7
Property Set Definitions and
Schedule Tables
INTRODUCTION
Property Set Definitions are the core of the Architectural Desktop Schedule Table
functionality. Like the Display System, they can be challenging to master and implement. However, also like the Display System, if they are properly configured initially, you and your users will rarely need to interact with Property Sets at all. The
use of Property Sets goes beyond Schedule Tables. By using Property Sets, you
can automate the labeling of ADT objects as well as modify their display characteristics to reflect differences in object properties from one entity to another graphically. We will look at some of these additional benefits of Property Sets at the end
of this chapter. It is assumed that you already know how to use Schedule Tables in
ADT. (See Chapter 15 in Mastering Autodesk Architectural Desktop for a complete
look at Schedules.) Except for a brief overview of the workflow, the focus here
will be entirely on Property Set Definitions, Property Data Formats, Schedule Tags
and ancillary benefits of Property Set data.
OBJECTIVES
The goal of this chapter is to equip you for the task of configuring Property Sets
and Schedule Tables for your firm. Using Property Sets and Schedule data can
assist you to access and report on data that is already contained in your model.
This can help you in meeting certain project-specific demands or, in some cases,
reduce the amount of manual coordination and re-drafting required in a
traditional CAD process. In this chapter, we will explore the following:
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Understanding Schedule tool set workflow
Understanding Property Sets
Understanding Property Data Formats
Working with Schedule Tags
Understanding and working with Classifications and List Definitions
Using Property data to control object display—applying Display Themes
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Customizing your content or modifying existing Schedule content for use in
your office
UNDERSTANDING SCHEDULE TABLE FLOW
A Schedule Table is a report of the data/properties contained within a collection of
objects. Users create objects within their drawings and then add Schedule Tables
to report on them. In Figure 7–1, you can see that this requires a process of object
selection, a link to Property Sets and interaction with the Schedule Table Style.
(Like most objects in ADT, Schedule Tables receive their formatting and graphical properties from a Schedule Table Style.) Omitting the Property Set does not
prevent a Schedule Table from being created. However, nothing more than a row
of question marks will appear in the Schedule if the Property Set linkage is
omitted.
Figure 7–1 Schedule Table flow diagram
The illustration depicted in Figure 7–1 portrays the scheduling process and all its
parts. Whether you are the CAD Manager in charge of hundreds of seats of ADT
users or a sole practitioner interested in maximizing your own performance, your
goal is to understand the use of the Schedule Table tool set. In most projects, you
likely have the same core set of Schedules that you always include in your document sets. One of our primary goals in this chapter is to build all of the underlying
resources required to generate this core set of Schedules reliably every time.
When reading this diagram, begin from the left and work to the right for the major categories. On this basis, you can see that Property Sets and object selection
comprise the first consideration in determining what will be included in the
Schedule Table. Under object selection, there are such considerations as type of
object and whether or not objects are contained in XREFs. The Property Set Definition is also a major category, because it determines which parameters and prop-
Chapter 7
Property Set Definitions and Schedule Tables
erties of a selected object will be exposed to the Schedule. Next comes the
Schedule Table Style. In addition to determining the graphical display properties
of the table itself, the style determines which columns of data will be presented and
how they should be formatted and sorted. The final consideration is the type of
output desired. ADT can create Schedule Tables directly on the drawing or output
the data to an Excel spreadsheet.
If we simplify the above diagram, we can see in Figure 7–2 that there are four major categories of contributing factors: Object Selection, Property Set Definitions,
Schedule Table Style and Output destination.
Figure 7–2 Factors contributing to Schedule Table output
The sum total of all of these factors can make configuration of the Schedule Table
tool set seem a bit daunting. Therefore, we will take a systematic approach to the
process by beginning with the desired final output and working our way backwards
to the pieces required to attain it.
PLANNING
To make Schedule resources for your firm, begin with the Schedules you already
use today (or refer to the US National CAD Standard for standard schedules). If
the ones you use today already exist in AutoCAD, simply open a drawing with
that Schedule and physically measure each of its components. For example, Figure
7–3 shows a sample commercial architectural Door Schedule. If you have only a
printed version of the Schedule you wish to create, you can measure it manually directly on the printout.
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Figure 7–3 Sample Door Schedule with components dimensioned
This diagram gives us two important pieces of information for our Schedule. First,
we have a list of all of the columns needed, and second, we know how large each
column should be. We can also determine text heights and formatting from this
exercise as well.
Note: Many of the default Schedule Table Styles provided with ADT are compliant
with the NCS version 3.1, and it is recommended that you consider adopting them.
Whether you choose to use the default content or not, however, it is important to understand the inner workings of Schedules and Property Sets. Therefore, please work
through the example provided here (which is not NCS compliant) or work on an actual
Schedule of your own.
Once you have the basic dimensions of your table and a list of the columns needed,
you will need to create a Property Set Definition that includes a property for each
of these columns. One of the reasons that Property Sets can initially seem so difficult to understand is that they are often approached from the point of view of the
objects to which they are attached. This can often lead to having more Property
Sets than are necessarily required. If instead you approach Property Sets the way
we are doing here, from the point of view of the columns required in the Schedule
Table, they may be easier to grasp. In addition, you will end up with fewer Property Sets, with the purpose of each more readily discernable. In the next heading, we
will explore Property Sets in detail.
PROPERTY SET DEFINITIONS
Initially in this chapter we will be focusing on the use of Property Sets in creating
Schedule Tables; however, they have become key to several other aspects of ADT
in addition to their primary function as the ‘‘data conduit’’ for Schedule Tables.
They also provide the means for intelligently labeling ADT objects as well as allowing for display overrides based on Property data attached to ADT objects. This
functionality will also be covered in this chapter. The most important lesson is that
you should always be looking for opportunities to leverage Property Set data.
Each column of the Schedule must be associated with a single property from one
or more Property Set Definitions. The Schedule pictured in Figure 7–3 contains
fifteen columns; therefore, it needs to reference fifteen separate properties. If pos-
Chapter 7
Property Set Definitions and Schedule Tables
sible, you should try to include all fifteen of these properties in a single Property
Set Definition. A single Property Set Definition is not possible, however, if your
Schedule will reference both style-based and object-based properties; in that case,
you will require two Property Set Definitions. If all of the properties are of one
type or another (all style or all object), you will be able to have a single Property
Set Definition.
◗ Style-based Properties—Properties of this type are attached to ADT object styles (see Figure 7–4). They become a part of the style and thus apply to
all objects belonging to the style. As with any style-based parameter, a change
affects all objects belonging to that style.
Figure 7–4 Assigning a Property Set Definition to be style-based
◗ Object-based Properties—Properties of this type are attached directly to
the individual object (see Figure 7–5). Each object contains its own value, and
changing one does not affect any other object in the drawing.
Figure 7–5 Assigning a Property Set Definition to be object-based
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We now need to evaluate the sketch we made (shown in Figure 7–3 above) and
determine whether each column should be style-based or object-based. The best
way to do this is to mentally equate styles in ADT with ‘‘types’’ in your architectural document sets. This correlation can be made directly in this example, since
Doors are almost always expressed as ‘‘types’’ in document sets. Simply return to
the same set of documents from which you obtained the Schedule, and locate the
‘‘Door Types’’ drawing (see Figure 7–6).
Figure 7–6 Whatever characteristics separate type ‘‘A’’ from type ‘‘B’’ in the
project should also distinguish style ‘‘A’’ from style ‘‘B’’ in ADT drawings
Using this and the sketch of your Schedule, determine which columns will be
style-based and which will be object-based. For instance, it is obvious that the
Door Number will be object-based, since all Doors must have their own unique
Door Number. However, Door Type will be style-based. After all, we did equate
type and style a moment ago. Analyze each column of your Schedule and work up
a list like the one in Table 7–1.
Chapter 7
Table 7–1
Property Set Definitions and Schedule Tables
Object-based and Style-based Properties
Property
(Schedule Column)
Room Number
Object/Style-based
Comments
Object-based
Door Number
Object-based
Door Number Suffix1
Object-based
This will be concatenated with the
Door Number Suffix to create the
Door Number Property.
The Room Number and Door Number Suffix Properties concatenated
together.
This will be concatenated with the
Room Number to create the Door
Number Property.
Door Size
Door Type
Frame Type
Door Material
Style-based
Style-based
Object-based
Style-based
Frame Material
Style-based
Glazing Type
Style-based
Hardware Group
Lintel Number
Fire Rating
Object-based
Object-based
Object-based
Head Detail
Jamb Detail
Sill Detail
Remarks
Object-based
Object-based
Object-based
Object-based
This will use the Material Definition
that is actually assigned to the Panel
component in the Door Style as its
value.
This will use the Material Definition
that is actually assigned to the Frame
component in the Door Style as its
value.
This will use the Material Definition
that is actually assigned to the Glass
component in the Door Style as its
value.
This will query the Wall to which the
Door is anchored and extract its
FireRating property to assign it to the
Door.
1. The Door Number Suffix Property will not actually appear on the Schedule but is necessary for
the formula we will build to generate the Door Number Property.
You may arrive at different conclusions. This is okay, since virtually every property
would work equally well as either a style-based or an object-based property. The
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essential difference lies in how they are applied to the objects and how they are edited. Object-based properties must be attached manually to all of the objects within the drawing before their data will appear in the Schedule. To edit an objectbased property, you must edit each object individually (or in a group selection)
using the Extended Data tab of the AutoCAD Properties palette. Style-based
properties are added and edited within the Style Properties dialog box, on the
General tab (or the Extended Data tab of the AutoCAD Properties palette). Once
added to the style, they will apply to all objects that reference that style. Therefore,
fewer ‘‘undefined’’ cells (the ones with question marks) will appear in a Schedule
that references style-based properties.
The final bit of preparation that we need to do before actually creating our Property Set Definition is to determine what type of property to use for each bit of data
that we wish to include. There are several property types available to us:
◗ Automatic Property—Directly references one of the physical parameters
of the object and therefore automatically reflects the current value of that parameter at all times.
◗ Formula Property—Can perform mathematical or test functions on other
properties to produce a new property. For example, the diameter of a circle
could be produced with a Formula property by multiplying the radius Automatic property by 2. Formula Properties are very useful to concatenate other
properties into a single property. The potential of Formula properties that
can use any VBScript expression is virtually limitless.
◗ Location Property—Can read a property value from a nearby Space object. An example of this could be a Door number which is based in part on its
room number. The room number of the Space can thereby become part of
the Door number property.
◗ Classification Property—When an object has a Classification Definition assigned to it, either the Classification name itself or a property assigned to the
Classification can be a property of the object in question.
◗ Material Property—A Material Definition assigned to an object can be reported through a Material property. Also, as with Classification properties, a
property assigned to the Material Definition can also be passed through as a
property of the object in question.
◗ Project Property—When working in a project environment, many attributes of the current project can be made part of the object’s properties. In the
case of a Space that defines a room, for example, the room number can be
built in part by obtaining the current Level ID.
◗ Anchor Property—If an object is anchored to another, properties of the
host object can be passed to the anchored object. When a Door is placed in
Chapter 7
Property Set Definitions and Schedule Tables
a Wall, for example, an Anchor property can access the Fire Rating property
of the Wall, allowing for the Door’s Fire Rating property to be based on the
Wall’s fire rating. This could either be a direct relationship, or could be operated on further with a Formula property in an ‘‘if/then’’ relationship. An example of this can be seen later in this chapter.
◗ Graphic Property—Objects can have either a Block Definition or an image
attached as a property. This can be useful in creating legends. Graphic properties are not covered in this chapter, but for an example you can refer to
Chapter 15 in Mastering Autodesk Architectural Desktop 2007.
◗ Manual Property—Not linked directly to any object parameter. A Manual
property is simply a piece of data attached to an object for purposes of appearing within the Schedule, a Tag or both. It can be freely edited to include
any type of value.
Figure 7–7 Icons on the Definition tab of the Property Set Definition allow the
creation of several types of properties
There are dozens of Automatic properties available for Property Set Definitions.
Including both AutoCAD entities and ADT objects, the complete list is quite extensive. Lists of ADT objects in table form have been provided in an Excel file in
the Chapter07 folder. Open Automatic Schedule Properties.xls in Microsoft Excel to
view Tables XL7–1 and XL7–2.
Table XL7–1—Objects with Automatic Properties
Table XL7–2—Automatic Style-based and Object-based Properties (All Objects List)
For convenience in this exercise, a portion of Table XL7–2 has been reproduced
here as Table 7–2 and annotated with descriptions. This table will help us determine which of our fifteen columns can come from Automatic properties. Unlike
with style-based versus object-based categories, a single Property Set can contain
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both Automatic and Manual properties. The same list of Automatic properties is
available to both style-based and object-based Property Sets.
Note: In reality, all property types besides Manual Property Definitions can be considered Automatic properties, since they derive their values without any direct user
intervention.
Table 7–2
Automatic Properties for Door Objects
Property
Description
Color
Color Number of Door Object (0 = ByBlock, 256 = ByLayer)
Color - Text
Name of the Color for red through white, ByLayer and
ByBlock
Description
Description in the Door Properties dialog
Description from Style
Description from the Description field in the General tab of
the Door style editor
Documents
Name and path of attached documents (Object level)
Documents from Style
Name and path of documents attached to the style definition
Door Size - 2@ WxH
Double Doors shown as 2 Doors combining width and height
Door Size - 2@ WxHxT
Double Doors shown as 2 Doors combining width, height &
thickness
Door Size - PR WxH
Double Doors shown as a pair of Doors combining width and
height
Door Size - PR WxHxT
Double Doors shown as a pair of Doors combining width,
height & thickness
Door Size - WxH
Combines overall width and height in a single cell
Door Size - WxHxT
Combines overall width, height & thickness in a single cell
Drawing Fingerprint
Guide
A unique identifier code that applies to the drawing in which
the Door is located
Frame Depth
Frame depth from Dimensions tab
Frame Width
Frame width from Dimensions tab
Glass Thickness
The thickness of the ‘‘Glass’’ component (only when a Door
shape is based on a Profile Definition that includes a void)
Handle
AutoCAD object handle
Head Height
Actual location of the Door head relative to zero elevation
Height
The height of the Door itself independent from its location
Hyperlink
URL attached to the object
Inner Height
The height of the actual Door panel if the ‘‘measure to’’ property of a Door is set to measure to the outside of the frame
Chapter 7
Property Set Definitions and Schedule Tables
Property
Description
Inner Width
The width of the actual Door panel if the ‘‘measure to’’ property of a Door is set to measure to the outside of the frame
Layer
Layer of the Door object
Leaf Count
The number of leaves in a Door
Leaf Width
Size of leaf for uneven Door types (as set on the Design Rules
tab)
Linetype
Linetype of the Door object (usually ByLayer)
Notes
Notes in the Door properties dialog
Notes from Style
Notes in the style definition’s General dialog
Object ID
A unique identifier code for the Door. Each object in a drawing will have a unique Object ID
Object Type
The type of object (i.e., Door, Window, etc.)
