Activate Layer and Class - Short Cut

[Taproot]

This short cut saves me a LOT of time and might work for you as well!

 

We have an extensive list of classes and long list of layers in our files. 

 

Unlike everyone else, who drafts all of their walls at once and then all of their doors and then all of their notes in a tidy neat sequence, we constantly jump around between layers and classes as we draw.

 

It can be really time consuming locating the correct class and layer in the Navigation Pallet, so as our drawings develop, we usually take the shortcut of clicking on an existing object and then using the (right-click) object context menu to move us to the correct layer and class.

 

In VW, "Activate Class" and "Activate Layer" are two separate menu commands.  So, with the built in tools you need to go through this process twice.

I do it a LOT, so I wanted the easiest (laziest) way possible. 

 

With some help from this forum, I created a menu command that does both operations at once.

I then added it to my Workspace and applied a shortcut to it.

The shortcut code I then applied to the middle button of my mouse (my scroll wheel button)

 

Now, whenever I want to jump to a layer and class of an object, I just click the middle mouse button (you can use any assignable button or hot key combination) and a reticle appears - which allows me to click on any object to make it's class and layer active.

 

Now, migrating to the correct class and layer takes just a few seconds. 

If this approach appeals to you, the tool is attached to this post.  Feel free to add it to your workspace and give it a go. 

 

 

Activate L+C.vsm

Edited January 28, 2021 by Taproot

[Matt Panzer]

Good idea and thanks for sharing!

This reminds me of an old wish of mine to have the "Activate Class" command activate the "None" class when right-clicking on the background.  That might be something worth putting in there.  In that case, the active layer would not change but the active class would be set to "None".

Just thought I'd throw it out there...  🙂 

[hollister design Studio]

@Taproot

This seemed really useful and I immediately downloaded it!

...a while ago.

...I'm just getting around to loading it.

 

 

And (as expected) the help pages are not helpful at all.

Quote

"Add the new plug-in to one or more workspaces with the Workspace Editor.   See Customizing workspaces.   Once the item has been added to a workspace, it is available to any open file in Vectorworks without the need for importing the associated script into the active file."

 

Of course clicking on the customizing workspaces link says absolutely nothing about .vsm files and how to add them to your workspace....

 

 

If you have a moment, could you give me a condensed "this is how you make this work" list of actions?

 

Thanks!

[Taproot]

You just need to add the .vsm file to the "Plugins" folder located in either your Vectorworks app folder or your User folder (depending upon how you organize your custom plugins.

 

You'll then need to restart VW.  When it starts up again, the available plugins will be refreshed. 

 

Then go to menu: Tools>Workspaces>Edit Current Workspace

 

Select "Menus" (not Tools or Keys)

On the left sidebar, flip down "All Menus" and scroll the list to the new plugin name that you want to add to your workspace.

 

Grab it and drag it into the menu location of your choice (at right).

Once there, you can assign a hot key (short cut).

 

[hollister design Studio]

So simple.

Thanks!

[alindeman]

Can anyone share this plugin with me please? The attachment is no longer available. This would be a lifesaver. TIA!

[Jonathan Pickup]

I don't think you need this plug-in. If you right-click on an object, your contextual menu you should show activate class and activate layer

[Georgy]

@Jonathan Pickup is there a way to activate Class AND Layer in one click without this plug-in? That would save me and my colleagues a lot of time. 

 

I would be very thankful if the Plug-In would be shared again.

 

 

[G Troyer]

I loaded the plugin and set the shortcut, but when I try to use it all I get is the reticle. At the top of the screen it says "Click to select point" but when I click it does nothing and just switches to the selection tool. Any ideas? VW 2018 running Win 10.

[Taproot]

I'm still using this script / menu item without any glitches, so for those of you experiencing problems - consider editing the script and replacing it with new text:

 

Navigate to the following menu: Tools>Scripts>Plug-in Manager ... "TA_Activate L+C Tool"

Then click on "Edit Script"

 

Paste:

 

PROCEDURE ActivateLayerAndClass;
VAR
    pt : POINT;
    h : HANDLE;
BEGIN
    GetPt(pt.x,pt.y);
    h:=PickObject(pt.x,pt.y);
    IF h<>NIL THEN
    BEGIN
        NameClass(GetClass(h));
        Layer (GetLName (GetLayer(h)));
    END;
END;
RUN(ActivateLayerAndClass);

 

 

If you want to access a few similar tools and/or review more on this topic refer to this post: