willofmaine

It's a good thing! I learned some great things at your seminar in Phoenix a couple of years ago. Ha ha... so all I had to do was look just a few fields down the list for the number versions. But, you know, looking at that infinitely long and barely searchable list, well, I tend to glaze over... I got your formula for converting the user field from text to a number to work (once I added a closing parenthesis... 🙂), so thank you for that. The word "value" in front of the space.user field name converts its text to a number? (As long as said text is numbers instead of letters to begin with...). I'm a little embarrassed to say that, after all these years, I only just this afternoon realized that the "Leader:" and "Trailer:" boxes of the Format Cells > Number dialogue box aren't available for only just the "Dimension" and "Dimension Area" format options, but for other format options as well(!) - (I guess their proximity to those format options in the dialogue box somehow made me think they were exclusive to those options...). So, it should work well to use the Decimal option to control the number of decimal places, and then just add a prefix/suffix as desired. A bit of an aside: when I select a Space object > Settings > Additional Data and add a value to one of the User ("Additional Info"...) fields, the Space moves from its assigned class to the None class (VW2020). That just doesn't seem right... a bug? (Adding or changing info via the worksheet doesn't change the class, as expected). Thank you Pat!! -Will

We're trying to use Space objects to generate building square footages for cost estimating. However, when we report on the Gross or Net areas of the Space objects, it seems we can't get totals in the Worksheet database header row; all that displays is the number of Space objects being reported on. If we use the " =AREA" function, we get areas for the Space objects, and the total area for all Space objects displays in the header row as expected. But the " =AREA" function appears to just return the Net area; we want to be able to report on the Gross area as well. So... how do we do that?... @Pat Stanford , I'm guessing you might know the answer?... Also, does the Space object include a field for cost per square foot? The User-Defined Fields just appear to be Text fields, so not very useful for compiling numeric totals... Lastly, how does one control the number of decimal places of the areas displayed for a Space object's Gross & Net Square footage? They seem to vary from 0 to 3 decimal places, with no way to fix them all at 2 decimal places (the varying number of decimal places make the area numbers difficult to quickly read & understand...) Thanks!

Say I'm working on a cape-style house, where the second floor is "under the roof" (that is, the roof eaves are low, such as at or a little above the second floor level), and I want my Second Floor Plan to show the roof below the cut plane (let's say the cut plane's at 4' above the floor). How is it intended that I (ideally easily...) do that in Vectorworks?? My current system is to model the roof in 3D, save it as a 3D symbol, and then use auto hybrids to properly display multiple instances of that roof symbol on both the Second Floor Plan and on the Roof Plan. Unfortunately, Vectorworks seems incapable of "reaching" into the components of auto hybrids or solids, so I can't run a report on, say, the roof area represented by the Roof Face objects that my 3D roof is made up of. So how does one achieve both the ability for the correct architectural representation of roofs and the ability to do quantity take-offs for those roofs?... VWIS204

I think so. If in the OIP you change the "Scale Margin" for a "Drawing Label" (which I incorrectly referred to as a "Drawing Title"...), it changes the vertical position of the Scale Display. But (unlike in VW 2018), it also changes the vertical position of the Sheet Number (in the bottom half of the "Bubble" when "Number Style:" is "Drawing and Sheet"). I only want to move the Scale Display, not the Sheet Number (because that then becomes half-in and half-out of the "Bubble's" circle...). I haven't dug into 2121 yet; maybe there'll be a solution there. In the meantime, just trying to be productive with 2020!... Thanks.

Some time ago, one of my clients requested more space between the displayed scale and the line of a Drawing Title. No problem. Well, at least, not a problem in VW 2018... Evidently, in 2019 through 2121, the Scale Margin also controls the location of the Sheet Number. Why?? So not only have I wasted 30 minutes going back through Vectorworks versions looking for a time when the Scale Margin did indeed only control the location of the Drawing Scale, (to prove I wasn't imagining it) and putting together this post, but I also now have to tell my client "Nope, sorry, no can do." This one little thing isn't such a big deal. It's the endless prevalence of such little things that's increasingly frustrating and exhausting. VWIS203

I can't find a carriage bolt in the Fastener Tool... Is there a way to add one somehow?

Why doesn't the Carriage Bolt have a nut, and a washer option? What do you do with a carriage bolt without a nut? Duct tape?