Rise
Rise from spring of arch to top of Door (for arched Door
shapes in Design Rules)
Rough Height
Height of Door opening in the Wall; includes the Door height
plus frame size
Rough Width
Width of Door opening in the Wall; includes the Door width
plus frame size
Shape
The shape of the Door as defined in the style’s Design Rules
tab. If a Profile is used, the Profile Definition name will be
reported
Sill Height
Location of the bottom edge of the Door in the Wall
Standard Size
Description
The description of any standard sizes defined in a Door style.
Style
Name of the Door object’s style
Swing Direction
Swing direction of Door object expressed as right or left
Swing Direction Reverse
Reverse swing direction of the Door object expressed as right
or left
Thickness
Thickness of the Door leaf
Width
Width of the Door leaf
Width - 2@
Width of the Door leaf for double Doors expressed as 2 x leaf
size
Width - PR
Width of Door leaf for double Doors expressed as PR leaf size
If we compile all of the information gleaned from the sketches and tables, we arrive at the following conclusions:
◗ We will need to build two Property Set Definitions; one style-based containing Door Size, Door Type, Door Material, Glazing Type and Fire Rating, the
other object-based containing the properties for the remaining columns.
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◗ The list of properties and their respective types will look something like Table 7–3.
Table 7–3
Object-Based and Style-Based Properties
Property
(Schedule Column)
Room Number
Door Number Suffix
Door Number
Door Size
Door Type
Frame Type
Door Material
Frame Material
Glazing Type
Hardware Group
Lintel Number
Fire Rating
Head Detail
Jamb Detail
Sill Detail
Remarks
Property Type
Location
Manual
Formula
Automatic
Manual
Manual
Material
Material
Manual
Manual
Manual
Anchor
Manual
Manual
Manual
Manual
Style or Object Property
(from Table 7-1)
Object
Object
Object
Style
Style
Object
Style
Style
Style
Object
Object
Object
Object
Object
Object
Object
PROPERTY SET DEFINITION PREPARATION CHECKLIST
The following summarizes the previous procedure:
1. Procure a sketch of the Schedule you wish to create.
2. Assign dimensions to all major columns and components (this will be used
later).
3. Determine which columns ought to be style-based and which should be
object-based.
4. For each column, decide what type of property each piece of data should be.
5. Determine the Property Data Formats and other special formatting required
(see below).
6. Using this compiled information, build the Property Set Definition(s).
Chapter 7
Property Set Definitions and Schedule Tables
Included in the Chapter07 folder with the files installed from the CD is an Excel
file named Property Set Def Work Sheet.xls. You can use this to help you plan any
new Property Set Definitions you need to create (see Figure 7–8). There are three
sections in the form: the top is general information regarding text formatting, the
next is for style-based properties and the last is for object-based properties. In each
of the Property Set sections are five columns: Property, Property Type, Schedule
Data Format, Column Size and Misc. Following the same process as we have here,
list each property (Schedule column) that you will need in the first column. Next
to it, determine what type of property it is, and if so, input the property source that
it will reference. In the third column, list the way you would like the data formatted in that column of the Schedule using a variety of predefined Property Data
Formats. In the next column, input the width of each column in the Schedule. If
you wish to use variable-width columns, input a zero here. The final column is
used to note any special needs or features for that entry.
Note: There are several predefined Property Data Formats provided in the default
templates for you to use. Property Data Formats allow you to format the results of a
property to display with specific units, or you can assign a suffix or prefix, etc. We will
take a closer look at them later in this chapter.
Figure 7–8 Using the Property Set Definition Worksheet to build new Schedule
Tables and Property Set Definitions
BUILDING PROPERTY SETS
Now that the preparation is finished and we have a completed worksheet, it is time
to build the Property Set Definition. We will work in a sample file.
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Note: Again, the following exercises are intended to familiarize you with the inner
workings of Property Sets and Schedules. Remember that ADT comes with several
out-of-the-box definitions and styles that are NCS 3.1 compliant already. You may want
to use these as is or modify them slightly to suit your specific needs using the techniques covered in this chapter. At the very least, you should explore the existing content before developing your own final Schedule style. We will be taking a close look at
the out-of-the-box Door Schedule and Property Sets later in this chapter.
INSTALL THE CD FILES AND LOAD THE CURRENT PROJECT
If you have already installed all of the files from the CD, simply skip down to step
3 below to make the project active. If you need to install the CD files, start at step
1.
1. If you have not already done so, install the dataset files located on the
Autodesk Architectural Desktop 2007 Advanced Implementation Guide CD-ROM.
Refer to ‘‘Files Included on the CD-ROM’’ in the Preface for information on
installing the sample files included on the CD.
2. Launch Autodesk Architectural Desktop 2007.
3. From the File menu, choose Project Browser. (You can also click the
Project Browser icon on the Navigation toolbar.)
4. Click to open the folder list and choose your C: drive.
5. Double-click on the AIG 2007 folder, then the Chapter07 folder.
A single Project named Chapter07 Schedules & Property Sets will appear.
6. Double-click Chapter07 Schedules & Property Sets to make it current. (You can
also right-click on it and choose Set Project Current.) Then click Close in
the Project Browser.
Important: If a message appears asking you to re-path the project, click Yes. Refer to
the ‘‘Re-Pathing Projects’’ heading in the Preface for more information.
CREATE THE OBJECT-BASED PROPERTY SET
Let’s start by creating one of our two required Property Set Definitions: the objectbased Property Set.
1. On the Project Navigator palette, click the Constructs tab.
2. In the General Resources Element category (folder), double-click to open the
Sample Schedule Element file.
Chapter 7
Property Set Definitions and Schedule Tables
This file contains a simple floor plan which we will use to explore the capabilities
and functionality of Property Sets and Schedule Tables. There are several Doors
already in place which need to be scheduled and tagged. Three different tools are
required to build Schedule Tables: Property Set Definitions, Schedule Table Styles
and Property Data Formats. Property Data Formats are used to present the data
within the Schedule Table in an appropriate format, such as text in all uppercase
and dimensions in feet and inches. To save effort, several Property Data Formats
from the Imperial content files have been included in this file already.
3. Launch Style Manager and navigate to the Documentation Objects node in
the Sample Schedule drawing. Click Property Set Definitions.
There are three Property Sets currently in this file. The RoomFinishObjects and
SpaceObjects are for Space objects and are present in the default template drawings.
We will use the SpaceObjects Property Set Definition to help us automate part of
the Door Number in our Door Schedule. The WallStyles Property Set Definition
is not normally pre-loaded into a template. It was previously imported into this
drawing from the out-of-the-box Schedule Table Styles (Imperial).dwg file. We will
use this to determine the Door FireRating property.
4. Right-click Property Set Definitions and choose New (or click the New Style
icon) to create a new Property Set Definition.
5. On the General tab of the Property Set Definition editor in the right pane of
Style Manager, name the new style: AIG DoorObjects.
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Property Set Definition Naming Conventions
The standard naming convention for Property Set Definitions in the Imperial
file is <ObjectType > <Association> where ObjectType is the name of the
drawing object, such as a Door or Polyline. The Association is either Styles
or Objects, indicating whether the Property Set references Styles and
Definitions (style-based) or Entities (object-based). The naming convention
used in the D A CH file is a bit more generic, referencing object type only
for object-based and using the word ‘‘style’’ as a prefix for the style-based.
When the Imperial file naming convention is used, both the object-based
and style-based Property Sets for an object type will sort together in a long
list. This makes them easier to work with than the D A CH names that do
not sort together. The Imperial file naming convention is logical and easy to
understand. It is recommended that you adopt it. Note that in this exercise,
we are prefixing the name of the Property Set Definition with ‘‘AIG .’’ You
should adopt a practice of prefixing any custom content that you develop
from scratch with your organization’s name or abbreviation to differentiate
it from out-of-the-box content that may very well have similar names.
It is critically important that Spaces not be included in Property Set
Definition names. The same is true for the names of the properties
themselves. This is because Schedule Tags use AutoCAD attributes to
reference the Property Set Data. AutoCAD attributes still do not support
spaces in their Tag names; therefore, if you include spaces in the name of a
Property Set Definition, you will be unable to link that Property Set or its
properties to the text within Schedule Tags. For example, ‘‘DoorObjects’’ is
a valid name for use in Schedule Tags; ‘‘Door Objects’’ is not.
6. Click the Applies To tab and be sure that Objects is chosen at the top (see
Figure 7–9).
Chapter 7
Property Set Definitions and Schedule Tables
Figure 7–9 Setting up a Property Set to apply to Door objects
7. Click the check box next to Door in the list of object types (see Figure 7–9).
We will add the Manual Properties listed in Table 7–3 above first.
8. Click the Definition tab and click the Add Manual Property Definition icon
(see Figure 7–7).
9. Name the new Property DoorNumberSuffix and then click OK.
Note: Refer to the ‘‘Property Set Definition Naming Conventions’’ sidebar for tips on
this naming convention.
Once the property has been added, there are several parameters that must be assigned to it, which are shown in Figure 7–10:
◗ Description—A more detailed description can be provided. This will also
become the default header in the Schedule Table Style if this particular property is to be listed in a Schedule Table.
◗ Type—The type of data can be a real number, an integer, text, etc. This parameter will only apply to Manual Properties.
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◗ Source—In the case of any property that is not a Manual property, the
Source will be the data source that the data is being derived from (the formula, Automatic property, etc. that is being used). Source is not edited by the
user.
◗ Default—The default value only applies to Manual Properties.
◗ Units—Allows you to set the units that should be used for a property. This
is useful for Formula Properties where you want to calculate the value in
units other than the default of the drawing. For example, use this to calculate
formulas in inches when feet and inches is the default of the drawing.
◗ Format—This is where you assign the default Property Data Format, which
will control how the data is displayed in a Schedule Table or Tag. For example, ‘‘Case Upper’’ will make sure that a text value is always in upper case.
The various ‘‘Length’’ Data Format styles will control units format and precision for real number values.
◗ Example—This is not editable, but it will show the result of the default value provided for a Manual property with the assigned format applied.
◗ Visible—There are some Properties that you will not want to display in the
Property Manager screen, because they are not directly editable by the user
and having them display in the Property Manager would confuse or ‘‘clutter’’
the display. You can uncheck this parameter to make a particular property invisible to users in day-to-day editing.
◗ Order—If a property is to be visible in the Property Manager, this will control its order in the display. You should order properties so that those that
are most often edited are near the top. Those that are edited more infrequently are near the bottom.
Tip: You should always assign a default value to all of your Manual properties. However, since you don’t want to assign a default value that might be mistaken as an actual
value, it is common to input a double dash (–) as the default. Having a default value
makes it easy to see when Property Sets have been added to objects, and it makes it
possible to use the Edit Table Cell command.
10. Using Figure 7–10 as a guide, assign the following parameters to the
DoorNumberSuffix Property:
◗ Default: A
◗ Format: Case-Upper
◗ Visible: Yes (checked)
◗ Order: 1
Chapter 7
Property Set Definitions and Schedule Tables
Figure 7–10 The parameters for the DoorNumberSuffix property
11. Using Figure 7–11 as a guide, complete the rest of the Manual properties.
Figure 7–11 The remaining Manual properties for the AIG DoorObjects Property
Set Definition
Notice that the descriptions for any properties that would be used directly in a
Schedule Table column are capitalized. You should try to think ahead and preformat these whenever possible to save you the trouble of having to override them
later on when you create the Schedule Table Style. The DoorNumberSuffix does
not need to be treated this way, as it will not directly be added to a Schedule Table
column, but will become part of the DoorNumber Property that we have yet to
define.
Tip: For Property Set Definitions such as DoorNumberSuffix above that aren’t used directly in a Schedule, but are used to create another Property Set Definition, you may
want to consider a description more indicative of their purpose. In the example in Figure 7-11 above, you could instead enter a description of ‘‘Used in Door Number.’’
Now it is time to add the remaining properties. We will start by building the completed DoorNumber property, which requires that we establish the RoomNumber
property first, then concatenate it with the DoorNumberSuffix property that we
have already defined.
12. Click the Add Location Property Definition icon (see Figure 7–7).
13. Name the new property RoomNumber and place a check mark in the
Space box, the SpaceObjects box and the Number box (see Figure 7–12).
This property, when attached to a Door, will add an additional ‘‘location’’ grip to
the Door. Placing the location grip inside a Space will allow this property to use
the Number property of the Space as part of the DoorNumber Property (of course,
the SpaceObject Property Set Definition will have to be attached to the Space in
order for it to work).
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Figure 7–12 Using a Location Property Definition to extract a Space’s Number
Property and assign it to a Door’s Room Number Property
14. Click OK to return to the Definition tab.
15. Set the Format to ‘‘Standard’’ and make sure the Visibility check box is
cleared, since this property will not be edited directly by the user.
16. Click the Add Formula Property Definition icon (see Figure 7–7).
17. Name the Property DoorNumber and clear the check mark for ‘‘Use
formula for description’’ (see Figure 7–13).
