worksheet question on displaying all recent issue numbers in one column

[frv]

Hi, can anyone help me with the code showing all recent title block issue numbers in one column and beside it all recent issue dates.

='Title Block  Issue Data-2'.'number' gives me only a specific issue. I don't want to set columns for each issue. Which is the way I find the vectorworks help shows.

What I am trying to do is a simple custum worksheet showing sheet numbers and subjects and two columns for only the latest issue number and date.

 

I also wonder if there is a way to have each sheet have its own issue number history instead of having all sheets following the latest numbering of each new issue.

 

Any help is very appreciated. 

Cheers Francois

Edited March 19, 2020 by frv

[frv]

I will refrase:

is it possible to have a worksheet listing all curent title block sheet numbers and their corresponding most recent issue-number and issue-date in 3 columns ?

Any help is very appreciated. 

Cheers Francois

 

Edited March 23, 2020 by frv

[Pat Stanford]

Yes, it can be done but the best way to do it will depend on how many issues you think you will have and how far back your issues stop.

 

Each Issue creates a new Record Format and attaches it to the Title Block Border. The records are renamed each time so the most current Issue is named 'Title Block Issue Data-1', the previous is 'Title Block Issue Data-2' etc.

 

If you are only going to have a few (say 3) current issues, you can use nested IF functions to get the most current data in a single column.

 

=IF(('Title Block Issue Data-1'.'Date')<>'', ('Title Block Issue Data-1'.'Date'), IF(('Title Block Issue Data- 2'.'Date')<>'', ('Title Block Issue Data-2'.'Date'), IF(('Title Block Issue Data-3'.'Date')<>'', ('Title Block Issue Data-3'.'Date'), '')))

 

The most recent issue for each Title Block Border is a field in the Title Block Border record.

 

='Title Block Border'.'Current Issue Number'

 

And the Sheet number is a field in the Title Block Sheet Data record.

 

='Title Block Sheet Data'.'Sheet Number'

 

Create a worksheet with a database of Objects with a record Sheet Data and plug the above formulas in and you should get what you want.

 

Ask again if you need more help.

[Boh]

1 hour ago, Pat Stanford said:

If you are only going to have a few (say 3) current issues, you can use nested IF functions to get the most current data in a single column.

 

=IF(('Title Block Issue Data-1'.'Date')<>'', ('Title Block Issue Data-1'.'Date'), IF(('Title Block Issue Data- 2'.'Date')<>'', ('Title Block Issue Data-2'.'Date'), IF(('Title Block Issue Data-3'.'Date')<>'', ('Title Block Issue Data-3'.'Date'), '')))

This looks really useful! I fail to understand how this nested IF function critieria works but that doesn't matter as it does! It even worked after I did 26 different issues on the same sheet and the most recent data always showed so not sure why it is limited to 3? At what point does it stop working?

 

We would really like the same thing but instead of the current issue date a worksheet displaying the current revision date. Is this possible? I tried simply swapping out "Issue" in the criteria for "Revision" but of course that didn't work...

 

Edit: So I see it breaks down when other sheets are given issues...

 

Is there no simple way to get the current revision date and or current issue date listed on a worksheet next to the sheet name and number?

Edited March 23, 2020 by Boh

[Pat Stanford]

Quick Reply, probably more later.

 

By default, there are only records for three issues saved. This can be set in the TBB Settings dialog box, Issues, Number of Issues to Show.

 

The IF could probably be extended, but I was having trouble getting it to work with a 4th IF statement, so I cheated and gave the short solution. 

 

Something similar should work for Revisions, but I will have to check later.

[frv]

Hi Pat,

tx a lot.

='Title Block Border'.'Current Issue Number' worked perfectly.  Also for Revision Number.

 

I tried ='Title Block Border'.'Current Issue Date" but that did not work.  Any idea ?

[frv]

and I see I am still a Vectorworks apprentice although I go back to the days of MiniCad from the 80's :-) ....

[Nikolay Zhelyazkov]

Hello @frv,

 

There is not record field for the Current Issue Date, so ='Title Block Border'.'Current Issue Date" will not work.

If you are trying to get the Current Revision Number you should try ='Title Block Border'.'Current Revision Number". As for current issue date, you could try Pat's formula with the nested IFs.

 

Best Regards,

Nikolay Zhelyazkov

[frv]

Tx Nikolay.

So VW can not produce a list of current issue dates....2020..

 

To Pat, pasted this here below without luck, any idea why ?

=IF(('Title Block Issue Data-1'.'Date')<>'', ('Title Block Issue Data-1'.'Date'), IF(('Title Block Issue Data- 2'.'Date')<>'', ('Title Block Issue Data-2'.'Date'), IF(('Title Block Issue Data-3'.'Date')<>'', ('Title Block Issue Data-3'.'Date'), '')))

 

 

[Nikolay Zhelyazkov]

2 minutes ago, frv said:

To Pat, pasted this here below without luck, any idea why ?

=IF(('Title Block Issue Data-1'.'Date')<>'', ('Title Block Issue Data-1'.'Date'), IF(('Title Block Issue Data- 2'.'Date')<>'', ('Title Block Issue Data-2'.'Date'), IF(('Title Block Issue Data-3'.'Date')<>'', ('Title Block Issue Data-3'.'Date'), '')))

- Try changing the separator in the formulas from , to ; as they are affected by your system local settings.

[frv]

that was it , tx Nikolay

But maybe VW can provide a current issue date record field for the next SP.

[Nikolay Zhelyazkov]

@frv

Do you want the Current Issue Date specially in worksheets only? As currently, there is an easy way to get it in the TBB layout using a custom link formula with Issue Data.Issue Date in it.

[frv]

This is a screenshot of a drawing I am working on. I have the current issue date in the TBB.

Not being able to list current issue dates is a bit odd.

[Pat Stanford]

@frv The limitation you are seeing is based on the database design for storing the data. The idea behind most databases is to not duplicate data in different locations. If you have to store data on an Issue in a location(the Issue Record), you don't also want to store any more of that data than necessary in the Border Record. All that is stored is what the most current Issue is. The other data can be accessed from the Issue Record, but since each issue has it's own record, you need the complicated IF function to be able to get the date from all of the different Issues since not each Border might have the same Issue. If all of your sheets always have the current Issue, you can just use ='Title Block Issue Data-1'.'Date'

 

The reason it is done this way is to ensure that the data is always consistent. You would not want to create an Issue and accidentally have different dates for the same issue. If the date was stored on each Border, the chance of a problem making one of them incorrect is relatively high, so it is better to only store that data once.

 

I find it better to understand why something I want to do is not as easy as it seems it should be rather than just feel that someone is doing something dumb.

[Boh]

4 hours ago, Nikolay Zhelyazkov said:

Do you want the Current Issue Date specially in worksheets only? As currently, there is an easy way to get it in the TBB layout using a custom link formula with Issue Data.Issue Date in it.

Hey Nikolai. Could you please share this custom link formula?

[Nikolay Zhelyazkov]

12 hours ago, Boh said:

Hey Nikolai. Could you please share this custom link formula?

It is nothing special. Just use the currently available Issue/Revision Data formulas, but use them from the Custom Formula option, down in the link formulas list. Here is an example file. I suppose you will see blank field for the custom formula name as it is saved locally, but you could edit the formula to see what is in it. Let me know if you need further info.

 

Best Regards,

Nikolay Zhelyazkov

Latest issue date.vwx