WHY?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!? These endless Vectorworks issues and "huh?" moments are so time consuming.

It looks like that may actually work - excellent suggestion. Thank you!

Holy Cow... at least I only had a few windows!...

Okay, sure, while I made that number up (I can't really count that high) I suspect it's not much of an exaggeration, if any. When a building has matching, coincident windows on both sides, it seems necessary to temporarily move one of the windows in plan view so that it can be tagged in a viewport showing an exterior elevation of the opposite side of the building. For whatever inexplicable reason, when tagging windows in an elevation, the data tag seems to prioritize windows on the far side of the building. Even though they're not visible. I wish the data tag would just tag what I see. And not stuff on the other side of the building. Or maybe I'm missing something...

Wow, it looks like I still have Info Editor hanging around. Never would've guessed it still works with 2020! Maybe I'll check it out. Yep, I guess I could stack the viewports - I've certainly done it before - though I do like to avoid it if I can. Yes! Stairs, doors, windows... wouldn't it be great if all of these could use 2D profiles for a lot of their components?? Maybe soon after we can use 2D symbols for EAPs (which I guess gives us a sense of the likely time frame for this... ... ...).

Yes, I've been known to say "The beauty of Vectorworks is that you can do pretty much anything you want to. And the struggle with Vectorworks is that, well, you can do pretty much anything you want to."

Excellent synopsis!!! My understanding is that another benefit of symbols, along with global control, is file-efficiency / reduced file size & memory requirements. I'm wondering if that also applies to PIOs? If I have ten windows, all of which are entirely the same except that they are different sizes, do they share the same root PIO info, such that only their size is remembered for each individual instance? Because accessing PIO Settings tends to be slow, it seems PIOs may not be so efficient? I tend toward symbols, including symbols of PIOs, when I can. Symbols and PIOs are different animals for sure, and together they can be a powerful combination. If I'm doing that 300 room hotel and I have 30 instances of each of those ten different windows, I can globally change the trim for all 300 windows using the PIO Style, or, I can globally change the size of all 30 Type-A windows using its Symbol. PIO Styles are great... one of the main reasons I'm not still using VW 2016 (which I think was the last version before the introduction of the endlessly problematic VGM and its always mutually-exclusive Navigation Graphics choices... but I digress...). Anyway, great run-through of Symbols, PIOs & Styles!

Any particular reason not to just use the "3D Wall Hole Component" of your coincident symbols to create the openings in your walls? Especially if you're not grabbing data from the PIO opening? Really, one of the main things I want from PIOs is the ability to automatically report their sizes in schedules. Pretty much the rest of the information can be handled (and some of it is more easily handled...) using Record Formats. I've been known to just use symbols only for doors and windows, but it gets tedious having to always make sure that the physical size of the door or window and the size in its Record Format match. It also gets tedious creating door symbols for what can be a lot of different wall thicknesses (in commercial construction). Wouldn't it be GREAT if PIOs in symbols were capable not only of having unique data associated with them, with an ability for Data Tags to grab that info but, also, additionally, an ability to parametrically respond to wall thickness - all from one symbol definition?!? (Sorry, I'm not simplifying this conversation about Symbols, PIOs and Styles with that one!...).

Holy cow, "Info Editor"!! I remember that from way back before worksheets allowed two-way editing... It currently adds functionality that can't be achieved with worksheets?? @P Retondo What generated my OP is that I had both floors for a house turned on in a viewport (to display grayed-out First Floor geometry), but that included the window ID tags for the First Floor, which I didn't want to see on the Second Floor plan. So, I was hoping that with the Data Tag I could turn off the class for ID tags and then just identify the Second Floor windows only. But... my window PIOs are in symbols... You said "from my point of view, the greatest weakness is that the door and window PIOs, among others, do not actually do what designers want them to do and have longstanding faults that have never been fixed." Yep, definitely. Though, even if VW PIOs were a semi-reasonable representation of real-world windows & doors, there'd still be times one would need to have more control than a PIO can offer. (I think with PIOs it's a real challenge to balance their complexity with their capability; the two stair tools seem to especially exemplify this struggle.)

