Library management

[Anonymous]

One of the longest process that happens to take place when you open a drawing is loading up the library (for me at least). I was therefore wondering if something can be done about this.

To explain a bit more, I have a few files that were created in 7.0 (which reference the 7.0 library). Then I have some files that have been moved to an archive folder. Then some that have been worked on a laptop (and use the local libraries). Now if I need to open any of these files, I need to redirect all the libraries to the proper locations. Problem is that some of the blocks used are from different libraries also (8.0, 7.0, 8.1, etc).

So the question is:
a. What's the best way to organize the libraries? ...and/or
b. Is there a way to have better control over the libraries being loaded so that you can only reload 1 out of the 3 libraries that are linked (if you find that you mapped the wrong one) instead of waiting 15-30min for all the libraries to reload?

Hope I've made myself understood.

[Anonymous]

Library management is one of the toughest issues for setting up and using ArchiCAD, and the details may vary considerably depending on your practice. There are several things you can do.

1. Create project libraries. Use the Save as Archive function to create a library of only the parts used by that project.

2. Set up an office standard library. Select the various parts that you actually want to use from the various libraries that you have and consolidate them into a single (much smaller) office standard.

3. Put copies of the Graphisoft and third party libraries on each computer and load only the office standards and project libraries over the network.

4. Use file synchronization software to maintain duplicate libraries on all workstations and the server.

5. Use the cache library set-up in ArchiCAD to maintain duplicate libraries on all machines.

You can mix and match some of these methods (but not all) depending on how you want to work.

There has been a fair amount of discussion on this. A search of ArchiGuide should turn up quite a bit of material.

I have also posted a wish which, if adopted, would eliminate all these problems. See:

Unified Project File Type; including PLN, PLA & PLP

if you are interested.

[Anonymous]

(warning: have cold, coherentness might be affected)...

Matthew wrote:
1. Create project libraries. Use the Save as Archive function to create a library of only the parts used by that project.

I thought that saves the whole file (along with its library parts). Outside of the rather large file size, you can't just do a periodic simple save - all saves have to be "Save As..." But it might be I'm just missunderstanding something in there and will need to look more into.

2. Set up an office standard library. Select the various parts that you actually want to use from the various libraries that you have and consolidate them into a single (much smaller) office standard.

3. Put copies of the Graphisoft and third party libraries on each computer and load only the office standards and project libraries over the network.

Nr. 3 would still take a while. The network's not all that slow - it's the actual loading of the library. Wether it's coming from the network or the local machine it doesn't seem to matter much. Nr. 2 is probably what I'll need to do, it's just that... what if I need that unique part that I didn't know I had...

I think one solution for GS would possibly be to just automatically load the library parts that are used in the file, and allow on-demand loading for the rest, similar to how AutoCAD has it (I think).

4. Use file synchronization software to maintain duplicate libraries on all workstations and the server.

This was one idea for the laptop. Know of any software?

5. Use the cache library set-up in ArchiCAD to maintain duplicate libraries on all machines.

Not quite sure how this works yet (did some research that hasn't helped yet), but I'll look into it some more.

I have also posted a wish which, if adopted, would eliminate all these problems. See:
Unified Project File Type; including PLN, PLA & PLP

Thanks, I'll look into it.

[Anonymous]

Sergio wrote:
(warning: have cold, coherentness might be affected)...

Matthew wrote:
1. Create project libraries. Use the Save as Archive function to create a library of only the parts used by that project.

I thought that saves the whole file (along with its library parts). Outside of the rather large file size, you can't just do a periodic simple save - all saves have to be "Save As..." But it might be I'm just missunderstanding something in there and will need to look more into.

I was being a bit brief. The second part of the process is to open the archive and save the library to a folder. This does mean having to repeat the process when additional library parts are loaded, or copy them into the project library.

2. Set up an office standard library. Select the various parts that you actually want to use from the various libraries that you have and consolidate them into a single (much smaller) office standard.

3. Put copies of the Graphisoft and third party libraries on each computer and load only the office standards and project libraries over the network.

Nr. 3 would still take a while. The network's not all that slow - it's the actual loading of the library. Wether it's coming from the network or the local machine it doesn't seem to matter much. Nr. 2 is probably what I'll need to do, it's just that... what if I need that unique part that I didn't know I had...

I think one solution for GS would possibly be to just automatically load the library parts that are used in the file, and allow on-demand loading for the rest, similar to how AutoCAD has it (I think).

The office standard library needs to be combined with project libraries where you put the odd bits that are peculiar to the specific projects.

4. Use file synchronization software to maintain duplicate libraries on all workstations and the server.

This was one idea for the laptop. Know of any software?

On the Mac there is one called "File Synchronization" (shareware $9US). It's been a while since I've done it with Windows software (I've usually just done it from the Mac side) but as I recall there are some serviceable choices. You can search VersionTracker, Tucows, or downloads.com to look for something. There may also be something in XP like the Briefcase in Win2000 which allows you to synchronize files between different machines.

5. Use the cache library set-up in ArchiCAD to maintain duplicate libraries on all machines.

Not quite sure how this works yet (did some research that hasn't helped yet), but I'll look into it some more.

I used the satellite library function back when the library parts had to be served from a Windows machine. This is now called the cache library and the process is changed somewhat. I haven't sorted it out myself yet either. The last time I tried was in teamwork and it seemed tediously slow at the time.