This property will be used directly in a column in the Door Schedule, so you will
want to provide a more appropriate description parameter.
18. In the Insert Property Definitions window, double-click RoomNumber to
add it to the Formula window, and then double-click DoorNumberSuffix
(see Figure 7–13).
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Figure 7–13 Using a Formula property to concatenate two properties into one
The box in the upper-right quadrant of the Formula Property dialog box will show
an example result of your formula. You can enter sample values to see how the formula will react. Currently the sample value shown includes ‘‘Space not found’’
since we haven’t actually attached this to a Door yet.
19. Enter an example number under the Value column for [RoomNumber] in the
Enter Sample Values box.
The sample value should now show your number, followed by the default ‘‘A’’ value for the DoorNumberSuffix property.
20. Click OK to return to the Definitions tab.
21. Edit the description to make it read MARK, then assign the Standard format.
Clear the Visible check box.
Next we will create the Anchor property for the Fire Rating.
22. Click the Add Anchor Property Definition icon (see Figure 7–7).
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23. Name the Property FireRating.
24. Clear the check box for ‘‘Use property name for description’’ and put a
check mark next to WallStyles > FireRating (see Figure 7–14).
Figure 7–14 Creating an Anchor property
25. Click OK to return to the Definition tab.
26. Change the Description to: FIRE RATING. Set the Format to CaseUpper and clear the Visible check box.
27. Double-check your work and then click OK when satisfied (see Figure 7–15).
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Figure 7–15 Your completed AIG DoorObjects Property Set will look something
like this (you can sort on the Name column by clicking on the column header)
28. Save the file.
BUILD THE STYLE-BASED PROPERTY SET
In this sequence, we will build the style-based Property Set.
1. Continuing in the Sample Schedule Element, Launch Style Manager and expand
the Property Set Definitions node under Documentation Objects.
2. Click the New Style icon in the Style Manager or right-click on Property Set
Definitions and choose New from the menu.
3. Name the new Property Set Definition: AIG DoorStyles.
4. On the Applies To tab, choose Styles and place a check mark next to Door
Style (see Figure 7–16).
Figure 7–16 Assigning the Property Set Definition to Door Style
We will create the Manual properties first.
5. Create two Manual Properties named: DoorType and GlazingType using
Figure 7–17 as a guide for their settings.
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Figure 7–17 The Manual Property Definitions in the AIG DoorStyles Property Set
Definition
Next we will create the DoorSize Automatic property.
6. Click the Add Automatic Property Definition icon (see Figure 7–7 above).
7. In the Automatic Property Source dialog, place a check mark next to Door
Size - PR WxHxT and click OK (see Figure 7–18).
Figure 7–18 Adding an Automatic Property Definition using the list of available
automatic properties
When an Automatic property is created, the Source and Type fields are automatically filled in. The Default value remains blank since it is irrelevant for an Automatic property.
8. Set the Format to Length-Short and toggle Visible off. Change the
Description to: DOOR SIZE.
Note: In an Imperial drawing, the ‘‘Length-Short’’ Property Data Format will format
the result of a distance-type property to read in Architectural units to an accuracy level
of 1/16″. You may want to take a moment to explore the other Data Format styles to
see the effect that they will have on your property values.
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Next we can create the DoorMaterial and FrameMaterial properties.
9. Click the Add Material Property Definition icon (see Figure 7–7 above).
10. In the Material Property Definition dialog, clear the check box for ‘‘Use
material name for description’’ and name the property: DoorMaterial (see
the top portion of Figure 7–19).
11. Under Door Style place a check mark next to Panel and then click OK (see
the bottom portion of Figure 7–19).
Figure 7–19 Creating a Material Property Definition that reads the Material from
the Door’s Panel component
12. Change the Description to: DOOR MATL, set the Format to Case Upper and clear the Visible toggle.
13. Repeat the steps to create the Door Frame Property.
◗ Name the property: FrameMaterial.
◗ Under Door Style, select the Frame component.
◗ Change the Description to: FRAME MATL.
◗ Set the Format to Case - Upper.
◗ Clear the Visible toggle.
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With your Automatic and Material properties defined, your AIG DoorStyles Property Set Definition should look similar to Figure 7–20.
Figure 7–20 The completed AIG DoorStyles Property Set Definition with the Material and Automatic Properties
14. Double-check your work and then click OK when satisfied.
15. Save the file.
In the exercises above we created an object-based and a style-based Property Set
Definition for Doors. You should review the properties that we assigned to objects
against those that we assigned to styles and consider carefully if those assignments
fit well into your own workflow. Remember that any style-based property value
will apply to all objects on that style. You should also consider carefully whether
certain properties are manual or from some other source. For example, you may
wish to control Material properties with a manual entry rather than have them
linked directly to the ADT Material Definition that is assigned to a particular object component. In short, you should take the time to carefully evaluate your specific needs and workflow requirements and plan each individual property
accordingly.
Tip: There will inevitably be times when you will need to ‘‘debug’’ properties that don’t
work correctly. Many times in those instances, you will need to view property values in
the Extended Data tab of the Properties Manager for properties whose visibility toggle
has been turned off. When that happens you can temporarily toggle the visibility back
on in the Property Set Definition until you finish diagnosing the problem.
SCHEDULE TABLE STYLES
There are two primary purposes of the Schedule Table Style. The first is to establish the contents of the Schedule Table, including its columns, the data those columns contain and how they are sorted. The second purpose of the Schedule Table
Style is to establish the graphical formatting of the Schedule Table, including
fonts, text sizes, color and lineweights.
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CREATE A CUSTOM SCHEDULE TABLE STYLE
In this exercise, we will build a Schedule Table Style from scratch which will utilize the Property Set Definitions we created previously. Again, this is done in this
chapter primarily for instructional purposes. Before creating a custom Schedule
Table Style for actual use in your office, you should evaluate the out-of-the-box
Schedule Table Styles to see if they can be used instead. There are several, including a Door Schedule Table Style, that are already compliant with the NCS. You
could very well find this perfectly usable as is or with a few minor changes. Don’t
forget, it is the ongoing recommendation of this book that you use the out-of-thebox content wherever possible to cut down on the amount of time spent customizing content and the ongoing management that customized content usually
requires.
1. Continuing in the Sample Schedule Element, launch the Style Manager. Under
Documentation Objects, expand the Schedule Table Styles node.
2. On the tool bar at the top, click the New Style icon or right-click on
Schedule Table Styles and choose New from the menu.
3. On the General tab name the new style: AIG Door Schedule.
4. Click the Default Format tab.
◗ Set the Text Style to: RomanS.
◗ Set the Alignment to: Middle Center.
◗ Set the Height to: 3/32″(see figure 7–21)
Figure 7–21 Adjusting text properties and other formatting to suit your standards
These are the default formats for all cells in the Schedule Table Style. They can be
overridden on a cell-by-cell basis if necessary. Note that under Cell Size we are
leaving the Fixed Width set to 0″. With this setting, any cell that does not have an
override set for this value will automatically expand to accommodate the longest
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value in the Schedule when it is populated with data. These values apply to the
data cells only. The headers will be formatted later under the Layout tab.
In order to use the properties that we built in the previous exercise as columns in
this Schedule, the items checked on the Applies To tab of the Schedule Table
Style must match those checked on the Applies To tab of the Property Set Definition. The easiest way to avoid frustration related to this point is to always check
the same objects in both the Property Set Definition and the Schedule Table Style.
If you are creating a Schedule Table Style and you do not have the ability to add
columns in the Columns tab, it is most likely because you did not correctly configure the Applies To tab.
5. On the Applies To tab, make sure the only object type selected is Door (see
Figure 7–22).
Figure 7–22 Assigning the object type to which the Schedule Table Style applies—
this must match the values in the Property Set Definitions
6. Click the Columns tab.
We will add several data columns and headers here.
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7. Click the Add Column button.
8. In the Add Column dialog, choose the DoorNumber property under AIG
DoorObjects (see Figure 7–23).
Note that the Heading field is automatically populated with the ‘‘MARK’’ description that was specified for this property earlier. Also note that both the AIG
DoorObjects and AIG DoorStyles Property Set Definitions are displayed as resources for data columns, since both of them had Doors assigned in their Applies
To tabs, matching the current Schedule Table Style.
Figure 7–23 Adding the DoorNumber property as the first column
9. Click OK to return to the style editor.
10. Use the same procedure to add the following properties to create columns:
◗ DoorSize-PRWxHxT
◗ DoorType
◗ DoorMaterial
◗ GlazingType
◗ FrameMaterial
◗ FrameType
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◗ FireRating
◗ HardwareGroup
◗ LintelNumber
◗ HeadDetail
◗ JambDetail
◗ SillDetail
◗ Remarks
Tip: You can change the order of the columns after you create them by selecting their
headers and dragging them to a new position.
Frequently it is desirable to group columns under headers to make them more
readable in the Schedule.
11. Hold down the CTRL key and select the headers for the DoorSize, DoorType,
DoorMaterial and GlazingType columns. This will select them all.
12. Click the Add Header button (see Figure 7–24).
Figure 7–24 Adding a header above some of the Schedule Table columns
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13. Name the Header: DOOR as shown in Figure 7–24 and then click OK.
14. Use the same technique to add a FRAME header above the FrameMaterial
and FrameType columns.
Your Schedule Table columns should look similar to Figure 7–25.
Figure 7–25 The completed columns layout
Now that the columns have been defined and organized, the only remaining tasks
are to define the sorting parameters and the overall layout of the Schedule Table
Style.
15. On the Sorting tab, click the Add button.
16. In the Select Property dialog, choose the AIG
DoorObjects:DoorNumber Property (see Figure 7–26).
17. Click OK to return to the editor.
Figure 7–26 Specifying the sorting parameters
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18. On the Layout tab, change the Table Title to: DOOR SCHEDULE and
then click the Override Cell Format button next to Title (see Figure 7–27).
Figure 7–27 Finalizing the Schedule Table layout
19. Change the Text Appearance Style to Schedule-Header and the Height to
1/4″ as shown in Figure 7–27.
Once a default value has been overridden it will turn red.
20. Click OK twice to return to the drawing.
21. Save the file.
Tip: You can also override specific cell columns. For example, when planning was discussed previously in this chapter, it was suggested that you may want some or all of the
columns in the Schedule to be an explicit width and that you should label those dimensions. In the Schedule Table Style editor, you can pick any columns that need to have an
explicit width and use the Modify button to assign them a fixed width and also modify
the text justification so that values entered for those properties can word wrap in the
Schedule Table.
TEST THE SCHEDULE TABLE STYLE
The best way to see if the style is configured satisfactorily is to add a table to the
drawing using that style. To test our Schedule and other content that we will
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create in this chapter, we will create a tool palette upon which we can place our
tools.
1. On the Tool Palettes, right-click the title bar and choose Document to
activate this tool palette group.
Tool palettes and tool palette groups were discussed in detail in Chapter 4.
2. Right-click on the title bar of the tool palettes and choose New Palette
from the menu. Name the palette: AIG Chapter07.
Note: Be careful creating a palette when a project is active (Project Browser). When
you switch projects, the palette may disappear. To make a ‘‘persistent’’ palette, open
the Project Browser, right-click the current project and choose Close Current
Project. Then create the palette. You can reload the project after this if you wish.
You can create a Schedule tool by dragging your Schedule Table Style from the
Style Manager to your new palette.
3. Launch the Style Manager. Navigate to Schedule Table Styles under
Documentation Objects in your current drawing.
4. Drag the AIG Door Schedule style from the Style Manager to your AIG Test
palette. When the plus (+) sign appears, release the mouse button.
The tool should appear on the palette as shown in Figure 7–28.
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Figure 7–28 Creating a new style-based tool on a custom palette
Note: The ability to create custom tools in this manner is crucial to effective management and distribution of standardized content to the rest of your design team. This is
covered in greater detail in Chapter 8.
5. Click OK in the Style Manager.
6. Continuing in the Sample Schedule Element, click the new AIG Door Schedule
tool.
7. At the ‘‘Select objects’’ prompt, window the entire plan.
8. When prompted for an insertion point, pick a point just below the plan and
then press ENTER.
9. Save the file.
Your Schedule should look like Figure 7–29. The question marks simply indicate
that although the Schedule is reporting the Door objects, the AIG DoorObjects
and AIG DoorStyles Property Set Definitions on which it depends are not attached
to the Doors in the file yet.
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Figure 7–29 The finished Schedule Table inserted into a drawing
There are a variety of ways to attach Property Set Definitions to the Doors; however, before we do so, we need to deal with another problem. Counting the number of rows in the Schedule, you will find that there are seventeen Doors being
reported, but in the plan there are only thirteen Doors that should be scheduled.
The additional four Doors are actually the toilet partition Doors. While these are
certainly valid Door objects, they have no business in a Door Schedule. While we
could use the Layer Filter properties of Schedules to eliminate them from our
Schedule, there is a more effective and parametric way to make sure that they are
never included in this or any other Door Schedule using this style. In Chapter 6,
you were introduced to Classification Definitions and saw that they can be used to
enhance display control of ADT objects. They can also be used to filter ADT objects in Schedules and Property Sets.
FILTER SCHEDULE OBJECTS WITH CLASSIFICATIONS
For convenience, the Uniformat II Classification Definition that ships with ADT
has been imported into the current drawing. By simply assigning the proper Classifications to the Door styles in the current drawing and making some minor modifications to the AIG Door Schedule style and the AIG DoorObjects Property Set
Definition, we can effectively eliminate the possibility of the toilet partition Doors
from ever inadvertently finding their way into a Schedule.
Note: The AIG DoorStyles Property Set Definition will be assigned to Door Styles, so
we don’t need to use Classifications to filter it—we simply won’t assign it to the toilet
partition Door style.
1. Continuing in the Sample Schedule Element, launch the Style Manager.
2. Beneath Architectural Objects in the current drawing, expand the Door
Styles node.
3. Click on the Double Hinged Door style to edit it.
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4. Click the Classifications tab.
