What features would you like to see added to a future version of DataCAD?

Which is your favorite idea?

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44%
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7%
#42170 by joshhuggins
Tue Mar 17, 2009 12:23 pm
joshhuggins wrote:I really, really, really wished we could use Change, Text Contents to change symbol attributes. Did I mention really? :wink:
I've made a pretty decent work around for this wish. I've added the Edit Attributes code to the front of our Alt+C code for change text so if we have our cursor over a symbol when we hit Alt+C it will snag the symbol and preform the Edit Symbol Attribute command. If there is no symbol present it continues on to the change text command. :mrgreen: Yea!
Code: Select all//Change Text Contents
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Last edited by joshhuggins on Tue Apr 28, 2009 4:36 pm, edited 1 time in total.
#42229 by joshhuggins
Thu Mar 19, 2009 5:07 pm
I thought I may have wished for this one once before, but couldn't find it, so sorry if it's a repeat,but we could really use this in our office. Have the symbolbrowser.ini files remember the symbol explode status for each folder. Probably would need a dcadwin.ini option to use the symbolbrowser.ini file vs. the global setting.
#42474 by joshhuggins
Wed Apr 08, 2009 11:32 am
joshhuggins wrote:It would be nice if symbols could have an option to reload from the "hard drive" everytime the screen is regenerated or maybe to avoid any major delays just when the drawing is first opened, and after a forced save then update. This would not be ideal for most symbols but for things you always want to make sure has the most recent version of a symbol this would be key. I know we could use xrefs to get this type of functionality, but xrefs are a little overkill for repetitive use type symbols and then you loose all of the great accessibility and features of the symbol browser.

Image
I just wanted to bump this one because I could reeeeeally use it right now. I think that having it reload the symbols from the server at the time the drawing opened would be suffecient, then if needed we could manaully reload symbols from the server during the drawing session if needed. Thanks for the ear guys. :mrgreen:
Last edited by joshhuggins on Thu Jun 11, 2009 10:49 am, edited 1 time in total.
#42479 by Paul Nida
Wed Apr 08, 2009 12:55 pm
I don't really think this is a good idea. By having this set to automatically reload symbols set on as a default you could drastically change an older drawing just by opening it and never realize you had done it.
#42480 by Tony Blasio
Wed Apr 08, 2009 1:05 pm
Yeah I gree with Paul. Automatically reloading the symbols may sound good now but could cause allot of problems.

Especially now with rendering materials. I know I have done some modifications to symbols just to make rendering look good, to automatically reload would lose the edits.

Think too of the users who may edit a symbols color in a drawing and not save it to the hard drive. It would get reverted back.

I vote for sticking with manual.
#42488 by joshhuggins
Wed Apr 08, 2009 5:12 pm
Paul Nida wrote:I don't really think this is a good idea. By having this set to automatically reload symbols set on as a default you could drastically change an older drawing just by opening it and never realize you had done it.
This would only be on a per symbol basis, and is exactly why we want it for specific symbols. We don't want the old versions. They bite us in the butt sometimes, especially around code update time. And this would not be the default for all new symbols, it would only be for symbols you specificly enable it for. We have a min. 60+ standard detail symbols we would have to be manually reloading right now. Having to remember to reload each symbol that changes in every file that the symbol lives in. It's a major pain. Record sets are handled via PDF recoard sets, because other things are just as likly to be changed by everyday work others are doing. We've been doing this for a long time, and it's been a good thing to do instead of relying on the volatile nature of the working CAD files. And if a user really needs an old version, they can restore from the backups.

To avoid the possible confusion if a user tries to edit one of these symbols, the attention bar could have a little prompt. The users could then either a) relize that this is an office standard symbol and see the error in their ways and beg for mercy :twisted: b) exploded the symbol to create a new detail if needed.

AJ wrote:Especially now with rendering materials. I know I have done some modifications to symbols just to make rendering look good, to automatically reload would lose the edits.
Only if you specificly saved the symbol with this option enabled in the first place. If not it would work exactly the same as it always have. It would just be an option. An option that would save a lot of work for us and give us a lot more freedom to work with our thousands of existing symbols.
Last edited by joshhuggins on Sat Apr 13, 2013 12:15 am, edited 1 time in total.
#42490 by Paul Nida
Wed Apr 08, 2009 7:40 pm
I'm sorry Josh, this just sounds like a recipe for disaster to me. Are you saying that reload all doesn't work?

