Symbol insertion as active class

[Bill_Rios]

When I insert a symbol from the VW Cloud libraries, I would like a setting to insert that symbol into my drawing in the active class.  I don't mind the internal geometry having specific classes that need to be maintained, but I would like to govern how the symbols themselves are inserted into my drawing. 

 

If this exists already, my apologies.  I have not been able to find a way to make this happen.

 

Thank you for all you do!

 

[markdd]

By default symbols should insert into the active class unless a symbol has been setup to insert into another specified class. To check this, right-click on the symbol in the  resource manager and select Symbol Options. In the dialog that opens make sure that in the Other Options section under Assign to class, that <Active Class> is selected.

[Bill_Rios]

Mark,

Thank you for the quick reply.  Let me re form my request.  Can symbols that are in the VW libraries default to inserting into the active class?  I a lot of symbols are drawn so they default to the class they were drawn in. 

That was a direct import from the VW Cloud libraries.

 

Or, can there be an option to override that and make all symbols import as active class?  It is a bit tedious to have to go to every symbol and change this option.

 

Sorry if I'm missing something basic.

 

Cheers

 

[markdd]

You're not missing anything. For some reason some stock symbols are assigned to Classes that the content creators think will be useful. I don't want to be critical but I have never heard of anyone finding these useful. Sadly there is no way you can force a symbol to insert on the active class once this option has been filled-in in Symbol Options. If there is then I would be very keen to know what it is!

[Bill_Rios]

@markdd Thanks for your help today.  Should I re-post this as a feature request then?  An option to force symbol insertion into the active class?

[markdd]

Absolutely!

[Chris Baccala]

Hi all,

 

Our architecture, and landscape symbols are setup to make use of the Standard Naming feature. The classes assigned to the symbols come from a standard reference list. The feature can be used to map the classes. If you are using Architect, Landmark or the Designer product, you can find it here in the menu, File>Document Settings>Standard Naming...

 

Here is the VW2021 Help page about this topic:

https://app-help.vectorworks.net/2021/eng/index.htm#t=VW2021_Guide%2FSetup%2FStandard_naming.htm&rhsearch=standard naming&rhhlterm=standard naming&rhsyns=

 

Also see the video link at the end of the page that shows you how to do this. 

 

Once you setup your own user classes and mapping through this, then the symbols will map to how you want it to be. 

 

Best regards,

Chris Baccala

[Andy Broomell]

On 11/16/2020 at 7:50 AM, markdd said:

I have never heard of anyone finding these useful.

 

I agree whole-heartedly. Users have griped about the auto-generated classes for years on these forums, and every single colleague I've worked with and student I've taught has complained about them at some point. I get tired of constantly having to delete classes such as "Furniture-Main" and "Plumbing-Fixtures" which have nothing to do with class structures that we use in entertainment. Why is this forced upon us?

 

(This is also related to another annoyance which is that classes that are auto-generated via importing symbols or copy and pasting from another file are always set to INVISIBLE in Viewports and Saved Views, leading to lots of confusion for novice users when objects start disappearing.)

 

On 11/16/2020 at 10:25 AM, Chris Baccala said:

Our architecture, and landscape symbols are setup to make use of the Standard Naming feature. The classes assigned to the symbols come from a standard reference list. The feature can be used to map the classes. If you are using Architect, Landmark or the Designer product, you can find it here in the menu, File>Document Settings>Standard Naming...

 

Here is the VW2021 Help page about this topic:

https://app-help.vectorworks.net/2021/eng/index.htm#t=VW2021_Guide%2FSetup%2FStandard_naming.htm&rhsearch=standard naming&rhhlterm=standard naming&rhsyns=

 

Also see the video link at the end of the page that shows you how to do this. 

Once you setup your own user classes and mapping through this, then the symbols will map to how you want it to be. 

 

I took a look through this and don't quite understand how it addresses the original questions/concerns of this thread, but it's entirely possible that I'm missing something.

 

From my testing, the Standard Naming window doesn't really do anything at all unless "Enable Auto-classing" is checked. So assuming we check this box, that means that ALL classes within that standard are applied to the various applicable objects, so suddenly doors and windows and other PIOs are affected too...

Anyways, let's say we go one by one through the list of classes and map every single one to "None" in order to avoid getting any of the unwanted default classes (btw why can't we select more than one at a time?). Well now all applicable objects/symbols are inserted onto the None class regardless of the Active Class. There is no option to use the "Active Class" in the Standard Naming window. So this is still different than what's desired.

 

In the end the "Standard Naming" option seems overly complicated to set up and ends up causing more issues than it solves. But if there's a better way to set it up please let us know. If there's a way to truly never have to deal with auto-generated classes it'd make a lot of people very happy 🙂 

[Pat Stanford]

At least in VW2021 you do have the option to edit the Symbol Insertion Options and change the insertion class back to <Active Class>