Each Classification Definition in the file will be listed. As mentioned above, we
have included the Uniformat II Classification Definition in this file. If a file has
nothing listed on this tab, or does not list the Classification Definition that you require, you must import it into the current file. This can be done here in the Style
Manager on the Multi-Purpose Objects node. First use the Open icon on the toolbar to open a file containing the Classification Definition that you need. The Uniformat II Classification Definition shown here was imported from the Uniformat
II Classifications (1997 ed).dwg file, which is found in the C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Autodesk\ADT 2007\enu\Styles\Imperial folder
by default. You can also create your own Classification Definitions directly in the
Style Manager.
5. Next to the Uniformat II item, click on *Unspecified*.
*Unspecified* indicates that for this Classification, nothing has been selected yet.
6. Click the Browse icon that appears to the right of *Unspecified* (see Figure
7–30).
7. In the Select Classification dialog, select C1020 - Interior Doors and then
click OK (see Figure 7–30).
Chapter 7
Property Set Definitions and Schedule Tables
Figure 7–30 Assigning a Classification to a Door style
8. Following the same procedure, edit the Single Hinge Interior, Single Hinge
- Interior Restroom and Single Hinge (Assy) Door styles and assign the
same Classification to each of them.
9. Assign the B2030 - Exterior Doors Classification to the Double Hinge
Exterior Entry (Assy) and Single Hinge Exterior Exit Door styles.
Important: Do not assign any Classifications (leave it *Unspecified*) to the Standard
and Toilet Stall Door styles.
10. Beneath Documentation Objects, expand the Property Set Definitions node
and then select the AIG DoorObjects Property Set Definition.
11. On the Applies To tab, expand the Uniformat II Classification Definition.
12. Under Classifications, place a check mark in the boxes next to C1020 and
B2030 (see Figure 7–31).
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Figure 7–31 Limiting the AIG DoorObjects Property Set Definition to only those
Doors classified as Interior or Exterior Doors
13. Expand the Schedule Table Styles node and use the same procedure to assign
the B2030 and C1020 Classifications to the AIG Door Schedule style.
Important: You must choose the same items on Applies To for both the Property Set
Definition and the Schedule Table Style for them to function properly.
14. Click OK to exit the Style Manager.
15. Save the file.
Counting the rows in the Schedule Table, you should find that there are now just
thirteen Doors being reported. Since the toilet partition Doors were not classified,
they are now eliminated from the Door Schedule completely.
Note: You should get in the habit of classifying all ADT geometric objects (object
styles under the Architectural Objects node). The Uniformat II Classification Definition is provided in the Uniformat II Classifications (Imperial).dwg and the Uniformat II Classifications (Metric).dwg files located in the location where your other style content files
were installed. Simply load this definition (or develop your own custom Classification
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Definition) into your default templates. In this way, it will always be available when you
are defining new styles.
Where possible and practical, it is recommended that you attach Classification
Definitions to object styles. It is also possible to classify individual ADT objects—
overriding the definition that was assigned to their style (see the top portion of
Figure 7–32). Classifications can be especially useful for Multi-View Blocks to
make sure that you only include specific MV Block definitions in a particular
Schedule. For example, Multi-View Blocks are used to represent both furniture
and equipment in drawings. Classifications can be used to help distinguish these
two types of content from one another in Schedules. You can assign more than one
Classification Definition to objects if necessary. As you plan your implementation,
consider the various ways that you might like to schedule, quantify, and report the
data in your models and create the Classification Definitions required to do so.
ATTACHING PROPERTY SETS TO THE MODEL
In order to replace the question marks with the actual data, we must attach the
Property Sets to all of the Door objects. There are four ways to accomplish this depending upon the circumstances:
◗ Style-Based Property Set Definitions—Attach the Property Set Definition to the Style Definition of the object on the General tab of the Style
editor.
◗ Tagging—Object-based Property Set Definitions can be attached by simply
tagging the objects to be scheduled. The Schedule Tag will have embedded
within it the links to the necessary Property Set Definitions. When an object
is tagged, the Tag will ensure that the Property Set Definition is attached to
the object, even importing the definition from a library file if necessary. We
will create a custom Tag for the Doors a bit later in this chapter.
◗ Extended Data Tab of the Properties Manager—Object-based Property Set Definitions can also be attached with the icons on the Extended Data
tab of the Properties palette (see Figure 7–32). This requires that the user
know which Property Set Definition to attach, however, and that the Property Set Definition already exists in the drawing. In a normal project workflow
this method is the least desirable.
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Figure 7–32 The Extended Data tab of the Properties Manager—Top: Objectlevel Classification; Bottom: Attach Properties and Detach Properties icons
◗ Add All Property Sets from the Schedule Table—Both object-based
and style-based Property Set Definitions can be attached by simply selecting
the Schedule Table, right-clicking and choosing Add All Property Sets.
The recommended procedure to ensure that all necessary Property Set Definitions
are attached, with minimal impact on the workflow is to first make sure that when
you define an object style you attach any appropriate style-based Property Set Definitions as well, inputting any Manual property values at that time. After the objects based on those styles are created in the drawing, you should tag them,
allowing the Schedule Tag to attach the necessary object-based Property Set Definitions. The user can also choose to edit them at that time.
ATTACH PROPERTY SETS TO THE MODEL
Since we have not yet created a Tag for the Doors, we will edit the Door styles to
attach the AIG DoorStyles Property Set Definition and use the Add All Property
Sets menu-pick to add the object-based Property Set Definitions.
1. In the Sample Schedules Element, launch the Style Manager and select the
Double Hinge Door style in your current drawing to edit it.
2. On the General tab, click the Property Sets button (see Figure 7–33).
Chapter 7
Property Set Definitions and Schedule Tables
Figure 7–33 Attaching a Property Set Definition to a Door style
3. In the Edit Property Set Data dialog, click the Add Property Sets icon (see
Figure 7–33).
4. In the Add Property Sets dialog, make sure that AIG DoorStyles is checked
and then click OK.
Back in the Edit Property Set Data dialog, note that only the Manual Properties
DoorType and GlazingType are visible and available for editing. This is because
all of the other properties that were defined in this Property Set Definition were
created from automatic sources and had their visibility toggle turned off to avoid
unnecessary clutter in the editor. However, attaching the Property Set attaches all
properties, even the invisible ones.
5. Click OK to return to the Style Manager.
We can add the actual property values later. While you may want to pre-assign
certain values to style-based properties once they are attached to a specific style, in
this case it is not necessary to do so.
6. Repeat the process to attach the AIG DoorStyles Property Set Definition to
all of the remaining Door styles in the drawing with the exception of
Standard and Toilet Stall.
7. Click OK to exit the Style Manager.
Your Schedule should now look similar to Figure 7–34 (the right half of the
Schedule has been cropped off in this figure). Note that the DOOR SIZE,
DOOR MATL and FRAME MATL columns are now populated with data, and
the DOOR TYPE and GLAZING TYPE columns are populated with their default values. The DOOR MATL and FRAME MATL values are currently re-
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porting the name of the Material Definitions that are assigned to the Door and
Frame components—just like we told them to. However, these values are probably
not what we would want to see in a our Schedule. We will adjust these properties
to be more appropriate for a Schedule a bit later in this section.
Figure 7–34 The Schedule Table after the AIG DoorStyle properties have been attached to the Door styles
Note also that there are still several question marks (?). This indicates that there
are still object-based properties that have not yet been attached.
8. Select the Schedule Table, right-click and choose Add All Property Sets
from the menu.
Your Schedule should now look like Figure 7–35 (again, only the left side of the
Schedule is shown here; feel free to pan to the right to review the additional cells).
Note that there are no more question marks since all necessary Property Sets have
been attached.
Figure 7–35 The Schedule Table after the AIG DoorObjects Property Set Definition has been attached to the Door objects
While most of the Schedule seems to be functioning properly, the first three
Doors in the list still show a problem in their MARK column with an error code
*Space not found*. This is easily rectified.
9. Zoom to the exterior Door on the far right side of the plan and select it.
In addition to the standard grips that would appear on any Door, there is now a
star-shaped Location grip (see Figure 7–36), since the Door now has a Location
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Property Set Definitions and Schedule Tables
property attached to it. The position of this grip will determine to which Space the
Door is assigned. Since the default position is to the swing-side of the Door, the
grip exists in a location where there is no Space present. Simply moving the grip to
the proper location will fix the problem.
Figure 7–36 The Location grip will determine to which Space the Door is assigned
10. Drag the Location grip into the Corridor Space.
Looking at the Schedule Table, you should notice that there are now only two
Doors with the *Space not found* error, and in place of the third, there is now a
Door 112A.
11. Drag the Location grips of the other two exterior Doors to the interior
Spaces to assign them a room number.
12. Save the file.
You should now have two Doors with the number 112A. This is because the two
side exit Doors are both assigned to the Corridor Space. At this point, you can
manually edit the DoorNumberSuffix Property for one of those Doors on the Extended Data tab of the Properties palette. Change the value to B for one of the
Doors.
Note: The Space objects that the Doors have been assigned to can be viewed by thawing the A-Area-Spce layer, which was previously frozen to simplify the onscreen display
in this drawing.
THE FINER POINTS OF PROPERTY SET DEFINITIONS AND
SCHEDULE TABLE STYLES
Although the Door Schedule is now working properly, there still remains some
fine-tuning to do, which can be fairly easily accomplished by taking the Property
Set Definitions and Schedule Table Styles just a bit further.
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UNDERSTAND ANCHOR PROPERTY DEFINITIONS
Before actually making any changes to the Property Set Definitions or Schedule
Table Style, lets take just a few moments to explore what is actually happening
with the FireRating Anchor property that is defined in the AIG DoorObjects Property Set Definition.
1. Continuing in the Sample Schedule Element, Zoom to the FIRE RATING
column in the Schedule Table.
Most of the Doors show a Fire Rating of ‘‘2 HOUR,’’ while some show a value of
‘‘–.’’ This is because the FireRating property is actually using the value of the
FireRating property assigned to the Wall style in which the Doors are inserted.
When a Door, Window or Door/Window Assembly is inserted into a Wall, a special type of Anchor called a Wall Anchor is assigned, which is what causes the
opening in the Wall to be cut. This is also what allows our Anchor property to
work.
2. Select one of the Corridor Walls in the drawing, right-click and choose Edit
Wall Style from the menu.
3. On the General Tab, click the Property Sets button.
4. In the Edit Property Set Data worksheet, change the FireRating property to
1 HOUR.
5. Click OK twice to return to the drawing and then look at the Door Schedule
to see the change.
If necessary, select the Schedule, right-click and choose Update Schedule
Table.
Remember that you just edited the Wall style; however, you should notice that all
of the values in the FIRE RATING column in the Door Schedule Table that were
2 HOUR are now 1 HOUR. The three Doors with a value of ‘‘–’’ for FIRE RATING are the Doors that are on the exterior Wall style, which has no fire rating value assigned except for the default value. If you wish, you can edit this Wall style’s
value as well and type something like ‘‘NR’’ or ‘‘Not Rated.’’ The change should
immediately appear in the Schedule.
6. Save the file.
FINE-TUNE THE FIRE RATING COLUMN
In many cases, building codes may require that a Door’s fire rating be based on the
Wall’s Fire Rating, but not be exactly the same. For example, the code might indicate that for a 1-hour Wall, you need a 20-minute Door and for a 2-hour Wall, a
90-minute Door. In those cases, you can use a Formula property to perform an ac-
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tion on the Anchor property to create a new value based on the Wall style’s FireRating property. You can also simply add a Formula Column to the Schedule Table Style that does the same thing without creating a new Formula property. You
can do this on the Columns tab of the Schedule Style Editor and the interface and
features are the same as a Formula property. In many cases a Formula Column will
be sufficient. You only need to create a Formula Property Definition in cases
where you might want the value to be reflected in a Schedule Tag (or an Excel
output) as well as in a Schedule Table column.
1. From the Project Navigator, open the Formula Column Element file from the
General Resources category.
This is a simple drawing with a single Wall, Door and a simple Schedule object
that reports the FireRating of the Door. Note that the Fire Rating value in the
Schedule for the Door is currently ‘‘20 Min.’’
2. Select the Wall.
3. On the Extended Data tab of the Properties palette, click the Edit Property
Set Data icon (see the left side of Figure 7–37).
Figure 7–37 Edit the FireRating property that is attached to the Wall style
The FireRating property of the Wall is a style-based property, so it cannot be edited directly in the Extended Data tab—the worksheet icon opens the proper dialog
for editing.
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4. Change the FireRating property to 2 HOUR and click OK (see the right side
of Figure 7–37).
The Fire Rating for the Door should now read ‘‘180 Min.’’ As in the previous exercise, the Door’s FireRating property is being extracted from the Wall using an
Anchor property. In this example, however, the data being reported from the Wall
is being further processed to display a separate but related value that is still dependent upon the Wall’s FireRating value.
5. Select the Schedule, right-click and choose Edit Schedule Table Style.
6. On the Columns tab, select the Fire Rating column and click the Modify
button.
The column is actually a Formula column that processes the FireRating property
inside the Schedule Table object directly (see Figure 7–38). The alternative is to
use a Formula property in a Property Set Definition. Using a Formula column directly in the Schedule has the same functionality and is a bit more direct. (However, if you wish to have the result of the formula appear in Tags or Excel output,
you must use a Formula property instead.) In this example, a relatively simple
VBA script is being used to run an ‘‘If-Then’’ test against the value being reported
back from the FireRating Anchor property.
