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Drawing List adjusting data


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I've just never seen the need for this complexity. Our title block is a symbol, when we set up a new project we change the symbol info. My Drawing list is a JPG from a grab of my Sheet Layer List from the  Navigation Pallet, if we need more info, we just type.

Untitled.jpeg

Edited by Jim Smith
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You can have a custom title block and custom drawing data and have it all update automatically.

 

Andy Broomell has instructions how to do it:

 

http://www.andybroomell.com/vectorworks-title-block-tutorial/

 

It's all about adding prefixes and suffixes to any custom title block data record format, from Broomell's site:

 

Field Name Modifiers:

  • Use the P_ prefix to indicate a "project" field, meaning that you want the field to automatically be the same on ALL sheets.
  • Use the S_ prefix to indicate a "sheet" field, meaning you may want it to be different from sheet to sheet.
    • When you use your title block later, the P_ and S_ fields are separated into Project and Sheet tabs (see below).
    • Fields that aren't given a prefix are placed in the General tab (not used in the example).
  • Use the _SN suffix for the Sheet Number. 
    • This will automatically coordinate with the Sheet Number of the Sheet Layer.
    • When you update one it'll automatically update the other.
  • Use the _SD suffix for the Sheet Title.
    • This makes the Sheet Title in your title block automatically coordinate with the name of the Sheet Layer. 
    • When you update one it'll automatically update the other. 

And so on.

 

The sheet border/title block symbol with custom drawing data has to be placed into the "sheet border components" folder in resource browser. The title block then has to be added at least once via the add sheet border tool. After that one can duplicate sheets and edit data of the title block directly. The "use automatic drawing coordination" has to be enabled in the preferences.

 

Edits on the title block data are automatically reflected in the drawing list and sheet layer names and vice versa. Editing can be done in any of these places.

 

Using a custom title block and custom data enables us to have multiple drawing lists within the same VW file. We use an identifier record field that indicates what kind of drawing the particular drawing is; for example, if it is a building permit drawing, a preliminary sketch or a drawing for actual construction. All drawing lists are updated automatically and the drawings keep to the correct categories as long as the identifier is correct.

 

From the drawing lists it is easy to copy/paste information to all cells if necessary. If we want to remove a drawing, we just remove the identifier data field contents from that particular drawing, and it won't show up on any lists any more. Edit: What's perhaps more important, the identifier enables us to work on drawings and give them names and numbers as we progress, and only when they are ready, we input the identifier -> then the drawing is included in the drawing list, not before.

 

So far this arrangement has proved robust and easy to use.

 

 

 

Edited by JMR
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What we use is a completely custom title block (made from scratch). Our record format has a field for an issue note, however only the last issue is shown. We add cumulative issue notes manually above the title block, which is indeed a bit clumsy.

 

I haven't got around it yet but I've been thinking about making a record field for issue notes and then somehow adding this issue note functionality to our own custom title block, and thus enable a separate issue notes worksheet that would list all previous issues.

 

Maybe someone else knows more about issue notes?

 

 

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We're also using a fully custom title block set up using the steps @JMR describes above.  I've also never put in the time to figure out the VW built in issue and revision trackers: I remember not finding the documentation on it particularly helpful and decided it wasn't worth the effort and I just made those _P fields in our custom title blocks so they only have to be updated once..

 

We've also stuck with using manual sheet lists - we tend to have a lot of superceded sheets that get saved for reference, or sheets of renderings set up that we don't want showing up in our drawing index.

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The sheet " type identifier" field might help with the sheet lists. Currently what we use is:

 

SK=sketch or a preliminary drawing

PD=Building permit drawing

CD=Actual construction drawing

FD=Final, "as built"-drawing

 

If any of these identifiers is not present in the title block custom record field, the sheet will not show up on any of the sheet lists. The drawing list worksheets have to be set up so that the criteria include this identifier field.

