Autotext in Window or Schedule Anyone?

[toman311]

I've been trying to figure out a way to get autotext in the Interactive Schedule or into a Window property so I can reference it in the Interactive Schedule. I'm trying to get a sill detail to reference to the windows in the window schedule. That way when someone looks at a window, they know what details relate to it. The problem is if things get moved around, I would like the autotext to move with it. Right now, the only way I can think of doing what I want is to put the schedule on a sheet with blank columns and put the autotext over the schedule on the sheet.

If I could at least put the autotext under the Window's IFC properties, I could accomplish what I want, but that's not possible either.

Does anybody have any other ideas or is what I'm trying to do not possible as of yet?

[Tim Ball]

If you create the text data you want in properties (AC21 onwards), you can include any of that in a text label using the autotext function and you can also include it in a schedule.

Take the basic fields included in the AC template for instance. Any of that info can be used in this way. You can also add you own properties using whatever system you need for your kind of work.

Properties by the way are much smoother than IFC data. Regen is instant pretty much. You can edit that data eithert in your model or in a schedule.

[toman311]

Thanks for the reply.

I'm not sure I'm understanding how I would get Property Manager data to link to a specific detail page number and sheet number.

I've used the Property Manager to do Quantity Takeoff's before, so I got an idea on how they work, but I'm in no ways a master at using them.

Can you be more descriptive for me on how I could get a detail number and the sheet number that the detail is on into the Interactive Schedules.

The reason being is that if I moved the detail to another sheet, the Interactive Schedule would update that page and the detail number too, if I chose to change that as well.

I know the Autotext feature can reference the detail number and the sheet it is on, but I don't know how to get that Autotext into the schedule. I don't see any way to insert Autotext in the Property Manager either.

[Chris Grantham]

I have been trying to figure out how to do this as well. I can’t figure out how to auto text reference in schedules. Being able to reference back to standard details without worrying about back checking every time a detail moves would be huge. Our window/door detail page is not always the same and the ID of the detail is contestants changing depending as standard details are always being swapped out depending on the conditions we have.
Thanks for bringing this up!

[Tim Ball]

You can only add data in this way to elements, not to a view or layout.

However instead could you place a detail marker that links to a live view. That way if you move the detail to a new layout, the reference will update. You could set up a layout for say each window type that includes the details, a schedule of where they are and the specification.

Hope that helps

[Chris Grantham]

Not quite sure what you mean by this:

Tim wrote:
You could set up a layout for say each window type that includes the details, a schedule of where they are and the specification.

See the attached photo for what I am trying to achieve.

Another thought would be to add a detail call out to the elevation preview that can be generated in the schedule but alas detail call outs are not available in the annotation mode, which makes me pivot to using a label instead. The only downside is that none of the stock labels are really looking for.

[Chris Grantham]

So I am guessing this needs to go in the wishes category?

[Erwin Edel]

You could assign a property to the window where you can input the detail name and schedule, but it won't be linked to the actual detail, if that's what you mean.

However it is quite easy to assign a list of things to a property, so you can list the possible details and quickly assign the correct ones in the schedule.

There is still room for human error, but it is not very different from linking the detail to the window.

[Chris Grantham]

It has more to do with page number and detail numbers changing as things are added to removed. Yes, in an ideal world your window detail sheet is always Ax.xx or whatever. The actual detail number changes quite frequently depending on the number of conditions we have. I guess what i am REALLY asking for is the ability to add auto text references to a property, but in reality i am not sure how graphisoft can make that work...

[Erwin Edel]

I have to admit our detail referencing etc is not nearly as elaborate (just a fat line to indicate the position and a number to identify the detail).

I think you can link one property to another, but in the end you are effectively still doing the same thing twice.