Plug-in class settings

[Ken]

Style-1

Style-2

Style-3

Style-4

etc.

Style-Glazing 1

Style-Glazing 2

Style-Glazing 3

etc.

How the heck do you remember which of these classes has been used for which parts in your drawing?

For example, on a plug-in french door in Bedroom 2, I'm using Style-3 for Trim 2, Style-4 for Jamb, Style-2 for Door, Style-7 for Door Swing, Style-Glazing 3 for Door Glazing, etc.

Then on a plug-in window in adjacent Bedroom 3, which should look similar because it's the SAME FACADE (!), how the heck am I supposed to remember which classes I used?

If I change the class names like:

Style-1 -> Color-wood trim

Style-2 -> Color-jamb

Style-3 -> Color-door panel

etc.,

Style-Glazing 1 -> Color-glazing

Style-Glazing 2 -> Color-panel

etc.,

then the plug-in object can't call them anymore!

How do you do it?

(And how the heck do you do a true "french door?" It looks like the "swing bi-part" door but without the center mullion)

[ 10-26-2004, 01:33 AM: Message edited by: Archken ]

[CipesDesign]

The "style" settings are very useful if you have a photographic memory. If not you might want to keep a list (on old fashioned paper!) handy.

Yes, the swing bi-part works as a french. But I know what you mean. Just remember, it wasn't very lnog ago that it was all "paper & pencil". We have come a long way, but obviously still have a long way to go...

[ionw]

Archken,

to do a French door, set the Astragal Flange and Thickness to zero. It is in the PIO Settings in the General Settings section.

I second your call for the ability to rename the styles.

HTH

[Petri]

Oh dear - time for my regular input once again:

Use the Vectorscript plug-in editor (in Organise -menu) to change the values in the pop-ups for classes. You can even type the values elsewhere and copy/paste them to the list.

So, you scroll to the PIO in question, select it, click on the Parameters -button, then scroll again to the Class settings -section, select a field and say Edit. The value list is behind Choices -button. (And no, it does not take half an hour.)

And while you are in a mood for a melody, you can also change the default values of any parameters to be what you are most likely to use. For us metric folks, that is really important.

[ErichR]

Although Petri's points are interesting, they do not address the issue of, over intervening days or months, remembering what the style attribute assignments had been determined to be (color, line thickness, texture, etc.).

[Petri]

But they do if you give meaningful names to the classes to be used - colour etc. are class attributes.

I use classes for materials (MAT-TIMBER, MAT-ALUMINIUM, MAT-GLASS etc) and colours (COL-BLACK, COL-RED, COL-BLUE etc) and have no trouble remembering, as they are all in the class definitions.

Oh, BTW, I should have also pointed out that the number of choices is entirely up to the user. You can have as many choices as you want.

[shorter]

Try creating classes which assign attributes to the object drawn rather than the other way around, e.g. instead of Style 1, use Jamb-Style-1, etc. In the UK, we use the AEC(UK)CAD Standards which assign line attributes to classes based on whether we are drawing something with a thick line, thin line or dotted line. Works very well once you have got over the initial shock of using a class called A-G322-G-Door-FWD! Go to www.bentleyuser.org for further info.

Regards

Steven Shorter

[mike m oz]

This issue comes up regularly as a major frustration with users.

Surely one of the major objectives of the programmers should be to make the program as user friendly as possible.

Getting rid of this nonsense protocol would help achieve this.