View Poll Results: Do you want to have custom keynote database paths stored by drawing?

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  • Yes, I definitely need this.

    2 40.00%
  • This would be useful.

    0 0%
  • Nice idea, but I would not use it.

    2 40.00%
  • No, this is not needed, please work on another feature.

    0 0%
  • This can already be done.

    1 20.00%
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Thread: Customizable keynote databases

  1. #1
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    Default Customizable keynote databases

    Summary: Custom keynote databases can be created for each project to tailor the annotation choices to include only the materials and notes pertinent to that project. The path to the database is a variable stored with the drawing file.

    Description: Currently the path to the keynote database is stored globally under Tools>Options>AEC Content>Keynote Databases: Add/Remove. Each time a drawing in a different project is opened, the user must manually reset the path to the location of the customized database. It would be more useful to have the path variable saved with the drawing file.

    How used: The list of reference notes can be customized for each project from a master database. Notes referencing materials not used on a project are deleted from the project database. When annotating drawings, users can choose text from a drop-down list that is tailored to that project. For instance, if the project is a wood frame house with a metal roof and wood siding, the database is modified to eliminate components that are not used on the project, such as steel framing and built-up roofing. A Tool Palette button can be created for annotation that allows the user to draw a leader then pops up a drop-down list of material notes from which to select. This leads to increased efficiency, continuity of language, and fewer mistakes.

    Feature Affinity: AEC Content, Keynote Annotation Tool

  2. #2
    Time Lord Steve_Bennett's Avatar
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    Default Re: Customizable keynote databases

    Provided you are using Project Navigator (PN) (which hopefully you are) - this can already be done. If you are not using PN, then perhaps this will give you the push needed to implement it.
    Steve Bennett |BIM Manager
    Taylor Design | Adventures in BIM

  3. #3
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    Default Re: Customizable keynote databases

    Steve,

    Thanks for your response. I will have to take your word for it. We did give the Project Navigator/Sheet Set concept a trial run when it first came out but found it to be overly complex and too restrictive for the way we manage our projects. As a further (hopefully constructive) criticism, the help files and tutorials that were produced to go along with those features were nearly impossible to follow - we have several very smart, very experienced AutoCAD/ADT users on our staff who tried and failed to comprehend them. Maybe after it goes through a couple of generations of tweaks we will give it another try.

    In the meantime, it seems like it would be an easy improvement to simply recode the path variable for the keynote database location to be stored with the drawing file as so many other path variables are.

  4. #4
    Time Lord Steve_Bennett's Avatar
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    Default Re: Customizable keynote databases

    You make a valid point, however PN has gone thru some great changes since it's appearance in 2004. The 2007 release of it includes many options users have requested over the past few iterations. If 2004 was the first release, I don't blame you for not taking to it that well. If you are doing production housing (i.e.: development tracts with 4 or 5 different units and using different fronts for each plan), then PN is not exactly suited for that - it can be used for that, one just needs to be inventive. Also, many companies are revisiting there existing standards to see if they need to be changed to take advantage of new software features that did not exist 5-10 years ago when they were developed.

    So are you thinking of something similar to the xref box that stores one or more project keynote databases? That could work, but I don't know if that could be done on the current file format. It might need a change in format which would mean it wouldn't happen until the release of 2010 (spring of 2009). Even though Autodesk products are on a yearly release cycle, development of new features is still typically a 2 year process.
    Steve Bennett |BIM Manager
    Taylor Design | Adventures in BIM

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    Default Re: Customizable keynote databases

    You are being more ambitious than we are on this wish - for what we need it doesn't have to be as dynamic as the Xref Manager. What we want is for the path to the keynote database location to be stored as a variable associated with the drawing file, not as an ADT setting. Then when the _AecDtlAnnoLeaderAdd command is called, it would reference that variable so that different databases could be accessed for drawings on multiple projects during the same ADT session without having to change the path every time you switch drawings.

  6. #6
    Time Lord Steve_Bennett's Avatar
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    Default Re: Customizable keynote databases

    Quote Originally Posted by tlea.114548
    You are being more ambitious than we are on this wish - for what we need it doesn't have to be as dynamic as the Xref Manager. What we want is for the path to the keynote database location to be stored as a variable associated with the drawing file, not as an ADT setting. Then when the _AecDtlAnnoLeaderAdd command is called, it would reference that variable so that different databases could be accessed for drawings on multiple projects during the same ADT session without having to change the path every time you switch drawings.
    Gotchya. So you are looking for something real simple - basic command line entry, possibly something that could be set by a startup script.
    Steve Bennett |BIM Manager
    Taylor Design | Adventures in BIM

  7. #7
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    Default Re: Customizable keynote databases

    Yes, very simple.

    Here is an example: When you open drawing A, the variables defining LTSCALE, DIMSTYLE, etc. are saved with the drawing. Open drawing B from a different project and it may have different settings for LTSCALE, DIMSTYLE, etc. Switch between the two - you don't have to change anything, but the settings for each drawing remain different.

    Now substitute "Keynote Database" for LTSCALE in the sentences above and you will see where we are trying to get to.

    That way the list of reference notes can be edited by the specification writer to correspond to the components and materials for each individual project and the user interface with the architects and designers doing the drawings is seamless, uniform, and clear.

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