Chapter 7
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Figure 7–38 A Formula column in a Schedule Table Style
Let’s interpret the VB script code; the first line reads:
If ‘[DoorObjects:FireRating]″=‘‘1 HOUR’’ Then
RESULT =‘‘20 Min’’
If you read this like a sentence, it would say something like: ‘‘If the value of the
DoorObjects:FireRating property (which comes from the Wall) equals ‘1 HOUR,’
then report a value of ‘20 Min’ to the Schedule.’’ This is the first condition of the
formula. If it is met, then the test proceeds no further. Otherwise, the next line is
interpreted:
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ElseIf ‘[DoorObjects:FireRating]″=‘‘2 HOUR’’ Then
RESULT = ‘‘180 Min’’
In other words, ‘‘If the value of the DoorObjects:FireRating property (which
comes from the Wall) equals ‘2 HOUR,’ then report a value of ‘180 Min’ to the
Schedule.’’ Again, if the condition is satisfied, then the test stops, otherwise it continues to the final condition:
Else
RESULT = ‘‘Not Rated’’
End If
This last statement basically says that if none of the previous conditions were met,
then the Wall must not be fire rated, so report a value of ‘Not Rated’ to the
Schedule.
This is a very simple example to illustrate the potential of such a formula. As it
stands however, this formula would likely prove inadequate. For example, based on
its tests, if a value of 4 HOUR was assigned to the Wall’s FireRating property, the
Door would be reported as ‘‘NotRated.’’ Obviously this could prove problematic.
Therefore, to have such a formula be effective, all possible Fire Ratings must be
accounted for in the formula. Furthermore, it would be advisable to include some
sort of control mechanism to prevent a user from accidentally entering an invalid
Fire Rating (or one not anticipated by the formula at any rate). For our exercise,
we’ll assume that there are only three possible Fire Ratings for the Wall—1
HOUR, 2 HOUR and 4 HOUR. We will add the condition for the 4 HOUR
Fire Rating to the Formula column and apply a control mechanism to limit choices
to just these three values.
7. Modify the formula to include the provision for the 4 HOUR FireRating
value:
◗ Place your cursor at the end of the line that reads ‘‘RESULT=180 Min’’ and
press ENTER to create a new line.
◗ On the new line, type: ElseIf.
This is the word ‘‘Else’’ and the word ‘‘If’’ without a space in between followed by a
space and then an open quote (‘‘) mark.
Important: The code in VB script should be considered case sensitive.
◗ From the Insert Property Definitions pane below the Formula window,
expand the DoorObjects Property Set Definition and double-click
FireRating to insert it into your formula.
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Important: Do not simply type the property name into the formula, as it will not be
read as a property name. ADT will only treat it as a property if you double-click it from
the list.
◗ Type the remainder of the entry exactly as shown on the left side of
Figure 7–39.
Figure 7–39 Adding a new condition to the Formula column and testing it directly
in the dialog
You can test the new formula directly in this dialog.
8. On the right side, in the ‘‘Enter Sample Values’’ area, input 4 HOUR in the
Value column and then press ENTER.
If you typed your formula correctly, ‘‘200 Min’’ should appear in the ‘‘Sample
Result’’ area (see the top-right side of Figure 7–39).
9. Click OK until you return to the drawing.
10. Edit the FireRating property of the Wall as before to change it to 4 HOUR.
The Schedule Table should now update to 200 Min.
Next we need to make sure that no invalid entries are allowed for the Wall’s
FireRating property. We will accomplish this with a List Definition.
11. Launch the Style Manager and navigate to the List Definitions node beneath
Miscellaneous Objects.
12. Create a new List Definition named FireRatings.
13. On the Applies To tab, place a check mark next to Manual Property
Definition only (see the left side of Figure 7–40).
Note: List Definitions can be used to control input for Space and Zone objects as well
as properties in Property Sets.
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Figure 7–40 Creating a List Definition to control the input of the FireRating
property
14. On the Items tab, click the Add button and enter a new list value of:
1 HOUR.
15. Repeat the previous step to add the 2 HOUR, 4 HOUR and Not Rated
values (see the right side of Figure 7–40).
16. Navigate to the Property Set Definitions node under Documentation Objects
and select the WallStyles Property Set Definition.
17. Change the Type of the FireRating property to List and make sure that the
Source reads FireRatings (see Figure 7–41).
Figure 7–41 Assigning the FireRatings List Definition to the FireRating property
18. Click OK to return to the drawing.
19. Select the Wall and edit the FireRating property.
Rather than entering a value with the keyboard as before, you should now be
limited to just the values in the list (see Figure 7–42).
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Figure 7–42 The FireRating property is now limited to just those values in the List
Definition
20. Close and save the drawing.
MODIFY MATERIAL PROPERTY DEFINITIONS
As noted previously, the DOOR MATL and FRAME MATL columns in the
Door Schedule Table are currently reporting the Material Definition names that
are assigned to the Door Panel and Door Frame components of the Door styles.
While this is technically correct and is exactly what the properties have been configured to do, it certainly is not what we would want to see in an actual Door
Schedule Table. By taking the Material properties just a bit further we can report a
much more useful result.
We could rename the Material Definitions, but that would be a bit extreme and
would likely generate adverse results for other parts of our implementation. Instead, we can create a Property Set Definition for Material Definitions that assigns
a ‘‘Material Code’’ to them. Using this to create a more abbreviated name, we can
then modify the Material properties in the AIG DoorStyle Property Set Definitions to use the abbreviated name instead.
1. Continuing in the Sample Schedule Element, launch the Style Manager and
create a new Property Set Definition.
2. On the General tab, name the new Property Set Definition: AIG
MaterialDefinitions.
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3. On the Applies To tab, choose Styles and Definitions, and then place a check
mark in the box for Material Definition.
4. On the Definition tab, create a new Manual property. Name it:
MaterialCode.
◗ Set the Type to: Text.
◗ Set the Default to: –.
◗ Set the Format to: Case Upper.
◗ Make sure that Visible is toggled on and set the Order to 1.
5. Click the AIG DoorStyles Property Set Definition to edit it.
6. On the Definition tab, double-click the DoorMaterial property to edit it.
7. In the Material Property Definition dialog, place a check mark next to
Material Property, and then place another one next to Material Code under
AIG MaterialDefinitions (see Figure 7–43).
Figure 7–43 Using the new MaterialCode Property Definition to modify the
Material columns in the Schedule Table Style
This will cause the specific MaterialCode Property to be used in the DoorMaterial
property rather than just the Material name. All that remains is to attach the MaterialCodes Property Set Definition to the Material Definitions and provide appropriate values.
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8. Repeat the process to modify the FrameMaterial Property Definition and also
configure it to use the MaterialCode.
9. Continuing in the Style Manager, beneath Multi-Purpose Objects, expand the
Material Definitions node.
10. Select the Doors & Windows.Glazing.Glass.Clear Material Definition to
edit it.
11. On the General tab, click the Property Sets button.
12. Using the methods shown previously, attach the AIG MaterialDefinitions
Property Set Definition.
13. For the MaterialCode value, type: GLASS-CLR and click OK.
14. Using Table 7–4 as a guide, assign the AIG MaterialDefinitions Property Set
Definition to the remaining Materials and input their MaterialCode values.
Table 7–4
Material Code Property Values
Material Definition
Material Code
Doors & Windows.Glazing.Glass.Clear
Doors & Windows.Metal Doors &
Frames.Aluminum Frame.Anodized.Dark
Bronze.Satin
Doors & Windows.Metal Doors &
Frames.Steel Doors.Painted.White
Doors & Windows.Metal Doors &
Frames.Steel.Galvanized
Doors & Windows.Wood Doors.Ash
GLASS-CLR
ANOD. ALUM
STEEL-PAINTED
STEEL-GALV
WOOD-ASH
15. Click OK to exit the Style Manager.
16. If the Schedule Table does not fully update, select it, right-click and choose
Update Schedule Table from the menu.
The updated Door Schedule Table should look like Figure 7–44.
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Figure 7–44 The updated Door Schedule Table with MaterialCode properties
17. Save and close the file.
While there is quite a bit of work associated with editing all of the Material Definitions and assigning material codes to them all, the effort will pay huge productivity dividends. Once all of the materials have been configured, and all of the
library files updated to the change, users simply select materials for object components and the proper values will automatically report to the Schedule.
Note: The previous exercise shows that by using the Material Definitions that are already assigned to object components, you can automate the reporting of component
materials in your Schedules. Consider making the MaterialCode Property a part of all of
your office standard Material Defintions.
USE PROJECT PROPERTIES
Until this point, we have been working in a temporary drawing file. This was done
to allow us to keep our explorations simple by remaining in a single drawing file
and seeing our results immediately. However, since it is the recommendation of
this book that you use the Drawing Management system (Project Browser and
Project Navigator) to manage your projects, we now need to address Schedule and
Property Set issues related to projects and project workflow. When working in the
Project Navigator, Property Sets can utilize Project properties. As defined at the
start of the chapter, a Project property is an automatic property that can read information from the current project information file (APJ). This includes project
name, description, level and division IDs, and even addresses and phone numbers.
In the following exercise, we will explore this capability by modifying the RoomNumber property to use the project’s Level ID property as a prefix to the Room
Number. To do this, we will edit the RoomNumber Property. As you recall, this
property is a Location property that obtains its value from an adjacent Space
object.
Chapter 7
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The Chapter07 Schedules & Property Sets project should still be current from the exercises above. If you closed it to make your tool palette, please launch the Project
Browser and make it current before continuing.
1. On the Project Navigator palette, double-click to open the Project Based
Schedules Construct.
2. Launch Style Manager, expand the Documentation Objects folder and click
the SpaceObjects Property Set Definition.
3. On the Definition tab, double-click the Level property to edit it.
Note that this is a Project property and uses the current Level ID for its value (see
Figure 7–45). If you scroll through the list, you will also note that you can extract
virtually any Project property or Detail in a Property Definition.
Figure 7–45 A Project property, using the Level ID to assign a value to a property
4. Click Cancel to exit the dialog without making any changes.
Back on the Definition tab, note the Increment Property and view its settings.
This is a simple Manual property that is an Auto-Increment Integer type value,
using the Number-Object Property Data Format. This means that as this Property
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Set Definition is attached to each object, the value of this property will automatically increment the value with each successive object. The Number-Object Property
Data Format makes sure that there are always at least two digits in the number, so
that values from 1 to 9 will be prefixed with a 0—i.e., 01 to 09.
5. Double-click the NumberProjectBased Property to view its settings.
This is a simple Formula property, similar to the DoorNumber Property we defined earlier in the AIG DoorObjects Property Set Definition. It concatenates the
values of the Level and Increment properties together to form a completed room
number that is based on the current level, and that automatically increments the
values for each Door.
6. Click Cancel twice to return to the drawing.
This file is actually a duplicate of the Sample Schedule Element file. It uses the nonproject-based Room Tags we were using in that Element file. We are going to
modify the AIG DoorObjects Property Set Definition to use the project-based
room number, but before doing so, we should replace the Room Tags so that they
also respond to the change.
7. Select any Room Tag, right-click and choose Select Similar (see Figure
7–46).
Figure 7–46 Selecting all of the existing non-project-based Room Tags
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Property Set Definitions and Schedule Tables
8. Erase all of the Room Tags.
9. Thaw the layer A-Area-Space.
10. Using the Project-Based Room Tag tool on the Scheduling tool palette, retag all of the Spaces.
Tip: Tag the first Space, right-click and then choose Multiple to tag the rest.
Refer to Chapter 15 in Mastering Autodesk Architectural Desktop 2007 for more information on using Schedule Tags.
Important: Make sure you use the Project-Based Room Tag so that it will use the
level ID of the current Construct. The room numbers will not be the same when you
are finished, since they are using the Level Property and the Increment Property instead
of the non-project-based RoomNumber Property, which actually has not changed.
11. Launch Style Manager and select the AIG DoorObjects Property Set
Definition to edit it.
12. Double-click the RoomNumber Property to edit it. Under SpaceObjects,
place a check mark in the box next to NumberProjectBased.
13. Click OK twice to return to the drawing.
There won’t be an immediate change, but we can modify the Construct properties
to test our new setting.
14. In Project Navigator, select the Project Based Schedule Construct, right-click
and choose Properties.
15. In the Modify Construct worksheet, clear the assignment for Level 1 and reassign the Construct to Level 2 (see Figure 7–47).
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Figure 7–47 Changing the level assignment of the Construct
16. Click OK to return to the drawing.
The room and Door numbers still will not update—the drawing either needs to be
closed and re-opened or re-evaluated with the Regenerate Model tool.
17. From the View menu, choose Regen Model. At the ‘‘Select objects’’
prompt, press ENTER to select all objects in the model and complete the
command.
The room numbers and the Door numbers should now be updated, since the Level
ID has been changed from 1 to 2. Feel free to experiment with changing the level
assignment a few more times if you like to observe its effect on the Door numbers.
Another way to see this is to edit the Level ID itself. To do this, on the Project
Navigator click the Project tab, edit the Levels and then in the Edit Levels worksheet, change the Level ID to another value. Click OK and then regenerate the
Model.
18. Save the file.
USING LIST DEFINITIONS
Frequently you will find it useful to limit the choices for a Manual property to a
standardized list of pre-determined values, as was shown in the previous FireRating property exercise. This can help to eliminate spelling errors and help prevent
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an invalid or inappropriate value from being entered by a user. You can accomplish
this by creating a List Definition. List Definitions can be used to assign names to
Spaces and Zones or for any Manual property. In the Project Based Schedules Construct and the Sample Schedule Element, the Space names come from a List Definition that applies to Space objects called: Room Names. To use a predefined list to
standardize Space names, first make sure the option for ‘‘Space Names’’ is chosen
on the Applies To tab of the List Definition. On the Items tab, add all of the allowed names. If you select the ‘‘Allow individual property values to vary from this
list’’ check box, you will give users the opportunity to type in values that don’t appear on the list. This can be useful in some cases, but does have the potential to
limit the List’s standardization and error prevention potential. After you have the
List Definition built, you apply it to each Space style. This will make the list appear on the Properties palette when a Space of this style is selected in the drawing
(see Figure 7–48).
Figure 7–48 List Definitions can be used to ensure Spaces are named from a predefined list
Note: The Room Names List Definition in the Project Based Schedules Construct and
Sample Schedules Element is not an out-of-the-box List Definition, but was created as a
part of this chapter’s dataset.
DEFINE AND APPLY A MANUAL PROPERTY LIST
1. Continuing in the Project Based Schedules Construct, launch the Style Manager.
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2. Beneath Multi-Purpose Objects, select the List Definitions node.
