Drawing registers

[nikihoops]

Hi all,

 

 I'm trying to create a 'clever' drawing register. I've created a worksheet data object and its on a sheet; looks great etc. However when I change the name of a sheet for example it doesn't update on the worksheet - I have tried recalculating it. This is also the same with adding revisions. I have my own sheets set up with title blocks that all seem to work fine. 

 

I've looked online for videos/explanations with no luck.

 

Can anyone point me in the right direction/give me some pointers? 

Example.vwx

[Nikolay Zhelyazkov]

4 minutes ago, line-weight said:

I guess there's not a clever way of getting it to automatically number the pages 1 of 5, 2 of 5, 3 of 5, etc? It would need to be able to count the total number of pages on the sheet, and number them in order.

- In VW2019 you could automatically count all TBBs in the file, using the Sheet Data Page Number field. However, this will not do the job for your case, so the answer is no, there is no auto way to do this.

[line-weight]

5 minutes ago, Nikolay Zhelyazkov said:

Did you create the worksheet again from the Manager after you have executed the scipt once?

I think I ran the script and then I recalculated the worksheet, rather than updating it from the Manager.

[nikihoops]

18 hours ago, line-weight said:

@nikihoops did you get any further with this?

 

I kind of gave up to be honest. It was a busy period when I first raised the issue so I have been continuing with using excel to create my drawing registers. (luckily we're a small office; only me producing drawings!) 
 

But now there are some more answers here I shall have a read through and try again. 

[Boh]

This is a helpful thread as I learn about using the TItle Block Manager. On this however:

 

On 1/9/2019 at 11:02 AM, line-weight said:

4) For drawings that haven't yet had any revisions applied, it seems that they just produce a blank box in the worksheet. Is that right? If so, this means that people must call the original version of any drawing revision 'A'. Conventionally, in a drawing issue sheet, I'd expect just to see a tick in the box for a drawing that has been issued, without yet having any revisions.

with the response:

On 1/10/2019 at 12:50 AM, Nikolay Zhelyazkov said:

4) Yes. You mean to have something else and unique, specifying that the drawing had no revisions, when it was issued, rather than a blank box? If so, could you add a topic about this in the wishlist thread, to have it listed somewhere? We will discuss this and see if it is possible and appropriate to make this change.

Was there any progress on this?

 

It seems the default Revision History worksheet has a space to enter recipients however if an issued sheet has had no revisions the worksheet will not show the sheet as being issued. Was a wish submitted for adding a check mark next to unrevised issued sheets? It seems that unless this is possible then either revisions have to be added to sheets just so they appear on this worksheet, (which is not ideal), or the worksheet just be used as another form of Revision log and the recipients part of the worksheet be removed?

 

@lineweight what is your workaround on this?

[line-weight]

29 minutes ago, Boh said:

 

@lineweight what is your workaround on this?

 

I'm afraid it was to give up, and continue doing my issue sheets manually. Not because of that specific problem, just the whole thing felt too buggy and complicated, and I didn't trust it with something as important as keeping track of what has been issued to who and when. I'm still using VW2018, so maybe things are better in 2019 or 2020? (I think I can guess the answer though)

 

 

 

 

[Boh]

Well I haven't used the "new" Title Block Borders in vw2018 but so far, in general I am happy with how they are performing in vw2019. As for the reports, it does seem a little over complicated and probably too hard for a new user. At the moment I'm perservering and will trial it on a current project to see how it goes.

 

I've made a couple of wishlists requests here:

 

[line-weight]

I'd be interested to hear how you get on using it "for real".

 

If it seems reliable I'd reconsider trying to use it.

 

As it happens, independently of this title block thing, I've decided just to start calling the first version of any drawing "revision A", because it seems to reduce the potential for confusion in general. If I ask someone "do you have a copy of drawing 209" then the answer might be "yes" whether they have 209 (unrevised) or 209 revision A. If I ask them whether they have a copy of drawing 209 revision A, then it's unambiguous.

