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Worksheet Customization?


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Hi. I've been racking my brains out trying to figure out how to customize the worksheet function via using the space tool in VA so that columns and functions are inserted to create room area calculations for contract documents.

I have workgroup referenced all of my floor plans (4 floors in total) and would like to generate building data worksheets from this information.

Please refer to the image below for the final product desired.

I would like to perform functions on the horizontal direction as well as the vertical direction and would also like to sort via room numbers. Vectorworks seems to have very rigid sort features. Letters always come after numbers, etc.

The reason i want this function is so i can continually update the worksheets if i make any changes to the plans.

Plus i also have a problem with workgroup referencing plans and locating them on a sheet. I can move them, but should i make any changes to the original files, it would revert to the original insertion point. I could live with this but i would like to have the added worksheet functions if possible.

Right now, i am manually entering the square footages into a excel worksheet and importing it into Vectorworks via bitmap import. Seems very inefficient.

Thanks in advance!

CYMCARoomArea.jpg

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you can have your areas as formulas in the worksheet

first you draw a polygon for each room etc..

then in the DATA field found in OI palette (top box)

you give it a specific name such as (E)office etc...

then in the worksheet cell you insert

=AREA((N='xxxxx'))/144 xxxx=name of polygon

the 144 is to get sq.ft.

use CRITERIAAREA instead of AREA if you go back and forth to metric.

you have to recalcute the worksheet after you make changes

it is not automatic

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Thanks.

I was already getting the areas via creating reports via the VA space tool. What i'm looking for is additional functionality to the created worksheet to allow simple formulas in the horizontal and vertical direction as shown on the image plus more robust sorting features.

Or maybe a module that deals with front of contract documents stuff? As mentioned this is elementary in Excel but it would be nice to have an update feature within VW for all of this building data stuff.

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If I understand correctly, the problem lies in the nature of database VS spreadsheet (excel). The database is constantly changing, so relationships like you would find in a spreadsheet become broken... if they could be set up that is. Reports may look like spreadsheets, but they are not.

What you wish to do has been a fervent wish of many of us.

I'm not an architect, so it's difficult for me to give you specific step by step methods, or to say if this would work for you or not,but I may be able to describe how I accomplish this kind of thing as a general 'strategy'. Others will call this a work-around for a shortcoming in VWorks.

You can reference one worksheet to another. I have a worksheet in the background that has a number of database rows for gathering information about objects of similar type. It's called 'Tote', and that's all it does. For further calculation and presentation, I reference this info into cells in a 'dumb' worksheet, which behaves more like Excell. It is not a report type worksheet (database) it is a simple spreadsheet so you have the flexibility you desire. The background worksheet will update itself when you recalculate an open worksheet, though since my jump from version 8 to 11 I have to recalculate twice.

In this setup, you still can't 'get at' the info contained in the subrows of a database list. You can only access the totals. Therefore it becomes necessary to structure the database rows in 'Tote' to list objects whose totals I wish to treat as one lump piece of data.

I don't take it to this extreme, but it would be possible (I think) to have a database row list only one object and whatever properties you need, and reference that info into an excell type worksheet for further processing.

This sounds like a lot of work to set-up, but it's not at all difficult once you have a firm grasp on how these things we call worksheets behave. The bigger challenge is in the database design, which goes to the drawing set-up.

I would add that this is extremely reliable, and the financial success of our shop depends on the output from my drawings on a daily basis. We've been successfully using vWorks as a tool for laying out and pricing cabinetry and millwork, as well as material and parts lists for about five years now.

I'll say again that I don't really know if this would work for you...just food for thought.

c

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