topic Updating templates in Project data & BIM

Updating templates

Anonymous — Wed, 07 Jun 2023 01:06:33 GMT

I want to put a template in a file on the network so that every time it is updated the files linked to it update as well. Is this possible?

Re: updating templates

Erika Epstein — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 23:55:04 GMT

You might want to look at how batch files are created and mainained. Check the Wiki for your archicad version

Re: updating templates

Link — Sat, 10 Jan 2009 00:14:22 GMT

Maybe my explanation here will help you.

Not too sure what you mean by 'linked to it', as there is not a link from one file to another as such, but you can set up a company template file from which all new projects can be started.

I think you will need to set everyone's Work Environment to access the tpl from the same path.

Cheers,
Link.

Re: updating templates

Laszlo Nagy — Sun, 11 Jan 2009 19:39:43 GMT

lpbolden wrote:
I want to put a template in a file on the network so that every time it is updated the files linked to it update as well. Is this possible?

If I understand correctly you say that if you create for example a new attribute in the Template File then the attribute will also appear in all Project Files that were started based on that Template File.
That is not possible. There is really no link between the Template File and any Project File based on it.

Re: updating templates

Anonymous — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 03:43:57 GMT

laszlonagy wrote:
If I understand correctly you say that if you create for example a new attribute in the Template File then the attribute will also appear in all Project Files that were started based on that Template File.
That is not possible. There is really no link between the Template File and any Project File based on it.

Can't we use hotlinked modules in Templates? It's not about attributes, of course, but it can be a kind of back link from created project files to their parent.

Re: updating templates

Erika Epstein — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 06:47:08 GMT

Leo wrote:
Can't we use hotlinked modules in Templates? It's not about attributes, of course, but it can be a kind of back link from created project files to their parent.

Interesting idea. Many of us have multiple office standard modules. I hadn't thought to use one to update a file to more recent template improvements.

Re: updating templates

Laszlo Nagy — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 13:27:58 GMT

Leo wrote:
laszlonagy wrote:
If I understand correctly you say that if you create for example a new attribute in the Template File then the attribute will also appear in all Project Files that were started based on that Template File.
That is not possible. There is really no link between the Template File and any Project File based on it.
Can't we use hotlinked modules in Templates? It's not about attributes, of course, but it can be a kind of back link from created project files to their parent.

I checked and it is possible to save a file as TPL and it will retain the Hotlinked Modules. So yes, it is possible that you have hotlinked modules pre-placed in a Template File. Interesting idea indeed.

Re: updating templates

Anonymous — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 16:40:26 GMT

I think that the idea of linked files can give even more for template's layouts. We can place PDFs, raster images, standard drawings on master layouts and layouts as linked files. When we modify linked document, all created projects will be changed. But I don't know, is it so good to change all projects at once? . Sometimes is, sometimes isn't...
And we have to link any file with a teamwork template using it's network name, of course.

Re: updating templates

Laszlo Nagy — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 17:00:08 GMT

Yes, these are all valid point.
The only question now is what lpbolden meant by "files linked to it".

Re: updating templates

James Murray — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 17:43:09 GMT

We have long used hotlinked modules in our templates for standard details, symbol legends, etc. If the module changes, the users get a notice to update. But any changes they may have made to those details would be safe, because in order to modify the data you need to break the link. So the 'administrator' is only pushing onto unmodified standard stuff.

Nothing to do with attributes, unfortunately. I'd like to be able to push those, and favorites too.

Re: updating templates

Rob — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 23:38:04 GMT

James,

how do you keep your hotlink database organised? Do you have detail hotlinks specifically named and stored in some rather rigid folders structure? Or do you keep a hardcopy book with details printed with some reference number on it? I am curious what actually works best in terms of real life workflow in a documentation process.

Re: updating templates

Anonymous — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 05:08:14 GMT

I wish we could use the workflow:

1. There are two fundamental folders: one for standard documents which must be identical in all our projects ("ALL-WORKS-WIDE"), and other for initial version of standard project in PLN format with initial versions of standard documents which must be modified for each particular project("PROJECT-WIDE"). When I say "folder", I mean root folder and it's subfolders, of course.
2. We insert documents from both folders into the initial version of standard project as links.
3. When we start new project we just copy the "PROJECT-WIDE" folder. The copy is the new project file - a very first version . It contains "ALL-WORKS-WIDE" documents (no problems here - they are placed with absolute network path). And it contains links to documents in the "PROJECT-WIDE" folder. But we have to relink them into their copies!!! If we did this, it would make our life much easier with a lot of standard documents, pre-linked into our project.

In this particular case I think that it can be worth to write an Add-on for rebinding all particular-folder based links with other folder. When we can implement this workflow.

What do you think about that?

P.S. According to my tests, PLN and TPL files are about the same. 191 bytes isn't a very big difference .

Re: updating templates

James Murray — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 16:33:23 GMT

Rob wrote:
Do you have detail hotlinks specifically named and stored in some rather rigid folders structure?

That's basically it. There's no dead tree version, I wouldn't want to maintain it. We're talking about only several dozen files, but I would think that natural language naming would scale pretty far. I wish we could make the module image into the file's Finder icon. (I think that can be done on Windows?) The modules are published from a master details PLN.

@Leo, relative module paths would be most welcome.

Re: updating templates

Anonymous — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 17:04:44 GMT

James wrote:
Leo, relative module paths would be most welcome.

Yes, I can't understand why ArchiCAD haven't had relative links yet. But relative links can't help us with "PROJECT-WIDE" initial versions of linked documents if we work with TeamWork version. Our usual practice is opening teamwork file and resave it as a local copy. I am afraid, relative paths in this local version will be rooted in the local copy's folder.