Updating custom plug ins from earlier Vectorworks versions

[TimSchultz]

This is a long post. I would like to proactively apologize.

I need help upgrading some VW plugins that were developed for my cabinet shop several years ago.

They offer some functionality that I have come to depend on for my daily workflow. They are so useful that I am reluctant to upgrade my current version of Vectorworks if it means I have to abandon the plug ins.

Specifically, the tools I depend on will (in addition to other things) :

Convert imperial dimensions to metric & vice-versa.

(I am not talking about auto-dimension lines here. What I mean is numeric text that is typed onto the page will make the conversion upon demand)

I can lasso any integers on the page and sum the total of the selected values.

I can make any object (or group of objects) match the width or height of any particular object. This is a one click process.

I can also perform all distribution and alignment functions with just one click.

I am running a very out of date version of Vectorworks (9.5.2) on a similarly out of date Imac computer (Intel OSX 10.4.1)).

I would like to upgrade the computer but my current version of vectorworks will not run on Leopard. Abandoning these plugins,however, is a dealbreaker if I can't get similar functionality out of a current VW license.

Can anybody tell me if these functions are standardly available now with a current VW platform?

Or can anybody direct me to someone who can evaluate these plug-ins and perhaps modify them as needed to become compliant with current operating systems and Vectorworks software?

Thanks for any help here.

[Pat Stanford]

These are not standard functions. In fact I have not heard of most of them before, but they do sound useful.

Contact NNA sales and ask them for a 30 day demo of VW2009. Move the scripts over and try them.

Based on the description of them, they don't sound like anything that would break with an upgrade.

Where did you get the script originally?

[TimSchultz]

Thank you Pat for letting me know that these functions are not standardly available.

These plug ins really are quite handy for producing engineering drawings.

You can, for example, bring up a dialog box that enables you draw a rectangle of any width & length and have it list the X & Y dimensions as well as an item name for the rectangle. This is really handy if you are doing manual optimizing for sheetgoods yield.

You can also select two objects and make them make them align to a common location, ie, the left side of one object exactly starts at the right side of another.

You can also lasso & distribute disparate objects and tell vectorworks what specific distance you want between these objects.

You can split any object or collection of objects into several parts like piece of pie.

These are all very neat functions, particularly because they are accessible in one click, via a tearoff palette.

I hired a fellow to write these scripts.

He is now a fulltime filemaker developer and is no longer working with vectorworks. He said the architecture was such that it was probably upgradeable but that I would need to find someone with the resources to do so.

I'm not that guy. I am a cabinetmaker that just wants to run the software.

The developer fellow is willing to help with making the migration happen.

[D Wood]

Tim

I'm not answering your query directly, but:

They sound very useful tools, your guy is very clever, and I can understand why you would want to hold on to them. Other people may be interested as well, so there may be a market for them.

Your iMac ain't that decrepit yet. I think you can upgrade all the way to OS10.4.11 for free (Software Update on the menu under Apple) or you could upgrade to OS10.5 for a fee (OS10.6 is imminent). You might want to add as much ram as the iMac will accommodate, and consider replacing the hard drive with something bigger. One thing though, if you go beyond OS10.4 you won't be able to run Mac Classic OS9, so if you have any old files that require Classic, keep your present machine if you acquire a new one.

[Pat Stanford]

Tim,

If you don't want to do the testing yourself, send me the scripts off-list and I will take a look and try them.