 

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On 8/21/2017 at 7:40 AM, nrkuhl said:

We've also stuck with using manual sheet lists - we tend to have a lot of superceded sheets that get saved for reference, or sheets of renderings set up that we don't want showing up in our drawing index.

 

One approach that would allow you to utilize a Worksheet-based drawing schedule (sheet list / whatever) is to have a boolean record field named "Include in Drawing Schedule?" where you can say yes or no for each titleblock:

 

599c55a6ef467_ScreenShot2017-08-22at9_02_10AM.png.72dd98cc2b2feea69c998e4f8fda047e.png

 

599c55b797bf0_ScreenShot2017-08-22at9_02_27AM.png.8f342226fefc943d463d8aff8ea10cb4.png

 

This field would only appear in the pop-up when you double click your title-block; it's not actually linked to any text objects like other fields are.

 

The Worksheet criteria would then be set up to only include sheets that have this field set to True, thereby ignoring sheets set to False or that don't even have a titleblock:

599c5679e3870_ScreenShot2017-08-22at9_05_07AM.png.a1fb0bcce087860801ac92015834ed62.png

 

Here's what a recent worksheet-based drawing schedule of mine looks like:

599c5846e374c_ScreenShot2017-08-22at9_06_01AM.png.198422eb81683d4b58ff8f77575b7242.png

 

I really like that I don't ever have to worry about manually updating it, especially since the projects I'm working tend to change drastically by the minute. Having the titleblock sheet number, sheet name, the Navigation palette numbers/names, and the drawing schedule worksheet automatically cross-update is vital to keeping our files organized and cohesive.

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By the way, if you have multiple sheet sets and want separate lists (assuming they're using the same titleblock), you could have this field determine which list a sheet should be included in rather than boolean yes or no.

 

Related to that, I wish that titleblocks would support the Record Field "Pop-up" option so that when editing a titleblock you could choose from a pre-determined list like you now can in the Data pane. It should also support Boolean checkboxes rather than having to type True or False.

 

599c5c3c887b1_ScreenShot2017-08-22at9_30_35AM.png.3a123d81b760ef1a5db0a1beca3d08f3.png

(Data pane)

 

Please upvote this topic (hopefully this is already being implemented in 2018??):

 

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Oh snap.  @Andy Broomellthat's a slick setup.  

 

I think "include in drawing list" needs to be a checkbox that exists in the setup of all sheet layers, a la windows on schedules.

 

If I setup Andy's worksheet tactic, it'll break the moment I leave my firm and no one else will know how to manage it. 

 

Edited by nrkuhl
really, I can't say "$h!t"?
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It seems Andy and I have a somewhat similar worksheet setup for drawing lists. One difference is that we use field values instead of a boolean value.

 

Either way it really pays off since there is absolutely no worry of something being wrong. It's a breeze updating several title block fields through a worksheet.

 

@nrkuhlIt's not a very complicated setup after all, even our resident anti-computer people got the hang of it in one day, easily.

 

 

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We use most of the features provided:

 

• Issue notes and revision notes are per sheet.  They actually work well once set up.  We primarily use the revision notes to list modifications rather than clouding each drawing item (except when necessary).  They list sequentially, so we can show prior issues or revisions along with dates for reference.

 

• Our template is set up with a checkbox for each sheet as to whether it is in the drawing set.  By default, the most common sheets are pre-selected (in the template), so we just deselect or add sheets as needed.

 

In general, this works fine for a linear design process, but if we were to bounce back and forth between a schematic set and a construction set, then we would need to manually go through each sheet to reset the drawing index.

 

I think you can get what you want out of the software, but it could be a whole lot easier!!

 

My recommendation would be for VW to provide linking between the "publish" command and a drawing index worksheet.

We're already setting up each "saved set" in the publish window.  Why not have the option of "create drawing index" for the active "set".  Ideally, users could have preformatted worksheet templates with the data for the titleblocks layed out the way they like them and the "create drawing index" would simply filter for the selected drawings.