Ah... I'd looked for "Active" and "Title Block" and who knows what else. But I didn't think to look for (or type to search...) "This..." As far as I can tell, when the "This Title Block is Active" field is used in a column, the two choices (reasonably enough) are True or False, but it doesn't seem possible to change more than one at a time? I have like 30 sheets that I want to exclude, and later I'll want to add back about 15. One at a time is tedious... Cut & paste doesn't seem to be allowed. I know I'm not exactly using "Status" as it's intended to be used, but, it seems to give me better control.... As far as searching that infinite list goes, it seems it can be impossible to get beyond the first of many if you're searching for something such as "Height" or "Length"... At least, and most importantly, I've now got a fully linked List of Drawings. So thanks for your help!

I'm not sure I'm following you... if I make a symbol out of a door or window, even the user-defined data fields for those PIOs would need to be the same for each and every instance of any one symbol they're contained in, right?

Okay!! Thank you Andy & Pat. I think I've got it working. Once I found the "Sheet Data" Record, I was able to generate a linked List of Drawings. But then it was a bit of a struggle to exclude the sheets that I didn't want in the List. I couldn't find if or where the "This Title Block is Active" option for TTBs might show up in worksheets so, ultimately, I used the "Status" field of "Sheet Data" and (as I did before with my Title Block symbols) created two worksheets: one a report where I can set the Status as either "Current" or not, and the other the List of Drawings itself that's on the drawings (and that looks for only "Current" sheets). So I think it's all (mostly) good! I say "mostly" 'cause I kinda would've expected the "Tools > Reports > Create Sheet List..." function to automatically create a linked worksheet. Also, when setting the Field Value for the search criteria for the Database Row, is there any way to do it other than scrolling down through that infinitely long list of every possible Field Value in the known Universe? Anyway, thank you! -Will

I'm new to Title Block borders with my current project. I like that they can automatically display their sheet's number and name (as set in the Navigation Palette). But I think I've just now found that the Sheet List worksheet (Tools > Reports > Create Sheet List...) is not linked to the sheets and/or title block borders themselves?!? (i.e., it doesn't have database rows). Hopefully I'm really missing something! Previously, for years, I was using my own title block symbols with Record Formats attached, and I could easily create Drawing Lists that could be easily updated to reflect the numbers and names of my sheets. Is there a way to similarly make a worksheet that will reflect the data of Title Block borders?... Thanks!

Too bad. More and more I'm resigned to having instances of PIO Windows and especially PIO Doors that sit on their own in coincident openings created with symbols that contain the trim, etc (anything more complicated than simple flat trim, such as casings made with molding profiles). It would be great if PIO objects inside symbols could have data that varies from one symbol to the next (the ability to "increment" as you mention), much like instances of the same symbol can display different text based on an attached Record Format. I've never been able to figure out a way to combine both that ability of symbols with the ability of door and window schedules to automatically report on the sizes of those PIOs. But thank you for your response!

Can Data Tags be used to display the ID Tag info for window objects that are within symbols??... And if so, how? Thanks!

How do I exclude walls from the Structural Class when I select "Create Structural and Nonstructural Groups" for "Merge Cross Sections" for Section Viewports? (Section Viewport > Advanced Properties... > Attributes > Cut Plane"). I want my walls to be in the Nonstructural Group, but I can't seem to get them out of the Structural Group... Okay, in a test file it looks like walls, floor objects, and roof face objects are all considered by Vectorworks to be "structural objects"?? There's really no way to differentiate between, say, load-bearing walls and non-load bearing interior partitions?... ... ...

Thanks @Kevin McAllister! I only recently learned that one could open a VW file with TextEdit. But in all that gibberish, I didn't know what to look for. I don't think the VW 2008 = 13.0 helped but, now that I know that, there it is! Very helpful (as long as one remembers to deduct 5...)

We've temporarily abandoned project sharing. Did a "Save As..." to create a regular .vwx Vectorworks File. Now, when I change the "None" class to "Use at Creation," (even though I'd already previously done this during project sharing...) and select "No" for changing the attributes of objects previously created, Vectorworks freezes, apparently until I start the "Force Quit" process and/or just right-click on its icon in the dock. Worse, I can't update a section viewport that I recently created (during project sharing). There's no progress bar, a spinning beach ball, and, ultimately, the Activity Monitor says that Vectorworks is not responding. Project Sharing was looking great at first, but now I feel like it's plunged us into even more of a Vectorworks nightmare than is typical (which is a lot of nightmare...).