Revision tool - using letters not numbers

[Anonymous]

• In the process of updating our template to use the change manager - had a go last year but got distracted.
  
  A few things I am not clear on.
  
  1. We use letters not numbers for revisions...
  
  Eg.. Revision A, B, C, AA, AB, AC etc
  
  Is there a way so this is setup as the default. It seems that the only way to do this is after you create the first issue for a layout that you manually change the revision id.
  
  I have found out that if I create a sheet index with the revision ID field listed I can change manually here
  
  2. Creating an issue that does not include EVERY layout
  
  Out template is setup with all the standard layouts that would be typically used on a project for all the various stages (about 50). When you first start a project you are not issuing all of the drawings - typically only one or two... and this might be the case for some time... but every time you create an issue it includes every drawing that has not yet been issued... Is there a way to stop this and add drawings that have been changed? Or is it best to start the project and issue everything (maybe I have already done this in the template....
  
  
  3. Change ID prefix
  
  I like the idea that the change id is chronological (ie does not change with the drawing revision) but I don't like the 'ch" prefix...
  
  The only way I can work around this is to in the template create a change - rename it 00, then delete the change... The first change some will make will then be 01.
  
  4. Revision history object
  
  Ideally my revision history object would only show:
  - only the current revision
  - the changes that relate to the current revision each on a separate line
  
  To achieve this I tried the detailed version, however the number of lines setting seems to be absolute and either limits the number of changes visible on a sheet or shows more revisions. If I use the simple version I only have 3 lines showing - I get only the current revision visible, however the changes are all in wrapped text and comma separated.
  
  
  Any insights would be useful.
  
  I found this very useful in a productive way of utilising the change tool
  
  http://www.skewed.com.au/blog/archicad-18-new-feature-review-revision-tool#.VN_-OnlEiUk

[DGSketcher]

1. We use letters not numbers for revisions...

Hopefully this gets an update in v19 to cover not assigning a revision value to the first issue and we can select by default A,B,C

2. Creating an issue that does not include EVERY layout

Select the Publisher Sets in the Navigator window. Double click on the set you wish to publish and look in the window bottom right where you can select full or partial sets and "Layouts in current issue"

3. Change ID prefix

Still thinking about this. If you remove the "Ch" anyone reading the drawing may look at the tag and not be sure what it references. You can alter the prefix when creating a new change but I'm sure I saw a default override which I can't find now.

4. Revision history object

"Ideally my revision history object would only show:
...
- the changes that relate to the current revision each on a separate line"

Thought that was the default position!?

The revision history object is resizable, I have changed it to fit my title block and hopefully I have enough change lines available.

If you haven't already done so, go and watch the Archicad videos on YouTube

[Laszlo Nagy]

psmith_stz wrote:
1. We use letters not numbers for revisions...

Eg.. Revision A, B, C, AA, AB, AC etc

Is there a way so this is setup as the default. It seems that the only way to do this is after you create the first issue for a layout that you manually change the revision id.

I have found out that if I create a sheet index with the revision ID field listed I can change manually here

This is not possible currently. There is no setting to format the numbering of Revisions. So you would have to change the Revision IDs on the Sheet Index. Or, another method is to select all Layouts in the Layout Book, go to the Layout Settings Dialog and modify the Revision ID of all those selected Layouts in one step.

2. Creating an issue that does not include EVERY layout

Out template is setup with all the standard layouts that would be typically used on a project for all the various stages (about 50). When you first start a project you are not issuing all of the drawings - typically only one or two... and this might be the case for some time... but every time you create an issue it includes every drawing that has not yet been issued... Is there a way to stop this and add drawings that have been changed? Or is it best to start the project and issue everything (maybe I have already done this in the template....

In the Layout Book, right-click the Book icon at the top and click the Book Settings command. Then go to its Issue History panel.
Or, at the bottom of the Change Manager Palette you find the Issue History button. Click it and it will take you directly to the Issue History panel of the Book Settings Dialog.
In the Issue History panel you can select one or more Revisions and click the X icon at the right end of their rows to remove them from the current Issue.
You can also also add/remove individual Layouts to/from the current Issue by right-clicking the Layouts in the Layout Book and selecting the command from the context menu. (It even works with Layout Book subsets as shown in Nathan's blog post)

3. Change ID prefix

I like the idea that the change id is chronological (ie does not change with the drawing revision) but I don't like the 'ch" prefix...

The only way I can work around this is to in the template create a change - rename it 00, then delete the change... The first change some will make will then be 01.

In your Template file simply activate the Change Tool, modify its Change ID field to "01" and save your changes to the file. You don't have to place a Change and delete it. The first time a Change will be place its ID will be the specified "01" value.

4. Revision history object

Ideally my revision history object would only show:
- only the current revision
- the changes that relate to the current revision each on a separate line

To achieve this I tried the detailed version, however the number of lines setting seems to be absolute and either limits the number of changes visible on a sheet or shows more revisions. If I use the simple version I only have 3 lines showing - I get only the current revision visible, however the changes are all in wrapped text and comma separated.

