Joe_Carrick

nstart = 43 nlast = referenced_full_filename.length-1 result = referenced_full_filename[nstart,nlast] result = result.gsub(".plan","") result = result.gsub("/Hardin","") explanation: line 3 sets the result to the characters starting at the 43rd character and ending at the last character line 4 strips all instances of ".plan" from the result line 5 strips all instances of "/Hardin" from the result

I have a macro that will show (in the Ruby Console) all the attributes for any selected object. Here's the list for a typical Layout Box: automatic_label ------------ "Graph Schedule Section/Elevation" ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ String box_scale ------------------ "1/4 in = 1 ft" ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- String drawing_group -------------- 1 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Integer floor_number --------------- 1 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Integer height --------------------- 5.390048486681028 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Float layer ---------------------- arch-d_layout_box_borders --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Symbol layer_line_color ----------- 255 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Integer layer_line_style ----------- 0 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Integer layer_line_weight ---------- 1 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Integer layer_set ------------------ "Arch-D Print" -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- String layer_text_style ----------- "HIDDEN" -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- String line_style ----------------- solid ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Symbol line_weight ---------------- 1 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Integer object_type ---------------- layout_box ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Symbol referenced_filename -------- "Jason Bales Residence - Phase 1" ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- String referenced_full_filename --- "D:/Dropbox/Chief Architect Projects/X11/Jason Bales Residence - Phase 1/Plan/Jason Bales Residence - Phase 1.plan" --- String referenced_layer_set ------- "All On Set" ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- String width ---------------------- 3.6485143922610597 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Float

Note: %file% displays the name of the Layout File, not the Plan file the Layout Box came from. IAE. It's not possible to manipulate the Chief standard Global and Object macros from within a user macro because the underlying data is basically not directly available.

Try this as a custom macro placed in the Layout Box Label: nlen = referenced_full_filename.length-1 referenced_full_filename[43,nlen].gsub(".plan","")

No, but it's fairly simple to do. There are 2 Ruby Attributes of a Layout Box that can be used: referenced_full_filename - same as %file% referenced _filename - just the name of the file that was sent to layout. It would actually be better to know what set of letters you want to eliminate rather than a specific number of characters. For example: d:\Users\username\DesignWork\CAX11\Builders\ where you provide the actual username.

You should probably contact Tech Support. They will be able to walk you thru it, step by step.

Michael, My Footing is 32" wide x 18" high. This is a Slab Footing with a -12" offset. Chief reports the foundation wall length as 440", footing thickness as 32", quantity of concrete in footing as 267264.0 cu.in. 267264 / 32 / 440 = 18.98 This still isn't correct - possibly because the footing itself is actually 24" longer than the stem wall. That would make the footing thickness calculate to 18.08" - close enough. Using the footing rebar length really doesn't work since it's the total - depending on the number of bars which is also not reported. In my case I have 2 #4 bars and the reported length is 936" btw, I tried setting the rebar overlap to 0 and then my rebar length was reported as 872" - which gives a length of 436". The bottom line is that the data available isn't really sufficient to accurately get the height of the footing.

I thought I would try to use the foundation wall's concrete volume, length and width to calculate the thickness. Unfortunately it didn't work. My 18" thick footing calculated to be only 12" thick - which means that CA miscalculates the volume. Evidently a case of inaccurate data reported in one of the attributes. In this case the volume was only 2/3 of what it should have been.

Only the footing width is available - for which Chief uses the name "thickness" of foundation wall. The actual thickness of the footing isn't available for labeling.

Make the column using the cabinet tool. You just have to define the front of the cabinet and check the back and sides to match front. FWIW, I generally do not use PSolids except to create a Symbol. With X11 you can actually select your PSolids and Moldings and convert them to a Symbol - which if you specify it's a Cabinet will then allow electrical outlets to be attached.

Most of the time I use Wall Elevations but for those cases where there's a cathedral ceiling I use a "Section/Elevation View" and add a "Mask" for the things I don't want to see. The "Mask" is just a solid filled rectangular Polyline with a Hole. Inside the Hole is everything I want to see. The hole can be edited to fit the floor, wall & ceiling surfaces.

Bob, You need to crop the pic so that you don't have any white space? It also helps if you only have a square pic. That way the scaling doesn't need to be different for each direction.

You have 2 different Window Schedules that both include the Labels for that floor. This has always been a problem. Just find the extra schedule and delete it.

If you simply put a Text Box in a Room with the %room.name% macro in it (or whatever other text you want) then you can word wrap simply by changing the width of the text box. The text can also be multi-line and formatted as you like. You will probably want to "suppress" the actual Room Label. Another nice feature of using a Text Box is that you can put it outside the Room and connect with an Arrow. The macro will display the data.

FWIW, if the Note Schedule is placed in a "CAD Detail Window" it works correctly. The problem seems to be that at least some Wall Details are reversed "x" direction (ie: x reads right to left instead of left to right)

Please send this to CA as a bug report. It shouldn't make any difference which direction the Wall Detail is looking.

About 5 months ago I had a client contact me regarding a plan he had been working on for his own home. He actually has Chief Architect but wanted me to turn his design into a buildable set of plans. Within just a few days after contracting for the work I determined that the design would not work and in fact couldn't be built on his site. After some renegotiation of the contract I was able to come up with a much more acceptable solution. The client is very happy and will be an on-going relationship with this site and other's he's working on. Not all Architects and Designers are the same. Quality and Costs will vary - but in some cases you can get a better job along with a lower cost. It just depends on who you hire. Remember that a Real Estate Commission is usually 6% but can be as low as 4%. Your Architect today will in most cases be lower. Architects and Building Designers spend a lot of time getting your project right. Please understand that and don't think they are just doing the "drawings".

Better yet, "Post the Plan"

I do not find that to be true. Where are you seeing those values?

Yes, that's true. It's something I requested back in April and it would sure be nice to have them.

I would - if there were Defaults for Layout Box Labels - specify the label to use the %box_scale% macro as that Label and offset it in the "y" direction so it would be inside the Layout Box. That would provide a scale that would be correct regardless of what scale the view was sent to Layout.

I made this suggestion a while back https://chieftalk.chiefarchitect.com/topic/22289-defaults-for-layout-box-l CA has not responded.

I have been thinking about this and testing a little more. It seems it might be a case of: 1st F5 -> Refreshes current Floor 2nd F5 -> Refreshes 1st Reference Floor 3rd F5 -> Refreshes 2nd Reference Floor etc. I'm not sure that's the case but it seems like it.

It seems that using the F5 Key doesn't work unless you hit it twice in succession. I see this behavior when trying to refresh the display to force user macros to get updated. Can anyone verify this ?

This post should be in the CHATROOM FORUM