Joe_Carrick

Text Macro Management

Here's a macro I just wrote for Christmas. Just import it using TMM and insert in a Text Box. ABCDEFG.json

From "Mork (Mork from ORK) and Mindy" TV Series: Nano-Nano SGD = Sliding Glass Door So, this must be a very big "Sliding Glass Door" imported from the Planet ORK.

Scott is dvxlexic IAE, I think dbx is short for Dialog BoX. But the real name should be just Dialog

Formatting can be done in a RTB - but you would essentially need to have a separate macro for each different set of formatting. Text wrapping is automatic - controlled by the Text Box or RTB. I would suggest just experimenting.

Just to clarify - a Text Macro can be very simple, not requiring any programming capability at all. Take the following example: Macro named Note-1 (not evaluated so just the text will be displayed as is) This is a sample note to be used in any Plan View or on any Layout Page. The macro containing this note can be modified and it will be updated wherever it's used. It can be placed in a Label or Text Box or Rich Text Box in either a Plan, Layout or even a Text Box in a CAD Detail. When you put %Note-1% in any of those locations the text will be displayed. If you edit the text in the macro it will be updated wherever it has been used. This is a really nice way to maintain notes that you might want to use repeatedly.

In the long run, where you put the notes depends on if they are specific to a Plan, Elevation, Section or Detail - in which case they really should be in the Plan. If they are General Notes then they most likely belong in the Layout.

My preference is to have the notes in text macros. If I change the macro the text will change anyplace that macro is used. I then insert those macros in Rich Text Boxes. Some RTB's in CAD Detail Windows in my Plan which I can send to Layout and place wherever I need them. Other RTB's I put directly on specific pages of my Layout Template. In either case, I have full control of the formatting. I don't have to mess with blocking and it keeps my library much cleaner. The macros have to be in a Plan or in the Template, depending on how they are going to be used. I use a Plan with CAD Detail Windows for those I don't want to keep in the Template. That Plan is at a static location so there's no need to relink that when I copy the Layout file. This makes the macros dynamic to all Layouts that have any of the CAD Detail Windows sent to Layout.

Chief's "Auto Dimensions" should not be used repetitively without deleting the prior set. In addition, extraneous dimensions can be edited by dragging the extension lines off of position. The Help File is very good - take the time to read the appropriate sections. IAE, If you post the Plan we can see what you are doing and provide direction. btw, I used AutoCad before I got Chief. I never used it again for anything. If you learn to use Chief's tools as they are meant to be used you shouldn't need anything else.

You can do that but in the case you describe you would need to import the drawing on each Floor Level. Even CAD only exists on a single Floor Level. Then after creating the 1st Floor in Chief, you would need to move the Plan on the 2nd Floor to correspond to the 1st Floor Plan (Reference Layer Set) and create the 2nd Floor in Chief, etc. Then do the same for the 3rd Floor.

Scott, Go back and read the OP carefully. It is not a question about MRLS. It's about creating a model from a 2D Plan (basically thinking of Floors as Layers). That's not how Chief works.

IMO you are looking at this completely wrong. Chief is a 3D modeling system and you shouldn't be looking at this as drawings. It would be much better to just create each Floor in Chief using the Walls, Doors, Windows, etc Tools. The final "drawings" are views of the model sent to "Layout". Importing such a drawing into Chief will not result in a 3D model.

Mark, Try locking the Wall Layers in your Layer Set. I find that the Walls can still apparently be located but the dimensions only attach to the cabinets. They seem to still find the Wall Dimension Layer but not the Interior Wall Faces. I agree that this is a bug and should be reported.

I don't know of any way to do this. It would be possible in a user text macro but Chief doesn't provide for the use of any superscript characters beyond 0-3.

Joey, Text justification can only be done with a custom macro or Rich Text. This subject came up last year at the UGM when multi-line Labels were introduced for X8. One of the CA Staff commented: "Now I suppose you're going to want Rich Text Labels too." which received a resounding YES!

In the Label enter the following: %manufacturer% %automatic_label% (%header_count%) %header_thickness%"x%header_depth%" %header_type% HDR If you enter it in the Default Door Label and the Default Window Label it will automatically be there for all new doors and Windows.

No, that's not what I was suggesting. It's much easier than that. Also, I don't agree with Michael that it would require custom user macros.

BT isn't correct. Sub Components can be assigned macros that do this kind of formatting. Actually, the following fields in the Component's dbx can also have macros inserted in them: component_code comments description manufacturer Ther might be a few more.

Correct

Don't do that But note that it will still be in Trash and you can restore it.

Johnny, I put the Dropbox Folder on my D: drives where I have a lot more space.

Thanks Richard. I'm going to do this immediately. It will make my life a lot easier.

I have all my Chief Projects in a Dropbox Folder. This works well for me as I have 3 different computers that I use and I'm always working on the latest version of a Plan and/or Layout. I'm considering placing the Chief Data Folder (Library, Templates, Scripts, Toolbars, Hotkeys, etc) in Dropbox as well. Has anyone else done this? Other than having to change the location in Preferences would there be any problem?

Rob, You can import the X7 User Library to X8 Library>Import Library As far as keeping everything up to date --- you could use Dropbox but you would probably need to set the Data Folder location in Preferences on each computer. There are other apps that can synchronize files (SugarSync is one that I know of)

Sometimes it helps to open "Help" and do a search.