Wednesday, September 10, 2008

Wish - Calculated Values in Tags

This is a common wish. We want to be able to DISPLAY calculated values not only in schedules but also in tags. Right now lacking this feature makes me feel like this guy!



Thanks to this site for the image.

Amended 09/11/08 - Per the comment, note that I'm asking to DISPLAY a calculated value in a tag. I'm not telling anyone how to accomplish it. I'm asking to be able to use a tag family to report a value that is the result of a calculation in a project relative to any element.

5 comments:

Robert said...

I actually disagree with this wish completely. I think it is short sighted with regards to the overall concept of Revit. I find that most of the time this wish comes up with regards to rooms (however there are other occasions as well). In any case we should be allowed to do the calculations in the object itself (rooms included) not in a tag. We should also have the ability to reference values from other objects or variables defined in key schedules or something else. This is much more inline with Revit as a database. The intent of Tags is to report data, they should not be generating data (cause then it is trapped there). Allowing calculations in tags would be no better then what we have now with doing calculations in schedules, which is of itself also limited.

-R

Steve said...

I guess that we are having a failure to communicate!

I'm not asking to perform the calculation IN a tag. I said I want to be able to DISPLAY the calculated result in a tag.

I'm assuming that the calculation is in fact done within the element or related schedule.

ventrell.williams said...

Steve,

There is actually a way to perform this function. It involves utilising a multi-parameter label with the formula and another label that holds the actual calculated value. It is possible in REVIT 08, my wish is that Autodesk would make it bit less methodical and more user friendly (although I'm sure the user searching for this function could care less).

Cheers,

Kevin W.

Steve said...

I'm afraid what you describe is a paradox...you can't put a calculated value in a tag even if you put another label in with it.

Maybe you are referring to the approach I've described in the past that involves calculating a value in a schedule and then entering that value into another field that can use a shared parameter? You can build a tag with that value.

A calculated parameter in a project cannot use a shared parameter so there is no way to include a calculated value directly in a tag.

We've been using the clumsy work around for several years now. Thus the wish...to be able get the value to display in a tag without any additional overhead or risk.

Robert said...

Yes, Steve, I would say I mis-understood your post. I would however still argue that the ability to calculate values needs to moved to all families, including the ability to write the formula(s) when in a project. To me this makes more sense then reporting a value from a schedule to me this is too much disconnect from the actual objects themselves, particularly sense a tag is related to an object. If the value is being calculated in a schedule to what object would the tag be related? As schedules with "itemize every instance" un-checked can result in a single value being applied to multiple objects.