KristjanM

Yes, that was it. Print in color was turned off. I never fiddle with that setting so don't know why it was off. Anyway, my gray fill is back. Thanks for the clue.

In my title sheet and view labels, I have a light gray box behind the text. Today, when I export my layout sheets to PDF, the boxes of grey fill only display the outline and don't display any fill. I have used layout to pdf successfully last week in X16. First thought - updated some drivers a few days ago, maybe that's the issue. Doesn't appear to be. Restart the computer. Doesn't help. Try a file in X15. Works perfectly. Install X16 on my laptop which has a different set of drivers. Same missing grey fill. Tried to print with my pdf driver (not the chief one), doesn't work. Stumped at the moment.

Joe, I will try your directions out. Your template will be my homework. Thanks.

Okay, interesting. If I put refenced into the number format macro, it now works in the text box. However, now it doesn't work in the label. Seems like two macros are required for the different uses. Thanks for the help.

I have a rectangle with a label - macro values for perimeter and area plus two macros for perimeter and area using number formatter. All values display correctly. In a text box, I place exactly the same text as in the label. The two built in macros for perimeter and area display but the number format macros don't work. Can this actually work? Different syntax in the text box?

Thanks for your comments. Kind of what I thought but you never know.

Two part question - 1) For an object (a closed polyline for example), the object properties gives several items which are classified as measurements. These items can produce a totals row in a schedule. In my case, my area displayed would be in sq. ft. I also need sq metres which I can get by doing some kind of conversion in a custom field or using a object information field. All is good as I have the two numbers displayed in the schedule. However, the sq m field doesn't total even if I convert it to a float. It seems that only measurement fields will total and there is no way to define a custom field as a number. Correct or not? Is there a way to get a total from custom field? 2) I have total displayed in a schedule. Is there any way to grab this number for use as a variable?

Joe, I know you are a busy guy but did you ever finish up the macro list? I've done some forum searching but can't find anything. I am definitely interested.

Keep in mind that the design has to be signed off from a designer registered in Ontario.

Chopsaw - Yes, that works now. I had played around with leading / trailing zeros but was missing the Decimal_places = 0. Thanks for your help. Eric - A nice neat solution. I had a bit of an issue making this work until I changed the macro Context: to Owner Object. All is good now. Thanks. Not sure why Chief doesn't supply this format natively. I can do this in Autocad, Archicad, Revit, Vectorworks and Softplan out of the box. Chief is really good in so many other ways that I can put up with the few workarounds that present themselves.

Chopsaw - Upon further thought, I realized that manipulating a string value, considering the possibilities, was not really a trivial problem. A number formatting approach might be better. So... your post has provided that. Thanks for that. This method works except in the case where the measurement involves 0 inches as in a door 3-0X6-8. The zero does not display. It shows as 3X6-8. Not good. I can't find anything in the number formatter methods to force the display of a zero value. Still a puzzle. para-CAD - Good suggestion. That method is clear in intent but I've never been a fan of the very small superscript.

Okay, not entirely elegant. If the door width includes inches of 10 or 11, the insert references the wrong placement for the - insert . EG, 2'10" x 6'8". So for this approach, you would need a macro which would test the second and third member of the automatic_label string and see if they were 10 or 11. Then you could apply appropriate insert numbers to get the proper result. A little more figuring to do.

Chopsaw - Figured it out. Plenty elegant for me.

Chopsaw - Yes, that works. I must say that I find nothing recognizable in your macro. Time for more exploration. Thanks. Eric - A valid question but I would say that typically, door or window sizes are listed as nominal. Any fractions involved would be displayed in the object schedule.

When I was using Revit, an available format for a door or window size displayed as 2-8X6-8. I have always found this quite clear. In Chief I can have 28x68 or 2'-8"x6'-8". The first example is clear to the builders I work with but to others, sometimes they think it means 28"x68". Not good. The second example is sometimes too long for my liking. I've spent some significant time trying a number of ruby instructions to get a display like my Revit example but am not successful. Part of the problem is the lack of any comprehensive help about Chief's ruby implementation. Can someone show me the magic macro to duplicate my Revit output?