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Editing PlantReferenceData File using Excel


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  • Vectorworks, Inc Employee

Hi

Can anyone help? I am trying to use Excel to modify my plant data rather than using the form in VectorWorks. This is because I already have a long plant list in excel I would like to include...

1) I copied PlantReferenceData.txt first (thank goodness).

2) Then, I opened it using Excel 2003. It recognised that this is tab delimited data and I opened the file using all the defaults.

3) I typed a new plant name at the bottom of the file - and Perennials in the column where all the other plants have their type.

4) I saved the file, ensuring I Save As tab-delimited text.

5) When I then open VectorWorks and try to view my new plant, I am unable to open the plant database (either from the New Plant button or from AEC/Plant Reference Data. I get a VectorWorks script error.

6) I restored my original PlantReferenceData file and all is well (phew).

What am I doing wrong? Does excel add something funny to the file when it opens/saves it?

Any hints would be gratefully received as ever.

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you are heading in to difficult territory here and you need to tread very carefully. If you are going to add one or two plants at a time, don?t bother using Excel to do it, use the plant data dialog box, and you will save yourself a lot of trouble.

If you want to add a lot of plants, then be careful, as a badly placed tab in the excel file will cause VectorWorks to misbehave, a missed field will cause VectorWorks to misbehave and so on.

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  • Vectorworks, Inc Employee

It may be dangerous, but I am a very very brave girl...

Perhaps you could elaborate (please)? I do have LOTS of plants to add - not just a couple.

Are you saying that when I tab from one column in excel to the next I could screw things up?

If not - is there anything mysterious that excel could be adding to the file?

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  • Vectorworks, Inc Employee

If I just add the plant names and their categories, will that cause problems? I was hoping I could load in all the plant names quickly through excel, adding the information I have in the correct column, leaving others blank to complete later via the dialogue box. But your last statement about missed fields maybe implies that I can't do this?

Could you confirm that VW DOES expect a row count at the top of the list as I see this when I first import open the file in excel.

Is there any detailed documentation on this anywhere??

Thanks

Brave Tazza

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