"Multiple" copy function

[patricks]

How is the "multiple" function when copying "remembered" by Revit? It seems like I have to turn it on for some things, and then it will stay on for future copies of certain things, but then other things it seems like Revit forgets it was on. Sometimes it seems like it's a by-view thing, other times it doesn't. Behavior seems rather random.

[gbrowne]

You don't use the "Control" button to add, or am I missing something?

[patricks]

No I mean when you copy something, there is the option to make multiple copies (copy placed each time you click, until you hit Esc or cancel), but there doesn't seem to be any method or pattern as to what keeps that option selected or unselected.

I know there is an entry in the Revit.ini file for the Chain function for drawing lines, walls, 2-pick components, etc. That function is always consistent. If you turn it off, it stays off until you turn it on again, and vice versa, ALWAYS.

The Multiple copies option, on the other hand, doesn't seem to behave this way.

[wmullett]

The "multiple" switch uses your last setting .. either on or off. At least it was through 2009.

[patricks]

Not for me it doesn't, never has since I started using Revit on version 6.1. When I first launch Revit, I always have to toggle on the Multiple option manually when I first copy something when I need multiple copies. Then throughout the day I will have to toggle it again for various other things - be it in other views, other view types, detail vs. model items. I just don't know what the pattern is.

The "chain" toggle, on the other hand, stays put no matter what. Even after closing and re-opening Revit, it remembers the setting because it's in the Revit.ini file: Chain=YES or NO or something like that.

More often than not, I need multiple copies of an item. That's why I wish it would actually remember how you set it with consistency.

[wmullett]

I just tried it agin and it works exactly as I said and I remember it always working that way. Mine uses the last setting ... even after using other commands in-between copy functions.

[cliff collins]

Instead of trying to find a setting in a piece of code, why not just check the box
for multiple--takes maybe a couple of milliseconds? And, quite often, I find I DO NOT
want it to make multiple copies--and I think it's worth the tiny extra moment to decide
what you want to do before you do it.........

IMHO, this sort of thing is not a budget breaker or huge efficiency issue.


just my 2 cents worth

cheers....

[patricks]

I just tried it agin and it works exactly as I said and I remember it always working that way. Mine uses the last setting ... even after using other commands in-between copy functions.

Yes I know, most of the time it stays as I have set it. It's just at random times throughout each day I find that it's not set the way I had it set.

And it does make me waste time whenever I expect to get multiple copies (because I had it set that way before) and instead only get one. Then I have to select the element and start the copy function again and make sure Multiple is checked once again. This happens several times a day.

[dgreen.49364]

The only time I have ever had to re-set the multiple copy is if I close Revit and re open it.

[jsteinhauer]

Just a guess or three, but it might turn itself off when you switch between a project & a family. Or, between projects. It might also have timed out, and when it reacquired a license tripped it back off.

Jeff S.

[andremiko]

Isn't one a multiple? Simple math. Why does the multiple button exist? In AutoCAD I used a lisp routine to copy multiple instead of just copy. Never had to think if I was copying once or numerous times.

[patricks]

*sigh* Revit 2014 is STILL exhibiting this behavior. I have been working in the same project file all day long today. Working on nothing but wall section details all day, and so I've been copying stuff A LOT! And yet I have had to check that Multiple box when copy probably 10 times today. What gives??

[Steve_Stafford]

I find Revit remembers what I selected previously. It does the same in 2015 too. If I forget to turn it off I just tap ESC once I've made one copy. Need to try to see what action you take that it stops remembering. Then again maybe you aren't remembering whether you selected it or not ;)

[patricks]

No, I NEVER de-select the Multiple copy function (I guess I wasn't clear on that in my OP and yesterday's post). That's one of those things where I set it and (try to) forget it. I select it, and expect it to stay selected throughout the day.

Yet still I had to select it over and over and over again yesterday.

[Steve_Stafford]

Must be something triggering the reset. Once I've checked it, it stays that way until I un-check it later. I'll have to see if I notice it getting unchecked at all.

