Adding Custom category to Plant Schedule

[jwlandscape]

Whenever I do a planting design I need to specify whether the plant is native/indigenous to the country or exotic, for the purposes of Council plan submissions. There usually needs to be a column on the same table that specifies plant sizes, latin name, common name etc. This is quite tedious to add whether each plant is exotic or native every time I create a plant schedule, especially when the plant lists are long and I can't always remember what a plant's origin status is.

 

Is there a way to create a custom line item in the Plant Style or Plant Data of a plant (Such as a category "Native: Y/N" ? or "Native/Exotic") and adding a function to my plant schedule so that when I create a schedule, it can automatically fill in that column based on what I've saved in the plant style/data?

 

As far as I can tell, it's not possible to add a new category to plant style, or rename a category without using Filemaker and then screwing up how Vectorworks reads that file. 

 

I'd love to know a solution or tricks other people have used for similar situations.

[Pat Stanford]

I don't think there is a way to add a custom field to the Plant Record. If you are not already using them, you could use one of the Comment fields to store that data.

 

Alternatively, you could add a Custom Record Format with a field with that data. But you would need to do that in your Library of commonly used plants and also remember to go back and add the record and data to any new plants you add.  But that would be almost self correcting when you get missing data in your plan submission schedule for native/exotic.

[Katarina Ollikainen]

Agree, use an already existing field you don't need and allocate this to native/exotic. (There is a way to add or change the field names, but this is quite involved and it makes you very vulnerable if you're sharing files with another Vectorworks user - if you open the file on a machine not set up with the same field, you'll loose the info).

 

However - this is an often heard request and I would suggest to go in to Vectorworks Roadmap https://www.vectorworks.net/en-US/public-roadmap and leave a comment in the post called 'Plant Data' (under the 'In Development' tab).

The more we input we get from users, the better we can design the next versions of the tools.

[Michal Zarzecki]

Hi @jwlandscape, I do exactly the same - for my clients and local authorities, I provide an extended schedule summarising plant's features, benefits to wildlife and whether it's native or alien/ exotic.

 

 

Not sure how PlantConfig files are defined in the Australian/ NZ release, but in the UK (and I think in the US too), there is Origin/ Provenance field, which I use.

 

As @Katarina Ollikainen mentioned, you can adapt and extend your plant data configuration, but it involves editing config files (which are xml files editable in any simple text editor). And, as I mentioned above re your national release - there are often differences which make using files from other releases impossible without further editing. I've been there, trying to get my head around it in the last couple of months. You don't have to use Filemaker to do any of that.

 

Hopefully, VW will completely change the way plant data is stored, accessed, customised and imported/ exported, so that's it's no longer such a time-consuming pain. If users' input is required, then let's join forces to influence future improvements in a coordinated and consistent manner. Don't hesitate to DM me.

[Katarina Ollikainen]

This is definitely towards the top of the list for improvements of the plant styles. However, it's connected to many other parts of how the plants are working and we want to make sure the benefits follow through all the way from data input to output of plans and schedules instead of just fixing one part of the workflow.

 

Constructive input is very important - make sure your voice is heard by going to the roadmap and leave comments on what you think are the most important for us to focus on - https://www.vectorworks.net/en-US/public-roadmap . Everything posted there is being read and looked at and put into context of workflows and the bigger picture.