Chief and Text needs to improve


Clare_White
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I have a request that Chief has text input that you can control. Like when you start to renumber a new text line it can be in succession from the last numbering. I have a huge list of text with numbering from Word doc, I can bring it into Chief but when I do a new line it won't do the number in succession. 

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2 things...

  1. If you bring your auto numbered list and either paste directly into the plan or paste into a RICH TEXT box, it should remain an auto numbered list.
  2. In case you don't realize this, you can create auto numbered lists directly from within Chief using Rich Text.  Just click on Paragraph Option>Bullets and change the Type to Numbers.
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Yes, I realize both of those things which are great points.

 

It just doesn't make it for me, the numbering wont't continue consecutive on a double paragraph text. But I must say the Rich text it is better then it was.

 

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I have to say, Text in Chief is awful.  Text in CAD/BIM apps aren't the best overall anyways, but Chief's is especially bad and near completely broken in key areas.  I can mitigate my issues to some degree using Michaels schedule suggestions. 

 

Its fine Chief wants to put us in a Dbx to type and format text (other apps do that as well) but not having a WYSIWYG environment in this day and age is pure insanity.

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21 minutes ago, johnny said:

I have to say, Text in Chief is awful.  Text in CAD/BIM apps aren't the best overall anyways, but Chief's is especially bad and near completely broken in key areas.  I can mitigate my issues to some degree using Michaels schedule suggestions. 

 

Its fine Chief wants to put us in a Dbx to type and format text (other apps do that as well) but not having a WYSIWYG environment in this day and age is pure insanity.

 

Absolutely!

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Just now, Gawdzira said:

We can't complain about this enough. Someone wake up Lew.

 

You know what?  Lew has done so much complaining about the lack of certain features,  they go ahead and put the feature in just to shut him up.  i.e. SUN FOLLOWS CAMERA.  

 

Thanks Lew.  

 

There was another feature they put in to shut Lew up,  I just can't remember what it was,  but it was another great feature.

 

Hey Lew,  please start complaining about the text.

 

I  think the one feature they won't put in for Lew is the LOCK FLOOR FEATURE  (thank goodness).

 

Now,  what was that other feature that I thank Lew for?

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32 minutes ago, johnny said:

 

Its fine Chief wants to put us in a Dbx to type and format text (other apps do that as well) but not having a WYSIWYG environment in this day and age is pure insanity.

 

I totally agree.  I still don't understand the OPs problem though.  I thought I did but apparently not.  Does anyone else understand the problem?

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9 minutes ago, Alaskan_Son said:

 

I totally agree.  I still don't understand the OPs problem though.  I thought I did but apparently not.  Does anyone else understand the problem?

Perhaps?  what the OP is looking for is the ability to enter a second carriage return (or backspace and then carriage return) to create a new paragraph while continuing the  original numbering. This can be done in most word processors and DTP progs with an extra click to "continue numbering".

If I had to do that for some reason I'd either use a WP and copy past OR in chief RT box change the line spacing at that line to create the paragraph spacing.

Just guessing though.

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33 minutes ago, MarkMc said:

Perhaps?  what the OP is looking for is the ability to enter a second carriage return (or backspace and then carriage return) to create a new paragraph while continuing the  original numbering. This can be done in most word processors and DTP progs with an extra click to "continue numbering".

If I had to do that for some reason I'd either use a WP and copy past OR in chief RT box change the line spacing at that line to create the paragraph spacing.

Just guessing though.

 

I'm thinking you might be right based on the OP's second post.  The first post made no mention of paragraphs or line returns though. It also sounds like your suggestion is a good one to remedy the problem.  Depending on the situation I might also consider using a simple text macro to add the newline instead of actually placing a carriage return in the text box.  

 

At any rate this request should be made a little more clearly and either posted in the suggestion forum or sent in to tech support.  If the problem and suggested solution aren't abundantly clear and communicated to the appropriate party I can guarantee the requested capabilities will never be implemented.

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4 hours ago, johnny said:

Its fine Chief wants to put us in a Dbx to type and format text (other apps do that as well) but not having a WYSIWYG environment in this day and age is pure insanity.

