Reload Libraries in BGArchiCAD

[James Murray]

BGAC never reloads libraries while it's running.

I about went around the bend figuring this out. See here if you like, but I'd say skip it and read this summary instead.

BGAC loads libraries only when it starts. Subsequent view updates reopen the project, but do not reload the libraries.

New objects and changes to object files will not be displayed until BGAC is relaunched. You can force-quit it (end task?) or wait for it to time out. It is not necessary to relaunch PM.

It doesn't matter if you use cache library or not.

I discovered this under deadline (when else), as I had the project and layout book open, with the project also open in BGAC. I was getting very erratic results in placing and editing patches. It was hard to isolate the behavior among all the project saves, patch saves, BGAC launches, etc.

Moral: If you've edited objects while BGAC is running, always relaunch it before running your final update.

As for the wish, BGAC should reload with every update, or at least offer the option. It's a real gotcha the way it is. A manual reload libraries command would be nice also.

[__archiben]

one of many issues with BGarchiCAD . . . and with cache libraries.

the solution, i think, lies with proper synchronisation. if both archiCAD and BGarchiCAD were able to synchronise libraries (and more? the database?) rather than completely re-read and reload, a lot of time could potentially be saved in the handling of file/library changes . . .

i'm not voting on this one, because of the wider issue. if that gets sorted out, "reload libraries in BGarchiCAD" need not have to be a wish . . .

just the seed of a thought. discuss . . .

~/archiben

[Anonymous]

This bears a certain relationship to my earlier wish to combine the PLN and PLA into a single format.

http://www.graphisoft.com/community/archicad-talk/viewtopic.php?t=1132

If the project library were automatically stored in the project file then BGArchiCAD could also read any new or updated library parts. This would of course require having the ability to modify and save new library parts into the PLN/PLA file. This would of course be a fundamental requirement of the specification anyway.

[Anonymous]

Matthew wrote:
This bears a certain relationship to my earlier wish to combine the PLN and PLA into a single format.

http://www.graphisoft.com/community/archicad-talk/viewtopic.php?t=1132

If the project library were automatically stored in the project file then BGArchiCAD could also read any new or updated library parts. This would of course require having the ability to modify and save new library parts into the PLN/PLA file. This would of course be a fundamental requirement of the specification anyway.

If this was implemented it should be optional (and not the default). Automatically storing the project libraries in the project file would cause project file sizes to balloon. An empty project file with just the standard archicad 9 libraries would be a hefty 145 MB (including the other libraries I normally use it would be near 300 MB). I think most people would find this tradeoff unacceptable. Especially people who work remotely or need to e-mail files. I think the intelligent use of external libraries has many advantages. Maybe there's a middle ground where some libraries can be stored in the project file and typical libraries are loaded from external libraries. I think a can see value in something like that.

It would however be nice if BGArchiCAD could reload changed libraries automatically when they changed to avoid inconsistencies.

[Aussie John]

I certainly wouldnt like BGArchiCAD to reload libaries on each update as the process is slow enough as it is. But a manual option wouljd be useful so voted important. As others have said tweaking at the edges is not what is needed.

[__archiben]

Michael wrote:
Automatically storing the project libraries in the project file would cause project file sizes to balloon. An empty project file with just the standard archicad 9 libraries would be a hefty 145 MB (including the other libraries I normally use it would be near 300 MB). I think most people would find this tradeoff unacceptable.

it wouldn't have to be the whole library that gets embedded in the file! just those parts that the file uses . . . like a PLA does now. the advatages being the 'mobility' of the file as well as BGarchiCAD not having to load the libraries in their entirety. whilst working you could load as many libraries as you wish . . .

~/archiben

[Anonymous]

~/archiben wrote:
it wouldn't have to be the whole library that gets embedded in the file! just those parts that the file uses . . . like a PLA does now. the advatages being the 'mobility' of the file as well as BGarchiCAD not having to load the libraries in their entirety. whilst working you could load as many libraries as you wish . . .

~/archiben

Unless it is implemented very well I think many people will run into problems and there still is a big penalty in file size albeit not so dramatic (one file I referenced went from 19MB to 32MB). You would basically have an internal library (used library parts) in the project file as well as the external referenced libraries (complete library of parts) but the internal library would overlap the external library 100%. Would the internal and external libraries load in ArchiCAD or would it read everything from the external libraries while working? If so how do you manage all the duplicate parts or changes to library parts in external or internal library. For example lets say I have 3 instances of "Window X" in the project file and I change "Window X" in the external library; would that change automatically be copied to the internal library's existing "Window X"? But only when I save the project, right? Do I now then have to reload the newly changed internal library to see the changes to the existing 3 instances of "Window X" in the project in ArchiCAD?

If everything is read from external libraries in ArchiCAD and internal libraries in Plotmaker you can avoid this dilemma but while working you are never really using the library parts that Plotmaker is going to use. You may run into problems if the external libraries load correctly but the internal libraries don't. I don't actually open PLA files that I make a whole lot but I have noticed that sometimes library parts don't work in the archive format of PLA but do as external references (I think one I remember is WindowBuilder addon).

Don't get me wrong I see some of the potential advantages of imbedded library parts but to me 'mobility' isn't one of them at least not for a working 'mobility' since most of the library parts you would need to work would be absent. I think the current method of just saving a PLA works just find for the non working 'mobility'. As for BGarchiCAD not having to load the libraries in their entirety and being aware of changes to the library, why not just imbed a text database list of the used library parts and where they came from with a tag of whether or not the library part has been modified since last save into the project file? When Plotmaker needs to update it queries the database and loads libraries as necessary. You technically would only even have to check the modified tag if the project file is already opened in BGarchiCAD. It would only add a few KB to the project file size and it would accomplish the original task with unseen simplicity. Or how about a reload libraries before update option in Plotmaker for the paranoid?