Concept: Plug-in object styles and catalog items
Difficulty level: Intermediate
Some Vectorworks plug-in objects, such as windows, doors, and cabinets, provide access both to plug-in object style functionality and manufacturers’ catalogs. For these objects, the interplay between plug-in object styles and catalog items can be complex.
The following guidelines are useful when creating a plug-in object style based on a catalog item.
Plug-in object styles based on catalog items are most easily created from an unstyled plug-in object as described in Custom plug-in object styles with catalog options.
The plug-in object catalog item selection is linked to the plug-in object style functionality. Individual catalog items cannot be selected using the Resource Manager or Resource Selector, because a catalog item cannot be specified for an unstyled object. When you select a catalog category (for example Andersen Residential Entry Doors) from the Resource Manager/Selector, a default item from that catalog is used to define the style. The style must then be edited, but this cannot be done from the Settings dialog box; specify the catalog item needed by editing the style as described in Editing plug-in object styles and Custom plug-in object styles with catalog options.
Typically when a plug-in style is defined by a catalog item, many parameters are set by catalog, to reflect the specifications of the manufacturer’s catalog item; these parameters cannot be edited by the user.
A plug-in object style’s catalog item itself can be set by style or by instance. In this way, you can lock all objects of a certain style into the exact same catalog item, or you can lock certain parameters by catalog, but let the catalog item itself change.
A use example of the catalog item set by style is a project that requires all windows of a given style to use the identical catalog item. This provides more control and easier management for multiple windows of the same size and type.
A use example of the catalog item set by instance is a project that requires cabinets of a given style to use different catalog items, to allow different size cabinets to be specified. This provides less control at the style level but more flexibility for each instance.
