.plc capabilties when using teamwork...a few questions..

[Anonymous]

I feel like I've been out of circulation in the forum...busy both at work and at home (probably a good thing though).

Anyways, here's my golden question for this month...

Scenario: I have established a good teamwork process at the office and have managed the files pretty good and a 3 person team with good understanding on how the teamworking actually works. We all sign in directly into the .plp file. And avoid the .plc process.

Questions: Some of us have wanted to take the project home on several occasions but have debated if it would just confuse things and be a waste of time. My questions are:

1. Could we save the .plp file as a .plc file.....take it home....make changes...bring it back the next day...and do a 'send & recieve' (will the send & recieve function work?)? Will there be any conflicts with this process?

2. I know there would be library issues, but, will it cause the libraries to change in the .plp file? ( I imagine that the .plp file will keep all of its original custom libraries regardless of any sending and recieving from .plc's that had other libraries loaded at the time it was worked on.)

thanks so much in advanced!

[Link]

In avoiding the .plc you have ben avoiding the most important part of Teamwork.

Yes you can take a plc home and sign in the next day. In fact as long as you don't sign out, or are not force signed out, you can sign back in next year if you like.

And to avoid any library issues, you need to save as a draft archive (.pca), which is like a regular archive, in that it keeps all the library parts.

Cheers,
Link.

[Anonymous]

Link wrote:
In avoiding the .plc you have ben avoiding the most important part of Teamwork.

Yes you can take a plc home and sign in the next day. In fact as long as you don't sign out, or are not force signed out, you can sign back in next year if you like.

And to avoid any library issues, you need to save as a draft archive (.pca), which is like a regular archive, in that it keeps all the library parts.

Cheers,
Link.

Well slap me in the face and call me Vader! I had a feeling there was more to it.

So, after saving the .plp as a .pca,,,,would I then have to save another version as a .plc,,,,or will the .pca be enough for me and other team mates to take home?

[Link]

Okay Vader, it's been a while since I have done this, but as I recall you need to sign in and save your workspace as a draft (.plc) (which should be the process you go through every time you work on a Teamwork project IMHO). Then you save it as a draft archive (.pca) which you can take home and work on, without any worries of missing library parts, etc.

Probably best to test the process, before you go home and realize you've been had.

Cheers,
Link.

[Anonymous]

Good idea...I kind of pictured myself cursing all night if I'd been had
I'll give it a trail run before leaving work today!
And thanks again! may the force be with you.

Happy halloween everyone!

[Aussie John]

Link wrote:
Yes you can take a plc home and sign in the next day. In fact as long as you don't sign out, or are not force signed out, you can sign back in next year if you like.
Cheers,
Link.

As always Links advice is spot on. But to clear up the ambiguity in this statement, once you have created a plc file you dont have to sign back the next day because you should already be signed in. In other words NEVER sign out of the PLP file if you wish the plc file to be valid.
Once you have the plc file you can save as many version as you like ( from the plc file) and even rename. Each will be valid and can send and recieve. The cavet it will over write a send from a different version of the PLC file. Why would you do this? Might be useful if you are developing options.
In so far as the library is concerned, you can just make a copy of the library(s) used by the PLP file and load those.
There are some advantages to using a PLC file even when on the network particularly of the network is not gigabit as the file operates like a normal file with saves (no saves in PLP only save as or send and receive)

[Anonymous]

Aussie wrote:

Link wrote:
Yes you can take a plc home and sign in the next day. In fact as long as you don't sign out, or are not force signed out, you can sign back in next year if you like.
Cheers,
Link.

As always Links advice is spot on. But to clear up the ambiguity in this statement, once you have created a plc file you dont have to sign back the next day because you should already be signed in. In other words NEVER sign out of the PLP file if you wish the plc file to be valid.
Once you have the plc file you can save as many version as you like ( from the plc file) and even rename. Each will be valid and can send and recieve. The cavet it will over write a send from a different version of the PLC file. Why would you do this? Might be useful if you are developing options.
In so far as the library is concerned, you can just make a copy of the library(s) used by the PLP file and load those.
There are some advantages to using a PLC file even when on the network particularly of the network is not gigabit as the file operates like a normal file with saves (no saves in PLP only save as or send and receive)

Just to clarify (for me), you mean I should leave the .plp file opened at work even after saving a .pca or .plc version in order for the 'send and recieve' function to work properly the next day after changing things at home?

Or did I confuse myself here?

I pictured I can safely sign out from the .plp after saving a .pca and/or .plc and the next day...sign-in again to the plp..............wait a minute....i answered my own question just now....I keep forgetting the essence of teamwork..

[Anonymous]

Alright, I figured it out! Thanks to all your help guys. Good idea with saving different plc files of the same project for purposes of having different design options (and since we can import the layouts from the plc's, it makes presenting several ideas even easier with out having to clog up the plp with duplicates of the same model or having to manage different design ideas through layers. This is great, just when I thought it couldn't get any better.

I don't see any reasons why we should keep the pln file type in future archicad versions. Perhaps ArchiCAD can literally use teamwork as "THE" standard, regardless of how many people will work on the project.

I have to admit, at first I was intimidated by the whole teamwork thing....but now...after using it for 4 projects so far...and after learning the use of plc's today...it's absolutely awesome.

[Aussie John]

junior wrote:
Just to clarify (for me), you mean I should leave the .plp file opened at work even after saving a .pca or .plc version in order for the 'send and recieve' function to work properly the next day after changing things at home?

Or did I confuse myself here?

I pictured I can safely sign out from the .plp after saving a .pca and/or .plc and the next day...sign-in again to the plp..............wait a minute....i answered my own question just now....I keep forgetting the essence of teamwork..

No need to leave the plp open just close it off. Users can still be signed in.

[Link]

Perhaps ArchiCAD can literally use teamwork as "THE" standard, regardless of how many people will work on the project.

Perhaps you'd be interested in reading this then: Using Teamwork as a standard practice.

Cheers,
Link.