Check this post about an updated Revision History object that is available:

http://archicad-talk.graphisoft.com/viewtopic.php?t=47172

I think you will need the Detailed version.
With this new object you will probably be able to filter out all revisions except the current one (so they will not appear in the Revision History object).

The only thing you will not be able to achieve is for the Revision History object to automatically adjust its number of rows. That is currently not possible to do with this object.

[Laszlo Nagy]

laszlonagy wrote:

psmith_stz wrote:
1. We use letters not numbers for revisions...

Eg.. Revision A, B, C, AA, AB, AC etc

Is there a way so this is setup as the default. It seems that the only way to do this is after you create the first issue for a layout that you manually change the revision id.

I have found out that if I create a sheet index with the revision ID field listed I can change manually here

This is not possible currently. There is no setting to format the numbering of Revisions. So you would have to change the Revision IDs on the Sheet Index. Or, another method is to select all Layouts in the Layout Book, go to the Layout Settings Dialog and modify the Revision ID of all those selected Layouts in one step.

I got some info from Graphisoft from the Product Designer of the revision feature that this is actually possible to do.
The way the program works is it will always intelligently follow a hard-wired numbering convention for Revision IDs. In case the last character of the revision ID is a digit, it will continue the numbering with the next number (e.g. after "A13" the next Revision ID will become "A14"), In case the last character of the revision ID is a letter, it will continue the numbering with the next letter in the alphabet (e.g. after "AA" the next Revision ID will become "AB").

So all you have to do is to modify the Revision IDs of Layouts to what you want and subsequent Revision IDs will be created automatically to follow that format.

Anytime you want to change the format, just modify the Revision IDs of those Layouts and ArchiCAD will continue with that format intelligently.

The Revision IDs can be different for every single Layout in the Layout Book if you want.
But it is also possible to modify the Revision ID of multiple Layouts in one step. Just select the Layouts in the Layout Book, go to the Layout Settings Dialog and change the Revision ID to the desired value.

[DGSketcher]

Laszlo, this still doesn't resolve the first issue problem where the convention is to issue without a revision number or letter as the drawing is original and has not been altered. For those who use A, B, etc using the hide first issue option in the revision object doesn't help as it means the first displayed revision will be B. There needs to be a means to set the default for all layouts to A, B, etc that also recognises an original issue has no revision.

Of course we could also look at changing national convention...

[Laszlo Nagy]

laszlonagy wrote:
The only thing you will not be able to achieve is for the Revision History object to automatically adjust its number of rows. That is currently not possible to do with this object.

Sorry, my bad. Again.
Apparently this is also possible to do with the new Revision History objects that are available from the bimcomponents site, as I was again informed by the Graphisoft Product Designer responsible for the revision feature.
The attached image shows which button controls it. If the button is turned OFF, only rows that have data in it will be shown in the object.

[Laszlo Nagy]

DGSketcher wrote:
Laszlo, this still doesn't resolve the first issue problem where the convention is to issue without a revision number or letter as the drawing is original and has not been altered. For those who use A, B, etc using the hide first issue option in the revision object doesn't help as it means the first displayed revision will be B. There needs to be a means to set the default for all layouts to A, B, etc that also recognises an original issue has no revision.

Of course we could also look at changing national convention...

Trick ArchiCAD. Enter a SPACE character for the Revision ID for all Layouts in the first Issue. It will look like there is no Revision ID.
Then, when you create the second issue, modify it to "AA" or whatever format you need.

[DGSketcher]

Thanks Laszlo, I will try that on my next project.

I have just noticed that you can edit the revision ID at the bottom of the Navigator window which also allows the revision change to be applied to multiple drawings. If anyone else is wondering there is more information here...

http://helpcenter.graphisoft.com/guides/archicad-18-int-reference-guide/documentation/revision-manag...

[Laszlo Nagy]

Nice find, I did not notice that.
(Of course the field is enabled only if there is an Issue created.)

[Anonymous]

Hi!

Re: using letters instead of numbers as revision ID, I've also found that if you click on the button to the far right of the issue name in the Issue History dialogue (that looks like 3 thick lines), there's a check box that overrides the revision IDs of all the layouts included in that issue with the issue ID. Do this for the first issue and the revision IDs of these layouts in subsequent IDs will follow the same convention.

For instance, if you'd want tender information issue drawing revisions to have a T prefix, check the override check box in the issue history and name the first tender issue book T0. Also check the check box below that to assign a new revision ID to all layouts included in that issue. All layouts included in that issue will then have T0 revision ID. As long as that check box is unchecked in subsequent issues, subsequent revisions will carry on sequentially (T1, T2, T3..) from that point on.

And when you enter the next stage and need to add a different prefix, C for construction for instance, you do the same and override all layouts for the first construction issue to C0.