Import alignment and profile view disappears

[taneum]

We are working together with another firm here in town.  The are doing the road and we are doing the utilities.  They have established the alignments and profiles.  When I import them all the data comes in.  For whatever reason I do not have their profile views so I create my own profile view and put their profiles in them.

When they send an updated .xml file of all the alignments and profiles, they import okay but my profile views disappear.  I assume it's because in their .xml file that I import, there are no profile view defined.

Is there an options when you export and alignment to an .xml file that you can include the profile views with it as well?  This way when I import them I would get them.

[taneum]

I see there is no option to include the actual profile view, just super elevation views and profiles.  So how do I import their updated .xml file with the alignment and profile and keep my profile view that I created?

This is a pain because I have all my pipe networks set up in the pfofile view and if I have to re-create the profile view every time I do these updates it will take forever to go into each pipe network and turn on/off the pipes I want visible.

[Jay_B]

Are you getting the xml instead of Data references because your on an older version or?

Data references would solve this issue pretty easily.

[taneum]

They send me an .xml file everytime the design changes.  The first time I ever imported it, their alignments and profiles for all the streets came in.  The profiles however did not show up graphically becasue there were no profile views.  I created profile views and added their profiles to them.  Problem is, now when ever I import their alignments and profiles, the profile views I created go away.  Essentially I am overwritting the data in my drawing with new data.

So are you thinking I need to have their alignments and profiles in another drawing so I can data reference them into my drawing?  This seems like it would be a huge headache as all my pipe networks already tied to these alignments.  So, if I take them out and bring them back in as a data reference then I have a ton of work ahead of me.

[Jay_B]

"So are you thinking I need to have their alignments and profiles in another drawing so I can data reference them into my drawing? This seems like it would be a huge headache as all my pipe networks already tied to these alignments. So, if I take them out and bring them back in as a data reference then I have a ton of work ahead of me."

I'm guessing as I don't know for a fact but your profile views are children of the alignment and profiles associated to the profile views.
What I think is likely happening with your current workflow of importing the xml file every time they provide you the design changes is you are overwriting the alignment (which in turn erases the profile view). Kind of an erase and redraw scenario happening but it can't redraw the profile view that's been deleted.

With a Data shortcut in a different source drawing you would not be overwriting the data but rather synching between the drawings and would not lose the profile views every time changes are made.

[taneum]

Okay so if I put my alignments and profiles in another drawing and data reference them in, then when I update that "other" drawing which they reside in, once I open my main design drawing where the profile views would reside, the data references would just update in my main drawing.?

Sorry for the running statement there but I think I understand.

Next question..............

Can I create a profile view in my main drawing when the alignments and profiles are only data referenced in?  Usually, in order to create a profile view, its associated with an alignment.  Can I do that with a data referenced alignment?

One more question...............

Is there an easy way to do this so I do not have to redo all my pipe networks?  Right now I have about 30 pipe networks all for existing underground utilities and some new design sanitary sewer and water.

Thanks for the help Jay!

[Jay_B]

Yes to your first and second questions.
The third question, I'm not sure of any easy method to trick c3d into using data shortcuts for all of your existing objects
At this point.
Maybe someone else can chime in that's ran into this.
On future scenarios like this data shortcuts are definitely the way to go.

[Jeff_M]

Is the alignment really changing that often? Or is it just the profile that is changing? If only the profile changes, only import that when updating, then the alignments, and profileviews, will remain.

As for the pipe networks referencing alignmnets... you can edit the referenced alignment at any time and no alignments are required to exist for a network. So it would be relatively simple to just remove all of your alignments, create that new dwg with alignments & profiles, create the data shortcuts, then data reference the alignments into the pipe network drawing (this is actually how my projects are now setup). Once you have the dref'ed alignments, create your profile views and addd the pipes/structures. You can also now re-add the referenced alignments for the pipes & structures in the panorama for editing the network.

[taneum]

In theory your question is a good one.  This far along into the project, how often does the alignment of a major urban road really change?  The answer is it probably will not.  The profiles could be of and on but at this point, they are probably also not changing much so I could use your idea of just importing the profile views.

I do not want to chance anything so I want to find the easiest way to transition to the new way of doing things and data reference everything in.  I am finding that the profile views really are only attached to the specific alignment in which they are attached to.  You cannot change what alignment they utilize.

With that in mind.  I think I will either delete my alignments and data reference in the new ones or rename the alignments and data reference in the new ones.  Either way, I have to do something to the old ones as the ones I am data referencing in have the same name and when they come in they have a "(1)" after them.