Quick command to remove duplicate library parts

[Anonymous]

I guess this would just be too easy but I am among the many who just don't get why I keep needing to deal with the library manager.

I guess I worked on an older project created in 9 on 10 today and then later opened a different project that was fine when I closed it last and it showed up with the dreaded dots where all the symbols are. I can't ever figure out what is missing from the file by way of the library manager since all the libraries I would ever need are already listed as installed on the file so I just drag over the exact same libraries that are already there and of course I always end up with several thousand duplicate parts. The symbols are back but now the file is dragged down by the several 1000 duplicates when opening up.

I have done a quick search here and it seems that there is a way to remove the parts but it all seems a bit complicated and time consuming. Is it too much to hope for that there is a "remove duplicate library parts now" command?

blip! gone. The file is as it was when last worked on and closed.

Why is it so ridiculously easy to add duplicate libraries/parts and so mysterious on how to remove them?

update...and so now all my files have "missing libraries" and when I drag over the folders the "helpful" (make that maddening) manager indicate are missing the only result is that they all end up with 1000's of duplicate parts/names.

How and why can a file that was set up and only worked on by this machine by this version of ArchiCAD end up with missing library parts when opened up again. I sure as heck didn't remove them. The frustration of this system is mind-boggling. Why the manager is never satisfied and always is waiting to screw up my file is like an having to hold on to an electric fence that scrambles your brain. The documentation available is unfortunately not very helpful either.

Just my rant.

Hard to not want to stick with other CAD programs

Thanks though

Tad

AC10
Mac OS9

[Steve Jepson]

Karl wrote:

Steve wrote:
Damon is using AC10. Will he need to do it the way I expained it to him to get at his AC9 Libraries or the way you explaind it to him?

Nobody should EVER do it the way you explained it Steve! There is no need to open a template, yada, yada as you directed. Sheesh.

For 10 and above, Extract the LCF. For 9 downwards to when things were in folders by default, you'll notice that the library itself is a PLA. Just open it!

As always, there is never only one way to skin a cat.

Yes, but lately, your posts list the most unlikely and confusing methods. As Ben said, please think before posting.

Cheers,
Karl

Karl,

The whole point is to get the Library parts out of these file formats and into folders you can review, sort, delete, etc... all of the things we need to do with .gsm file orgaisation that we can not do with the library parts all locked up in an .lcf

I think what meant to say instead of "just open the .pla" , is to open the version 9 .pla files with his version 10, so he can then use the Extract a Container file process.

Is my method any more clicks than that process? Is it so outrageous that I am an "idiot" for suggesting it?

Is this not the way everyone did it with their versions 9 and older?
ArchiCAD Library management has never been very good, and we have always used work-arounds to deal with it.

I am not talking about anything unusual at all and you know it. Out of date by 11 standards, but not for Damons question about version 9 and 10.

[TomWaltz]

It's not about number of clicks. It's about maintenance, sustainability, and future use.

Does your method work now (as in, today and only for today)? Yes.
Will it cause more work every time a library update comes out? Yes.
Is it cutting off your nose to spite your face? YES!

You sacrifice overall usability of a system for something that does not really gain you anything except the victory of saying you came up with a non-standard way of doing things. Whether someone wants to be an architect or a CAD geek, good business practices require something that performs well AND accepts updates/upgrades without constant maintenance and upkeep. The methods you are recommending do neither.

The methods you recommend (not just here) show a gross naiveté about systems management and should not be promoted as good practice. I would be more inclined to use them as "don't" examples in a "do's and don'ts" situation.

It's the kind of mistake I would expect someone who's never managed a CAD system before to make, gets burned, and learns never to do it again.

[TomWaltz]

Steve wrote:
is it so outrageous that I am an "idiot" for suggesting it?

Yes.

Is this not the way everyone did it with their versions 9 and older?

No.

[Andy Thomson]

Whoah! Guys! If I can speak for Eric Batte and myself, there are some aspects to what Steve is suggesting that makes sense, we'd both prefer that libraries 'as such' didn't exist, as a pure folder structure is preferable in SOME respects, certainly not others. But the LCF is what we are stuck with for the moment.

To a new user however, this open-folder structure is a sure path to suicide. Macros are the reason, as has been mentioned here already. It took me a solid month of tinkering to sort out all of GS's macros (and all of the 3rd party stuff I added) - and I've been messing with this stuff for over 10 years.

The LCF format is essential for several reasons, as James likes to point out, for transferring files (on a network or to a flash drive) - but also, it protects the data from being read by the OS. Example, I have a library that WILL NOT WORK on PC's because of certain foreign-language characters, pipe-symbols, etc. that are extremely offensive to PC's, but work fine on a mac.

All in all - for a new user, I'd say get the correct GS-isued subsets and load the current library. If there are still missing objects, find out where they came from and isolate them into a project specific folder....

[Steve Jepson]

For starters Tom, it is not my idea. I learned how to do it here on this site many years ago. It has been working very well for me ever since. It is not anything new.

