topic Re: Scheduling w/ different parameter names for same paramet in Collaboration with other software

Scheduling w/ different parameter names for same parameter

Ted Taylor — Fri, 09 Feb 2007 15:12:11 GMT

After all of these years, I have a project that has more than 3 doors so I am attempting to set up interactive door schedule and have hit the following pothole.

Working with the Doors in Archicad 10, latest version, I have doors both from Curtain Walls 10 and from Commercial Doors 10. I want to have not only the door widths and heights scheduled, I also want to have the door leaf thickness scheduled. Width and height not a problem, leaf thickness is.

All of the doors in the Door 10 folder appear to use the parameter called "Leaf Thickness" or "gs_leaf_thk" while the doors in the Curtain Wall 10 folder use the parameter called "Door Frame Width" (go figure that choice) or "dfw" to set the thickness of the door leaf. The curtain wall objects also have a "gs_leaf_thk" parameter that is hidden and is not accessible from the normal door dialog box.

If I set up the schedule to pick up the leaf thickness using the "gs_leaf_thk" parameter, it of course does not pick up the "dfw" parameter and vice versa.

How can this be dealt with, short of changing the parameter names in all the codes for the different door objects to one name? Is there a script that could be inserted into the Master Script or Parameter Script that would work or is there some way to tell the schedule that "gs_leaf_thk" = "dfw" or am I missing something terribly obvious.

Re: Scheduling w/ different parameter names for same paramet

Karl Ottenstein — Fri, 09 Feb 2007 16:03:53 GMT

Hi Ted,

You're not missing anything.

Only parameters that match exactly based on their internal GDL parameter name (not the user prompt text seen in the settings dialog box) can be scheduled.

Without GDL, you can create two schedules - one for the curtain walls and one for the doors - and merge them externally in Excel ... and place a PDF of the result on your layout. Not a live solution of course.

Karl

Re: Scheduling w/ different parameter names for same paramet

LiHigh — Fri, 09 Feb 2007 17:02:36 GMT

Or manually input leaf thickness into "User Defined 1" under "Parameters for Listing"

Re: Scheduling w/ different parameter names for same paramet

Ted Taylor — Fri, 09 Feb 2007 18:35:50 GMT

I think I have finally figured out what Dilbert's company does and it appears that Wally has been put in charge of the US Library.

The only solution to this that I can see is to have the ability to have criteria in the Schedule fields in the Scheme Settings dialog, that would allow the combining of different parameter names. It would be impossible to control parameter names for different and similar objects from different creators from different parts of the world. That control should be a part of the program which would allow for what is reality.

That and the other clunky parts of scheduling, such as formating of dimensions, trying to enter 1 3/4" directly into the schedule which can only be done by typing 7/4" or the result is 1' 3/4", and the other things already brought up in this forum by those with much more experience in this than I, need to be fixed.

Thanks guys for your input. My quick and dirty solution is to fat finger the default value in the curtain wall object that has the hidden parameter. Similar to using an user defined field as suggested, but I have only a few of the curtain wall doors to track and coordinate if there should be any changes.

Re: Scheduling w/ different parameter names for same paramet

Andy Thomson — Sun, 11 Feb 2007 05:56:54 GMT

The new schedules (or perhaps their newfound uptake) seem to have a habit of turning up inconsistencies in the libraries! 😉

Note to GS.....

Re: Scheduling w/ different parameter names for same paramet

Chazz — Sun, 11 Feb 2007 15:10:23 GMT

Karl wrote:
Only parameters that match exactly based on their internal GDL parameter name (not the user prompt text seen in the settings dialog box) can be scheduled.

This frustrating truth points to the potential appeal of using a "one object solution" such as Door and Window Builder from CAD Image. For those unfamiliar, DWBuilder lets you create a huge number of doors or windows (almost anything imaginable) from a single object. Once mastered, it is an amazing solution.

However, I have so far been unable to generate interactive schedules that tap into the rich set parameters that are available in the GDL interface. This is maybe OT for Ted's thread but I wanted to point out a potential solution even if I have heretofore been unable to implement it myself.

Re: Scheduling w/ different parameter names for same paramet

Anonymous — Sun, 11 Feb 2007 16:53:20 GMT

This does point up the needs for improvements to both the interactive scheduler and the GDL environment. Right now I am completing a custom door and window library with a client to deal with just such problems (as well as provide numerous other advantages). I am not sure yet just what the best solution(s) might be but greater flexibility in the tools and easier customization come immediately to mind.