Solution for scheduling with modules and unique IDs

[Ignacio Azpiazu]

As of today, door and windows IDs in projects with repetitive modules (labs, hotels, hospitals, office buildings, schools) cannot have unique IDs for each instance of the door/window, which is the typical practice in many offices.

The Zone Number detection from within the door in the module provides a way of differentiating doors in modules that repeat on different zones [ http://archicad-talk.graphisoft.com/viewtopic.php?t=8237 ], but it still doesn't solve a fairly typical situation which is a facade section that repeats independently of the room layout, so that a given room may have more than one of the same panels.

I don't think there is a workaround to this without an API, since modules don't have any sort of 'ID' that can be detected by the door, and since doors don't have a way of telling if they are the first second or third instance in a zone.

At the critical more labor-intensive and potentially more labor saving point in the process (door naming, scheduling, and last minute changes) repeated instances of a hotlinked module just will not work unless one finds a way of persuading the world around that they don't really need unique IDs for each door, which is what they happen to have been doing since times immemorial.

Maybe the solution would be some sort of Module Instance ID, readable in Hotlink Manager (it could also be used for unlinking or redirecting one instance of the module without messing up the others), usable in Find&Select, and readable by objects just as they can read the Zone they are in. So that one could come up with the specific object instance ID by doing Zone Number + Module Instance + Object User ID.

[The problem happens with any schedule that requires a unique identification for each instance of the object; doors and windows is a particularly dramatic case because it is the most elementary of schedules, and one which the standard practice in lots of places is giving a unique tag to each instance.]

[Anonymous]

I have just run into this issue since this is our first time using hotlinks in an ArchiCAD project (college housing with multiple units). Our firm heavily relies on door and window schedules and it's essential for us to have unique door IDs for each one despite the repetition. Seeing that this issue has been approached 3-4 years ago, I was wondering if it has been resolved? Using AC12 here and would rather not add another library such as Door Builder. Thanks!