Distance of Sprout on Location Property Definitions

[jasonium]

Is there a way to preset the reach of the sprout on Location Property Definitions in Property Sets?

For example, I have upper cabinets that aren't over a Space, because there isn't flooring underneath them. Because of this, the sprout reports "Space Not Found" in the cabinet schedule, and I have to go in and manually pull each sprout out until it latches onto a Space.

I would like to set all sprouts to automatically reach out 2'6" from their insertions point. Does anybody know if this is possible? The manual time spent on pulling sprouts off cabinets and electrical fixtures is killing me.

Thanks!

[jasonium]

bump

[jasonium]

So after after three years, I am returning to this issue and am surprised there are 0 replies.

I"ll try to be a little clearer.

When inserting a window into a wall with a location based property set, the location grip reaches out a few feet from the wall and locates a space to get its' roomname.

On MVblocks, such as light fixtures, the location grip does not extend at all and has to be clicked on and dragged out until it gets a space. I"m trying to find a way to control the reach of the location grip, or even find a way to have it stick to the curser after insertion until the next click drop it on the space.

There is VERY little information out there on location grips and how they are controlled. I'd be happy to provide screenshots if there is anybody out there.

[dbroad]

I wasn't aware that mvblocks had location grips.  Can you post a sample mvblock with a location grip?  Most mvblocks that tag actually ask you to pick the object being tagged and do not rely on location grips.

BTW, what is a "sprout"?

[leothebuilder]

Out of the box MVB's do not have location grips, but you can add a PSD with a location property to a MVB block. Very handy for scheduling furniture and other stuff.

The 'sprout" is the little squigly line with the 'sprout' or 'star' at the end that you can drag to the proper space object so it can read the location property.

As far as I know you can't have this at a preset distance from the object.

[leothebuilder]

See attached what a sprout looks like.

Not sure what the official name is, probably "property location"

[dbroad]

Thanks Leo.  To OP, this is definitely a customization question.  There is a slight chance that you might get a response in the AEC Customization group.  The position might be accessible via lisp but would probably be a .NET task.  If I learn anything, I will post back here.

[David_W_Koch]

I have always refered to it as the "Location Grip".  But "sprout" is certainly a more colorful and fun name.

So far as I know, the initial location of the Location Grip is hard coded into each object type.  The Location Grips for Multi-View Block's start out at the insertion point.  But, as Doug pointed out, it might be possible to automate where the grip is placed using some form of customization.  That is well beyond my experience, so I will leave it to Doug or others to say if it can be done and, if so, how.

[dbroad]

Scott says the the location grip is not accessible by or "exposed to" VBA or LISP in this thread

I tend to take that as a hint that even if it could be hacked, it wouldn't be worth the effort.

[jasonium]

Thanks for the responses guys. The location grip is part of an style based property set I created that applies to mvblocks, so the "sprout"/ location grip comes in with the MV blocks automatically. What got me started down this path was the offset from doors and windows - it reaches out about 2 feet from the window to grab a space. Since windows are on a baseline, i figured that was what controlled it thus leaving MV blocks with nothing to reference. But on many MV blocks, we insert them on a wall and I'm hoping to get the location grip to know that, and reach past the cabinets out to a space to avoid the "space not found" and the necessity of the user to extend many, many location grips.

It's been a long road on this, and it looks like we've hit a wall, but I do appreciate the feedback.

[cadtastrophe]

I am confused, why wouldnt your space go all the way to the wall and fill the space?

[jasonium]

We only use our spaces for floor materials and don't want them extending under cabinets, showers, baths, etc.

[cadtastrophe]

Fair enough, so I take it that these location grips function different than the ones on the doors?  At least ours can be stretched any distance

[jasonium]

They are standard location grips, and can be stretched. But when there are many of them, the action of stretching them, say for a bunch of outlets and vanity lights, wears on the cad operators. Graphically we can't put the spaces under the cabinets because we print them, but maybe there is an offset I can apply to push them out.  Hitting a wall on this one.

[cadtastrophe]

Sorry I couldnt be more help, I can come up with several ways to solve half the problem which is not a solution at all.  Good luck.

[jasonium]

I appreciate the effort. Thank you.

[jasonium]

Man - that was from 2003... I doubt anything has changed but one can only hope! Good find.

[dbroad]

The solution might be to use spaces as they were intended and not for floor finishes.  Just a thought.  I don't plot my spaces.

[jasonium]

Actaully floor finishes have been a very common use of spaces so I'm not sure what you mean by "their intended use". We do residential design, and spaces don't work well for us on volume calculations due to cathedral ceilings etc, so we just use them for flooring.

Thanks for the response though.

[leothebuilder]

Have you explored the different space boundaries?

E.g. net boundary, gross boundary, useable boundary etc.

Set your gross boundary to extend to the walls.

Set your net boundary to be clear of cabinets etc. and use the net boundary for floor finishes.