To Extract or Not to Extract...

[Dave Jochum]

I thought this had been discussed before, but a search didn't come up with anything. Forgive me if I missed it. Since AC v8 it we have been able to leave libraries as PLA files to use. However, problems I was having with Theo's CabinetBuilder were only solved after extracting to a folder. Is this a Theo problem or a GS one?

[Frank Beister]

Idon't know the cabinet builder, but if it's an addon, which creates or modifys objects, not only instances in the plan, this is the problem. AFAIK you can not save a object to a library inside the PLA.

[Anonymous]

Herr Beister is right.

Library parts in PLAs cannot be modified. This is a good thing for standard libraries that you don't want anyone to mess with, but you will need to unpack any that you want to change, or that need to write to their own resources.

[Dave Jochum]

Thanks for the responses, guys, but the meat of my question was missed (I'm sure due to my too brief explanation.) Since AC 8 we have been able to use PLA libraries without unpacking. No, you can't alter an object in the PLA, but you can configure a plan instance of it. My experience with CabinetBuilder3 did not allow me to use the PLA at all. Once unpacked, it has worked just fine. This should not happen according to GS, but it appears to be a problem with AC, as I have heard from others that they have had similar troubles with PLAs other than CB3. I guess the lesson here is that all PLA libraries, other than the main AC library, should be unpacked.

[Dave Jochum]

Thanks for the responses, guys, but the meat of my question was missed (I'm sure due to my too brief explanation.) Since AC 8 we have been able to use PLA libraries without unpacking. No, you can't alter an object in the PLA, but you can configure a plan instance of it. My experience with CabinetBuilder3 did not allow me to use the PLA at all. Once unpacked, it has worked just fine. This should not happen according to GS, but it appears to be a problem with AC, as I have heard from others that they have had similar troubles with PLAs other than CB3. I guess the lesson here is that all PLA libraries, other than the main AC library, should be unpacked.

[Karl Ottenstein]

Dave wrote:
I guess the lesson here is that all PLA libraries, other than the main AC library, should be unpacked.

Hi Dave,

I'd be reluctant to agree with that conclusion... since PLA libraries do load faster than unpacked ones.

If there was a problem with Theo's, then I wonder if he was doing some 'clever' things and either having objects modify themselves, or create new objects in specific folders.... If unpacking the lib resolves it, then it never should have been delivered as a PLA. 😉

I don't have his library, so can't look inside to see what the issue is/was.

Cheers,
Karl

[Dave Jochum]

Karl wrote:

Dave wrote:
I guess the lesson here is that all PLA libraries, other than the main AC library, should be unpacked.

I'd be reluctant to agree with that conclusion... since PLA libraries do load faster than unpacked ones.

If there was a problem with Theo's, then I wonder if he was doing some 'clever' things and either having objects modify themselves, or create new objects in specific folders.... If unpacking the lib resolves it, then it never should have been delivered as a PLA. 😉

I think your position has been the general consensus, at least here on the forum, Karl. Since I had never had problems of this sort previously, I never unpacked PLAs. In trying to sort out this problem, I contacted Chris Stringer at Objects Online. I hope he doesn't mind me posting his comments here:

"I think it's an ArchiCAD problem, not a Theo problem. ArchiCAD is supposed to handle PLA's as libraries, but I've noticed these kinds of problems occurring with a number of different PLA files ever since this option was introduced in ArchiCAD 8.

"Extracting libraries offers a few other advantages, besides getting things to work properly. If you need to manage duplicate/missing library parts or troubleshoot objects, working with the extracted libraries is essential. Also, you can search libraries by name faster outside of ArchiCAD, and you can only do this if the library is extracted. I recommend that *all* PLA's intended for use as libraries be extracted."

I, frankly, don't have an educated opinion on this. I defer to you guys who have years more experience than I. I'll probably keep PLAs intact until I have problems with them. I'd like to hear GS's comments on this.

[Karl Ottenstein]

...Also, you can search libraries by name faster outside of ArchiCAD, and you can only do this if the library is extracted. I recommend that *all* PLA's intended for use as libraries be extracted."

I think this is bad and out-dated advice.

AC 9.0's object settings dialog lets you find parts very efficiently, with visual results. See attached. 😉

Karl