 

... or some other way to limit redundancy. 

 

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

So I set up a custom title block based own Andy's description and seems to "kind" of work.  When I change sheet name or number in the title block the layer list and the drawing list worksheet follows (after "recalculate).  When I do similar change in the layer list it also changes the title block and the drawing list worksheet  (after "recalculate).  However, when I change the drawing list only title block follows the changes after flipping forth to another layer and back.  So what I end up having is a title block tied to layer list with different names.

In a nutshell everything is working in all direction except the worksheet not being able to change the data in layer list.

Wondering if anybody has stumbled upon this problem.

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  • 1 month later...

I had the drawing index set up similar to Andy's method and it worked perfectly on 2017. When we moved to 2018, it stopped working. The boolean field that controls the sheet appearance on the index disappeared. It took a while, but I figured out how to work around it. The project and sheet fields are now built-in, and they allow you to add any field under the new title block style window. So that's where the control boolean field should be instead of in the title block record format. The database header of the index also needs to be modified to point to the built-in sheet data instead of the old title block record. Hope this helps. 

 

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On 10/5/2017 at 8:43 AM, JMR said:

Gulp... I wonder if our custom title block/record system stops working in 2018...haven't updated yet.

 

One of the reasons that I've held off on updating our office is that it sounds like titleblocks work so differently in 2018 that I'm going to spend half a day fixing ours.

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  • 3 months later...

So I'm revisiting this to try and automate our drawing lists, and I'm having trouble setting up the worksheet to display the drawing list.  I can't figure out where I'm supposed to insert the criteria to limit the list to only items with the True boolean.  I feel like I'm missing something really obvious here...

EDIT: I figured it out.  I was missing the basics - I had no idea you could right click on a row to switch it to being a database.

Edited by nrkuhl
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  • 3 years later...
On 8/22/2017 at 5:18 PM, JMR said:

The sheet " type identifier" field might help with the sheet lists. Currently what we use is:

 

SK=sketch or a preliminary drawing

PD=Building permit drawing

CD=Actual construction drawing

FD=Final, "as built"-drawing

 

If any of these identifiers is not present in the title block custom record field, the sheet will not show up on any of the sheet lists. The drawing list worksheets have to be set up so that the criteria include this identifier field.

 

 

Hi there,

 

Hoping to re-boost this discussion after spending hours reading multiple forums with no luck! I know that are a lot of worksheet issues have been worked out over the last few iterations of VW, and i'm currently on 2020.

 

All that i'm trying to do is create a Drawing Index that can differentiate between stages of drawings as you've listed - I deal with this in sheet numbers, starting them with the abbreviation e.g. SK01, SK02, PD01, PD02 etc.

 

Trying to add a criteria that for example has a 'starts with' function as this seems the most simple to me.

 

So, what exactly are these "type identifiers" and can I easily apply them (without complex script for example).

 

The closest I have come with criteria is selecting Field Value - Sheet Number - <= , which then includes sheets listed before or after a certain point in the navigation list.

I guess i'm determined to define it further than this, so that it will be easily digestible to the less computer-savvy in the office, and as I can't always bank on my navigation list being this straight forward and in order.

 

Feel like i'm missing a very simple step - any up to date would be much appreciated!

 

Ta

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@Ab Hib  you're really close.

 

I think all you need to do is use a "wildcard" in the criteria.

 

For example:  Field Value Sheet Number = 'SK*' will include all sheets that begin with SK.  [the asterisk symbol is called a wild card.  In the US keyboard it's Shift-8]. I'm pretty sure you can do this directly in 2020.  If not use the GUI to get the criteria close, then edit the criteria and cancel.  You will then see the criteria statement in the formula bar.

 

That's probably really unclear :-).  Worksheets get a little convoluted until you get your head around it.  Post back if it doesn't make sense.

 

Or another way to do it is to class the sheet border objects.  That way you can have a criteria Class = 'Phase-1'.

 

 

 

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