Ease Adding Multiple Properties Referencing Same Automatic Property Source

[dkoch]

Summary: I would like to be able to add an automatic property to a Property Set Definition referencing an automatic property source that is already referenced by another property in that Property Set Definition, using the default property name, without having to temporarily rename the existing property.

Description: Currently, if you try to add a second reference to an automatic property source when the first reference uses the default name, a new property is not created. You have to [temporarily]rename the first reference, add the new property, rename the new property and then rename the original property back to the original name. It would be more efficient to be able to directly add a second instance, with the default name having " (2)" appended, similar to what happens when copying a style or definition in Style Manager. This default name could then be changed, if desired, making the process more streamlined. A dialog offering the user the opportunity to enter a name, with a default value of "[defaultname] (2)" would be ideal, but having to change the value after creation would work just as well.

How Used: Often Property Set Definitions are created and populated with automatic properties that have a Property Data Format that assigns imperial architectural formatting to real numbers or adds a non-numeric prefix or suffix. Many of the out-of-the-box Property Set Definitions have such properties. Later on, a formula property is added and needs to use the numeric value of one or more of those automatic properties, without the formatting, so a second reference to the same automatic property source needs to be created. Being able to do so without renaming the original reference twice would make the process much more efficient.

Feature Affinity: Property Set Definitions.