[Boh]

I’ll report back. Let’s see how we go...  It’s usually only at building consent stage do we start adding drawing revision numbers. Prior to that we just date stamp the drawings. Marking the first official issue of a set as revision “A” might be the way forward. 
 

The project I’m trialling it on is split over two files. I haven’t figured out how to get a sensible revision report yet tho. 

[Boh]

21 hours ago, Boh said:

It seems the default Revision History worksheet has a space to enter recipients however if an issued sheet has had no revisions the worksheet will not show the sheet as being issued.

@Nikolay Zhelyazkov I am wondering for a custom data base revision history worksheet would it be possible to put an “IF” statement into the data base column headers so that if an unrevised sheet is included in an issue then a check mark is inserted rather than the cell left blank. If this is possible could provide the formula? 🙂

 

Edited June 16, 2020 by Boh

[Nikolay Zhelyazkov]

11 hours ago, Boh said:

@Nikolay Zhelyazkov I am wondering for a custom data base revision history worksheet would it be possible to put an “IF” statement into the data base column headers so that if an unrevised sheet is included in an issue then a check mark is inserted rather than the cell left blank. If this is possible could provide the formula? 🙂

 

- Actually, the currently created database Revision History has an if statement in its formula and it looks like this:

 

=IF('Title Block Issue Data-1'.'Current Revision'<>''; 'Title Block Issue Data-1'.'Current Revision'; '')

 

You can simply add whatever you want in the last '' and you will get this if the issue was not revised. For a checkmark, you will have to copy a checkmark symbol from somewhere and paste it there.

 

Best Regards,

Nikolay Zhelyazkov

[Boh]

Thanks @Nikolay Zhelyazkov I tried that but it seems to add a check mark even if the sheet is not included in the issue. It's like it needs an additional / nested if statement. Something like

 

If drawing issued and drawing also revised then insert revision number.

If drawing issued and drawing not revised then insert check mark

If drawing not issued then leave blank.

 

Hope you got the idea from my highly technical formula!!

 

Cheers

[Nikolay Zhelyazkov]

5 minutes ago, Boh said:

Thanks @Nikolay Zhelyazkov I tried that but it seems to add a check mark even if the sheet is not included in the issue. It's like it needs an additional / nested if statement. Something like

 

If drawing issued and drawing also revised then insert revision number.

If drawing issued and drawing not revised then insert check mark

If drawing not issued then leave blank.

 

Hope you got the idea from my highly technical formula!!

 

Cheers

 

Oops, did not think of that. Here is an extended formula with one more if statement that gets the job done:

 

=IF('Title Block Issue Data-1'.'Current Revision'<>''; 'Title Block Issue Data-1'.'Current Revision'; IF((R IN ['Title Block Issue Data-1']); 'X'; ''))

 

Replace the 'X' with the checkmark or any other string you want visualized. 🙂

[Boh]

Beautiful.  Will check it out in the morning. Cheers

[Boh]

Hey @Nikolay Zhelyazkov

 

Is there a slight error in the formula syntax as this is what I get when I paste your one in. Could this be because I am on vw2019?

 

Also do I need to paste it into the "Title Block Project Revision History -1" report? (I.e. the report created after running the first issue), or can I paste it into the master worksheet? (and update the "Issue Data-1" formula entries in your formula to "Issue Data-2" & "Issue Data-3" as required).

 

 

[Nikolay Zhelyazkov]

9 hours ago, Boh said:

Hey @Nikolay Zhelyazkov

 

Is there a slight error in the formula syntax as this is what I get when I paste your one in. Could this be because I am on vw2019?

 

Also do I need to paste it into the "Title Block Project Revision History -1" report? (I.e. the report created after running the first issue), or can I paste it into the master worksheet? (and update the "Issue Data-1" formula entries in your formula to "Issue Data-2" & "Issue Data-3" as required).

 

 

 

Hello @Boh,

 

I suppose this is because of different OS locales. Try changing every semicolon in the formula with comma and it should work if this is the problem( ';' -> ',' ).

