Type Catalogue Creator

[polyporter]

I was wondering if anyone has developed a type catalogue creator program. I found one online, you can google FARDesigner, but the problem with them is they require way too much company info before they let you try it. I would like it to work like the Keynote Manager program that I found last year (great program for keynotes by the way). I wish I knew how to program applications because the manual way of creating the text file in Excel and then exporting is somewhat time consuming.

Any ideas?

[Gadget Man]

I was wondering if anyone has developed a type catalogue creator program. I found one online, you can google FARDesigner, but the problem with them is they require way too much company info before they let you try it. I would like it to work like the Keynote Manager program that I found last year (great program for keynotes by the way). I wish I knew how to program applications because the manual way of creating the text file in Excel and then exporting is somewhat time consuming.

Any ideas?

Why in the world one would like to simplyfy any further already so simple procedure of creation type catalogues? I create them almost every day and I simply do them as I go... Copy and paste, find and replace - the basic tools of any word processor...

By the way, I find the Keynote Manager a good tool - when it actually works...Unless we talk about different tools... For me it created more headache time and time again then it was worth it. Countless times I opened just edited keynote file only to find that most of it... disappeared... So many times I had to re-create it from the back-up files that finally I gave up... I don't know what I was doing wrong but I simply closed the file (by closing the Keynote Manager - since there is NO function to save the file in it) and re-opened it and 75% of the file was missing... Or after closing it in KM I re-imported it to Revit and... same thing - most of it was NOT there... Or even after opening it in a Word Pad, still majority of my entries would be missing... Now I simply use Excel to edit it and don't even bother with KM... Pity, because I really liked it - for a while...

[Scott Womack]

I was wondering if anyone has developed a type catalogue creator program.

You really don't need one. Simply use Excel. When you gst the lines you want, then do a Save As to "Other Formats", pull the "File Type" list down, and near the bottom is CSV (MS-DOS). Save it as this file type, and then through the My Computer, rename it to a TXT file. I'd probably check it is Notepad, because, it may place a bunch of commas at the end, depending upon how you format the original Excel file.

Excel is great because it will keep the columns straight vertically, making it easier to get the data in for complicated families.

[polyporter]

You really don't need one. Simply use Excel. When you gst the lines you want, then do a Save As to "Other Formats", pull the "File Type" list down, and near the bottom is CSV (MS-DOS). Save it as this file type, and then through the My Computer, rename it to a TXT file. I'd probably check it is Notepad, because, it may place a bunch of commas at the end, depending upon how you format the original Excel file.

Excel is great because it will keep the columns straight vertically, making it easier to get the data in for complicated families.

Ya this is exactly how I've been going about it. Just curious if someone has taken the time to develop an app to handle this sort of thing. As far as keynote manager, my office switched over a ton of keynotes from CAD to Revit with this tool and only had a couple hickups at first.

[cporter.207875]

By the way, I find the Keynote Manager a good tool - when it actually works...Unless we talk about different tools... For me it created more headache time and time again then it was worth it. Countless times I opened just edited keynote file only to find that most of it... disappeared...

Same thing happens to use when we use KM. I thought it might have something to do with our replication software, since our Shared Parameters file tends to zero out from time to time.

[BDR_Architect]

Or after closing it in KM I re-imported it to Revit and... same thing - most of it was NOT there...

Word of advice, never re-import your Keynote file into a Revit file that already has keynotes placed. you will lose them all. The way to get Revit to "re-recognize" you changes to the keynote file is the close the file and reopen it.

[cporter.207875]

Word of advice, never re-import your Keynote file into a Revit file that already has keynotes placed. you will lose them all. The way to get Revit to "re-recognize" you changes to the keynote file is the close the file and reopen it.

This is not true. Only happens if you change the values of keynotes that have already been placed. Even closing and re-opening the file won't save you from that headache.