Calculation formulas in schedules

[Rob]

I just wonder if we could extend functionality of schedules to make calculations much easier and more usable...

[vfrontiers]

Rob wrote:
I just wonder if we could extend functionality of schedules to make calculations much easier and more usable...

And while we're at it, we should just have cells that we can type freely, without having to add parameters to EACH object / element. The should be recognizable as NUMBERS or TEXT for inclusion into those CALCUATIONS...

[Rob]

And while we're at it, we should just have cells that we can type freely, without having to add parameters to EACH object / element. The should be recognizable as NUMBERS or TEXT for inclusion into those CALCUATIONS...

a very good idea, I would call those 'tags'. So we could tag each object with any number of element-specific tags that could be used in schedules etc...

[Ignacio]

Rob wrote:

And while we're at it, we should just have cells that we can type freely, without having to add parameters to EACH object / element. The should be recognizable as NUMBERS or TEXT for inclusion into those CALCUATIONS...

a very good idea, I would call those 'tags'. So we could tag each object with any number of element-specific tags that could be used in schedules etc...

Actually Rob is talking more of basic spreadsheet functionality --text or numeric values (or formulas, which was the point of the thread) tied to the cell and not to the object or database value of any kind. You could do all of this in the Minicad pre-VectorWorks spreadsheets, which handled database formulas too, in 1995.

[vfrontiers]

Ignacio wrote:
Actually Rob is talking more of basic spreadsheet functionality --text or numeric values (or formulas, which was the point of the thread) tied to the cell and not to the object or database value of any kind. You could do all of this in the Minicad pre-VectorWorks spreadsheets, which handled database formulas too, in 1995.

Yes! Exactly...

[Erich]

Ugh,

I spent the day fighting with the schedules to get them to work right. Now I wish I could vote essential....AGAIN

[Anonymous]

Erich wrote:
Ugh,

I spent the day fighting with the schedules to get them to work right. Now I wish I could vote essential....AGAIN

Voted for you as I don't have a need for it myself.

[Erich]

Thanks S2art!

[gdford]

It would be very handy to have the ability to place calculation in schedules or to export the schedule to another internal to archicad spread-sheet type process that would let me work in a more spread sheet type environment. It is a shame that to get calculations on scheduled information done in a reasonable manner I have to export the schedule and then attach an external doc back to my project.

[Anonymous]

Absolutely!

There are numerous situation where an enhanced scheduling tool in ArchiCAD could eliminate the need to use a third party application such as Excel or Numbers. Once a third party application is used, the benefits of BIM are lost.

I could imagine a series of simple columns that can be added to a schedule scheme; such as one column for basic mathematical operations; +, -, * & /; one for = and then a third for the calculated total. (You know, just like Excel and Numbers!)

Also, the ability to add prefixes and suffixes to the Value cells. It could be FT, M, SF, etc.

While there is certainly a lot more features than can be added, it seems that Graphisoft needs to be encouraged in small, manageable segments.

Regards,

Joe A.
ArchiCAD User since 8.0