Brand Spanking New GDL Book

Aaron Bourgoin · ‎2009-03-03

Cadimage Tools scripting wizards have written a big book on GDL - to be published shortly.

http://blog.cadimagetools.com/

Think Like a Spec Writer
AC4.55 through 27 / USA AC27-4060 USA
Rhino 8 Mac
MacOS 14.2.1

Anonymous · ‎2009-04-28

You'll find it in a folder called \Appendix\pg 437-457. The object in question is Playground Equipment.gsm.
Most of the example files are listed by chapter and page, but this is an odd case as it forms part of the playground equipment library that's referred to again in the appendix.

Anonymous · ‎2009-04-28

I don't see anything called; Playground Equipment.gsm
Below is what I get.
Am I suppose to pick one of these?
Maybe I'm really messing up here, but I think I'm lost.

Anonymous · ‎2009-04-28

Yes that's right, the Playground Equipment object is merely a template object. Its 'Placeable' flag has been set to Off, so you won't see it in the library browser.

To view this non-placeable object, you will have to extract the library from its LCF container. Go to the ArchiCAD 'File' menu, and choose 'Libraries and Objects > Extract a Container'. Choose the LCF file you just downloaded, and extract it into a regular library folder.

Now you will be able to open the object's GDL editing window.

Anonymous · ‎2009-04-28

Thanks for all your help.
I think I understand that.
Getting late here.
I'll try that when my head is clearer.

Anonymous · ‎2009-04-29

Ok, got the lcf extracted to a unique folder
Everything went as planed and got my new
template created with playground gsm
and named My first Subtype.
Then tried to make another template just to make sure I would not forget the process and all of a sudden I get this "unknown subtype" shown in red, instead of the one I named.
So then went on and created new playground subtype shown as "untitled 4"
Untitled 4 is ok, but would like to erase both the unknown subtype and my untitled 4 to clean this up, but cant figure out how to delete a subtype.
And as you can see made another one which got put under untitled 4

So I've certainly made a mess now, and does not seem to clean up easily.
I'm sure this is beyond the intent of your book, but thought I'd ask, how can I delete a subtype(s)?

Anonymous · ‎2009-04-29

The tag 'unknown subtype' means that the loaded library contains an object that is linked to a missing (i.e. not found in the loaded library) subtype. I guess you saved the original subtype object into a folder that isn't one of the currently loaded libraries, or perhaps you later deleted that object.

If you double-click on the Object tool, the library browser will appear. Choose Subtype View (by default your browser is probably set to Folder View) to see which object is using the Unknown (i.e. not found in a loaded library) Subtype.

When you know which object that is, open its GDL editing window, and choose a valid subtype. Alternatively, if you delete that object the 'Unknown Subtype' will disappear. You can delete an ArchiCAD object using Windows Explorer.

Anonymous · ‎2009-04-29

Once again you descriptions are right on.
Worked like a charm.

Well right after I wrote about how-to-delete listed subtypes I realized to do that through folder structure, but they did not go away until I closed file and restarted it, or so I thought, which did not fix the "unknown subtype" but your directions did!
Thanks for all your help.

Anonymous · ‎2009-04-29

Erika wrote:
How are NEW to GDL users finding this new Handbook?

How are more experienced GDL users finding this new Handbook?

I think I'm fairly handy with GDL.
Just received my copy yesterday and I'm impressed with the comprehensive material and the examples. Assuming that the code is from their real practice toolbox (i.e. debugged), the book and the code example downloads are definitely a bargain as a cookbook and reference material.
The reusable subroutines are a very nice and systematic toolbox of the standard geometric algorithms already coded for use in GDL.

Thumbs up, and hats off to Andrew!

Erika Epstein · ‎2009-04-30

Ferenc wrote:
I think I'm fairly handy with GDL

Ferenc, that is the understatement of the year

When I first started with archicad, Ference was Graphisoft tech support here in the US. I can still remember how so very patiently you spent several hours taking me through how to create a door/window schedule (pre- IS).

Andrew, my book has arrived! What a tremendous amount of work.I'm not very GDL proficient. Reading through quickly as you suggest does give a good sense of where things are. I'm about a third of the way through going slowly.
I had no idea what to expect, that's why I asked my questions. Congratulations

Erika
Architect, Consultant
MacBook Pro Retina, 15-inch Yosemite 2.8 GHz Intel Core i7 16 GB 1600 MHz DDR3
Mac OSX 10.11.1
AC5-18
Onuma System

"Implementing Successful Building Information Modeling"

Anonymous · ‎2009-04-30

Thanks for the kind words

Yes, 12 years in or around tech support had its challenges, a lot of times more than programming, and sometimes of olympic proportions, like taming the "old" listing schemes to serve real life US needs...

I think because of the encyclopedic volume of the work, the book deserves its own discussion board chapter by chapter, with topics example by example, from newbie questions to black belt discussions, and maybe ongoing addendii. Eventually that would simplify the support.

I'm glad you agree with me about the value of the book.

Brand Spanking New GDL Book

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