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About Archicad and BIMcloud libraries, their management and migration, objects and other library parts, etc.

Password protection of 16 objects = a problem

Barry Kelly
Moderator
The new password protection for objects created in version 16 is a nice option and provides much more security than the old "hide scripts".

So I welcome that, but it does cause one slight problem that the old "hide scripts" didn't have.

Now when you password protect an object you can't open the object without that password.
"That's the whole idea!" I hear you say.
But now we can't even open the parameter list to set default pens, fills line types etc., if they don't work in our customised templates.

At least with the "hide scripts" option we could see the parameters and would be able to change them to suit our custom setup and then re-save the object.

So now we have 2 choices.
Contact the person that created the object and ask them to save a version with custom settings - I'm sure they would love to do that for everyone.
Or use the object as is and change the settings everytime you place it.

Even selecting the object and saving that selection as a new object so that you have a new unprotected object that "Calls" the protected one doesn't work.

Anyone have any ideas for a solution?
I might have to make a wish for this one.
Barry.
One of the forum moderators.
Versions 6.5 to 27
i7-10700 @ 2.9Ghz, 32GB ram, GeForce RTX 2060 (6GB), Windows 10
Lenovo Thinkpad - i7-1270P 2.20 GHz, 32GB RAM, Nvidia T550, Windows 11
11 REPLIES 11
Erwin Edel
Rockstar
Use favorites?
Erwin Edel, Project Lead, Leloup Architecten
www.leloup.nl

ArchiCAD 9-26NED FULL
Windows 10 Pro
Adobe Design Premium CS5
Barry Kelly
Moderator
Erwin wrote:
Use favorites?
That is an option but my favourites list is already over populated.
If only we could have a folder structure in the favourites rather than one long list for each tool.
Plus then I will be for-ever saving a new favourite list every time I import an object.
Then have to load that into each job.
Not such a big deal but just updating a library part once is much easier.

Barry.
One of the forum moderators.
Versions 6.5 to 27
i7-10700 @ 2.9Ghz, 32GB ram, GeForce RTX 2060 (6GB), Windows 10
Lenovo Thinkpad - i7-1270P 2.20 GHz, 32GB RAM, Nvidia T550, Windows 11
Anonymous
Not applicable
The locking/hide scripts has always been an interesting topic, because you can still open them via text editor...
Barry Kelly
Moderator
sdb wrote:
The locking/hide scripts has always been an interesting topic, because you can still open them via text editor...
Which is why this new password protection is so much better.
But we still need access to amend all the default pen colours, fills, line types, etc., to suit our particular templates.
It is crazy having them set and locked to a standard that most users probably don't use.

Barry.
One of the forum moderators.
Versions 6.5 to 27
i7-10700 @ 2.9Ghz, 32GB ram, GeForce RTX 2060 (6GB), Windows 10
Lenovo Thinkpad - i7-1270P 2.20 GHz, 32GB RAM, Nvidia T550, Windows 11
Hoa Tu
Newcomer
How about the object is unprotected but calling a protected macro object.
Hoa
Laszlo Nagy
Community Admin
Community Admin
As far as I know password protection means that you will not be able to open the GDL object for editing.
It should not affect the ability of other GDL Objects to call the password protected GDL Object.
Loving Archicad since 1995 - Find Archicad Tips at x.com/laszlonagy
AMD Ryzen9 5900X CPU, 64 GB RAM 3600 MHz, Nvidia GTX 1060 6GB, 500 GB NVMe SSD
2x28" (2560x1440), Windows 10 PRO ENG, Ac20-Ac27
Barry Kelly
Moderator
Yes you can call password protected objects but you still have the problem that you don't know the parameters that have been used.

The only trick I know of to see them is to drag the password protected object into the 3D scrip of a new object.
It will automatically create the "CALL" command and list the parameters with their values fixed to those that were set when you drag it in.

This might help to reset pen colours, fills and linetypes - even default sizes.
But you won't be able to see a value list of any parameters - you will need to re-create these manually.
Of course the scripts all remain invisible (which as I said before is a good thing).

The big problem is I don't want to have to create a second "CALL" object just to get some control for the defaults of a password protected file.
If I can by-pass the password protection in this way to see the parameters then why can't we have access to the list from within the password protected file.
All I want to do is be able to set my own defaults that suit my template.

Barry.
One of the forum moderators.
Versions 6.5 to 27
i7-10700 @ 2.9Ghz, 32GB ram, GeForce RTX 2060 (6GB), Windows 10
Lenovo Thinkpad - i7-1270P 2.20 GHz, 32GB RAM, Nvidia T550, Windows 11
rocorona
Booster
I think this makes sense absolutely. So, for me, this is a request to Graphisoft for a change in the way protected elements are handled.
Let the final user access at least to parameters.
My suggestion:
- Show the Detail page, with dimmed fiends (unchangeable)
- Show the Parameters page, with locked "New" and "Delete" buttons, but editable names (description) and values. So one can even translate for his own use, for example, some i.e. chinese text...
- Hide all the scripts
_________________

--Roberto Corona--
www.archiradar.com
AC18 - ITA full on Win10
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Laszlo Nagy
Community Admin
Community Admin
I will forward these requests and suggestions to the developers.
Loving Archicad since 1995 - Find Archicad Tips at x.com/laszlonagy
AMD Ryzen9 5900X CPU, 64 GB RAM 3600 MHz, Nvidia GTX 1060 6GB, 500 GB NVMe SSD
2x28" (2560x1440), Windows 10 PRO ENG, Ac20-Ac27