Solutions for embedding tables or spreadsheats?
I just read about the new Briscad v7 release. I see that it does not include the new table object that AutoCad has added a while back. (one of the few real new features they've added in quite a while)I would like to include tables in my drawings. I've tried to embed an Open Office spreadsheat, and at first it seems to work, but then it reduces to tiny square with no information.Is there any method to put a table or table-like object into a BriscCad drawing?Joe Dunfee
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Use OBJECT in the INSERT menu to embed a document in your drawing. You can choose to create a new document or insert an existing one.
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Just tried the method you suggest, but I get the same result - the spreadsheet is initially created, and I can edit it.But, as soon as I click outside of the embedded spreadsheet, it gets messed up. Where the spreadsheet originally was is now a hatched in rectangle (no spreadsheet information), and then up and to the right is a rectangle that is not filled in, and is opaqued by the hatched rectangle.I also tried another type of embeded object, a wordpad document. This time I get an icon with the name of the file. If I double click the icon, the text of the document is visible. But, as soon as I click outside of the text window, it again reduces to an icon.Maybe I am misunderstanding what embedding should do. Is it supposed to display the content of the embeded file, or just an icon that opens the file only when you double click it?Joe Dunfee
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Whether the content of the spreadsheet displays in the drawing or just an icon is controlled through the 'Display As Icon' option on the Inset Object dialog. If this option is checked an icon with the name of the inserted object is visible in the drawing.
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The "Show as Icon" was unchecked so it should not have shown as an icon. I did just try it checked, to see if there was a difference. With the "show as icon" checked, the icon is the same as before, but this time the file name is not shown, rather it shows the file type. In this test, it was a .txt file and the icon said "Text Document".So, the bottom line is that object embedding is not working properly on my system. What should I try next?Joe Dunfee
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It surprises me that this is not working on your computer. I tested it with both an 'old' 6.2.0021 version and the brand new 7.0.0007 with no difference between the two versions. Maybe you can try to re-install the software and see if this solves the problem.
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I just tried a "repair" and got the same results. Then I did an uninstall and then a full reinstall and got the same problems with embedded objects not working correctly. I have tried a few different kinds of object embedding all with the same results.I am running Windows XP Tablet Edition (current with all maintenance and security releases)Joe Dunfee
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Remember that if you are using a Microsoft based operating system, there is a limit to the amount of spreadsheet information you can view using the insert object.This is not just BricsCAD; its any OLE not Microsoft provided.Experiment using just three columns and four rows using a small text font and see how your results appear and then enlarge the number of rows and columns until you find the "clip" point.
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Thanks for the spreadsheet size issue. I tried it as you said, and was able to embed a small spreadsheet. With a bit more confidence that the OLE is functioning to some extent, I continued my experiments.It seems that the size of the spreadseet was not the issue. Rather, it turned out to be the file format for the spreadsheet. I was using the Microsoft Excell data format (.xls) for my spreadsheets, even though I was working in Open Office. It was when I saved the spreadsheet in Open Office's native format (.ods) that I was able to embed the file.I also performed a similar experiement in AutoCAD LT, and got similar results. So I can't blame BricsCAD for the difficulties.So, the bottom line is that embedded objects are a bit choosey about what and how you go about it. Even if the specific suggestions didn't directly solve my issues, they gave me guidance about where to invest my time as I continued to study the problem. Thanks for the effort.Joe Dunfee
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Hi Joe - I had the same problem with spreadsheets and other embedded objects as you've described. In addition, if I was able to get them into a drawing I had other problems with scaling and positioning of the embedded objects. I finally gave up figuring that the software wasn't there yet. I have found an alternative though, that works very well for me: From any other program which has a print function, print the file as a tiff image and place it on your drawing using the "attach raster image" facility. Scale and position and it will print exactly as you'd expect. See my response to "math symbols" topic below for more on this.A drawback (or benefit, depending on your point of view) is that when you edit the source file you have to produce a new tiff in order for the Bricscad file to show the latest changes. If you produce the new tiff (or other graphic file supported by the image facility) with the same name as the old (overwriting it) it will automatically replace the original in the drawing.I use images extensively in my drawings since figuring out this technique - can even easily produce entire sheets of well formatted, spell checked, indented, aligned, bulleted text with charts etc. because I use OpenOffice to do it and then just "print" the tiffs and place them on the sheet. Try keeping a sheet of text looking nice with Bricscad (or AutoCad) alone.I use Zan Image Printer to produce the images. There are probably other "image printers" out there.Hope this helps.John Hersey