If this can be done on per symbol basis it might be acceptable. But I see as potentially dangerous. I really think reload all is a better option and if this doesn't work properly then maybe it needs to be fixed. But I can't say that I have had any problems with it at this point. But I must admit that I don't use it very often.
#42494 by joshhuggins
Thu Apr 09, 2009 2:39 am
Paul Nida wrote:I'm sorry Josh, this just sounds like a recipe for disaster to me. Are you saying that reload all doesn't work?

If this can be done on per symbol basis it might be acceptable.
Reload all is even more dangerous than what I am proposing because Reload All leaves you wide open to reloading symbols that you may not want to reloaded based solely on the determining factor of the layer a symbol may reside on. What I propose will only reload symbols which you specifically pick to have this active reload state. You decide what specific, individual symbols have this feature. Nothing disastrous about it. That is unless someone goes and creates a symbol with that option turned on when they don't really want it turned on, but you could say that about tons of commands in Datacad. When used incorrectly, they could cause problems, sure. If it's too scary to have it as an option to set at creation time, it could be done, via a Ctrl+Right click, Symbol Tools, Reload Always or something similar, but I think thats a bit limiting as it's one more thing you will have to remember to toggle it on at insertion time and most likely you will know at the symbols creation time if this symbol would fall under the category of needing to be reloaded.

I fully realize our need for this is probably out of the norm, because of our extensive use of symbols storing all of our details, but I really do see how it can be used for other uses too once implemented. Say you have a groups of symbols which uses symbol attributes to load in a municipal jurisdiction information into them using lookup fields. The symbol is created, and inserted into multiple drawings (20+). These projects are all being worked on at different points of the working drawing process, by multiple people who are in and out of the office all through out the day. Later several of the symbols are updated with some additional fields and information which should be added to all of the previous versions of that symbol. The person who updated the symbols now has to tell every one exactly what symbol has been updated, then each person who works on one of the 20+ files has to remember to go reload each instance of that symbol. Now say that this happens for several details every day, in many more drawings. It just becomes a hassle of having to rely on everyone taking time away from the real project work to handle organizing and managing symbols which they may or may not be aware have changed, that the computer could be doing on the fly. We know it works because like I've said we've been getting the same results by updating the symbols in the one drawing and then using the auto reload feature of the xref with no complaints or issues in our working processes, other than those brought up and we hope can be resolved by adding a feature like this one. If it makes you feel better, you could think of them as xrefs, but just being managed via the symbol browser and stored in dsf files instead of aec files. Which allows for being to use all the symbol browser features like symbol scaling and keeps our reference manager a lot cleaner.
Last edited by joshhuggins on Tue Apr 28, 2009 4:36 pm, edited 1 time in total.
#42503 by Paul Nida
Thu Apr 09, 2009 9:10 am
We are just going to have to agree to disagree on this one Josh. Anything I want to automatically update I use an xref instead of a symbol. I understand that this may not be practical for what you are trying to do but this way it is done by project so that they are updated only on that project and I don't accidentally change an existing project.
#42518 by Tony Blasio
Fri Apr 10, 2009 7:58 am
I agree with Paul. If it could be set up a strickly an option I wouldn't object but I have a feeling this would be a big change for the Dave & crew at DataCAD.

I am with Paul on using the XREF's too. Especially with the ability now to Ctrl+Right Click a symbol and convert it to an XREF. I would just like to see the ability to replace a symbol with an XREF. This would compliment the convert to XREF nicely and allow you to then replace similar symbols with the new XREF.

Maybe a macro could be written to do what you are looking for Josh?
#42781 by joshhuggins
Tue Apr 28, 2009 4:35 pm
post removed - dupe post after forum move?
Last edited by joshhuggins on Fri Feb 18, 2011 12:23 pm, edited 2 times in total.
#42786 by joshhuggins
Tue Apr 28, 2009 6:38 pm
Would be nice if the database selection dialog box for symbol attributes showed both CSV and TXT files default. Having to switch to TXT every time is time consuming. I'm so lazy. :twisted:
#43074 by joshhuggins
Thu May 14, 2009 4:13 pm
It would be nice if you click a point to start a B-Spline that if you right click so you can pick a new start point that it didn't kick you out of the command completly, just leave you to pick the first point of the next b-spline, similuare to how the polyline or polygon inputs do. Thanks :D

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