Eventually, every ArchiCAD user say's to himself, there must be some other way to get at these library parts. I am tired of loading entire libraries full of useless parts just, so I can get a few extra objects I may not already have in my start up file.

They use the windows explorer to try and get at them and discover that they are all locked up in files you can not get at with out using ArchiCAD.

The solution to get them out into folders you can access with the windows explorer is the Extract to Container tool, now available in versions 10 and 11. Before 10 it was done the way I tried to describe for Damon who is using 9 and 10.

Even if you never access any library parts except by first loading them into ArchiCAD as .lcf and .pla files, there are too many reasons to list as to why you might like to have them accessible from your windows explorer.

This is the reason I offered this "optional" method, that he "might" like to try to Damon.

If you read my post you will see that I recommended that he make a default library based on the way has configured his template.

The idea (if you can't imagine it) is to open a file to start a project with, that has only those items (in terms of library parts) that you need for every job.

Any new library part needed you would get via the folder method( for lack of a better word). This way you have what you need to start because it comes along when you open your start up file. You do not have to load hundreds of useless library parts that you will never, ever want to use, just so you can get to the ones you do need.

This approach has been around a long time, works very well, has been perfected and refined to good degree, and is now available in a great new program that is listed in an earlier post.

It is based on the same idea. Get your library parts out of those .lcf and .pla files so they can be organized and maintained properly.

Try it, it is a shareware program and I am sure you will agree that this idea is much better.

The idea I have described is about about maintenance, sustainability, and future use.

It will not "cause much more work every time a library update comes out."

And is not "cutting off your nose to spite your face."

It does not "sacrifice any overall usability of a system."

It is not "something that does not really gain you anything except the victory of saying you came up with a non-standard way of doing things."

It is not my idea! And is certainly not anything new except perhaps to you. If you say it is, I believe you.

"The rest of us care about that kind of thing." Everyone does.

"Whether someone wants to be an architect or a CAD geek, they usually want something that performs well AND does not require constant maintenance and upkeep."

Where do you see additional maintainance and up keep?

The startup file loads up with only items you have chosen.

You simply choose your library part from a different folder.

You still get at the file in exactly the same way you do when you place any other object. It is only the folder you pick it from that is in a different location.

One other thing I would like to say about this alternate way of managing your Library parts.

It is such a slight and in significant difference in the way I use my ArchiCAD that I may use this method if I happen to think about it, or I may not. Depending on how I happened to open the file I am working on.

It makes no difference. I may even load and unload several different kinds of Libraries over the course of a day in a single project. So what?
I may even load an entire version 6 library just so I can get at one part I know is in there somewhere but I have never taken the time to isolate it or put in a different place. No big deal. It doesn't slow me up at all.
If I does, I will fix it. Yes, I even let that little duplicate and/or missing parts window pup up sometimes and I just let it go. So what?

If I see that it makes any difference I will fix it if I am in the mood.

It's is of very little consequence to me because I know how to deal with it at anytime, in many different ways.

To me it is no different than getting behind on organizing my layers, combinations, spell check, etc... it can all be done at any time, so long is it does not slow me up while I am on a role.

If you don't like it, don't do it.

[Steve Jepson]

Steve wrote:
There is one more thing I would recommend.

When you get you Template configured the way you want it, make an .pla file of it just like above, but this time, save only the parts used in this Master Template. Use this as your default library so you will always load a basic library that has what you need as far as graphic symbols, lines, fills, section markers, and a few things like that which you need for all projects.

Also learn to use Favorites.

I would also agree with you that there should be some quick way to delete duplicate library parts and such, because this does happen to sometimes even when we are using orthodox library procedures.

To quote myself, again for those of you who don't remember what you may have read.

I never said anything about not including macros or any other part "that you need for all projects".
I have never been refereing to anything except .gsm files. You know, cars, trees, windows, doors,....parts!
That's what I mean by Library and I think that is also what Damon meant.

[Anonymous]

I've stirred up a bit of a hornets nest it appears. I haven't yet read all the responses -just very briefly scanned-but I anticipate being enlightened.
I have calmed down a bit-(yesterday was end of BUSY day) and have worked through this library manager more and been able to edit out most of the duplicates.

Vectorworks does have a "purge unused objects" command that is very useful going through (selectable or all) layers, classes, objects etc... in one fell swoop. Generally takes away a lot of data from the file and results in faster openings.

The best advice is for me to spend some time to develope "user defined templates and preferences" and favorites that work best for me.

I will look over this a bit more closely later and am sure I will have some great advice to use or at least ponder.

Thanks all.

Tad

[TomWaltz]

Library management is really a simple concept.

If you are starting a new project, you use the library for the current version of Archicad.

If you are bringing a project forward from an older version, you can just load the current version library and the subset library for the previous version (available from tr.graphisoftus.com)

I've never made a PLA or unpacked a library for a real project. I've done it for experimentation purposes, but it never proved to be worth the effort.