2008 Layer Manager Questions

[charlesjueb]

Ok so the Layer Manager for 2006 was very nice, so why did they change it in 2008?? Well here is my problem. In 2006 if I had an Xreff in the drawing, and i wanted to manipulate the layers from that Xreff, it was easy to do. I would select the layer state i wanted to edit, and then select "edit". The "Layers Property Manager would pop up. From there I could select the Xreff, and then only that Xreff layers would show up, and I could easily edit the layers in the drawing. Now in 2008, when I hit "edit" it opens up the "Layers Property Manager", but it doesn't show the Xreff's, it just list's all the layers for the whole drawing, making editing very difficult. Can anyone give me a few suggestions, or point out what I'm missing, if anything.

[leothebuilder]

In 2008 you can filter layers by xref as well.
In the left pane of the layer dialog, just highlight the xref and in the right pane it will display only just those xref layers.

[CADDmanVA]

There is also a setting (under settings in the Layer Manager) to have the filter applied to the layer pull down menu. Very handy if you have a lot of layers, but only need some of them most of the time. Oh, and if you're using the Dashboard, you will have the ability to select the current layer filter on the fly without using the Layer Manager.

[Richard.Kent]

Ok so the Layer Manager for 2006 was very nice, so why did they change it in 2008?? Well here is my problem. In 2006 if I had an Xreff in the drawing, and i wanted to manipulate the layers from that Xreff, it was easy to do. I would select the layer state i wanted to edit, and then select "edit". The "Layers Property Manager would pop up. From there I could select the Xreff, and then only that Xreff layers would show up, and I could easily edit the layers in the drawing. Now in 2008, when I hit "edit" it opens up the "Layers Property Manager", but it doesn't show the Xreff's, it just list's all the layers for the whole drawing, making editing very difficult. Can anyone give me a few suggestions, or point out what I'm missing, if anything.

It almost sounds as if you don't have the Filter Tree showing on the left side of the layer manager. If not, right click beside any layer name, pick Show Filter Tree. Now the xrefs filter will automatically be there, expand that, then pick any xref.

Hope that helps.

[guitarchitect7]

There is also a setting (under settings in the Layer Manager) to have the filter applied to the layer pull down menu. Very handy if you have a lot of layers, but only need some of them most of the time. Oh, and if you're using the Dashboard, you will have the ability to select the current layer filter on the fly without using the Layer Manager.

I would like to chime in regarding this. I have already created a toolbar that creates layers based on the need of the drafter (elevation, electrical, floor plan), but as they add more, the list obviously becomes larger and harder to find within the drop down layer manager. By what you stated here, could I save layer states based on the catagories listed above so that then the users have the ability to select to only see an electrical layer state, floor plan layer state, etc?

It seems that I could if I think about it right. Since I already know what my layers would be before hand, I should then be able to save a layer state containing those layers, then just use a lisp or macro to import the layer state that pertains to the layer group they are trying to create. Right?

[CADDmanVA]

I would like to chime in regarding this. I have already created a toolbar that creates layers based on the need of the drafter (elevation, electrical, floor plan), but as they add more, the list obviously becomes larger and harder to find within the drop down layer manager. By what you stated here, could I save layer states based on the catagories listed above so that then the users have the ability to select to only see an electrical layer state, floor plan layer state, etc?

It seems that I could if I think about it right. Since I already know what my layers would be before hand, I should then be able to save a layer state containing those layers, then just use a lisp or macro to import the layer state that pertains to the layer group they are trying to create. Right?

Ya, spot on! That is exactly what I did with our templates. I have six layer filters built in, one for each layer discipline in our Standard. The rules for a typical filter would look like this (using civil as an example...

CADDMAN-C-*
0
defpoints
CADDMAN-G-XCON <= this is my construction layer

Applying this filter will only show layers from the civil discipline plus 0, defpoints, and my construction layer.

[guitarchitect7]

Ya, spot on! That is exactly what I did with our templates. I have six layer filters built in, one for each layer discipline in our Standard. The rules for a typical filter would look like this (using civil as an example...

CADDMAN-C-*
0
defpoints
CADDMAN-G-XCON <= this is my construction layer

Applying this filter will only show layers from the civil discipline plus 0, defpoints, and my construction layer.

Thanks, I feel smarter already. Well, until I do something really stupid!