Bruce Kieffer Posted August 20, 2021 Share Posted August 20, 2021 I've made a 3D bolt, 3D washer, and a 3D nut, and I made those all symbols. I want to make one symbol of the three components assembled, use that symbol multiple times, and still have my worksheet count the individual components. How can I do that? It fails when I make a symbol of the symbols. Quote Link to comment
Pat Stanford Posted August 20, 2021 Share Posted August 20, 2021 Make sure the check box or Include Components of Symbols is checked in the Database criteria. Quote Link to comment
Bruce Kieffer Posted August 20, 2021 Author Share Posted August 20, 2021 It is, but it won't count the nested symbols. Quote Link to comment
Pat Stanford Posted August 20, 2021 Share Posted August 20, 2021 DM me or post a sample file with all the symbols and your worksheet. Quote Link to comment
Pat Stanford Posted August 20, 2021 Share Posted August 20, 2021 There is probably something in your criteria like Layer is or Class is and the "contained" symbols don't match that criteria. They are not on a Layer, they are part of the "containing" symbol. Quote Link to comment
Bruce Kieffer Posted August 20, 2021 Author Share Posted August 20, 2021 I'm pretty sure that nested symbols can't be counted by Vectorworks. I will mess with it a bit more, then I will reduce the drawing to only those things I need counted and send you the file. Quote Link to comment
Jesse Cogswell Posted August 21, 2021 Share Posted August 21, 2021 Vectorworks can absolutely count nested symbols. If you are doing it inside a worksheet, you just want to make sure that you have INSYMBOL as part of the criteria (or INOBJECT if you want to count inside plug-in objects). Attached is a screenshot that I set up for a quick test which shows the formula in the worksheet. Likewise, running Tools - Custom Selection also gives the proper results when Include Components of Symbols is checked. Quote Link to comment
Bruce Kieffer Posted August 21, 2021 Author Share Posted August 21, 2021 Thanks. I will give that a try tomorrow and let you know if I can make it work. Quote Link to comment
Bruce Kieffer Posted August 21, 2021 Author Share Posted August 21, 2021 I've simplified my drawing to test this. So far so good. Now I will incorporate it into my drawing. Quote Link to comment
Bruce Kieffer Posted August 21, 2021 Author Share Posted August 21, 2021 Got it working. Thanks Pat and Jesse. It was a matter of trial and error (for me) to get the criteria set. The 8 bolt assemblies are symbols now. The part count is correct. Quote Link to comment
Bruce Kieffer Posted August 22, 2021 Author Share Posted August 22, 2021 Glick. Need more help. Why are there another 34 objects counted but I can't see them as visible? How do I not count them? Quote Link to comment
Pat Stanford Posted August 22, 2021 Share Posted August 22, 2021 Add another column with a formula of =ObjectTypeName and you should be able to see what you have that is invisible. Or in reality it is probably the other parts of the piece. InSymbol is non-exclusive. That means that your IS Visible criteria is going to show all the objects that are currently visible. When you add the InSymbol you there ALSO get the objects that are INSIDE of Symbols. Can you put you hardware in a class and then add that class to the criteria to make it more specific? Or attach a Record and use that? Or put them on a separate Layer? Or make them a specific color and use Pen Color or Fill Color? Lots of ways. 2 Quote Link to comment
halfcoupler Posted August 22, 2021 Share Posted August 22, 2021 (edited) Hi Bruce, my personal workflow in this case is as follows: - deselect the "summarize" checkbox in your part-column => you will get a worksheet with 74 lines each with one object in your drawing => the 34 "missing" items will show up individually (suppose they will have an empty field in the "part"-column) You can now right click one of these lines and choose "select item" => VW will then point to that item in your drawing. As Pat sais, now there are lots of ways to proceed, as changing class, layer, colour and/or adapting the criteria of the worksheet. Unchecking the summarizing and looking up single lines is an easy way to check where these "34 items" do come from. hth. Edited August 22, 2021 by halfcoupler 3 Quote Link to comment
Bruce Kieffer Posted August 22, 2021 Author Share Posted August 22, 2021 @halfcouplerI did what you suggested. It showed me those items were coming from my resource browser which still made no sense to me since there were not visible on my drawing. So I messed with the criteria a bit more and now it looks like this and it seems to be counting the visible items correctly. Quote Link to comment
Pat Stanford Posted August 22, 2021 Share Posted August 22, 2021 What you did will definitely work Bruce. But wouldn't it be easier to not have to specify every different symbol? Like I said, If you give them a Class or a Color that is not used for other parts, then you can simplify the criteria. IE, if all the hardware is in a class named Hardware, then the Criteria would be just Class Is Hardware and the Including components of Symbols box would be checked. Then if you switch from a 3 1/2" bolt to a 3" bolt you don't have to remember to edit the criteria. Quote Link to comment
