Fields in Sheet Set Manager

[Anonymous]

All,

I wanted to see if any of you Gurus out there could take a moment and show me something. I'm trying to figure it out on my own here, but need some help. Basically, I want to get the sheet set to automatically label in my title block the TOTAL sheets of the sheetset. I have a field within each drawing for the current page number of the sheetset, that is an easy one, what is hard is how do I code the second field to display the LAST page of the sheetsets page number?

Example: 

My text looks like this: Page 4 / 10. Say I have 10 sheets, all in the sheetset and numbered. What I have done in the past is set the first page number to Current Sheet Page Number, but in each sheet set the second part to the last page number, in this case sheet 10. The problem comes later if I add in a sheet or two, to push the total sheets to say 12, I would then have to go through each sheet individually to change that last page component to sheet 12 instead of 10.

Is there an easy way (and Im sure there is) to just set that last field to automatically reference the page number of the final sheet in the sheetset, no matter if it changes or not? How do you do it?

Thanks, guys. Appreciate it.

[Jeff_M · Accepted solution]

I use the Sheet Set Custom Properties and add an entry for TotalSheets. Then I can use this in a field in the Title Block. The only downside is that if the # of sheets change, I have to manually change this property.

[Joe-Bouza]

Cant be done without third party or personal coding. I have looked at several 3rd party add-ons for SSM and everyone of them require the user to pull a trigger to update total sheets. Jeff method is how I do it and how 3rd parties identify for update.

For my money JTB world is very good and his interface is quite clear: GO HERE

[Lisa_Pohlmeyer]

I do the same as Jeff, and for our money, we use SincPac tools.  http://www.quuxsoft.com/

[Anonymous]

Thanks! I knew you could create a custom property, it just slipped my mind. That solution works fine, but it would be nice if there was a field that would jsut read the last sheets' number of the sheetset. Oh well.

[tcorey]

One reason you might not want SSM to read the number of sheets or a "Last Sheet Number" is that you might have different subsets within the same Sheet Set, each subset having it's own separate numbering scheme.

[Anonymous]

---

@tcorey wrote:

One reason you might not want SSM to read the number of sheets or a "Last Sheet Number" is that you might have different subsets within the same Sheet Set, each subset having it's own separate numbering scheme.

---

But then if that was the case, you would do the as described method anyway. Having it reference the final sheet would be sweet.

[MarySeufert]

I'll offer up another option...

When inserting the field, under Field names: select 'Sheet Set'. Make sure correct sheet set is being referenced, then under Sheet navigation tree: select the last sheet in your set. Then select under Property: "SheetNumber".

This only works out perfectly if your last sheet never changes, otherwise you would have to edit the field and select the 'new' last sheet. Or use Saveas and Rename & renumber to your advantage to manipulate that sheet to always be the last.

~ Mary

[Anonymous]

I have this loaded on startup:

(setq AcadObj (vlax-get-Acad-Object))
(setq DocCol (vla-get-Documents AcadObj))
(setq DirPath (getvar "dwgprefix"))
(setq DwgList (vl-directory-files DirPath "*.dwg" 1))
(setvar "useri3"  (length dwglist))
(setq DwgList (vl-sort DwgList '<))
(setvar "useri4" (vl-position (getvar "dwgname") DwgList))
(setvar "useri4" (+ 1 (getvar "useri4")))

Then in the mtext I use this:

%<\AcDiesel $(getvar,useri4)" " of " "$(getvar,useri3)>%

Depending on your file naming, it might work and might not.

[nonbeard13]

Where i work - we xref in the company title block.

i type in the total number of sheets in the title block drawing and use fields for the current sheet number and drawing name on each sheet.

if the total number of sheets changes you have to update the cover sheet index and i just open the title block drawing and make on number change.

as i open each drawing in the set the drawing automaticly reloads the revised title block and the sheet numbers work.

[cwitzel]

We also use Xrefs for the title block and that is where the Total number of sheets resides.  It was just easier to manage there.  

If I remember correctly we had to change the field  on every sheet for every project to reference the correct Sheet Set.  Just seemed easier to change once per project.  The Current Sheet field did not need to be change in the template.

My two cents.

[Joe-Bouza]

Hi Conan

if you had to change it in every sheet then the field was defined as local. Fields in SSM can be defined as Local or Global. A Total_Count field should be defined as Global. Then no one needs to open a drawing to update.

