BruceLove

Actually scratch that. The load command work flawless. No need to load into an array. Think we have started making real progress. Thanks Eric

Is it possible to post just the code that referred to the eval part. I believe this is the solution I am looking for just the resolution of that file is not good enough to see the code. Again appreciate your guidance.

Sorry to be a hassle, but is it possible to write a .txt file with a bunch of defined variables and have them set when the macro is run. What I have so far. So it reads the file and evaluates it with the information but it doesnt define the global variables from there. I guess there is a step after reading the file that runs it as a macro? Or a ruby code to run it rather than read it?

Yeah I see that now. There are some great tips and we are already moving forward with a solution. I do appreciate the replies from all.

The problem as I see it is the reverse of this. We have a title block on page 0 which is the one along the lower edge of the layout sheet I posted above. This is the same on all sheets and the index table is populated via the pages in the layout file. The schedules are different up the left hand side of the title block which are project specific and the team is editing every field for every job on a case by case basis. The issue that comes from this is since we have large turnover it is the simple mistakes like describing the frame height that can be overlooked because the last 4 were 2410 but this one wasn't meant to be. So I am plotting which elements can be done via macros in the way that Joe has shown in the video so that when we have a plan sent from plan to layout the majority of the project specific information is auto populated. I hope this is all making sense as I have not long been involved with Chief Architect and have a way I would like to see things done based on my other design roles using other packages.

Thank you all for your replies. Eric, your video actually clarified my initial question. Generating a global variable in the plan and being able to display its results in Layout. I guess where the question is lost is simply the way we handle files verses the method described above by Joey. I have thought it would be a much cleaner solution to simply avoid layout all together but since it is there I would like to make use of it. For now I will need to experiment and will show you the results as a means to finishing this question up for others that wish to use it in a similar fashion. Thanks again.

We have CA X9 - CA X12. All versions of the HD suite as well since I am in charge of a organization that uses these packages around the country My current question relates to X12. I have already setup a user defined macro to assign the $fh a value but can't do anything outside that user defined macro to call the information. Is there a means of calling the information via an objects ID?

Purely for handling reasons. The title block and the entire purpose of .layout is to take your 3d model with notes and place it in the title block. It seems onerous to have to complete steps multiple times when you have all the information at your fingertips in the .plan file. Frame height, roof pitch, wall type information which populates the title block for individual layout sheets. As an illustration this is one of the layout sheets, we populate manually the schedule of materials on every job where in the .plan we can setup wall types that can pass us the Ext. Cladding. We can get the frame height from the global variable I listed above. Just seems like a clumsy way of taking a 3d drawing into 2d layouts with zero information being passed between the two

We are attempting to populate a title block in the .layout file with a global defined variable of %room.elevation.ceiling% but with no success. I guess my first question is can this be done in Chief Architect? If so can someone help with this one simple action. We have tried a simple $FH = %room.elevation.ceiling% to assign the "frame height" as we describe it here and then attempted to use this global value in a textbox field in the .layout but struggling to get any information from the plan that has been imported. Thanks