A thought just occurred to me. With AutoCAD, LISP routines often would reset system variables to allow for the application to do its thing. Good programmers would capture the current value for the things they needed to alter and reset them when the app finished up. Other programmers wouldn't bother or didn't think of it so we'd run a LISP routine and find our settings out of whack afterward.

All that to say, maybe an application you have is resetting it when you use it?

[jsteinhauer]

Patrick,

Is your INI file in a location in which the user (you) don't have write permissions?

Just a thought,
Jeff S.

[patricks]

Nope, it's in the usual location ProgramData\Autodesk\RAC 2014\UserDataCache in which the Administrators group on my machine (which I am in) has full control.

Also I haven't been running any external tools or plug-ins, especially not since I just did a fresh 2014 SP2 install on my machine when I replaced the hard drive just a few weeks ago.

[Steve_Stafford]

Any chance you ran a beta side by side at some point? I did that with the last couple beta's and 2014 refused to save my regular list of templates. I'd add them and the next time I launched Revit...gone. It was as if the .INI file was locked, not letting me save even though I was an admin too. I was planning a clean rebuild of my laptop with 8.1 anyway to I didn't worry about it. Finally got that rebuild done, no problems since (well not Revit problems...two SSD hard drives later I'm up an running).

[DaveP]

Other programmers wouldn't bother or didn't think of it so we'd run a LISP routine and find out settings out of whack afterward.

Oh boy, does THAT bring back memories!
I use to work at a firm where we had several people writing LISP routines.
As you say, Steve, most people would restore settings, but one guy was notorious for not playing well with others.
Once upon a time, I spent MONTHS trying to debug one of my routines, and I couldn't find a THING wrong with it. I could not get it to crash, but several people in the real world had it crash constantly.
After months and months of tearing my hair out, I finally started casting a wider net, and I finally realized that my LISP routine only crashed after people had been using one of Garry's routines.

Digging into his routine, I found that his standard procedure for WHILE statements was to test (WHILE T (do stuff))
Then, when he wanted to break out of it, he would (SETQ T nil). :shock:

So, effectively, he would globally set True to False and then crash out of his LISP routine.
Which would then leave TRUE set equal to FALSE for everything else in that AutoCAD session.
Made it kind of hard to do any testing when True = False. :banghead:

[patricks]

lol wow, that LISP stuff is WAY over my head! :p

[Steve_Stafford]

But Dave, True IS equal to FALSE ;)

[MikeJarosz]

he would globally set True to False and then crash out of his LISP routine.


It's not over my head :lol:

Looks like this guy is not afraid of infinite loops. 'While' is a dangerous command. This guy is an example of what I call a "hobbyist" programmer. Their work is quick and dirty, and they trash the environment before they exit. They never test for errors (because they never happen, right?). They don't know what overflow or underflow is, AND THEY USE THE GOTO COMMAND!!!!!!!!! I have seen programs that accept user input exactly as entered. The user is never wrong, right?

They should never be allowed to distribute their programs throughout an office. Modern programming languages go to great lengths to prevent this sort of stuff. LISP is unfortunately not a modern language, at least not as implemented by Acad. In the 15 years I was an Acad IT tech, I deliberately never learned LISP. I used VBA instead, and even VBA had its shortcomings.

Programming requires a special mindset. Extreme attention to detail is needed, well beyond the average person's patience for staying with a challenge. I know more than one person who quits if they don't get it right the first time.

There is a reason code authors are depicted as nerds. Because it is a job requirement!

[patricks]

I dabbled in DOS BASIC when I was a kid in the late 80's, but that didn't last very long at all. I don't know any programming languages except for a bit of HTML which is probably quite rusty. But if I took the time to learn I'd bet I would be good at it. My attention to detail is unmatched in my office :lol: when I'm "programming" a family I will think up of ways to control stuff with formulas. And then I'll try and try and try again to make it work until it finally does work.

[jsteinhauer]

when I'm "programming" a family I will think up of ways to control stuff with formulas. And then I'll try and try and try again to make it work until it finally does work.

I try to work the other way, by making it work, then trying to break it. Not that I haven't gotten myself into things beyond my skill level, but that it what you all are for. ;)

Cheers,
Jeff S.