Pulling Data from Title Block Borders into Worksheets

[Andy Broomell]

Ever since Title Blocks were revamped a couple years ago, I've been unable to create a simple Drawing Schedule (list of sheets) as a worksheet that's linked to my Sheet Layers / Title Blocks. It used to be as simple as pulling record fields from the Title Blocks, but that doesn't seem to work anymore, so I'm obviously missing something.

 

Note that I DO NOT want to use Tools < Reports < Create Sheet List, as this creates an unlinked worksheet (an idea with I completely loathe). In my workflow I constantly re-name and re-number sheets throughout a project, so I need a worksheet that is always up to date without having to manually do anything.

 

I see that it's possible to pull some data from TBBs, as seen in the screenshot of my test below:

 

All I really need is 'Sheet Data'.'Sheet Title' but that doesn't seem to work?

 

For my first column I just used =L in the column header which works fine to pull the sheet layer number.

 

Here's an image of my simple goal, which I had in VW2017:

 

 

 

@Nikolay Zhelyazkov @Pat Stanford

 

 

[Pat Stanford]

I don't have a lot of time to play right now, but it seems to work OK for me here. Tested in VW2020.

 

Create a Database with a criteria of Type is Title Block Border.

 

In Column A use the disclosure Triangle to show the dialog box and choose Records  Sheet Data and the choose Sheet Number as the field

 

In Column B do the same but choose Sheet Title as the field.

 

Strangely enough, the record name is note Sheet Data but rather  Title Block Sheet Data and you end up with a formula like   ='Title Block Sheet Data'.'Sheet Number'

 

Ask again if this does not help

 

 

[Andy Broomell]

@Pat Stanford Once again, you are BRILLIANT. Thank you thank you!

 

I copied my new Worksheet into a blank file, below, in case anyone else would like to utilize it. It relies on a Title Block Border object being on each sheet. I also set the criteria to exclude sheets with TBBs that have "This Title Block is Active" unchecked.

 

 

Sheet List Linked to TBB v2020.vwx

Sheet List Linked to TBB v2019.vwx

 

 

Edited September 13, 2019 by Andy Broomell

[Andy Broomell]

By the way, I placed an instance of this worksheet INSIDE my TBB so it automatically comes in with my title blocks and becomes a small printed sheet list on every page. Works like a charm 🙂 

[jwouie]

@Andy Broomell How did you set the criteria to exclude the inactive TBBs? 

[Boh]

Add a criteria that list objects whose:

Field value / "This Title Block Is Active" / = / "True"

 

Once you select field value scroll down the fields list to Title Block Borders and then in the sub list select "This Title Block is active".

 

[Boh]

BTW I don't personally use this method to select which sheets go in the drawing list as I like to leave all Title Blocks active. (Deactivating them also turns of auto-drawing configuration.

 

Instead I have added a custom field to the already extg vw Sheet Data record. It is a boolean field called "Include in Drawing List. I have a text object hidden in my titleblock border which is linked to this field. Linking the record to text in the TBB means this record will appear as a setting in my TBB settings dialogue.

 

 

Here's a thread that describes how I did it if you are interested.

 

 

[Nikolay Zhelyazkov]

7 hours ago, Boh said:

Linking the record to text in the TBB means this record will appear as a setting in my TBB settings dialogue.

- I just want to mention that this is no longer needed in VW2020, as there is a Display property of the Project/Sheet Data fields that could be used instead. 🙂

[laurakukulski]

@Andy Broomell Can you post HOW you did that though?

I did just copy your worksheet but would like to be able to construct one myself.

 

Did you do advanced criteria?

Record/sheet data/is present

then what? Field value? but then I dont see anything in Field value that works...
 

 

thx

 

[Pat Stanford]

Take a look at my post just about Andy's.  Yes you create a worksheet with a Database row with a Criteria of Type is Title Block. Then you should be able to use the pull downs to select the Record and Field. It will display as Sheet Data in the pull down, but will generate a formula something like:  ='Title Block Sheet Data'.'Sheet Number'

 

Ask again if you need more specifics.

[laurakukulski]

@Pat Stanford  than ks for your reply!

 

Thanks I finally got it using your comment and the one from Boh

 

This part was what I was missing:

Add a criteria that list objects whose:

Field value / "This Title Block Is Active" / = / "True"

 

 

thanks all

[Hans-Olav]

@Nikolay Zhelyazkov @Pat Stanford 

 

I´m trying to include a column in my drawing schedule to report the drawing stamp

='Title Block Border'.'Display Drawing Stamp'

I only manage to display true or false 

I want to report my custom drawing stamp text 

 

='Title Block Border'.'Custom Text'

gives me my custom text in every row, not the ones that actually have a drawing stamp.

 

What am I doing wrong or do you think this is a bug?

 

 

 

[Nikolay Zhelyazkov]

Hello @Hans-Olav,

 

The Custom Text param is not cleared when you are not using Drawing Stamp. In order to get the custom text for objects using the Drawing Stamp only try using the IF formula like this:

 

=IF( 'Title Block Border'.'Display Drawing Stamp'; 'Title Block Border'.'Custom Text'; '' )

 

Best Regards,

Nikolay Zhelyazkov

[Hans-Olav]

Thanks a lot for your quick replay

@Nikolay Zhelyazkov 

It works perfectly

[Pat Stanford]

Display Drawing Stamp is a boolean field (True or False) that tells the PIO to use the drawing stamp or not. That is why you are only getting True or False. Custom Text is the actual text of the stamp.

