MSA in 9.0

[Anonymous]

I have used MSA detailer since day one, (actually MSA 1.0) and have finally decided to update MSA in 9.0.

I checked the Help function but didn't seem to find anything. The templates in the Template folder show up, but wthout the symbols. Obviously, I'm doing something wrong.

Also, if I load the MSA 9.0 library into my existing 1.0 templates the library parts don't show up correctly. Do I need to go from 1.0 to something else, then to 9.0?

thanks,

Don Lee

AC9.0, OSX, 2-1.25 g4

[Karl Ottenstein]

The MSA documentation is in PDF format. The catalog may show up in your (US) Help menu (I cannot recall if I moved it there or if it installed there). The other docs - MSA Steel and MSA User's Guide - are in the "Graphisoft Documentation" folder. If you move them from there into the "Documentation" folder, then they will appear in the Help menu too ... not the help file, but as links in the menu.

MSA is 'frozen' at version 3 AFAIK; scripts have a 1999 date.

Under "MSA Symbols 9" in the object library, you'll find the various layout templates, such as the MSA_Detailer_Template. These behave differently than as in the documentation which was designed for AC 6.5 and QuickViews.

Generally, with 9, you don't need the title, layout machine, and other templates because PM takes care of these things for you. I used to find the MSA_Detailer_Template quite handy for enforcing margins and layout standards, but haven't had to use it for a version or two. I see that at the moment, with my 9.0 pen set, that when I place it, it is unrecognizable unless I tick the box to 'Use Symbol Colors" in the object settings dialog. Even then I get crazy colors because of my pen settings, vs the original ight gray and black.

The problem, as I wrote in escribe when MSA was first bundled, is that the MSA objects have hard-coded pen numbers in the scripts. In particular, the MSA_ModuleMaker macro, which is called by MSA_Detailer_Template, has fixed, numeric pens in the script, and so the only way to make it appear properly is to edit the script and parameterize all of these pens. My recollection is that this issue pervades the objects as well.

This is copyrighted GDL code... note the message at the top of the 2D script:

!©MSA SoftTools 1999
!MSA ModuleMaker Script
!**It is illegal to use, copy or alter this script!**

So, someone at GS has to provide the fixes, or to negotiate and give us permission to modify the script(s) and post fixes, otherwise everyone is on their own here.

Karl

[Anonymous]

Karl:

Thanks for the reply! I found the MSA pdf right where you said it was.
I'm not sure I ever would have found it without help-makes me wonder why it wasn't linked to the help menu to begin with.

Don