hotlink modules

[Anonymous]

I am having some serious problems with hotlink modules! I am working in ArchiCAD 11, teamwork file. I've hotlinked into our main documentation file hotlink modules. The wall dimensions are slightly different in the main documentation file (from that of the actual hotlink module). I have checked all my dimension settings, but no luck. Does this problem sound familiar to anyone?

[Erika Epstein]

Is the dimension profile set differently in the two files?

For example if the module file had dimension at 1/16" tolerance, and the main file at 1/2" tolerance, you might see slightly different dimensions in the two files.

Or, post a screen shot, that might give one of us a clue.

[Anonymous]

I actually just found the problem. In the hotlink, I updated the composite wall in question (I increased the air space in a cavity wall). In the documentation file (where I am hot-linking in the module) there was a default composite wall with the same name. So the documentation file was not reading the updated wall thickness. Once I deleted the composite wall in the documentation file - the updated wall was restored. I find this logic absolutely absurd and I am not convinced that hotlink modules are a productive way of working.

[Erika Epstein]

Grass wrote:
I actually just found the problem. In the hotlink, I updated the composite wall in question (I increased the air space in a cavity wall). In the documentation file (where I am hot-linking in the module) there was a default composite wall with the same name. So the documentation file was not reading the updated wall thickness. Once I deleted the composite wall in the documentation file - the updated wall was restored. I find this logic absolutely absurd and I am not convinced that hotlink modules are a productive way of working.

You are being a bit hasty in condemning hot-linked modules; this is an important and wonderful method for working smart. Learn about correct methods for maintaining and transferring attributes.

[Thomas Holm]

Grass wrote:
... In the hotlink, I updated the composite wall in question (I increased the air space in a cavity wall). In the documentation file (where I am hot-linking in the module) there was a default composite wall with the same name. So the documentation file was not reading the updated wall thickness. Once I deleted the composite wall in the documentation file - the updated wall was restored. I find this logic absolutely absurd and I am not convinced that hotlink modules are a productive way of working.

On the contrary, I find it reassuring that it works this way. Assuming that the naming of the walls had been deliberate, this means that the special case (the unique wall) in a file where an instance of the general version (the module) is placed (hotlinked), has priority.

This is exactly the way it should work.

[Anonymous]

We are running into problems because we have so many hotlinked modules being brought in to the documentation file (the hotlinks represent multiple phases of work to be completed over time). To complicate this condition, the phasing of the project was just announced - so we had to break out pieces of the project into modules from one original file. So we have composite walls with the same name in more than one file. It does not make sense to me that I can have a wall in a hotlink be drawn one way....and then show up a different way in another file....simply by a naming error! What a mess.

[Thomas Holm]

OK I see what you mean. I guess this is a result of the fact that the composites are in fact also a linked in, or referenced, attribute. It is perfectly logical that if you have something (the composite) that is referenced in your main file, and then hotlink in something that contains a reference to the same /name/d composite, that they will show the same.

If this worked the other way, that is if the hotlinked file's linked composites took precedence, the result would be even more confusion and trouble.

The real problem here is that you have different versions of these attributes using the same names. If you mix that within one project, you're bound for trouble. What you have to do is clean up your attribute management! That's what the Attribute Manager is for!