3. Right-click and choose New from the menu or click the New Style icon.
4. On the General tab of the new List Definition, type: DoorTypes for the
Name.
5. On the Applies To tab, select the Manual Property Definition check box.
6. On the Items tab, create the list items shown in Figure 7–49.
Figure 7–49 Creating the DoorTypes List Definition and making it available for
Manual properties
7. Beneath the Property Set Definitions node, click the AIG DoorStyles
Property Set Definition to edit it.
8. On the Definitions tab, change the Type for the DoorType property to List.
9. From the Source column make sure the List Definition DoorTypes is
selected (see Figure 7–50).
Figure 7–50 Assigning the DoorTypes List Definition to the DoorType property
10. Click OK to return to the drawing.
The Door Schedule may now show blank cells for the DOOR TYPE column,
since the original default value of ‘‘A’’ no longer applies after changing the data
type to List.
Chapter 7
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11. Select any Door in the drawing, right-click and choose Edit Door Style.
12. In the Door Style editor, click Property Sets and edit the DoorType property
(see Figure 7–51).
Figure 7–51 Setting a Manual property value from a list
13. Click OK twice to return to the drawing.
Note: You can also access the style-based Property Sets from the Extended Data tab
of the Properties palette. Look for the small worksheet icon beneath the Property Sets
from Style grouping.
All Doors of the style you edited are now assigned the Door Type that you chose
from the list and the Schedule is updated.
14. Continue editing Door styles, assigning a Type value until all Doors are
updated.
15. Save the file.
Tip: You may find it easier to edit the Properties from the Style Manager since it will
be easier to be sure you haven’t missed any Door styles.
In the preceding several sections we explored how Property Set Definitions,
Schedule Table Styles and List Definitions all work together to make the process
of creating Schedule objects more automated and less error-prone. Additionally,
we explored the value of using various Automatic Properties to leverage existing
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data already present on ADT objects, such as Material assignments, Levels and
properties of objects to which the scheduled objects are anchored. Obviously,
whether you are going to use your own custom Schedules and Property Sets, or if
you plan on modifying the existing out-of-the-box content, you should take the
time to carefully plan out your scheduling system to take full advantage of all of
these interrelated components.
We could take nearly all of these examples further and make them even more potent. For example, you could use a List Definition for the FireRating of the WallStyles Property Set Definition like we did above. Doing so would make it easier to
use a Formula property or Formula column in conjunction with the Anchor property that we have already established. In this way, you could ensure that your formula would not fail simply because one user inputs a FireRating value of ‘‘1 Hour’’
while another user inputs: ‘‘1 HR.’’ Look for other opportunities to use these various tools and properties together to create a highly integrated and powerful
solution.
UNDERSTANDING SCHEDULE TAGS
A Schedule Tag is an ADT Multi-View Block that is anchored to another object
and links the data in the object’s Property Sets with the attributes contained in the
Tag’s View Blocks. Several components are required to make the Tag Anchor relationship function properly:
◗ A Property Set Definition containing the desired properties
◗ AutoCAD Block containing one or more Attributes
◗ Attributes named in the correct format
◗ A Multi-View Block containing the Attributed AutoCAD Blocks as View
Blocks
◗ A Tag Anchor attachment
Fortunately, ADT provides an easy-to-use tool that automates the creation and
configuration of many of the above components for you, taking what could potentially be a time-consuming and complex task and making it a relatively easy and
painless operation. In order to create a Schedule Tag, you simply need to create the
geometry and text that you would like to see in the final Tag. You also include text
as a ‘‘placeholder’’ for the attributes that the Define Schedule Tag tool will create
for you. In addition to the geometry and text, you need the properties whose values
you want reflected in the Tag present in the current drawing—so build or import
your Property Set Definitions first.
Several Schedule Tags are provided out of the box. You can find them scattered
among the various catalogs in the Content Browser. The specific options chosen at
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the time of installation (see Chapter 1) will determine exactly which catalogs will
be available in your Content Browser. In the Documentation Tool Catalog - Imperial catalog, you can find all of the Tags in the Schedule Tags category. The
same is true of the Documentation Tool Catalog - Metric catalog. In the Sample
Palette Catalog - Metric D A C H catalog, you will find Tags in the Extended
Document palette category. Figure 7–52 shows examples of each of these three
catalogs’ Schedule Tag tools.
Figure 7–52 The out-of-the box documentation Tool Catalogs contain pre-built
Schedule Tags
Like any ADT tools in the Content Browser, these Tag tools can be i-dropped directly from Content Browser to execute in the current drawing, or they can be
dragged to a palette for easy access and ongoing use.
CUSTOMIZING SCHEDULE TAGS
Regardless of all of the sample choices available, you will likely wish to create or
customize some of your own Tags. We will use our Project Based Schedules Construct to experiment with custom Schedule Tags.
CREATE A CUSTOM DOOR TAG
1. In the Project Based Schedules Construct, create the geometry shown in Figure
7–53.
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Figure 7–53 Creating the geometry and text ‘‘placeholders’’ for the Schedule Tag
Important: Be sure to use MTEXT instead of DTEXT.
2. Set the Color, Linetype, Lineweight and Plot Style properties for the ellipse
and the two MTEXT objects to ByBlock.
Note: This is a typical ‘‘best practice’’ when creating symbol-based content. We will
look at this more closely in Chapter 9.
3. From the Format menu, choose Define Schedule Tag.
4. At the ‘‘Select objects to create tag from’’ prompt, select the graphics and
text objects and then press ENTER.
5. In the Define Schedule Tag dialog, name the Tag: AIG Door Tag (see
Figure 7–54).
Chapter 7
Property Set Definitions and Schedule Tables
Figure 7–54 Creating the Door Tag Multi-View Block
6. For both text objects that were selected, choose Property from the Type
column.
Changing the Type to a Property value will cause the Text ‘‘placeholders’’ that
were selected to be converted to block attributes with the proper formatting and
naming to function in a Schedule Tag.
7. For the MARK text object, set the Property Set to AIG DoorObjects and
the Property Definition to DoorNumber.
8. For the DOOR SIZE text object, set the Property Set to AIG DoorStyles
and the Property Definition to DoorSize-PRWxHxT.
9. Double-check your settings with Figure 7–54 and when you are satisfied,
click OK.
10. At the ‘‘Specify insertion point’’ prompt, snap to the center of the ellipse.
The Schedule Tag is now created. The objects on your screen were converted to a
Multi-View Block with block attributes that will link to the Door properties once
a Tag Anchor is applied to attach it to a Door (we will explore Multi-View Blocks
more in Chapter 9). A Multi-View Block that contains embedded attributes like
the one we have created will be seen as a Tag automatically by ADT. To see this
for yourself, select the Tag, right-click and notice the presence of the Tag Anchor
flyout menu (press esc to cancel). To make the Tag more useful and automated
however, we should create a tool and place it on a palette. Schedule Tags (like
most ADT content) should be stored in a central library drawing, as should the
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Property Set Definitions that they reference. For that reason, we will copy this
MV Block Definition and the Property Set Definitions it uses to our Office Standard Library.dwg file. We will also copy our AIG Door Schedule Table Style.
11. Launch the Style Manager and click the Open Drawing icon (or choose
Open from the File menu).
12. Open L:\Styles\Office Standard Library.dwg.
13. Beneath Project Based Schedules.dwg, expand the Multi-Purpose Objects node
and then click Multi-View Block Definitions.
14. Right-click and Copy the AIG Door Tag Multi-View Block Definition and
then Paste it to Office Standard Library.dwg.
Note: You can paste to any node in the Office Standard Library.dwg file. The Tag will automatically appear in the Multi-View Blocks node.
15. Next, copy the AIG Door Schedule Table Style from the Documentation
Objects node to Office Standard Library.dwg.
This will also copy the AIG DoorObjects, AIG DoorStyles and AIG
MaterialDefinitions Property Set Definitions as well.
16. Right-click on Office Standard Library.dwg and choose Close. When prompted,
choose Yes to save the changes.
17. Click OK to return to the drawing.
Now that the Property Set Definitions and the Schedule Tag Multi-View Block
Definition are safely stored in the Office Standard Library,dwg file, we can create a
Tag tool from them.
18. Activate the AIG Test tool palette that was created earlier.
If you deleted it, create a new one.
19. From the Window menu, choose Content Browser (or press CTRL + 4).
20. Click on the Stock Tool Catalog, and then click on the Scheduling and
Reporting Tools category.
21. Using the i-drop icon, drag the Tag tool to the AIG Test tool palette (see
Figure 7–55).
Chapter 7
Property Set Definitions and Schedule Tables
Figure 7–55 I-dropping the Tag tool to the AIG Test tool palette
22. Right-click on the new tool and choose Properties from the menu.
23. In the Tool Properties dialog box, change the name of the tool to AIG
Door Tag.
24. Click in the box for Tag Location and then browse to L:\Styles\Office
Standard Library.dwg.
25. From the Tag name list, choose: AIG Door Tag (see Figure 7–56).
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Figure 7–56 Specifying the Tag name and location
26. Click in the box next to ‘‘Property def location’’ and Browse to Office
Standard Library.dwg.
27. Click on the worksheet icon next to ‘‘Layer key,’’ choose DOORNO, and
then click OK (see Figure 7–57).
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Figure 7–57 Finishing the Tag tool
28. Double-check your settings and then click OK to return to the drawing.
29. Test the Tag by clicking the tool and selecting any Door in the plan.
30. Follow the prompts to complete the tagging routine.
31. Save the file.
The resulting Door Tag should accurately reflect the DoorNumber and the DoorSize Propeties. If you change the size of the Door, both the Schedule Table and
the Door Tag should update to reflect the new value.
The process of creating tools and palettes was covered in much greater depth in
Chapter 4 of this book. In addition to reviewing the process outlined here, Chapter 4 also includes copying the new tool to the Office Standard Tool Catalog in
Content Browser. This makes the tool accessible to all members of the project
team or the entire office. For our purposes in this chapter, we will skip this step.
Important: The preceding several exercises have been presented for instructional
purposes only. If you decide to use the out-of-the-box content, either as is or with
modifications, you should remove the custom Schedule Table Style, Property Sets and
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Door Tag Multi-View Block that were created in these steps from your office standard
style library.
EXPLORING THE OUT-OF-THE-BOX SCHEDULE TOOLS
Now that we have taken an in-depth look at the inner workings of Property Set
Definitions, Schedule Table Styles and Schedule Tags, you can explore the Schedule content that is provided with Architectural Desktop and make an educated decision as to whether or not it is appropriate for use in your organization. Out-ofthe-box content can be used as is, or depending on your specific needs, can often
be modified more quickly than creating new content from scratch. First, it is important to realize that most of the Imperial and Metric Schedule Tables provided
with ADT are fully NCS 3.1 compliant. This certainly applies to the Door Schedules that are accessible from the Scheduling tab of the Document tool palette
group and in the Content Browser libraries.
Note: Metric D A C H content is an exception, since it was developed specifically for a
region in which NCS is not typically in use.
Even though we have built a complete Door Schedule solution in this chapter, we
will now explore the out-of-the-box offerings for comparison. There are two Door
Schedules provided on the Scheduling palette—a project-based Schedule Table
and a non-project-based one. The only difference between the two Schedules is
that the project-based Schedule Table uses a DoorNumberProjectBased Property
Definition (similar to the one we built above) and is intended for use with the
Project Navigator. The other one uses a simple manual property for the Mark column instead and can be used when the Project Navigator is not being used. We
will examine the project-based Schedule here in a single drawing for simplicity and
then at the end of this chapter we will see it in the context of the full project.
EXPLORING THE DEFAULT SCHEDULE CONTENT
There are several styles included with ADT in the box. The best place to look for
the styles provided is the Content library files. There are three such files included
with the software. Look for each of these in the Styles folder of your ADT installation. You can easily navigate to the location for your default ADT content by
clicking on the Content shortcut in the Open File dialog (see Figure 7–58). You
can also locate them using the Content Browser in the Documentation Tool Catalog - Imperial and Documentation Tool Catalog - Metric catalogs.
Chapter 7
Property Set Definitions and Schedule Tables
Figure 7–58 The Content shortcut in the Select File dialog will allow you to navigate directly to the folder in which the default ADT content files are located
Schedule Table Styles (Imperial).dwg is located in Styles\Imperial.
Schedule Table Styles (Metric).dwg is located in Styles\Metric.
Schedule Tables Styles.dwg is located in the Styles\Metric D A CH\Styles folder.
Figure 7–59 Door Schedule samples provided in the AEC templates
You should take some time to explore the styles contained in each of these files before you begin customizing or building your own. You may find that one of these
table styles meets your needs as is or simply requires some minor modifications.
EXPLORE THE OUT-OF-THE-BOX DOOR SCHEDULE
1. Open the Project Based Schedule Construct.
We will continue to use the same Construct that we used above. The fact that
there is already a custom Schedule Table in the drawing with custom Property Sets
attached to the Doors will not inhibit our exploration—the out-of-the-box Schedule will use its own Property Set Definitions and will therefore ignore the ones we
created earlier.
2. Erase the Door Schedule that was placed earlier.
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3. From the Scheduling tool palette, choose the Door Schedules Project
Based tool.
4. When prompted to select objects, use a window or crossing selection to
select all objects in the drawing, and then place the Schedule below the plan.
5. Select the new Schedule, right-click and choose Add All Property Sets.
The updated Schedule Table should look like Figure 7–60. Note that there are
several objects reported that were not in the custom Schedule created earlier in this
exercise, and that there are still ‘‘?’’ marks, indicating properties that are not
attached.
Figure 7–60 The out-of-the-box project-based Door Schedule
The extra objects in the Schedule are Door/Window Assembly objects. The outof-the-box Door Schedule style is set to apply to both Doors and Door/Window
Assemblies. This can be useful for Doors that are mulled units with sidelights and/
or transoms; however, without the use of Classifications or layer filters, any Door
or Door/Window Assembly will be included in the Schedule. As discussed above,
Classifications will give the greatest degree of control and provide a more automated solution. However, for this to work properly not only do all Door and
Door/Window Assemblies need to be classified properly, but the Schedule itself
and its associated Property Sets need to be configured to apply only to those objects that are classified as exterior or interior Doors.