Bruce Kieffer Posted August 22, 2021 Author Share Posted August 22, 2021 (edited) 8 minutes ago, Pat Stanford said: What you did will definitely work Bruce. But wouldn't it be easier to not have to specify every different symbol? Like I said, If you give them a Class or a Color that is not used for other parts, then you can simplify the criteria. IE, if all the hardware is in a class named Hardware, then the Criteria would be just Class Is Hardware and the Including components of Symbols box would be checked. Then if you switch from a 3 1/2" bolt to a 3" bolt you don't have to remember to edit the criteria. I agree. I will work on that. Color is a great suggestion too. This is how I set the criteria for my KV Brackets hardware worksheet. I used the "Steel" material as a definer, and it works. I can't attach Material to a symbol. But the other thing I could do is to make a simple Record that could be attached to all the nut and bolt parts. We are having our user group picnic this afternoon. I will discuss this with our group too. Edited August 22, 2021 by Bruce Kieffer Quote Link to comment
Bruce Kieffer Posted August 22, 2021 Author Share Posted August 22, 2021 OK. I tried some of the other ways, and it still has problems due to the nested symbols. So far my Symbol criteria for each symbol is the best. Or I have to not nest the symbols. The worksheet counts the symbols correctly, but it duplicates the count with that last line. Quote Link to comment
Pat Stanford Posted August 22, 2021 Share Posted August 22, 2021 Are you using Symbols anywhere else in your drawing besides in the hardware? If not, try setting the criteria to Type is Symbol and check the In Symbol option. Anything you put above the Include check boxes identifies objects anywhere in the drawing. If you check the boxes then it adds objects inside those types of containers also. So you can't use Visible because there are lots of other things in the drawing that are visible. If you don't use Symbols anywhere else in the drawing then you could use Type is Symbol. Otherwise you need to find something else unique about the objects. Put them in a Class. Attach a Record to them. Or use a record that is used for other objects as well, but define a field to specify hardware. Or set a Pen of Fill Color. Or put them on a different layer. Or... Quote Link to comment
Bruce Kieffer Posted August 22, 2021 Author Share Posted August 22, 2021 Tried that now. It still cannot see the symbols inside the nested symbol. I have other ideas to test. Quote Link to comment
Bruce Kieffer Posted August 23, 2021 Author Share Posted August 23, 2021 OK, so it looks like this is working. I'm using a record to create the name of the object in column B. Quote Link to comment
Pat Stanford Posted August 23, 2021 Share Posted August 23, 2021 @Bruce Kieffer You still are not using anything that is unique to your hardward. If you draw a rectangle on Design Layer-1 that is in the None class, it will be caught by your criteria and will display as part of the database as a blank row. Or any other object that is on Design Layer-1 and in the None class. I keep failing to explain that you need to make your hardware symbols in some way UNIQUE so that you can use a UNIQUE criteria that will get them and nothing else. Create a new class called Hardware. Put all of the symbols into that class. Set your criteria to Class Is Hardware. Now as long as you don't put anything else accidentally in the Hardware class, your worksheet will always contain only the objects in the Hardware class. You can even right click on the symbols in the Resource Manager and choose Edit Symbol Options and set the class that they will be inserted into. 1 Quote Link to comment
Bruce Kieffer Posted August 23, 2021 Author Share Posted August 23, 2021 Darn, you are right Pat. I'll try some more tomorrow. 1 Quote Link to comment
Bruce Kieffer Posted August 23, 2021 Author Share Posted August 23, 2021 Class does not work because the symbols are nested and I cannot give the individual symbols different classes than their instances in the nested symbols. I have bolt, washer, and nut symbols, and I use those to make bolt assemblies which consist of a bolt, two washers, and a nut. In this drawing of mine, building the bolt assemblies as a symbol saves me a lot of time. Quote Link to comment
Bruce Kieffer Posted August 23, 2021 Author Share Posted August 23, 2021 (edited) But I have resolved (I hope) the worksheet. Using a record is what works for me to select the bolt assembly components for the worksheet. Here's what it looks like: Edited August 23, 2021 by Bruce Kieffer Quote Link to comment
Tom W. Posted August 23, 2021 Share Posted August 23, 2021 52 minutes ago, Bruce Kieffer said: Class does not work because the symbols are nested and I cannot give the individual symbols different classes than their instances in the nested symbols. I have bolt, washer, and nut symbols, and I use those to make bolt assemblies which consist of a bolt, two washers, and a nut. In this drawing of mine, building the bolt assemblies as a symbol saves me a lot of time. You could put all the individual symbols in a 'Hardware-Components' class then the bolt assembly symbols in a 'Hardware-Main' class. This would allow you to exclude the assembly symbols from the report + just report on the component symbols Quote Link to comment
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