } BEGIN dlogID := Define_ListboxTest; dialogIsOK := VerifyLayout(dlogID); IF dialogIsOK THEN BEGIN dlogResult := RunLayoutDialog(dlogID,Drive_ListboxTest); END; END; Run(ListboxT);

Page 9-4 of the VectorScript Language Guide says that "Static text controls support updationg of the control text during script run-time". How? Can someone provide an example of the supporting script?

In documentation, I found the command AddListBoxTabStop and the command InsertChoice. I can make my text appear in my list box, but I dont see how to make columns. Maybe I just need an askii character code or somehthing. Can someone post a scrap of vectorscript which demonstrates the codes to create a tabbed column in a list box?

I've tried this script, it works, but I have a question. What is the line "1:BEGIN " (about 20 lines above the end?). I've looked but not been able to locate this construction in the vectorScript documentation.

Is there way to set the MAC version of Vectorworks to automaticly save files with the .mcd extension. I'm having trouble enforcing this amont the Mac users in our office. T

Jim McAuliffe, RA In your post on 12-01, you say that you have placed your workspace files on your network. How was this accomplished?

Katie Unfortunate about the standards folder. We will copy files around the office as you suggest, but this is a clunky solution. Making this a networkable resource wouldn't weaken your license control and should be easy to accomplish. I'm not talking about networking the application, just the user-customized standards. VW should have an easily editable startup file that tells it where to look for standards, templates, and preferences. The default could be local, but users in a network environment should be able to specify a remote location.

Drawing with gray objects does not work because the first time someone xeroxes the drawing it turns back to black. A relateively coarse dot-screen is needed to prevent this. With a good dot screen there is never any question if something is screened no matter how bad a copy is. This is critical in remodel work, where extent of new vs existing is the subject of many jobsite debates, often with a very grubby copy of a drawing as the centerpiece of the conference table. We've tried overlaying white hatches, but the process is cumbersome. Best work-around so far is to draw with pen-pattern, but this doesn't control by level and requires new symbols just to achieve a half-tone print.

Is their a way to locate the Standrds Folder on the network, making a customized standard level/layer list available to everyone in my office? I want the customized list to be availabe in the drop-down windows next to the AIA standards, in "create new layers" and "create new class".

cmury: Your list of the necessary reference file capabilities is perfect. Lack of reference files is the major capability gap that Vectorworks needs to solve. The importance of this capability can not be over-stated. Without scalable, croppable, rotatable reference files, Vectorworks is hobbled. Our clients are becoming increasingly sophistocated about CAD files. They expect us to provide copies of the files for their use after projects are done, and expect those files to comply with their standards for file structure. Unless we can find a work-around for the lack of reference files, we will be forced to buy ACAD or Mstation to meet our client's needs. D. Aynardi

I am looking for a way to apply a dot-screen to parts of the printed output of a drawing. This will allow me to print some of the linework in gray. The dot-screen needs to be sufficintly coarse to allow subsequent xerox copies of the plot to remain gray, not turn back to black. I used to do this by screening layers in Microstation. There must be a Vectorworks equivalent. -DA

Screen Layers Screening (printing linework in shades of gray by applying a dot-screen) I want to do this. Is there a way to apply a sufficiently coarse dot-screen so that xerox copies of the plot dont turn back to black?