rogue _X1 fill type

[schagemann]

hello everyone,

we experience the strange occurence of a rogue fill type named _X1 in one of our files. unfortunately we can not rename, purge, overwrite or delete it - although it appears to not be used by anything, as this also applies if we remove all referenced files and unload all libraries.

now this would not bother us too much if it had not index number 2 which is used by some GDL objects as default fill type.

any help, suggestions, etc. appreciated.

ds.

[Laszlo Nagy]

Would you try something?
Start a new project and select to use Latest Project Settings so all attributes of the project will be inherited by the newly started project. Then in this new project check if you can remove that attribute.

[owen]

laszlonagy wrote:
Would you try something?
Start a new project and select to use Latest Project Settings so all attributes of the project will be inherited by the newly started project. Then in this new project check if you can remove that attribute.

Thanks for your help Laszlo. Tried the above and no, we still cannot delete or overwrite the _X1 fill.

Not quite sure when/how this fill appeared in our template but fortunately we have a backup. Still we are very interested to know how this may have been created (to avoid in the future!) and how to get rid of them

[Karl Ottenstein]

Most likely created by a GDL object or add-on...

Cheers,
Karl

[owen]

Karl wrote:
Most likely created by a GDL object or add-on...

or via the Attribute Manager

Could be a Cadimage Add-on?

Had thought about GDL possibility but the type of fill I think indicates probably not by an object (it persists without libraries loaded). It is a solid-type fill that doesn't appear in the 'Fill Types' menu but is there in other fill selection dialogs (and the AM). It also cannot be deleted in the AM .. the button is just greyed out. The only other fills i have found like this are the 2 Gradient Fills and 'Air Space'.

[Anonymous]

I have two fills one called _X1 the other _X26 that I somehow
acquired in AC 8.1. I thought that _X1 was some sort of symbol
fill place holder. I imported my 8.1 fills into my AC 10 template
from my 8.1 template so they are in my AC 10 template.
I did not have any add-ons other than AC add-ons in either
version. They do not exist in a New and Reset project.
See attached for a description.
Peter Devlin

[owen]

This is not the first time I have encountered these _X-type fills .. they are usually created when manipulating your attributes indicies in the Attribute Manager. Not 100% sure of why/when but they seem to be created to pad out gaps when say moving your attributes higher up the index list. Still it does not occur all the time .. there is some strange voodoo at work - but that is the Attribute Manager.

What i haven't encountered before though is an attribute that cannot be deleted, overwritten or renamed.

cheers,

os

[Laszlo Nagy]

Can you guys check if you have any files starting with the string "MASTER" in any of your loaded libraries?
If you have LCF files you may have to extract them so you can search their content in the operating system.
These MASTER file are GDL file that can contain attribute definitions, including fill type definitions. Even if one deletes and attribute, it will be recreated the next time the libraries are reloaded.

[owen]

There are the usual 'Master' GDL files present in the AC library in the List Templates section. There are also two Cadimage Master GDLs - one of which seems to check if the defauly fill 'Empty Fill' exists and if not, defines a new 'Empty Fill'. Shouldn't be the cause though as:

1. We completely removed all Cadimage Tools/Add-ons to eliminate this as an ongoing cause.

2. We have not deleted any of the main GS default fills (Empty Fill, Solid, etc).

3. We have unloaded all libraries to troubleshoot this - so anything in the libraries cannot be the cause of the continuing problem. Although an object may have created the fill in the first place and may keep defining it so that it appears everytime you load that object, it cannot prevent you deleting it in the Attribute Manager when the object is not loaded (surely?)

We have reverted to a backup so this is not a big issue ... continuing discussion is really just out of interest to gain a better understanding of this Archicad attribute voodoo

[fuzzytnth3]

I just got hit with this problem last week with a pln file that was missing some fills I wanted. From the attribute manager I loaded the fill I wanted but as soon as I did so about 10 _X1, _X2 etc fills were added to the list of fills but they were using ID numbers that completely mashed up my Drawing.

I eventually had to start a new pln and rebuild the drawing by copying and pasting in the content. That sorted out the problem for but caused a few hours of lost time.

I kept the pln that caused the problem and just tried again to merge the attributes I wanted but this time it isn't behaving as badly but I can not get rid of a fill called _x1 which has ID of 1.

ps
I don't have any CADImage tools and I don't have IFC loaded in my Add-ons