6. Select the Door Schedule, right-click and choose Edit Schedule Table
Style.
Chapter 7
Property Set Definitions and Schedule Tables
On the Applies To tab, verify that both Door and Door/Window Assembly
object types are selected.
7. On the right side, expand the Uniformat II Classification Definition and select
both B2030 (Exterior Doors) or C1020 (Interior Doors). (See Figure 7–61.)
Figure 7–61 Modifying the out-of-the-box Door Schedule Table Style to filter by
Classification
8. Click OK to return to the drawing.
Now only the same Doors that were reported in our custom Schedule Table from
the previous exercises should be included. However, looking at the plan, we find
that the front entry is a mulled unit. The Door that is a part of that system should
not be scheduled by itself—instead the entire Door/Window Assembly should be
included. This can be corrected by changing or removing the Classification of the
Door itself and then classifying the Door/Window Assembly as an exterior Door.
9. Select the entry Door (the Door within the Assembly, not the Assembly
itself), right-click and choose Edit Door Style.
10. On the Classifications tab, choose Unspecified for the Uniformat II
Classification and then click OK to return to the drawing.
There should now be one less Door in the Schedule.
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Tip: Because it may be necessary to create a Door style that is part of a mulled unit,
and therefore may need to be classified differently than regular Doors, you should
make Door styles that are dedicated for use in Assemblies. The out-of-the-box styles
are built this way. For example you will find styles like Double - Hinged (Frameless) being used in many out-of-the-box Assembly styles. They are not classified by default however. You will need to make this edit and resave them.
11. Select the Door/Window Assembly that contains the entry Door, right-click
and select Edit Door/Window Assembly Style.
12. On the Classifications tab, choose B2030-Exterior Doors for the
Uniformat II Classification value and then click OK to return to the drawing.
13. Select the Schedule Table, right-click and choose Selection > Add. At the
‘‘Select objects’’ prompt, select the entry Door/Window Assembly and then
press ENTER.
Important: Remember to select the Assembly and not just the Door itself.
The updated Door Schedule should look like Figure 7–62.
Figure 7–62 The Door/Window Assembly added to the Schedule, showing an error
for the Mark and a missing Thickness property
Note that the new entry shows the *Space not found* error under the MARK column, and shows a ‘‘?’’ mark in the THK column. You can move the Location grip
as in the above exercises to assign the space, however the question mark is reporting an invalid or unattached property. This is because Door/Window Assemblies
Chapter 7
Property Set Definitions and Schedule Tables
do not have a Thickness Automatic property. This can be fixed by modifying the
Property Set Data Format style being used by the Property Set Definition or by
creating a new one and assigning it to the Property Set Definition. Exploration of
the DoorObjects Property Set Definition used by the Schedule would reveal that
the Property Set Data Format style used is Length-Short. We will modify it to remove the question mark.
14. Launch the Style Manager and expand the Property Data Formats node.
Select the Length-Short Data Format style to edit it.
15. Change the value for Undefined to NA (see Figure 7–63). Click OK to
return to the drawing.
Figure 7–63 Modifying the Length-Short Property Set Data Format style
The Door Schedule should now show ‘‘NA’’ under the THK column for the entry
Assembly.
EXPLORE THE OUT-OF-THE-BOX DOOR SCHEDULE PROPERTY SET
DEFINITIONS
Let’s take a look at the underlying Property Set Definitions for this Schedule Table Style and see if there is anything else that can be improved.
16. Launch the Style Manager again and select the DoorObjects Property Set
Definition to view its contents. (Make sure you do not select AIG
DoorObjects this time.)
Note that there are several more properties in this Property Set Definition than we
added to AIG DoorObjects. There are some similarities. Examination of the NumberProjectBased property will show that it was constructed in the same way that
we created our DoorNumber property earlier. On the other hand, note that the
FireRating property is a simple Manual property and does not take advantage of
the Anchor property capabilities. Take a moment to examine some of the other
properties.
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17. Select the DoorStyles Property Set to view its contents. (Again, make sure
you don’t select AIG DoorStyles by mistake.)
This Property Set Definition is populated entirely by Manual Property Definitions. Note especially the Material Property Definition, which does not leverage
the availability of Material properties as we did in our custom Schedule earlier.
18. Click OK to return to the drawing.
19. Save and close the file.
While you certainly can build a completely custom solution as we did at the start of
the chapter, it is likely that you will find that the out-of-the-box content can be
modified to incorporate some of the ideas covered here or be simply used as is. You
should take the time to carefully consider what might be changed in the out-ofthe-box Schedule content to make your implementation more effective. In the case
of a Door Schedule, you will most likely want to make a few changes. Often, only
some minor modifications will make it perfectly usable. Remember, however, that
if you modify any out-of-the-box content, you should make sure to copy it to your
office standard library drawing and create custom palette-based tools to provide
easy access. Choose the solution that works best for your firm and your work
process.
SCHEDULES AND PROJECT WORKFLOW
One of the most important issues you will decide regarding the use of Schedule
Tables is in which file the table itself ought to be located. This is because your
choice will directly affect the workflow of your team and the methods of selection
you use to create Schedules. There are three choices: directly in the file with the
objects being scheduled, in a separate file linked through XREFs (usually a View
file in the Project Navigator), or in a completely separate file using the ability of
Schedules to link to external drawings (this is usually done in a Sheet file using the
Project Navigator). There are advantages and disadvantages to each method. It is
also possible that you might find uses for more than one approach at different
phases of a project. As with all other drawing objects, regardless of the method you
choose, final printing will occur in a Sheet file. The essential difference lies in
where the Schedule object is generated. If you are using the Project Navigator, it is
the recommendation of this book that you create your Schedules for printing in
View drawings using XREFs to populate the drawings with the geometry being
scheduled, or that you create the Schedules directly in Sheet drawings using the
link to external drawing functionality. However, you can use Schedules directly in
the drawings containing the scheduled geometry (Constructs and Elements) for
internal management, editing and informational purposes.
Chapter 7
Property Set Definitions and Schedule Tables
GENERATING SCHEDULES IN THE SAME FILE AS THE OBJECTS
If you generate a Schedule Table in the same file as the objects it reports, you can
benefit from two-way interaction between the Schedule and the objects. For instance, the Edit Table Cell command can be utilized to edit directly from the
Schedule. Additionally, the Schedule can be set to update automatically any time a
change is made to any scheduled object (see Figure 7–64). While these capabilities
are certainly desirable, the trade-off is a situation that does not lend itself well to
project-based workflows. To print Schedules created this way, you must XREF
each floor plan Model file into the Schedule Sheet file and use xclip to crop away
the floor plan. This will leave you with several Schedule objects that must be arranged manually for presentation on the Sheet. The amount of time spent in such
manipulations and the potential for error that this introduces arguably negates any
benefits gained by attempting to maintain plotted Schedules in the same drawing
as the objects that are being scheduled. Furthermore, Schedules are considered annotation and are scaled automatically when added. If you add them to Constructs,
you will violate a basic rule of Constructs, which is that Constructs should not
contain any scale-dependent annotation.
Figure 7–64 Using Edit Table Cell to directly manipulate data in the Schedule and
setting the Schedule to update automatically as objects are changed
While this method is certainly not recommended for project-based scenarios, it
can still be useful to generate ‘‘working Schedules’’ to speed data editing or as a
data checking tool. In this case, simply add a Schedule to a Construct, use Edit
Table Cell to edit values and delete it or freeze its layer when finished. It is very
important to note that deleting a Schedule does not delete the attached Property
Sets and their values!
Advantages
◗ Can directly manipulate individual cells in the Schedule Table using the Edit
Table Cell command.
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◗ Schedules can automatically update as geometry is modified.
◗ Can use any AutoCAD object selection method (like crossing or window polygon) to determine which objects are included within the Schedules.
Disadvantages
◗ Team workflow can be restricted because one individual becomes responsible
for both the Plan and the Schedule.
◗ Sheet files must be laboriously
layout.
XCLIPed
and arranged to form the final Sheet
◗ If new objects are added to the model, the Schedule Tables must be manually
shifted in the Sheet file to avoid overlapping rows of data.
◗ Introducing scale-dependent data like Schedules in Constructs can force tedious layer management that would otherwise be unnecessary.
◗ Automatic update severely degrades performance in larger files.
Recommendations
◗ Turn off Automatic Update in larger files or if you notice a lag after performing edits on geometry, and be sure that the ‘‘Out-of-Date’’ component of the
Schedule Table is turned on in Object Display.
◗ Generating a Schedule Table in the same file can be appropriate for very small
projects and teams; however, if you are using the Project Navigator, you
should generate Schedules that are to be plotted in either a View file or a
Sheet, regardless of the size of your project or team.
GENERATING SCHEDULES IN THE COMPOSITE MODEL VIEW FILE
If you generate your Schedules through XREFs, you gain the flexibility implicit in
the separation of data, and you maintain consistency with the other building model
recommendations made throughout this book. The Composite Model View file is
an appropriate location for generating Schedules through XREFs. Simply add the
Schedule directly in model space in the Composite Model View file. Be careful to
use Classifications as described earlier in this chapter to control which objects will
be included in the Schedule Table. Failing that, you can also use the layer filter
mechanism provided in the Properties palette (see Figure 7–65). Using Classifications is recommended, however, as they eliminate the possible error introduced if
an object is inadvertently placed on the wrong layer, and once a Classification is
assigned, it automatically interacts properly with the Schedule.
Chapter 7
Property Set Definitions and Schedule Tables
Figure 7–65 Adding a layer filter to limit the selection of objects included in the
Schedule
Tip: If you need to have different Schedules for each floor or wing of a building, placing
them in View files is still recommended over placing them in Constructs. Simply create
a View file for each level or division for which you need a Schedule, instead of placing
the Schedule in a Composite Model View. You can even use your existing floor plan
View files if you wish. You can also title each one separately with names such as ‘‘First
Floor Door Schedule,’’ ‘‘Second Floor Door Schedule,’’ etc. This is done on the Properties palette.
Advantages
◗ Team workflow is not restricted, because one individual can work in the
Constructs and Elements files while another generates Schedule Tables in a
View file.
◗ Sheet file setup is simplified, requiring only a one-time setup of viewports.
◗ Automatic update occurs as soon as XREFs load. The Schedule is always up
to date, without degradation in performance in the model reference files.
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◗ Edit Table Cell can be used to edit property values in the XREFs as long as
no one else is currently editing the Construct file.
◗ The scale-dependent Schedule Table is placed in the proper location with regard to Project Navigator guidelines (see Chapter 3).
◗ In a project environment, your levels and divisions will most likely be split up
among several Constructs. It is virtually impossible, in those cases, to create a
Schedule in a Construct that will contain all of the elements on a given floor
or wing. You need a View file to compile all of the geometry together in one
place and create a meaningful Schedule.
Disadvantages
◗ Editing of Property data is possible through the XREFs only if no other user is
editing the Construct file.
◗ While editing of Property data is possible through the XREFs, editing of geometry (which is reported automatically by many properties) is only possible
by opening the Construct or Element file directly.
◗ You must use either Classifications or layer filters to limit selection of objects
included in the Schedule.
◗ If the Schedule grows because of new geometry, you will potentially need to
expand the viewports in the Sheet file to accommodate the change.
Recommendations
◗ Use Classifications to control the selection of objects included in the Schedule and be diligent about classifying all objects and styles as they are created.
◗ It is recommended that all Schedules be placed in View files (or Sheets—see
below).
GENERATING SCHEDULES IN A SHEET FILE
In a project environment, you can create a Schedule Table in a Sheet file, placing it
directly in paper space. The geometry reported by the Schedule does not need to
be in the drawing at all or even XREFed. This is accomplished by utilizing the
Schedule Table’s ability to scan external drawings (see Figure 7–66). In this scenario, you create a View file that contains all of the geometry that you need in the
Schedule (either a Composite Model View or a View of a single level or division).
In the Sheet file, create the Schedule Table and set it to scan the View file. Each
time the Sheet file is opened, the Schedule will update according to any changes
that have been made in the geometry that is included in the View file—which will
be its XREFed Constructs and Elements.
Chapter 7
Property Set Definitions and Schedule Tables
Figure 7–66 Schedule Tables can scan external drawings without XREFing them
into the drawing first
WORK WITH SCHEDULES IN SHEET FILES
In this exercise we will briefly explore the use of Schedule Tables in a project environment and placing Schedule Tables directly in a Sheet file.
Before creating the Schedule, we need to eliminate the Project Based Schedule Construct from the project data, since it was used merely to experiment with some of
the more advanced Schedule and Property Set capabilities.
1. On the Project Navigator, right-click on the Project Based Schedule Construct
and choose Properties.
2. In the Modify Construct dialog, clear all Levels so that the Construct is
essentially ‘‘orphaned’’ and will not be included in any View files (see Figure
7–67). Click OK when finished.
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Figure 7–67 Clear all Level assignments for the experimental Project Based
Schedule Construct
Next we need to create the Model View from which we will extract the Schedule
data. In this project we want to create a Schedule Table that will include all Doors
from the entire Model.
3. On the Views tab of the Project Navigator, select the Architectural category,
right-click and choose New View Drawing > General from the menu.
4. On the General page of the Add General View wizard, type: 3D Model
Complete for the View Name and then click Next.
5. On the Context screen, choose all Levels and then click Next.
Chapter 7
Property Set Definitions and Schedule Tables
6. On the Content screen, verify that all Constructs are selected and then click
Finish (see Figure 7–68).
Figure 7–68 The new View should contain all Constructs in the Model
If you like, you can open the new 3D Model Complete View and verify its contents;
however, it is not necessary to do so. We can go directly to the Sheet file and
create the Schedule Table.
