Vectorworks and databases

[Hippocode]

I Would like to hear some opinions about the following:

I'm looking into using a lot of data ( currently in the form of excel spreadsheets) in vectorworks.

I'm not sure however what the best way is to import all of this. ( As far as I know, being VW worksheets or the ODBC:excell/acces way).

I've also noticed that the PIO's that came with vectorworks have that kind of data saved in VSS files. So I guess that's another way, but less userfriendly and I have no idea how these files are read.

25.4										
M1 x 0,25	1,0	0,25	0,0	0,2	0,4	0,0	0,0	0,5	0,0	0,0
M1,2 x 0,25	1,2	0,25	0,0	0,2	0,4	0,0	0,0	0,6	0,0	0,0
M1,4 x 0,3	1,4	0,3	0,7	0,2	0,48	0,4	0,8	0,7	0,7	2,5
M1,6 x 0,35	1,6	0,35	0,7	0,25	0,56	0,4	0,8	0,8	0,8	3,0
M1,8 x 0,35	1,8	0,35	0,7	0,0	0,0	0,5	1,0	0,9	0,9	3,5
M2 x 0,4	2,0	0,4	0,9	0,25	0,64	0,5	1,0	1,0	1,0	3,5
M2,5 x 0,45	2,5	0,4	1,3	0,4	0,72	0,63	1,25	1,5	1,2	5,0
M3 x 0,5	3,0	0,5	1,5	0,4	0,8	0,75	1,5	2,0	1,4	6,0
M3,5 x 0,6	3,5	0,6	0,0	0,5	0,96	0,0	1,75	2,2	1,7	0,0
M4 x 0,7	4,0	0,7	2,0	0,6	1,12	1,0	2,0	2,5	2,0	8,0
M5 x 0,8	5,0	0,8	2,5	0,8	1,28	1,25	2,5	3,5	2,5	8,0
M6 x 1	6,0	1,0	3,0	1,0	1,6	1,5	3,0	4,0	3,0	10,0
M8 x 1,25	8,0	1,25	4,0	1,2	2,0	2,0	4,0	5,5	5,0	12,0
M10 x 1,5	10,0	1,5	5,0	1,6	2,4	2,5	5,0	7,0	6,0	14,0
M12 x 1,75	12,0	1,75	6,0	2,0	2,8	3,0	6,0	8,5	8,0	18,0
M14 x 2	14,0	2,0	6,0	0,0	0,0	3,5	7,0	10,0	9,0	22,0
M16 x 2	16,0	2,0	8,0	0,0	0,0	4,0	8,0	12,0	10,0	22,0
M18 x 2,5	18,0	2,5	10,0	0,0	0,0	4,5	9,0	13,0	12,0	28,0
M20 x 2,5	20,0	2,5	10,0	0,0	0,0	5,0	10,0	15,0	14,0	28,0
M22 x 2,5	22,0	2,5	12,0	0,0	0,0	5,5	11,0	17,0	16,0	35,0
M24 x 3	24,0	3,0	12,0	0,0	0,0	6,0	12,0	18,0	16,0	35,0

It would be used in custom PIO's, where that PIO script would pass all the data and use it as needed.

A simple example:

I've got a Radiator PIO, that has a heat of X Watt.

It would be nice to let it choose between 500 types of Radiators from my database, based on the Heat and or more variables.

Anyone cares to explain his experience in this ?

Edited January 31, 2013 by hippothamus

[Hippocode]

bump

[Miguel Barrera]

Do not despair but I think you would get more respnses in the vs forum.

There 3 ways I know that VW can read external data from:

1. ODBC, which you already mentioned, but it seems that it creates a one to one relationship, like a relational database which links a database with another by a key field.

2. The traditional but reliable text file (comma, space or tab delimited). This is how I would look up fields in a table by searching each line/row for the variable and then reading all the columns/fields in the selected row. If you have excel files, all you have to do is convert it to a csv file which is the comma delimited type or any of the other types if available.

3. Use the VectorScript XML file functions to create & read values from a file. Although it seems more functional and easier to read values, it may be slower than text files because it searches/reads one value at a time, whereas a text file searches/reads one row of values at a time.

[Hippocode]

Do not despair but I think you would get more respnses in the vs forum.

There 3 ways I know that VW can read external data from:

1. ODBC, which you already mentioned, but it seems that it creates a one to one relationship, like a relational database which links a database with another by a key field.

I'm not sure for what purpose anyone could use this feature ?

2. The traditional but reliable text file (comma, space or tab delimited). This is how I would look up fields in a table by searching each line/row for the variable and then reading all the columns/fields in the selected row. If you have excel files, all you have to do is convert it to a csv file which is the comma delimited type or any of the other types if available.

I didn't know it was possible with the csv type too. I just need my data to be easily edited, which is great in excell instead of in a textfile.

So you're "reading" these files in your script ? Can you also write to them row by row, column by column ?

3. Use the VectorScript XML file functions to create & read values from a file. Although it seems more functional and easier to read values, it may be slower than text files because it searches/reads one value at a time, whereas a text file searches/reads one row of values at a time.

I've allready tried this, but it seems that XML can only read OR write on the network. Don't remember which one doesn't work but that stopped me from going further.

Thanks for the response

[Dieter @ DWorks]

I've allready tried this, but it seems that XML can only read OR write on the network. Don't remember which one doesn't work but that stopped me from going further.

VS can read and write xml files, so I suspect it must by your folder permissions.

xml files are easy to edit manually and you can change/add to the structure of the document, but are slower than normal text files. Normal text files are less easy to edit manually, but are faster and easier to work with in VS.

Edited March 29, 2013 by DWorks