Window & door schedule using WinDoor

[Boh]

I am trying to set up an efficient office standard system for setting up Window and Door schedules using drawing templates, styled WinDoor objects, record info and worksheets. I have seen this recent thread.

 

https://forum.vectorworks.net/index.php?/topic/58464-favoured-window-schedule-workflows/

 

 

which is great however I am using WinDoor objects rather than native window and door objects so maybe the WinDoor experts might be able to help?

This is all fairly new to me so any help or suggestions from anyone would be appreciated!

 

At the moment I am looking at setting up 2x worksheets to be used together:

1) The actual schedule that would go on the Drawing sheet.

2) A "WinDoor Housekeeping" two-way report worksheet  that can be used to edit the WinDoor objects quickly and efficiently. I like this as you can quickly pick up any inconsistencies in your doors & windows and correct them. This report would reside in the Resource Manager (not be put on an actual drawings).

 

So far so good. I have set up both worksheets. I have gone through all the available records available from the WinDoor plug-in. A couple of little things though maybe someone could help with:

 

Is there a way I can show the WinDoor style of my windoor objects in a worksheet? It would be good to be able to cross check what style(s) are in use in a file. I can't find this as a record.

 

The other thing is with the WinDoor user fields. The "Schedule Data" tab of the settings tab lets you use presets for the user fields. If I use the "Door Height x Door Width" preset for a user field it is picked up in the worksheet which is great however if I later edit the door size the preset value in the Schedule Data tab doesn't update (let alone update to the worksheet).

 

Is this working as designed or am I missing something? I guess being a "preset" it is like a default initial value however the interesting thing is that for the ID Symbols if you use the second ID field for the same "Door Height x Door Width" the ID tags will auto update when you change the door dimensions.

In the screen shot attached you can see the ID Symbol updated to an 810x2000 door but the preset value is still on 2010x760.

 

To update the preset value I have to go into the settings dialogue of each WinDoor object one by one which clearly isn't what I want to do. Is there a way to "reset" or "regenerate" WinDoor objects so these fields update?

 

Unfortunately there is no "door height" record though there is a "door width" one which auto updates to the worksheets.

 

I've also noticed door heights shown in the OIP differ from those shown in the form dialogue too...

 

Any help would be appreciated. Thanks

 

 

[Boh]

Anyone want to take a bite at this?

In brief my main questions are:

• Can WinDoor styles be called up in a worksheet?
• Can the door width X height field be called up in a wksheet and (work two way).
• Is there a way to reset all/multiple WinDoor objects so the update to there revised settings.

Also after playing around with door heights some more I've found that when the door threshold is not shown the door height versus overall height can be out by the thickness of the door sill frame. You need to open the form dialogue and close it again for the overall door height to update correctly. At the moment door height is too buggy to include as a record field in the door schedule, ( have to enter manually).

 

Thanks!

 

 

[Boh]

On 10/2/2018 at 9:13 PM, Boh said:

• Can WinDoor styles be called up in a worksheet?

Found this but no styles listed despite saying there are 126 objects that meet the criteria and I can't even type the name in. Any suggestions?

[Boh]

Still no bites out there...

 

So Ozcad have just posted a new movie on VW2019 WinDoor which I think addresses some of this. It looks like WinDoor styles have been improved in VW2019. I've played with WinDoor styles in 2018 and found myself going around in circles trying to edit them and control the instances of them on a drawing. I still don't know if they are buggy or its just me. I've decided to wait for the eminent release in NZ of the new vectorworks and see what happens.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[fabrica]

very jealous ..... why TF is this not available in europe (or elsewhere!)

[MaleXLR]

Late reply, sorry, but I couldn't have answered this until now... and possibly went down exactly the same track as you with our Window Schedule.

 

My current issue is that changing the Unit Height on the Worksheet, doesn't affect the sash height in the same way as changing the height when using the WinDoor > Form dialogue box - as you can see from the image below (W02). The frame has changed, but the sash size and glazing stay resolutely steadfast.

 

OzCad couldn't give an answer. They suggested Show/Hide WinDoor, but I couldn't work out how to do that!

 

If you have any words of wisdom I would be very grateful. You see, I also have the Style listed, but as a function it can't be edited and doesn't have a drop down!