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Thanks for the idea on the TIFF's. I hadn't thought of that.I do have a few concerns, though;How do you handle the issue that there are two external files which must be kept with the drawing? Creating a special folder for each drawing to keep all the associated files together?I think (but am not sure) that embedded documents are actually stored within the drawing.I am currently planning on creating a VBA program (as soon as the new COM is released from BricsCAD) to create BOM's. The spreadsheet contents would be inserted as an individual text entity for each field. This would allow for the DWG file to later (10 years down the road) to be editable even if the TIFF or spreadsheet were not longer available. I may even be able to allow the text to be put back into the spreadsheet program for editing.Still, I am reluctant to put so much effort into a program that would be instantly obsolute when IntelliCAD updates its DWG format to include the table feature that AutoCAD currently has. Between the wait for the new COM and knowing the DWG format will eventually be updated, I feel a bit like BricsCAD is a lame duck. (In the U.S. a "lame duck" is a person in office who has lost an election, but is still in office until the next person is sworn in. They can't start any major projects because they will be out of office before they can follow through)Joe Dunfee
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Hi Joe,In terms of keeping files organized, I keep the drawings and associated external files in the same folder and use file names that keep them sorted together. For example, suppose I had a cover sheet with a BOM, a vicinity map and two columns of notes, I might have the following files in the drawing folder:cover.dwgcover-bom.tif,cover-bom.ods (openoffice spreadsheet)cover-notes.odt (openoffice text)cover-notes-p1.tifcover-notes-p2.tifcover-vicinitymap.tif(Note that in cover-notes.odt, I would define my page size as 6" x 24" so that it would automatically "paginate" the columns when printing to tif.)Re resurecting archived files some time down the line, if you do normal backups where all files are backed-up and folder structures are kept intact, there will be no missing files. In terms of whether or not all the file types will be readable/editable in the future, I'd bet that the cad files stand the greatest chance of being unreadable. Cad files are more speciallized than the other file types we're discussing and therefore will have a smaller group of users clamoring for backwards compatibilty. - Probably a good idea to keep old versions of software along with everything else. I once had to keep an old VMS system running for years just for the occasional old drawing suddenly needed again.The time you're spending developing a program that may shortly become unnecessary is time well spent anyway. You'll have a solution that works for now and you'll have developed better programming skills. Good luck with it.
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Joe,Sorry that I missed the Open Office information in your first post. I need to be careful when reviewing.You are right about the native format. We use strictly MS Office products (XP) and always have the spreadsheet embed issue (size). We work around by reducing the size of the font and limiting the number of columns and rows.Glad the suggestion sparked at least a fix.
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I use Spanner, a product I had used for Autocad. It is available from http://wfcadtools.com/ for $95 and works great in Icad as well. They have a TRIAL copy (30-day).You copy Spanner.dat, Span12.dcl and Span12.lsp into your Icad root directory and copy Span12.xla into your xlstart directory. Then follow the directions that come with the program. Be sure to set up your Spanner text styles in your template file. (i.e. the style options you select in the Spanner setup) One hint: It only exports the active sheet so you have to export the current sheet, then close the workbook and re-open it for the next sheet. Once created as .x2a files, you just open your cad file, load Span12.lsp and run SHEETALL to update any changes. Sheets are brought in using SHEETIN. I set up an xref template file for the spreadsheets I use with electrical panels. I set up the spacing between tables using lines on defpoints to insert the sheets. Then I just pan in my paperspace titleblock to create multiple sheets of the tables I need and the tables will all be the same size and font.
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Oops. I forgot to add that once the tables are inserted, they can be exploded and edited, just like a block so the original .x2a files don't have to go with the .dwg in order to be displayed. (Won't update after you explode them though.)
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Thanks for sharing that. It seems to be a powerful tool.Joe Dunfee
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