 

Every time you create the worksheet report from the TBManager the changes you made to the formulas will be replaced by the original formula. So, I advice you to rename the worksheet to something else after you make the formula changes to make sure it is not overwritten by the Manager and then you can add additional columns with "Issue Data-2", etc.

 

Let me know if you have any other questions.

 

Best Regards,

Nikolay Zhelyazkov

[Boh]

Cool the formula works. Just trying to figure out how to update the date and approval fields for the custom sheet without creating a new report from the TB manager.

[Boh]

I'm getting some mixed results trying to get the 'date', 'by' and 'Issue #' issue data in the correct cells of my custom revision history worksheet. Here are how the default (left) and my custom (right) worksheets compare after 3 issues. After 4 issues things got a bit weird... Do you have any suggestions @Nikolay Zhelyazkov? Maybe this is too hard and should I just do this manually everytime I issue drawings? Id do like how my custom sheets indicate unrevised sheets are included in an issue tho!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Nikolay Zhelyazkov]

Hello @Boh,

 

The only difference I see is the circle you are using in your custom formula and the order in which issues are filled. Could you give me some more information on what exactly do you want to get?

 

Thanks,

Nikolay Zhelyazkov

[Boh]

Thanks @Nikolay Zhelyazkov. The issues are changing cell positions for some reason. I think this is way too hard for what it’s worth. Thanks anyway.

[line-weight]

Looks a bit like the problems I was experiencing, that caused me to lose confidence in the reliability of this.

 

It's a shame because it's at a "nearly works" stage. VW needs to provide some worksheets that have been subject to intensive testing, because the majority of users are never going to put this much effort into developing one for themselves.

[Nikolay Zhelyazkov]

57 minutes ago, Boh said:

Thanks @Nikolay Zhelyazkov. The issues are changing cell positions for some reason. I think this is way too hard for what it’s worth. Thanks anyway.

 

If you are using a limit to the displayed issues, the formulas will be created from this limit down to 1 starting from right to left, so that Issue Data-1 is in the right most cell. The last created issue is always saved as Issue Data-1 and this is causing the cell position change.

If you turn off the Limit option in the TBManager, you will always get the oldest issue in the first column and the issues will not change cell position.

 

11 minutes ago, line-weight said:

Looks a bit like the problems I was experiencing, that caused me to lose confidence in the reliability of this.

 

It's a shame because it's at a "nearly works" stage. VW needs to provide some worksheets that have been subject to intensive testing, because the majority of users are never going to put this much effort into developing one for themselves.

- Any feedback on what is expected from the worksheet reports is welcome and considered. 🙂

[line-weight]

5 hours ago, Nikolay Zhelyazkov said:

 

 

 

- Any feedback on what is expected from the worksheet reports is welcome and considered. 🙂

 

Your proactive approach is appreciated.

I am still on VW2018 but as soon as I move up to the latest version I will have another go at using this and be sure to bring some feedback here.

[Boh]

On 6/19/2020 at 10:03 PM, Nikolay Zhelyazkov said:

If you turn off the Limit option in the TBManager, you will always get the oldest issue in the first column and the issues will not change cell position.

You mean this?:

 

 

I didn't turn this on, but the issues still come in reverse order.

[Nikolay Zhelyazkov]

4 hours ago, Boh said:

You mean this?:

 

 

I didn't turn this on, but the issues still come in reverse order.

- Yes, okay so the default report is not changing issue cells, yours does. This is because the latest issue is always in the record Issue Data-1. This means that whenever you create new issue, it offsets all of the rest issues by 1 number, which leads to the cell change in your worksheet. Unfortunately, I do not think that this could be fixed automatically, you will have to make these changes manually if you do not want your issue cells to change.

[line-weight]

@Boh Do either of the worksheets work OK when you want to include a drawing in an issue which hasn't had a revision since the last issue?

 

For example, in "third issue B3" from your screenshots above, if issue 3 had included "elevations proposed" but issued again as revision B (rather than a new revision C)?