.plc capabilties when using teamwork...a few questions..

[Anonymous]

I feel like I've been out of circulation in the forum...busy both at work and at home (probably a good thing though).

Anyways, here's my golden question for this month...

Scenario: I have established a good teamwork process at the office and have managed the files pretty good and a 3 person team with good understanding on how the teamworking actually works. We all sign in directly into the .plp file. And avoid the .plc process.

Questions: Some of us have wanted to take the project home on several occasions but have debated if it would just confuse things and be a waste of time. My questions are:

1. Could we save the .plp file as a .plc file.....take it home....make changes...bring it back the next day...and do a 'send & recieve' (will the send & recieve function work?)? Will there be any conflicts with this process?

2. I know there would be library issues, but, will it cause the libraries to change in the .plp file? ( I imagine that the .plp file will keep all of its original custom libraries regardless of any sending and recieving from .plc's that had other libraries loaded at the time it was worked on.)

thanks so much in advanced!

[Link]

In avoiding the .plc you have ben avoiding the most important part of Teamwork.

Yes you can take a plc home and sign in the next day. In fact as long as you don't sign out, or are not force signed out, you can sign back in next year if you like.

And to avoid any library issues, you need to save as a draft archive (.pca), which is like a regular archive, in that it keeps all the library parts.

Cheers,
Link.

[Anonymous]

Link wrote:
In avoiding the .plc you have ben avoiding the most important part of Teamwork.

Yes you can take a plc home and sign in the next day. In fact as long as you don't sign out, or are not force signed out, you can sign back in next year if you like.

And to avoid any library issues, you need to save as a draft archive (.pca), which is like a regular archive, in that it keeps all the library parts.

Cheers,
Link.

Well slap me in the face and call me Vader! I had a feeling there was more to it.

So, after saving the .plp as a .pca,,,,would I then have to save another version as a .plc,,,,or will the .pca be enough for me and other team mates to take home?

[Link]

Okay Vader, it's been a while since I have done this, but as I recall you need to sign in and save your workspace as a draft (.plc) (which should be the process you go through every time you work on a Teamwork project IMHO). Then you save it as a draft archive (.pca) which you can take home and work on, without any worries of missing library parts, etc.

Probably best to test the process, before you go home and realize you've been had.

Cheers,
Link.

[Anonymous]

Good idea...I kind of pictured myself cursing all night if I'd been had
I'll give it a trail run before leaving work today!
And thanks again! may the force be with you.

Happy halloween everyone!

[Aussie John]

Link wrote:
Yes you can take a plc home and sign in the next day. In fact as long as you don't sign out, or are not force signed out, you can sign back in next year if you like.
Cheers,
Link.

As always Links advice is spot on. But to clear up the ambiguity in this statement, once you have created a plc file you dont have to sign back the next day because you should already be signed in. In other words NEVER sign out of the PLP file if you wish the plc file to be valid.
Once you have the plc file you can save as many version as you like ( from the plc file) and even rename. Each will be valid and can send and recieve. The cavet it will over write a send from a different version of the PLC file. Why would you do this? Might be useful if you are developing options.
In so far as the library is concerned, you can just make a copy of the library(s) used by the PLP file and load those.
There are some advantages to using a PLC file even when on the network particularly of the network is not gigabit as the file operates like a normal file with saves (no saves in PLP only save as or send and receive)

[Anonymous]

Aussie wrote:

Link wrote:
Yes you can take a plc home and sign in the next day. In fact as long as you don't sign out, or are not force signed out, you can sign back in next year if you like.
Cheers,
Link.

As always Links advice is spot on. But to clear up the ambiguity in this statement, once you have created a plc file you dont have to sign back the next day because you should already be signed in. In other words NEVER sign out of the PLP file if you wish the plc file to be valid.
Once you have the plc file you can save as many version as you like ( from the plc file) and even rename. Each will be valid and can send and recieve. The cavet it will over write a send from a different version of the PLC file. Why would you do this? Might be useful if you are developing options.
In so far as the library is concerned, you can just make a copy of the library(s) used by the PLP file and load those.
There are some advantages to using a PLC file even when on the network particularly of the network is not gigabit as the file operates like a normal file with saves (no saves in PLP only save as or send and receive)

Just to clarify (for me), you mean I should leave the .plp file opened at work even after saving a .pca or .plc version in order for the 'send and recieve' function to work properly the next day after changing things at home?

Or did I confuse myself here?

I pictured I can safely sign out from the .plp after saving a .pca and/or .plc and the next day...sign-in again to the plp..............wait a minute....i answered my own question just now....I keep forgetting the essence of teamwork..

[Anonymous]

Alright, I figured it out! Thanks to all your help guys. Good idea with saving different plc files of the same project for purposes of having different design options (and since we can import the layouts from the plc's, it makes presenting several ideas even easier with out having to clog up the plp with duplicates of the same model or having to manage different design ideas through layers. This is great, just when I thought it couldn't get any better.

I don't see any reasons why we should keep the pln file type in future archicad versions. Perhaps ArchiCAD can literally use teamwork as "THE" standard, regardless of how many people will work on the project.

