Special Menu: Update Library Parts

[Anonymous]

I have a client who has, IMO, been wasting a lot of time "updating their library parts" with the update library parts command in the special menu. I have used this in the past and have not seen any evidence whatsoever that this does anything at all to library parts themselves and had concluded that this is for updating parts that may have been changed by their creator that are loaded via FTP. Is there anyone from GS that can shed some light on what this command actually does. I've read the description of the commands on the website that has been posted on escribe but have not found a definitive answer as to its actual function.

TIA

[Anonymous]

AFAIK the sole purpose is to convert old libraries to make them more compatible with AC8.1. I have honestly had no problems with older parts in 8.1 (lots of problems in 8.0) but then I've been using mostly converted parts.

What I don't understand is how he can be wasting much time with this. It is just a one time thing (for each library anyway).

[Anonymous]

This feature existed (if I my recall correctly) prior to 8 and as I've stated, though probably not clear enough, that I've tried this with libraries of all vintages and have not seen where this has done anything at all to the scripts, names or anything else. I had even posted a recommendation to do so, quite some time ago on escribe (sorry ) , after someone recommended that I do this. Upon further investigation it revealed absolutely no changes in the library parts that were supposedly updated (and in 8.0 to r2 it wreaked havoc on any project that the command was used in). Even objects from 5.0, 6.0 & 6.5 were the same as they were before I selected the command and there were numerous changes to the libraries during these releases. I've tried placing all objects, selecting objects you name it and have never seen any difference from the way they were originally.

Like me they have quite a large collection of libraries that have been acquired and created over the years that are used in various projects and must be maintained as we never go backwards to open older projects, upon my recommendation they are converting their libraries to pla's all the while insisting on testing EACH and EVERY object they've used as they go. I've shown them that this does nothing, yet they still believe that it is actually doing something, though I haven't found any evidence that it's doing anything.

BTW when are we actually going to meet? It seems that our paths come so close but never connect. Woody says we've met but I can't recall. I'm hoping to attend ACUWest but am finding it a bit ironic that I have to travel 1000 miles or more to meet ArchiCAD users in my own back yard. It seems that many of my clients and I have made our acquaintance quite by chance way outside of CT.

Thanks

[Karl Ottenstein]

I haven't dug deeply into the library part conversion process, but I believe that it involves a couple of aspects. One is that each part is assigned an internal ID according to the new format used in 8.0 and above. Without conversion, this assignment process would happen on each load of the library I would guess, taking a small bit of time. The other, which is actually part of the unique ID thing, is that all parts in 8.0 and above belong to an object hierarchy and the converted parts are 'placed' in the hierarchy by assigning them appropriate subtypes.

The assigned subtype may or may not be correct - but it will be close. A subtype bundles with it a potentially large number of standard parameters that all members of that subtype have. This becomes important if you want to use those parameters, for example, in the interactive scheduler to display or edit the parameters for what are supposed to be similar kinds of objects. For many (most?) users, this probably doesn't matter. For those for whom it does, it is wise to open each object and verify that the subtype is the one you want.

All of the above isn't confirmed ... just my understanding at the moment.

Karl

[Richard Morrison]

Karl:

You're correct. I tried updating a library last night, and it placed objects into random subtypes on its own. It also changed the origin point of some objects. A number of formerly usable objects were determined to have overly long file names. The log showed a number of errors in conversion, but wouldn't describe what the error was. It was a waste of time overall, as far as I could see, and I ended up just replacing the whole thing with a backup copy.

[Anonymous]

Since we're on the subject of the special menu.....

Does anyone know the windows registry hack to get this to automatically load for 7 and 8.1?

[Karl Ottenstein]

Sean wrote:
Does anyone know the windows registry hack to get this to automatically load for 7 and 8.1?

See:

http://www.graphisoft.com/community/archicad-talk/viewtopic.php?p=2411#2411

Karl