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#70468 by Mark F. Madura
Tue Dec 20, 2016 1:59 pm
Hyperlink to File and GoTo View
It’s possible to hyperlink an entity in your current drawing to a specific GoTo View in a different drawing. Once you’ve defined the drawing and corresponding GoTo View for the entity’s hyperlink, selecting the hyperlink will open the drawing then automatically recall the GoTo View. This is useful for linking a wall type tag in a plan drawing to its corresponding detail in the details file.

To create a hyperlink to a drawing and a specific GoTo View:
1. Open the drawing which contains the entity, such as a wall type symbol, that will have the hyperlink assignment.
2. [Ctrl] + Right-click the entity, select "File" from the context menu, and then choose "Add."
3. In the "New File link" box, click the "File" button to browse to and select the drawing file to link to. Click "OK" when finished.
4. In the "New View" box, click the drop-down menu and then choose from the list of available GoTo Views in the linked file.
5. Click "OK" on the "New View" box to accept the GoTo View assignment, or click "Cancel" to assign just the file, but no specific GoTo View.

Now, whenever you access the hyperlink, DataCAD will open the drawing then automatically recall the GoTo View. If you chose "Cancel" on the "New View" box, DataCAD will open the file to the last saved view in that file.
#70470 by GARY247
Tue Dec 20, 2016 2:13 pm
Not sure how to access the hyperlink. I tried clicking on the section mark and nothing happens. If I go to file link everything is there but it does not open the drawing. Does the section mark have to be an attribute or symbol?
#70472 by Tiffany
Tue Dec 20, 2016 2:41 pm
I haven't made good use of hyperlinks, so I am following along as well.

I haven't figured out how to open it once set. The manual says "Select Hyperlinks from the View pull-down menu to display existing hyperlinks in your drawing." Tried that and the text line I hyperlinked my ceiling plan to turned grey, but nothing opened. Nothing opens when Ctrl+Rt Click on the link and selecting the hyperlink that I set. My hyperlink is to a file on our network with a gotoview.
Tried having the plan file open as well, still didn't change the active view per the hyperlink selection.
#70473 by Mark F. Madura
Tue Dec 20, 2016 2:50 pm
Hyperlink_File_GoToView.png
Hyperlink: File & GoTo View
Hyperlink_File_GoToView.png (10.89 KiB) Viewed 13456 times
Once you've defined the File / GoTo View link, it should appear in the Context Menu under File. [Ctrl] + Right-click on the entity, highlight file, then select the file/view item.
#70474 by Tiffany
Tue Dec 20, 2016 3:06 pm
Ok, did some more experimenting and for me, I cannot hyperlink a file across a network.
Example:
hyperlinking to c:/test.aec will open view 123
//server/client/test.aec does not open, nor will it open through the mapped network drive letter s:/client/test.aec


EDITED - My actual test example was a much longer file location name than shown above, //server/client/test.aec DOES work,
//server/common/client/Stillwater CSD/2015 Stillwater Feasibility Study 1315/2017 Capital Project CAD 1315/Elem/test.aec DOES NOT open
Last edited by Tiffany on Tue Dec 20, 2016 4:11 pm, edited 1 time in total.
#70475 by Mark F. Madura
Tue Dec 20, 2016 3:09 pm
Hyperlink Notes:

- When you [Alt] + click on an entity that has a GoTo View link, DataCAD will display the linked view. This only applies to GoTo View links, not URL or File links.

- When you [Alt] + click on an entity that does not have a GoTo View link, DataCAD will prompt you to select from the current list of GoTo Views to link to.

- The Entity Properties Editor exposes the GoTo View link, but not the URL or File link.

- At the bottom of the View pull-down menu there is a Hyperlinks option. Highlighting this menu item reveals a sub-menu for GoTo Views, URLs, and Files. You can select either of these to have DataCAD highlight entities with the corresponding link type.

- When you insert an XREF, a File hyperlink is automatically created. The same should be true for bitmaps but this does not appear to be working.

- There is a hyperlink icon on the Standard Toolbar that brings up the Hyperlink menu. I do not believe there is any other way to get to this menu.

- An entity can have all three link types defined, GoTo View, URL, and File.
#70476 by Mark F. Madura
Tue Dec 20, 2016 3:20 pm
Tiffany wrote:I cannot hyperlink a file across a network.
It works for me. Do you get an error? Does the fully-qualified path remain defined properly in the link definition?
#70477 by GARY247
Tue Dec 20, 2016 3:20 pm
I found that I cannot hyperlink across a network to the drawing on a server. I tried it with the flash drive and it worked the way it should.
#70478 by Mark F. Madura
Tue Dec 20, 2016 3:46 pm
GARY247 wrote:I found that I cannot hyperlink across a network to the drawing on a server. I tried it with the flash drive and it worked the way it should.
What is the text for the path to the file on the server?
#70479 by Tiffany
Tue Dec 20, 2016 4:13 pm
The length of the hyperlink itself may be the culprit - retested my example and edited my earlier post. Shorter the link, the better chance it is going to work as intended.
#70643 by GARY247
Thu Jan 19, 2017 10:55 am
I made a link for an xref to go to the drawing and go to view. When I hit shift and double click the left button it goes to the drawing but not the go to view. What am I doing wrong? When I go back control/right click and go to file it shows the correct drawing with an * for the go to view. Is it possible the path name is too long for it to work or am I hitting the wrong buttons.

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