To each his own. If I don't have to open a drawing file to manipulate values all the better for me

[MarySeufert]

In the four years since this question was asked, I have further refined my SSM last sheet number preferred practice. I do not use 3rd party apps or custom properties. The last sheet number still is a field that references down thru the sheet set to a 'SheetNumber' property.

Very simply I create a dummy "last" sheet with zero contents, just a placeholder. I use the method I outlined earlier, but I no longer have to worry about the less experienced peeps messing everything up but creating a new sheet at the end of the set. The dummy sheet just keeps getting demoted and its SSM 'number' is a duplicate of the actual last sheet in the set.  This method works well with a project having subsets as unique sets of plans, each plan set gets its own dummy last sheet. Pretty fool proof.

Keep it simple

[cwitzel]

What do you do about the dummy sheet in the Sheet List Table?

I may revisit the "Global vs local"  We have been doing it with xrefs for many years.

Conan

[Joe-Bouza]

The Sheet List Table can be edited as desired. unlock, add delete rows, cells ...

[MarySeufert]

Typically, I will create a subset for the dummy sheet. When inserting the sheet list table, you can exclude that subset. Then SSM will still track and add any new sheets added in the rest of the selected subsets.

[Joe-Bouza]

Pretty clever Mary. kudos

[cwitzel]

Joe,

How do I make something like this "global".  

Wouldn't this be dependent on the "Active Sheet Set".  At least at my office we work on several projects a day.  

I seem to remember issues, been a long time though, and I am always open to new ideas.  

I like Mary's solution as well, but have a feeling we will stick with xref's, as the users are used to it, and it only happens a couple of times per project.

Thinking about it though, I guess I am confused again.  How can this work in a template without having to change the sheet reference to the field in every project?  It isn't referencing "Current Sheet Number", rather something sheet set dependent.

I have all of my plot sheets as drawings, with all layer settings the way we want them and relative references to the title block drawing.  The only fields are the "Current Sheet" number.  (XXXX before it is part of a sheet set)

I am somehow missing how this works.

Thanks,

Conan

[Joe-Bouza]

Hi Conan

A lot of what I am about to suggest is completely workflow dependent, but first, you should have this document. It is a few years old but is still valid for leveraging SSM. >>>SHEETS HAPPEN<<<

Custom fields can be created in SSM. when creating custom fields SSM ask you "are they sheet fields" ; i.e. LOCAL or "are they sheetset fields" i.e. GLOBAL.  Sheet fields are only recognized in the current sheet and SheetSet fields are recognized in the entire set. When you create any of these fields they now will show up in the SSM properties dialog for editing. This is what I meant by I'd prefer to edit the contents of a sheet without opening a drawing file. 

Mary's idea is clever but hast the added baggage of carrying this extra "blind" sheet in the Sheet list.

I created a CustomSheetSet field called DWG_Count and in multi discipline cases I may have several <Dicipline>DWG_Count. This allows anyone to administer the drawing list numbers without opening drawings. I'm not selling anything but fro 50 bucks Jimmy Berkmans SheetSetProperties editor is something I cant live without. With this tool, the entire drawing list can be administered outside of acad altogether.  for example: With this tool you you can renumber an entire set of 100's... and more sheets in seconds. That warrants repeating "SECONDS". with this tool you can find and replace entries in fields in ... Seconds. 

That at JTBWorld.com

Adding "global' items into the xref border is a completely viable means of administering the content. I still do it too, but when I can leverage the fields I do.

[MarySeufert]

The tools Joe recommends are great and I would have used them if possible. Unfortunately for me the older dogs I have worked with needed a VISUAL reminder of how things work with SSM. Which evolved to my blind sheet. Its title being 'EDIT ME FOR LAST SHEET NUMBER FIELD'. And you are correct that it can not be set up in a sheet set template, as the field is linked to a specific sheet in a sheet set. I would create a template for new sheet creation that had the fields pre-populated.

Despite banging heads together, nagging and eventually just silent cursing in my head, they could never get the hang of editing a custom property or using an external tool. This was my world: "Mary it is easier to just edit it to text" *Sigh*  So I came up with some inventive ways to make things as smooth as possible.

Spoiler

side note - I now work for a firm that doesn't even include total sheets in the title block!