Referencing zones in a gdl object

[Anonymous]

Hi guys, I have been using Archicad since version 6.0, and been scripting GDL for just as long, I am familiar with most of the stuff in David Nicholson-Cole's Cookbook, but that is a little out of date with some of the more recent developments in GDL, so I would like to revisit something I have wanted to do since version 9.0.
I am looking to create a 2D schedule object which can display information from various sources as one unified document - specifically, a Development Application schedule which can show the site area, floor area, landscaping areas total building areas and work out the percentages as regards compliance. I am comfortable with manipulating the information and displaying it, however I need to be able to read the zone category name and measured area from the project to be able to use it.
Does anybody need to know how this is done?
BTW I am happy to share the completed object upon completion, I'm sure there are many others that could use this.
Cheers, David

[sinceV6]

Hi.
From the top of my head, and if I understand what you are trying to do, it would be hard. An object might be able to pick up the zone it resides in, but a single GDL object won't let you get the information directly from other zones. Not saying it can't be done, but can't think of a way right now. An add-on might be able to pull this off.

In order for a single object to read information from different zone categories and areas it would need to have all the info available to get the job done, and since this would be scripted, every bit of information would need to comply with the script (or have a bunch of parameters as options so calculations won't be wrong when something is different from what is asked for in the scripts) and be readily available.

This could be achieved if you generate schedules for the different areas, publish TXT files, read them with the TXT add-on and use them in an object to make the calculations you need and build the schedule around that. But why go into the trouble of making such a complex thing (considering there are a lot of variables that might change from project to project) when you already made the schedules and exported the info as TXT?

So....

Not just for this object but for anyone who is trying to make schedule analysis (areas, zone relations, quantities, costs, etc)....

Since the objective is to be able to analyze different area types for compliance, I would just link the TXT files in excel and use the already programed functions to do it (I mean, why script what is already there?). Set up the schedules, set up a publisher set for them as TXT files and publish them, in excel link them as data in different sheets (and set it to not ask you the filename every time it updates and set the update time to 1min), and create one more sheet where you will pull the info you need for analysis.

Updates on the project because of area analysis? No problem. Just publish again and either wait a few seconds for excel to auto update the links or manually update all data and watch your analysis spreadsheet update for itself.

Edit as needed with fonts, colors, graphs and everything else, publish what you need as PDF and place that in AC.

In any case, if you try to make the object, I'm in.

Hope this helps.
Best regards.

[Anonymous]

Hi sinceV6, Thanks for that. Do you (or anybody else) know how to import schedule information from within the project? External text or excel files are not practical as our pln files move about a bit, so need to be self contained. I work for a volume builder where the job set-up is identical as they all work from a set master. I am trying to automate as many of the repetitive tasks as possible, and the systems need to be pretty foolproof as we have people of varying skill levels working on the jobs.
Maybe one of the moderators would have some idea of what REQUEST one could use, or whether we can CALL the zone stamp or something.
David

[Laszlo Nagy]

I can only recommend the same as sinceV6 said:
I would script the Zones to write out that data into TXT files, then have those other objects read back the data they need from those TXT files, process them, make calculations, then assign the results to parameters which can then be displayed in schedules.

[Anonymous]

Thanks Laszlo, I'll see how I go. If you don't know of another way, I'm sure nobody does.....! I'll keep everybody posted. If I want to share the object to have everybody to have a poke at, what is the correct protocol? I won't be using anyone else's code, and I couldn't be arsed to charge any money, I just wouldn't want to get in trouble.

[Laszlo Nagy]

You can zip the object and post it as an attachment here.
Or you can upload it to BIMcomponents.com and share the link here.
Or both.