 

Doesn't Edit Rich Text In Place get close to this?

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Just now, glennw said:

 

Doesn't Edit Rich Text In Place get close to this?

 

Im afraid it doesn't - i wish it was otherwise, but unless you use a font that is mono-spaced (and there aren't many good ones) the spacing in Chief is all screwed up between the Dbx and what is actual.

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59 minutes ago, glennw said:

How do I know if I am using a mono-spaced font or not?

 

Mono-spaced or fixed width fonts are designed so that each and every character (numbers, letters, symbols, etc) takes up the exact same space. It's easy to test whether you're using a mono-spaced font or not by typing a series of 5 or 10 narrow characters (a period, lower case L, or an I for example), hitting enter/return, and then typing the same number of a wider characters.  If it's a mono-spaced or fixed-width font than both lines of text should line up perfectly.  It's this even spacing that alleviates the issues Johnny is mentioning.  Courier is one of the most widely used mono-spaced fonts.  

 

I personally don't like the way most of those fonts look.  They always make me think of the 80's...and typically not in a good, nostalgic way...more like in a "This is 2017, why does this text look like I something I produced with my Commodore?" way.

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3 minutes ago, glennw said:

From my simple tests it appears that Edit Rich Text In Place results in WYSIWYG.

I tested using both mono-spaced and a proportional fonts in the same text box.

 

 Try running your tests again, but this time zoom in and out while you have that text box activated.  

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4 hours ago, glennw said:

Michael,

Zooming in and out doesn't change anything.

 

I'll try to make a quick video when I have a chance.  In the meantime, just a quick follow up...

 

I had just a few spare minutes to test  some things when I finally got back to the office this evening and here were some of my findings (all assuming Mark's explanation of the problem is correct):

 

1.  Changing the line spacing for the one line doesn't actually seem to be a very good solution because it leaves us with no good way of controlling where that break occurs. 

 

2.  My assumption that a text macro might be a good alternative was a bad one too.  Once the text box is closed, the new line macro just triggers a new numbered line.  

 

3.  What DOES work is this...Instead of trying to create the extra carriage return before moving on to the next item on the list, cause the next item to auto number FIRST and then go back, hit enter/return and under paragraph options switch from Numbered to None and set the left margin so that it lines up with the line above.  Due to the fact you already continued the numbered list, the auto numbering below will simply continue on as usual.  Actually, now that I think about it, there are circumstances where I use this same trick in Word too.  

 

4.  I tried copying and pasting the dual paragraph scenario from Word and I can immediately see the problem.  The numbered list retains its automated behavior only up until the added paragraph at which time the numbering just becomes dumb text. 

 

I didn't have a lot of time to explore much further than that.  

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57 minutes ago, MarkMc said:

Not sure what doesn't work?

screen 011.png

 

This is a great example of why the problem needs to be clearly communicated.  I thought I understood the problem after the first post.  Apparently I was wrong.  The OP added an additional detail with mention of a "double paragraph" which I didn't understand.  Then you helped me understand.  Now it makes perfect sense to me...right?  WRONG!!  What I thought you were explaining apparently wasn't what I thought YOU meant either.  This is the light I thought you had shed:

 

This is how the text box appears in Word...

59607072338c6_Text1.thumb.png.53feeef685770017404029c53b1d5161.png

 

This is what happens when that list is pasted into Chief...

5960709662ce8_Text2.thumb.png.bceb2606b790bf7cd0ee076bb9753b47.png

NOTE:  The auto numbering does not seem to behave consistently when pasted into Chief from Word.  In this particular instance the numbering remained auto once pasted into Chief but as you can see the numbering is no longer continuous.  As I previously mentioned in my post above; in another test the top numbering remained sequential but the numbers below the added paragraph were no longer automated.  If that weren't enough, in a 3rd test, I lost automation with ALL numbering.  

 

...And this is done in Chief using the solution mentioned in Item #3 of my post above...

5960725daf39e_Text3.thumb.png.7859f1343bd1b2cd37f4a499c097a2ce.png

 

 

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