I have to admit, at first I was intimidated by the whole teamwork thing....but now...after using it for 4 projects so far...and after learning the use of plc's today...it's absolutely awesome.

[Aussie John]

junior wrote:
Just to clarify (for me), you mean I should leave the .plp file opened at work even after saving a .pca or .plc version in order for the 'send and recieve' function to work properly the next day after changing things at home?

Or did I confuse myself here?

I pictured I can safely sign out from the .plp after saving a .pca and/or .plc and the next day...sign-in again to the plp..............wait a minute....i answered my own question just now....I keep forgetting the essence of teamwork..

No need to leave the plp open just close it off. Users can still be signed in.

[Link]

Perhaps ArchiCAD can literally use teamwork as "THE" standard, regardless of how many people will work on the project.

Perhaps you'd be interested in reading this then: Using Teamwork as a standard practice.

Cheers,
Link.

[Anonymous]

Thanks John, Yup I discovered that last night. That was the thing that had me confused for awhile till I actually gone ahead and did it. It all worked out. So, today, I think I'll get one of those new 1 gig usb drives so that I can start taking those plc's home during the weekends instead of coming back to the office everytime I wanna get some extra stuff done.

[Anonymous]

Alright, I brought home the .plc file last night. Here's my concern....when I open my plc file (at home)...AC is trying to locate my plp file (which is at work)? What should do at this point?

...I wouldnt want to risk continuing working on the .plc file by ignoring to locate the plp and then finding out the next day at work that I cant send and recieve. I need some illumination on this particular case

[TomWaltz]

junior wrote:
Alright, I brought home the .plc file last night. Here's my concern....when I open my plc file (at home)...AC is trying to locate my plp file (which is at work)? What should do at this point?

...I wouldnt want to risk continuing working on the .plc file by ignoring to locate the plp and then finding out the next day at work that I cant send and recieve. I need some illumination on this particular case

As long as you did not "Sign out" before you left the office, you are fine. Archicad gets (understandably) paranoid if it cannot find the PLP to verify that you are currently signed in.

[Aussie John]

TomWaltz wrote:
As long as you did not "Sign out" before you left the office, you are fine. Archicad gets (understandably) paranoid if it cannot find the PLP to verify that you are currently signed in.

Yes another one of the paranoid messages you get with Teamwork. Since one of the main purposes of a PLC file is to work away from the PLP file, this message should be toned down to say something like. "The PLP file cannot be located but if you are working remotely it will automatically connect next time you are on the PLP file's network"

[Anonymous]

Aussie wrote:
Yes another one of the paranoid messages you get with Teamwork. Since one of the main purposes of a PLC file is to work away from the PLP file, this message should be toned down to say something like. "The PLP file cannot be located but if you are working remotely it will automatically connect next time you are on the PLP file's network"

Yeah...I'd feel alot better if it said something more positive like that, hahaha. Time to get a psychologist on board GS

[Nick Schat]

Just to clarify (for me), you mean I should leave the .plp file opened at work even after saving a .pca or .plc version in order for the 'send and recieve' function to work properly the next day after changing things at home?

Or did I confuse myself here?

Just to remove a misconception here, you can't ever "open" or "leave open" a .plp file. You can only sign in or out, or send and receive changes. Consider it a kind of database. At the point you sign-in to the .plp, you are in fact in the .plc environment and it should always be saved as such. (I also have the backup option switched on, just in case)

[Anonymous]

Nick wrote:

Junior wrote:
Just to clarify (for me), you mean I should leave the .plp file opened at work even after saving a .pca or .plc version in order for the 'send and recieve' function to work properly the next day after changing things at home?

Or did I confuse myself here?

Just to remove a misconception here, you can't ever "open" or "leave open" a .plp file. You can only sign in or out, or send and receive changes. Consider it a kind of database. At the point you sign-in to the .plp, you are in fact in the .plc environment and it should always be saved as such. (I also have the backup option switched on, just in case)

Well... technically the PLP is open for read/write operations during sign in/out and send/receive operations, which is why only one person can be doing this at a time. It does not act like a multi-user transactional database with active record locking etc.

Other than those times, the file just sits idle and the users are working on local copies. Whether it's saved explicitly as a PLC or not, the real working copy is in RAM and the temporary folder. This is pretty much the same for a PLN except that the PLN (or PLC) isn't opened during a save file operation. It is just renamed to BPN (or BPC) once the new copy is successfully saved to disk.

[Anonymous]

hello again, I have a scenario and am wondering if there is a way:

I've recently signed out from my .plc file to give full rights (exclusive access) to another team member for a short period. My team member has signed out for the week and I would like to gain access again using my .plc file from before. I know that it is no longer linked so even if its open, I wont be able to send and recieve...my question is, can I do anything to relink/re-sign-in from within my .plc file rather than going to the .plp file directly and saving as and overwritting my .plc? I'm curious about the possibilities.

[Aussie John]

Once signed out your plc file is of little use. (asides from cutting and pasting). The good news is your workspace is remembered when signing in to the plp file. If someone else is signing in for you to make a remote plc file make sure they use your name to assist the process.