 

If you use the stamp on all of your title blocks, then you can skip the IF and just use ='Title Block Border'.'Custom Text'

 

Also for reference purposes, the delimiter used in the formulas is language/country dependent.  Since Hans-Olaf and Nickoly are both in Europe (I am assuming) the separator is a semi-colon [ ; ].  In the US the separator is a comma [ , ].

[Bill Swartz]

I too am trying to add a Drawing Index to my cover sheet, which I'd like to automate from data VW already has stored somewhere... I have sheet name and sheet number already linking to text in my Title Block... I want simply to have ALL sheet names and numbers appear as a list in a section I'm titling Drawing Index. I've created a text box within the Edit Title Block Layout interface (click on Title Block > 'Edit Style' from dropdown in Obj Info Palette), and when I go down to Data Type > Link Value: there is no option for sheet name.list or something that looks like it would work. There is a custom config option, but I can't puzzle my way through the interface. I'm looking for tutorials on this but can't find something for this specific task.

 

Like Andy, I don't like the idea of having an external document to reference, since I'd want the list and sheet names to update as I inserted new ones or changed the names of them.

 

Your detail above—and throughout this forum—is great, Pat, and very helpful, thanks.

 

I'm running VW2019 SP6 (Fundamentals, Spotlight, Renderworks) on a mac OS 10.15.7 if that helps. 

 

Thank you,

 

Bill Swartz

[Bill Swartz]

OK, I found a Drawing List worksheet in VW Libraries > Reports_Schedules, and I'm able to put it in the title block area. It comes in looking like an image, so I had to open the worksheet and format the cells so the layout, font and alignment kind of work. But I can't see how to link it as text, which I feel might be cleaner. This works for now though, since there appears to be a toggle defaulted ON to autoupdate.

[Pat Stanford]

Unfortunately, the Drawing Number and Sheet Title are actually not Record.Field instances, but rather data that is stored as part of the Layer. It is accessible from a script, but I don't think it is accessible in a standard worksheet.

[Andy Broomell]

On 4/22/2021 at 1:41 PM, Bill Swartz said:

OK, I found a Drawing List worksheet in VW Libraries > Reports_Schedules, and I'm able to put it in the title block area. It comes in looking like an image, so I had to open the worksheet and format the cells so the layout, font and alignment kind of work. But I can't see how to link it as text, which I feel might be cleaner. This works for now though, since there appears to be a toggle defaulted ON to autoupdate.

 

Try downloading the worksheet from the third post in this thread, then put the worksheet into your TBB.

(The built in Drawing List worksheet is useless)

[jwouie]

Hi @Andy Broomell, I've been using your Drawing List for years (including from the Sheet Border days!) I was wondering if you might have a solution to  a Drawing List that runs too long for the sheet size? In the past, I've just inserted two instances of the Worksheet and covered up w/ white rectangles but I was revisiting to see if there's a more elegant solution. Thanks for any tips/ideas you or others might have! 

[David Poiron]

I have used this method for a while now, and am wondering if there is a way to have the sheet number become a hyperlink to the title block (the sheet layer it is on) itself in a PDF.

[Ben Wingrove]

On 6/27/2022 at 11:31 AM, David Poiron said:

I have used this method for a while now, and am wondering if there is a way to have the sheet number become a hyperlink to the title block (the sheet layer it is on) itself in a PDF.

Definitely +1 on this.

 

[TTEC72]

Hi,

 

Apologies for replying to an old post, I cannot find any other mention elsewhere. I have followed Andy Broomell's excellent article describing how to set up the Title Block Border and have got this working how I would like. I am struggling to generate a simple drawing list with sheet number, latest revision number and sheet title in a row for each sheet layer in the drawing set.

 

The command Tools>Reports>Create Sheet List gets me very close but I can't work out how to add a column to show the latest revision number and am not sufficiently up to speed with databases or the worksheets functionality in VW, we are using VW22. The most frustrating part is that I have been using Autocad for 30 years or so and the drawing list report I am trying to achieve in VW is literally two button clicks. It is even easier in Revit, I seem to remember telling one of the sheets to be an issue register and it would work the rest out. Never thought I would find Revit easier than VW!

 

Hope you can help me resolve this issue, it is preventing us from deploying our new title block. Any advice or links to relevant tutorials would be great, thanks.

 

Tony

[Boh]

Current revision number record field is contained in the "Title Block Border" record. Maybe you missed it as the sheet name and number fields are in the "Title Block Sheet Data" record.

 

I've found that if a Title Block Border has no revision then you get "none" in the revision number column. To avoid this then try using this formula in the column header cell instead of the one you get from the create report command. It essentially says that if a TBB has no revision then enter a blank, if it does have a revision then put in the revision number.

 

=IF('Title Block Border'.'Current Revision Number'='none', ' ', 'Title Block Border'.'Current Revision Number').

 

Cheers

 

[Ramon PG]

On 9/12/2019 at 8:40 PM, Andy Broomell said:

@Pat Stanford Once again, you are BRILLIANT. Thank you thank you!

 

I copied my new Worksheet into a blank file, below, in case anyone else would like to utilize it. It relies on a Title Block Border object being on each sheet. I also set the criteria to exclude sheets with TBBs that have "This Title Block is Active" unchecked.

 

 

Sheet List Linked to TBB v2020.vwx

Sheet List Linked to TBB v2019.vwx

 

 

 

Hello, I don't understand how did you "set the criteria to exclude sheets with TBBs that have "This Title Block is Active" unchecked." That is exactly what I am trying to do in 2022, but can't!!!