 

The big advantage (as you probably thought) with this, is that using the worksheet you should be able to change any window or door from a design layer, a sheet layer or a viewport, but sadly it falls considerably short. The only useful thing is perhaps right clicking on the left column to take you to the WinDoor element, although going from the element back to the schedule would be quite useful!!!

 

Under our Consumer Guarantees Act, do you ever wonder whether this would qualify as "Fit for purpose"???

 

 

Edited October 21, 2019 by MaleXLR
Text fell off!

[Boh]

Nice to get a response after a year or so! Unfortunately I don't have a lot of answers to your questions as I have only relatively recently got on to vw2019 and as yet have not gone through the WinDoor improvements with this release. I'm hoping to do so soonish so will post back here if I discover anything that might be useful!

 

Meanwhile however I am successfully using a worksheet approach to door schedules. My understanding of worksheets is that they generally are not able to make geometric edits to objects. For data based worksheets their main advantage is their ability to collate and edit record information.

 

I have found worksheets great even just for cross checking WinDoor objects - even if the edits can't be done directly in the worksheet.

 

Globally editing the form and settings of WinDoor objects via the "Copy and Apply" function I have found really confusing so I have tended to avoid it. I'm hoping that it will be better in 2019. It does look a bit more promising using styles.

 

To avoid having to do lots of edits to multiple WinDoor objects on every project I have made a single "Custom Base Style" and have set the WinDoor tool to use this style by default in all my templates. This style has all my basic preferences built in - no weird imperial measurements or odd trim settings. To create this I went through every possible setting of every possible Window/Door Type and set my defaults. (Then used the eyedropper tool with "Pick Up Sets Defaults" checked). 

 

Once I get into using Styles properly this "Base" style will be the template for all other styles.

 

With regards to WinDoor heights - I've found the most reliable way to edit the heights is in the Form dialogue. You can't do it from a worksheet and doing it in the OIP via the "Overall Height" entry is not reliable. It might be possible to do reliably by using styles though I need to investigate that.

 

I have no idea what "Show/Hide WinDoor" does. The command can be found at the bottom of the AEC drop down menu.

 

 

 

 

[MaleXLR]

Hi Boh. Yes, I would agree with the Copy and Apply functionality. We have always had mixed results. On a simple job, yay, but we found the more complex, the bigger mess you can make with Copy and Apply.

 

I mistakenly thought that I could save symbols as PIOs so that every similar WinDoor window in our library would come in with the same Style. This worked beautifully initially and every window that I brought into the drawing, or into a blank document came in with a Symbol name and a different Style name – even after saving the files. Then I made the fatal mistake of closing the files and after that all the PIOs reverted to having the same PIO and Style name… Bugger!

 

I really object to having to go into Form to set the height! If I set the height on the worksheet and go to the Object Info Palette, all I have to do is replace the width (ie: 1000) with the width (ie: 1000) and the window regenerates correctly. I don’t need to change the height – that is taken from the worksheet. Why can’t that be done in one hit from the bloody worksheet?

 

I did find the Show/Hide WinDoor menu item thanks, but “Regenerate Objects Only” didn’t seem to do anything and certainly didn’t fix my sashes!

 

We have got a worksheet on our cover page, listing all the VAA Title Blocks. That is a great way of checking all the details from one place and copy with multiple pastes seems to work well.

[Boh]

On 10/22/2019 at 3:50 PM, MaleXLR said:

I mistakenly thought that I could save symbols as PIOs so that every similar WinDoor window in our library would come in with the same Style.

So I occasionally save a WinDoor object as a straight up normal symbol. I do this when I want multiple instances of exactly the same window or door.

 

I’m still fairly new to using styles. To use styles do you not save the WinDoor as a style rather than as a symbol?  It then lists in the RM as a special red symbol?

 

I haven’t really used styles with WinDoor objects yet and maybe they are a bit different to other styled objects. 

I’ve started using them on title block borders and also the new Ozcad Detailer tool. The title block border styles are very good. The detailer tool looks like it still needs some work to make styles work really well (other than that though it is a pretty cool tool).

 

On 10/22/2019 at 3:50 PM, MaleXLR said:

If I set the height on the worksheet and go to the Object Info Palette, all I have to do is replace the width (ie: 1000) with the width (ie: 1000) and the window regenerates correctly. 

Thanks for the tip I’ll have to try that out!