Weird join behavior
Hello all! I was wondering if you could help me with what seems to me to be a strange outcome of the Join command. I'm using Bricsys V21, coming from AutoCAD 2015.
If I draw several lines in the same direction (end to end, spaced out, overlapping) and start the Join command and select all of the lines and hit Enter, all of the lines join into a single line as expected. However, if I select one line then hit enter to make that the source (as I'm used to doing in AutoCAD), then select the rest of the lines and hit enter, rather than joining the remaining lines to the first, ALL the lines get erased, even the source line. The command line says all of the lines were successfully joined, but they're gone.
Could someone explain what's going on here, and the reasoning behind it? Thanks!
If I draw several lines in the same direction (end to end, spaced out, overlapping) and start the Join command and select all of the lines and hit Enter, all of the lines join into a single line as expected. However, if I select one line then hit enter to make that the source (as I'm used to doing in AutoCAD), then select the rest of the lines and hit enter, rather than joining the remaining lines to the first, ALL the lines get erased, even the source line. The command line says all of the lines were successfully joined, but they're gone.
Could someone explain what's going on here, and the reasoning behind it? Thanks!
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You shd select all of the lines in one go (starting with the one whose properties you want to apply to the joined whole), and hit JOIN either before or after that (like the first method you describe). In the second method you describe, you're interupting with an extra Enter - delay the Enter until you've selected all the lines.0
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Tom, thanks for replying. I realize what I am doing. I am wondering WHY the second method results in all of the lines being erased, which seems like a really strange choice of action to happen in the middle of a Join command. Especially when the command line says all of the lines have been successfully joined! Maybe they have been, but then they are immediately erased. For some reason.
A little further detail. The reason I'm in the habit of using these two separate approaches to Join (selecting all of the lines, then typing J Enter vs selecting the first line, J Enter, then selecting the rest of the lines) is that coming from AutoCAD those two different approaches resulted in two different outcomes. The first will result in a line if the lines are collinear or a polyline if they are not. The second method results in only joining the collinear lines and won't join anything not exactly collinear. This is very quick way of determining if one of the lines has an endpoint off by 1/64th of an inch, as some of my colleagues manage to do with alarming frequency. Also, the second method provides a specific source line to determine the properties of the final line, rather than it being chosen randomly.
Ultimately I will make the first method work in making the switch to BricsCAD and force a new muscle memory into my fingers. Mostly I just wanted to know WHY the second method resulted in all of the lines being erased and why the command line says they were successfully joined.0 -
I can only duplicate the disappearing of the entities when I use the JOIN command in V21 if I include the initial line in the selection when asked to select the lines I wish to JOIN.
If I only select the lines that I want to JOIN it works as expected.
If the lines are not colinear but touching, when I include the initial line in the selection in my case the first line disappears and I get the message saying one line was joined and the rest were rejected!
If I select the first line and then select only the other entities, then nothing happens at all!
If I invoke JOIN first and then select the entities everything works as expected and I get a polyline.
If I select all the entities I want to JOIN first and then invoke the JOIN command it joins everything together.
So it seems the first line entity is where things get weird.
If you want to see if lines are touching end to end (or arcs, polylines and splines as well) then there is an excellent lisp routine on Lee Mac's website called Chain Selection. http://www.lee-mac.com/chainsel.html This will show everything that is connected end to end whatever type of entity it is (apart from a circle of course).
HTH.
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David, thanks for the comment. I can't tell if this is intentional behavior or a just a bit of bad/unfinished coding.0
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WolfpactVI, it sounds like a bug, which you should report via a Support Request. In my v17, the Join command never makes anything disappear.
If I press Enter after post-selecting the source line, then the line that's contiguous but not collinear doesn't get added to the pline (to my great surprise). The same thing happens if I pre-select the source line (also surprising). I can only assume that it's intended as a test for collinearity.
But if I post-select the source line and DON'T press Enter, then it prompts me for the other lines, and then joins them all even if not collinear.0 -
Thanks for the suggestion. I figured since I have V21 and it's two versions old I was just going to have to live with it.0
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What happens if you post-select the source line and DON'T press Enter?0
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A v21 license entitles you to use any older version. It may be only v21 that makes things disappear. V17 doesn't.WolfpactVI said:.... I figured since I have V21 and it's two versions old I was just going to have to live with it.
Also, I just discovered that what you're trying to do joins all the collinear lines into a single Line entity instead of a Pline. The Overkill command does that too. It doesn't allow you to select a Source line, but it does test for collinearity.
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