Can I select things by their _internal_ id?

[alexliz24]

It's all in the subject line, people. I can Find by ID, but I haven't figured out how (if at all possible) I can look for, say, a door, by entering its Internal ID.

Any tips more than welcome. Thanks.

[TomWaltz]

alexliz wrote:
Nah, it's alright, I'm convinced...

Karl: I've been using the ID Editor to do just what you say. I still risk, though, having an element with an identical User ID to another element, esp. after a copy procedure, even by another project team member.

Tom: why hex? I thought the INT ID is just numeric strings. They are on mine, at least. In any case, if it's unique and you enter it in the Find field, why do you care what it contains? Just enter the ID, whatever it is.

Where are you seeing internal IDs? Are you doing API work?

[alexliz24]

Here's a screenshot from my project. The Internal ID of the door shows in black, it's the "24820" part of the Label. I've got dozens of doors/windows in the project, all numerals, no hex whatsoever.

And, no, I'm not doing any API work.

[TomWaltz]

Why do you think that's the internal ID?'

Last I knew, the internal IDs were 8 to 12-digit hexadecimal values.

[alexliz24]

I am a little surprised about all these objections to non-hex strings possibly being the Internal IDs. Anyway, I downloaded the two label markers provided on this forum by Srinivas (http://archicad-talk.graphisoft.com/viewtopic.php?p=88478), and re-configured them to use the glob_intid instead of glob_id parameter.

I assume that glob_intid is the Internal ID of the door/symbol. Am I wrong?

[TomWaltz]

I've dealt with internal IDs at the program level before (for an add-on I wrote through the API), and they were in hex.

It's possible that the GDL engine uses base-10, but it's a little surprising that they would be differently formatted than other elements.

Personally, I'm not sure why you are so interested in searching for values you cannot control. There are lots of things in Archicad that you can access at the programmer level (either through GDL or the API) that might have a limited used for normal users but would be much better served either through a complete new program function or improvements to an existing one.

It seems to me like what you really want is for Archicad to manage your door IDs in a way that makes them unique throughout the project (so you never have two of the same door number) and allows you to manage them yourself (probably using some numbering format or logic, such as basing them on an overall counting system or basing them on the room they are in).

Being able to Find by Internal ID would not give you any of these.

[alexliz24]

I don't know why they are not in hex; I tried also with walls: go into Label Default Settings, select the Wall element, then 'Internal ID' from the drop down menu to the right. Then select any wall, click on its 'Label Elements' checkbox in its settings, and up comes a number - no hex letters.

I also don't quite get your concern about anyone's wanting to use the Internal ID. After all, it's offered in the elements' info boxes, isn't it? It's even available in the Global Element Parameters in the Set Up List Schemes dialog. Why should GS make it available to the 'normal' user if we're not supposed to use it?

You are right about the reasons why I want to use the IntIDs. Ideally, I am thinking (but am open to suggestions/corrections) I should be able to create lists/schedules listing both Internal IDs (so we can guarantee that we are addressing elements in a unique way, not mistaking anything for anything else) _and_ User IDs (so we can devise an ID system whereby every _type_ of door shares the same User ID, for grouping purposes). Of course, other parameters could be used for analyzing data; library part names, widths and heights, or even their combinations, could easily serve the purposes of data analysis and break points (i.e. list-by parameters). It just seems odd to me that a fine parameter such as the Internal ID is, may be inaccessible for the reverse work of selecting (and possibly zooming into) a particular element.

Thanks for sticking by.

[TomWaltz]

alexliz wrote:
..., it's offered in the elements' info boxes, isn't it?

Where is it visible in an Info Box?

It's even available in the Global Element Parameters in the Set Up List Schemes dialog. Why should GS make it available to the 'normal' user if we're not supposed to use it?.

I was under the impression that it was available in the Listing functions for linking with an external database via ODBC, something about 3 people on the planet know how to do. Not exactly a "normal" user task.