Counting Symbols

[nick lawrence]

Hi all,

I know similar things have been covered, but i have not been able to find the answer i need.

I would like to be able to count the number of instances of a certain symbol in a large complex file. When i use Tool/Create Report it gives me a total number for all symbols not the number of each type of symbol.

How can i generate this info without adding record information to each symbol?

The only way i have found is by custom selection each type but this is very time consuming when there are so many different symbol types.

Many thanks!

Nick

Edited April 28, 2014 by nick lawrence

[PVA - Admin]

You're almost there. In the database header row for that worksheet (Usually just the whole number, as in "2", not "2.1", "2.2" etc) right click or control click on the row number, then choose Set Criteria.

You should only need to add one set of criteria to accomplish this, Symbol - Is - (Symbol name). You can click the small button to the right of the last field to select from a list of symbol names.

The worksheet should then only be displaying the symbols that share the same name.

This series covers worksheets in more detail if you want to have a look:

[Matt Panzer]

Hi Nick,

The easiest way to get what you need is to create the report as you describe, then summarize the Symbol Name column (you can also sort it as well). The worksheet will still display all symbol instances in the document, but it will list each symbol only once and will sum the quantities.

This link describes how to do it:

http://kbase.vectorworks.net/questions/465/Different+ways+to+organize+column+data+in+a+worksheet

[nick lawrence]

Matt, thanks that has done it!! Thanks a lot!

Jim, thanks also, but your method would require me to do this for every type of symbol which would take too long.

Thanks again!

Nick

[PVA - Admin]

Apologies, I read it as you had one symbol you wanted to do this with. Matt's solution is far superior if you are going to be doing it repeatedly/for multiple symbols.

[Matt Panzer]

You're welcome Nick.

I was also wondering if you only wanted one symbol, but figured it was easier to sum the column and find the one you're looking for. I like to take the lazy way out whenever possible. ;-)