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Hi all,

 

I was looking for some help in the worksheets and putting a letter in a row for each symbol in the data sheet. I also was wondering if the general version of Vectorworks allows you to use data tags in 2020? Also any beginners tips for worksheets and making a BOM for the documents would be helpful, like more records or symbols tips. 

 

Thanks, Colin 

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A bunch of ways to do this. The best one depends on what you are actually trying to do. More detail please.

 

Are you using worksheet cells or a database?

Does the letter placed depend on the symbol? If so how? If not is the letter in place of a number? What happens after you get to Z (26). AA?

 

????

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I have many symbols that are created and I create a database in a worksheet then use the type is symbol command. Then use =s and summarize values to create a list of symbols and =count to count how many of each I have. After Z we would move to AA and AAA and so forward. I want to have each symbol have its own Letter assigned and and easy way to put the letter on the symbol in the drawing. The letter assigned can be whatever we want it to be there is no Certain letter per symbol. We make multiple drawing using the same symbols and they all aren't included in every drawing so I would prefer if we assigned them letters in each drawing separately. The letter is just an easy way to idetify each part from the parts list in the drawing like a BOM. 

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OK. That makes it much clearer.

 

For what you want you are going to need to use a script and a custom record format. I don't know of anyway to "number" objects with A to ZZZZ without just storing it as a text field. You might actually want to store as a true number and then use the script to convert to the letter output.

 

If you store the "label letter" in a record attached to the symbol instance you could then either edit the symbols and use Link Text to Record or use the Data Tag tool to give you more flexibility in where the label is located.

 

Just to confirm.  You want to make the drawing and generate the worksheet using a Summarized database. You then want to assign each object in each summarized subrow the same "letter" for identification purposes. The specific letters can be different for different drawings.

 

If the above is correct, it should be relatively easy to do, but I will have to try a few things over the weekend.

 

If you want to play in the short term, duplicate one of your small files and create a custom record format with a text field of "ID Letter" type Text. Manually attach that record to some symbols in a drawing. Add a column to your summarized worksheet with a formula of ='Your Record Name'.'Your Field Name' (replace with the actual names you use). Type a letter (or any string actually) into a new column sub-cell and see if the value is stored in the record (checkable in the data pane of the OIP) of each other summarized symbols.

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Yes, that's exactly what I'm looking to do! I'll work on continuing to experiment with trying to get this to work with my record labels and the scrips with my small files. I don't beilve my version of Vectorworks comes with the data tags as its just the fundamentals version as a heads up. Thanks so much for the help its much appreciated it! 

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If you don't have data tags then Link Text to Record will be the next best option, but it will not let you change the location of the label for different instances of the symbol. They will all have to be in the same relatively place.

 

Create the Record/Field. Place a dummy text block in the relative position you want the label to be compared to the symbol. Select the symbol instance and the text block. In a standard workspace go to Modify:Link Text to Record. From the dialog box choose the record and field and click OK.  Every instance of the symbol should now have the data from it's specific record displayed on the drawing. Change the data in the Data pane of the OIP (or from a worksheet) and the text on the drawing will change.

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I am probably misunderstanding you, but your sample file only has one record format. When you use Link Text to Record, the "placeholder" text you enter will be replaced with the text stored in the defaults for the record format. Once you have the record attached you have to go back and edit any of the values that need to be different for that specific symbol.

 

You can (and should) edit the Record defaults so that as much of the data will be correct before you attach it as possible.

 

You can edit the data in the record either through a worksheet or through the Data pane of the OIP for single (or even multiple) selected objects.

 

Also, I notices that you have a TEXT class, but you have not assigned it. If you make the "placeholder" text in the TEXT class, then you can hide your labels by changing class visibility.

 

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I think they are displaying in the row you want. It is just that you have some of the database subrows SUMmarized (using the check box in the database header row.

 

Also, I think you might have gotten copies of the records attached to both the symbol and to objects (groups??) INSIDE the symbols. It is probably best to keep to attaching the record directly to the symbol.

 

You probably either need to clean up which objects have the record attached or you need to modify your database criteria to only show the objects you are interested in.

 

Unless you are really stuck, I don't think I need to see a file. The Practice file showed me what I needed to know (I think).

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I see what you are saying, I put them underneath the symbol so they would always be there. I wanted to keep them with the block so that you could just edit the Description in the drawing and not have to type each one out. Is there a way to keep the text linked in the symbol with the product number on it so I don't have to type it out each time?

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We print out all our drawings so the client doesn't actually use the drawings so, right now we just type out an A and put them on the drawing which is easier than linking each one and typing out the name. Is there a way to quickly label all your symbols with the text already assigned to the symbol? Or even a way to just label them with an increasing number?

 

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