Auto-update of master drawings is not reliable

[James Murray]

I am getting erratic results concerning the automatic update of drawings in master layouts. I wonder if I'm the only one.

In our setup, the title block is an object. The issue date is a text within this object. The object is placed in a worksheet, we have a view from that worksheet, drawings of that view are placed in several masters, which are used for many layouts. The drawing is set to Auto Update.

(I realize that's a longer chain of custody than most people use, but I have my reasons.)

If I change that date parameter in our title block object, it's not guaranteed that the object change will get transmitted to all the layouts upon publication.

If I open the master, the drawing updates and everything is OK.

If I open a layout, the master's drawing updates and everything is OK.

If I just publish without opening layouts or masters to check them, the results are erratic.

Example: I changed the date and then published a PDF. The dates on the resulting PDF sheets are not changed. I immediately published again, without making any changes anywhere in the project. Now the date is right.

This kind of thing needs to be unbreakable.

cc: GSHQ, and somewhat snarky commentary here.

[James Murray]

It's internal, and while I haven't tested an external drawing, it would surprise me if it worked better. I don't think it's the update itself that's failing, it must be something to do with redrawing the layouts themselves.

[Anonymous]

James wrote:
It's internal, and while I haven't tested an external drawing, it would surprise me if it worked better. I don't think it's the update itself that's failing, it must be something to do with redrawing the layouts themselves.

The erratic nature makes me wonder if it is an execution order issue. The correct order would be: update all drawings on Masters and then update all Masters and Drawings on Layouts. Perhaps some layouts are updating before the masters and others afterward, but the masters still update after the other layouts.

This would explain how some masters appear to be one update behind. It also indicates that the out of order execution may be consistent; ie if it is the same layouts that fail to update first and then show the first, but not the second revision. (Am I making myself clear?)

[Thomas Holm]

Matthew wrote:
(Am I making myself clear?)

Sort of

[Karl Ottenstein]

Matthew wrote:
The erratic nature makes me wonder if it is an execution order issue...

Ummm... duh? Figuring out the internals of why a bug is a bug doesn't help us here, and is kind of GS's expertise, right? 😉

Karl

[Thomas Holm]

Karl wrote:
Ummm... duh? Figuring out the internals of why a bug is a bug doesn't help us here, and is kind of GS's expertise, right? 😉

it's human nature, Karl! I'd never sit here if I didn't try to figure things out all the time, wether really useful or not - if i was considering usefulness, i'd probably fall into the greatest/worst depression ever known!

[Anonymous]

Karl wrote:

Matthew wrote:
The erratic nature makes me wonder if it is an execution order issue...

Ummm... duh? Figuring out the internals of why a bug is a bug doesn't help us here, and is kind of GS's expertise, right? 😉

Karl

Yeah. It does sorta seem it should occur to them. Sorry if I was stating the obvious. I am generally not one to spend too much time figuring out why computers break. My rule is use it 'till it breaks, fix it and use it 'till it breaks again. If in the process one figures out why it broke, the information may be useful for a few months (if the same problem recurs) until updates and upgrades render it meaningless.

In this case I think this may suggest a workaround. If the drawings are ordered appropriately in the drawing manager it might cause it to update the masters first - assuming publisher runs the updates in the same order.

[Thomas Holm]

Matthew wrote:
n this case I think this may suggest a workaround. If the drawings are ordered appropriately in the drawing manager it might cause it to update the masters first - assuming publisher runs the updates in the same order.

It never occurred to me that you could re-arrange the drawings in the Drawing Manager - is it possible to do that?

[Anonymous]

Thomas wrote:

Matthew wrote:
n this case I think this may suggest a workaround. If the drawings are ordered appropriately in the drawing manager it might cause it to update the masters first - assuming publisher runs the updates in the same order.

It never occurred to me that you could re-arrange the drawings in the Drawing Manager - is it possible to do that?

Alphanumerically.

[Thomas Holm]

Matthew wrote:
Alphanumerically.

So you mean by renaming them you could get the update order you want. Interesting! But still a tedious workaround.

[James Murray]

Dear Graphisoft,

Please automatically update drawings which are set to Auto-Update.

Thank you,

James M