7. From the Sheets tab in Project Navigator, open the A-601 Schedule Sheet
beneath the Architectural\Schedules subset.
8. From the Scheduling tab of the Documentation tool palette group, click
Door Schedule Project Based.
Make sure you do not click the non-project-based Door Schedule tool by
mistake.
9. At the ‘‘Select objects’’ prompt, press ENTER to schedule an external drawing.
10. Pick a point in the upper-left area of the Sheet and press
the Schedule Table (see Figure 7–69).
ENTER
again to place
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Figure 7–69 The Door Schedule Table after being inserted into a Sheet
At this point, we have just the Schedule headers without any data. We need to edit
the properties of the Schedule and assign an external drawing file—the 3D Model
Complete View—as its source.
11. Select the Schedule Table and on the Properties palette, change the value of
‘‘Schedule external drawing’’ to Yes.
12. Click in the External drawing field, choose Browse from the pop-up menu
and then navigate to the C:\AIG 2007\Chapter07\Chaper07 Schedules &
Property Sets\Views\Architectural folder.
13. Choose the 3D Model Complete.dwg file.
14. Select the Schedule Table, right-click and choose Update Schedule Table.
After the 3D Model Complete View file is scanned, the updated Schedule Table
should look like Figure 7–70.
Figure 7–70 The completed Door Schedule Table after scanning the 3D Model
Complete View
Chapter 7
Property Set Definitions and Schedule Tables
In this example, the Schedule Table works because the following steps were taken
in the Sheet file prior to this exercise:
◗ The Door Schedule Project Based Schedule Table Style was modified in this
drawing to only include Doors and Door/Window Assemblies that have been
classified as either B2030 (Exterior Doors) or C1020 (Interior Doors) in the
model, as we did in a previous exercise.
◗ All of the Door and Door/Window Assembly styles in the Constructs have
been classified according to their purpose, again as was done in a previous
exercise.
This simple exercise illustrates the power of Classifications in a project environment, and the ease with which a Schedule Table can be created on a Sheet that
will automatically update according to any changes to the Model, by scanning the
3D Model Complete View file every time the Sheet is opened.
15. Save and close the Sheet.
Advantages
◗ Team workflow is not restricted, because one individual can work in the
Constructs and Elements files while another generates Schedule Tables in the
Sheet file.
◗ Sheet file setup is simplified, requiring no viewport setup. The Schedule is
created in paper space and can be stretched to multiple columns with the
grip.
◗ Automatic update occurs as soon as the Sheet is opened. The Schedule is always up to date, without degradation in performance in the model reference
files.
◗ In a project environment, your levels and divisions will most likely be split up
among several Constructs. It is virtually impossible, in those cases, to create a
Schedule in a Construct that will contain all of the elements on a given floor
or wing. By creating a View file that contains all of the Constructs you want
in a given Schedule, and then using the external drawing scanning capabilities
of Schedule Tables, you ensure that the Schedule is always up to date, showing all of the model information that you need, regardless of how many separate drawings it is contained in.
Disadvantages
◗ You cannot directly manipulate individual cells in the Schedule Table using the
Edit Table Cell command—you must open the external files and edit
directly.
◗ The Schedule becomes a one-way report; no direct editing of cells is possible.
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◗ You must use either Classifications or layer filters to limit selection of objects
included in the Schedule.
Recommendations
◗ Use Classifications to control the selection of objects included in the Schedule and be diligent about classifying object styles as they are created.
◗ It is recommended that all Schedules be placed in Sheet files (or View files—
see above).
GENERAL RECOMMENDATIONS FOR SCHEDULES IN A PROJECT
CONTEXT
Schedule Tables should be placed in a Sheet file, except in cases where the Schedule is too large to fit on a single Sheet. In those circumstances where a single
Schedule Table needs to span multiple Sheet files, it is best to place the Schedule
in a View file and use viewports to split the Schedule between the Sheet files.
You should tag geometry in View files. This will automatically attach the proper
Property Set Definitions in the Constructs in which the tagged geometry resides.
Do not tag or include in Schedules geometry that is located in an Element that repeats itself in different levels or divisions. While the Tags will appear correct on
multiple instances of XREFed element geometry, the Schedule data will be incorrect. If you need to Schedule Element data, you will first need to bind the Elements into their Constructs.
Remember that in the case of Location properties, even though the object may be
tagged in a View file, the properties are actually attached in the Construct. You
will need to edit the Construct to modify the Location grip. This is also true of any
automatically derived property such as width or height. You cannot simply type a
new width value. You must open the Construct and physically edit the Door (or
other object) to edit its size. The Property data and Schedule will then report the
new size once the XREFs and Schedules are updated.
Use Classification Definitions to control the selection of objects for Schedule Tables. Property Set Definitions and Schedule Tables alike should include Classification parameters in the ‘‘Applies To’’ tab where applicable. Additionally you should
maintain as a procedural standard that all geometric objects include Classification
assignments in their style definitions. The Uniformat II Classification Definition is
provided out of the box. You should include either this Classification Definition or
one that you have developed yourself in your template drawings so that they are always readily available when you are creating your objects and object styles.
Chapter 7
Property Set Definitions and Schedule Tables
UNDERSTANDING DISPLAY THEMES
In addition to their primary function of enabling Tags and Schedule Tables, Property Sets can also allow for the overriding of object display characteristics based on
their values. Display Themes are easy to configure and will allow you to convey
critical property data graphically for presentation as well as analysis purposes.
USE DISPLAY THEMES
The following short exercise will illustrate the functionality of Display Themes,
using one of the out-of-the-box Display Theme styles.
1. From Project Navigator, open the Display Themes Element in the General
Resources category.
This plan has Doors that have been tagged with the out-of-the-box Door Tag,
and have the out-of-the-box DoorObjects Property Set Definition attached.
2. From the Themes tool palette in the Documentation palette group, click the
Theme by Fire Rating tool.
3. At the ‘‘upper-left corner’’ prompt, pick a point above the plan and press
ENTER.
The corridor Walls and Doors should now be red.
4. Select the Display Theme Legend, right-click and choose Edit Display
Theme Style from the menu.
On the Design Rules tab of the Display Theme Style Properties dialog, you will
see two panels. The top panel contains the Theme Settings, which define the display settings for each condition that you want to show. The bottom panel contains
the rules for the Theme Setting that is currently selected (see Figure 7–71).
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Figure 7–71 The Display Theme style design rules
Study the rules for the ‘‘2 Hour’’ Theme Setting. This theme changes the color of
eligible objects to color 10 and uses a solid hatch pattern if applicable to the object
in question. This rule is triggered by two possible conditions shown in the lower
panel. The first condition applies if the value for the FireRating property of the
WallStyles Property Set Definition equals ‘‘2 Hour.’’ The condition also applies if
the value of the FireRating property of the DoorObjects Property is equal to ‘‘2
HOUR.’’ If either condition is true, then the properties in the rule will be applied
to the qualifying objects in the drawing.
5. Click the Cancel button to return to the drawing without making any
changes.
6. Select one of the corridor Walls, right-click and choose Edit Wall Style
from the menu.
Chapter 7
Property Set Definitions and Schedule Tables
7. On the General tab, click the Property Sets button and change the FireRating
property to ‘‘1 HOUR.’’
Note: As in the previous FireRating exercise, a List Definition limiting the choices to
only those that are valid and accounted for in the Display Theme style would be recommended here.
8. Click OK twice to return to the drawing.
The corridor Walls should turn yellow (Color 41), because the FireRating property
is now meeting the requirements for the 1 HOUR Display Theme Setting instead.
The Doors, however, are still red, because in the out-of-the-box DoorObjects
Property Set Definition, FireRating is a Manual property. If you choose to use a
Property Set for Doors that uses an Anchor property (as we did at the start of the
chapter) to assign the Door Fire Rating, they can change automatically when the
Walls are changed.
You can also disable Display Themes when you don’t want them to override object
display.
9. Select the Display Theme Legend, right-click and choose Disable Display
Theme from the menu.
The plan should return to its normal display. To re-enable the Display Theme, all
you need to do is to right-click it again and choose Apply Display Theme from
the menu.
10. Close the drawing without saving.
Note: Display Themes are view-specific, so you can apply a Display Theme in one
viewport while leaving another viewport unaffected or assigned to a different Display
Theme even though it might be showing the same geometry.
CD RESOURCES
The modified Project Based Door Schedule, using Classifications to filter object
selection, is included in the Chapter07 folder of the files from the CD. Modified
DoorObjects and DoorStyles Property Set Definitions, also using Classifications,
and a modified Length - Short Property Data Format are also included. They are
located in the file Modified Schedules and Property Sets.dwg. If you wish to use them
as part of your office standard content, you will need to copy them all to your
L:\Styles\Office Standard Library.dwg file. You will also need to create new palette-based tools and place them in your catalog (see Chapter 4 for the procedure
for doing this). Finally, you will want to use the steps outlined earlier in this chap-
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ter to create a new project-based Door Tag, since the existing Door Tag tools will
continue to reference the original unmodified Property Set Definitions.
Also included in the Chapter07 folder of the files from the CD are the Automatic
Schedule Properties.xls file and the Property Set Defs Worksheet.xls files covered at the
beginning of this chapter, for your reference and to assist you with any custom
Property Set Definitions that you decide to create.
PROPERTY SET AND SCHEDULE TABLE CHECKLIST
I. General
1. Review and test all out-of-the-box Schedule Tables that apply to your
work. Inventory their Property Set Definitions and Property Data
Formats.
2. Develop a list, using the Property Set Defs Worksheet.xls file (included with
the files from the CD) of any properties that you want to change.
3. Put in place any underlying content items that are necessary in order to
fully implement your changes.
a. If you want to use Material Codes to automate the Material columns
in any Schedule Tables, build the Material Code Property Set
Definition and attach it to all of your Office Standard Material
Definitions.
b. If you want to use Anchor Properties, allow for the appropriate
Properties to be attached to the host objects (most likely Walls). You
may want to consider a Wall style-based Property Definition that is
attached to all Wall styles that the Anchor property will ‘‘link to.’’
c. Make sure you have a Classifications Definition loaded into your
template that will work with your customizations. The Uniformat II
Classifications Definition is provided with the out-of-the-box content
and may suit your purposes fine for most items.
II. Property Set Definitions
1. Perform the steps in the ‘‘Property Set Definition Preparation Checklist’’
earlier in this chapter.
a. Procure a sketch of the Schedule you wish to create.
b. Assign dimensions to all major columns and components. (This will be
used later.)
c. Determine which columns ought to be style-based and which should
be object-based.
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d. For each column, decide what type of property each piece of data
should be.
e. Determine the Property Data Formats and other special formatting
required (see below).
f. Using this compiled information, build the Property Set Definition(s).
2. Make sure you have all of the Property Data Formats you need within
the drawing. If necessary, build or import them.
3. Decide on a Property Set Definition naming convention. It is the
recommendation of this book that if you create a custom Property Set
Definition, that you prefix it with your organization name or abbreviation,
then indicate the object type the Property Set Definition applies to,
followed by ‘‘Styles’’ or ‘‘Objects,’’ depending upon whether it is an
object-based or style-based Property Set Definition. You should refer to
the Content Creation Guidelines in the ADT Help files for more naming
convention guidance.
4. Work in a temporary file to build Property Set Definitions and later
import them into your Office Standard Library.dwg file.
5. Use at most two Property Set Definitions per Schedule Table Style that
you need, one Property Set Definition for object-based, the other for
style-based.
6. Add or modify the required properties.
7. Update your Office Standard Library.dwg file with your new or modified
Property Sets.
8. Open any style libraries that require style-based Property Sets and attach
them on the General tab of the style editor.
III. Schedule Table Styles
1. Import a Schedule Table Style that is close to the one you wish to use.
2. Configure all formatting and be sure that the Applies To tab information
matches the Property Set Definition(s) you plan to use.
3. Add or modify columns and headers.
IV. Schedule Tags
1. Use the procedures covered in this chapter to create a new Schedule
Tag in a working drawing.
2. Copy the Tag Multi-View Block Definition into your Office Standard
Library.dwg file.
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3. Using the procedures covered in the ‘‘Understanding Schedule Tags’’
section of this chapter, build a palette-based Tag tool.
V. Display Themes
1. Build or modify any Display Theme styles that you would like, based on
your Office Standard Property Set Definitions.
2. Copy the Display Theme styles to your Office Standard Library.dwg file.
3. Create palette-based tools for your Display Theme styles and copy them
to your Office Standard tool catalog using the procedures covered in
Chapter 4.
VI. Test Components and Distribute the Tools to Your Office
1. Test all components. The easiest way to do this is to create a new
drawing based on your Office Standard (Model).dwt drawing template,
generate some sample geometry, then tag it and create a Schedule.
2. Using the procedures covered in Chapter 4, copy your Schedule and Tag
tools to your Office Standard tool catalog.
Chapter 7
Property Set Definitions and Schedule Tables
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SUMMARY
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Property Sets provide the data link to both Schedule Tables and Schedule
Tags.
Schedule Tables and Schedule Tags work independently; one does not require the other to function, but both require Property Sets.
Property Set Definitions can be either object-based or style-based, but not
both at the same time.
Property Set Definitions can include a variety of Automatic property types
and Manual Properties.
You should try to limit the quantity of Property Sets referenced by a Schedule Table to two or fewer.
List Definitions can be used to limit the possible values for Manual
properties.
Pre-planning makes the creation of Schedule Table components much
easier.
Before creating new Property Sets and Schedule Tables from scratch, you
should inventory the out-of-the-box content and look for Schedule Tables
and Property Sets that can either be used as is or with modifications.
There are advantages and disadvantages to adding Schedule Tables in the
same file or remotely through XREF.
In a project-based context, you should always create your plotted Schedule
Tables in either a View drawing or a Sheet file.
Classification Definitions should be used to control object selection in
Schedule Tables and Property Sets.
Schedule Tags are Multi-View Blocks that use Tag Anchors to link data to
their internal attributes.
Display Themes allow you to override display settings for a view to illustrate
Property data in a graphical fashion.
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