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Custom Columns, Tags Labels....

Posted: 15 Feb 2019 00:35
by zmachine01
So I'm trying to figure out the best way to add the property "Machine" to certain files that is visible in a column and also searchable. I am a machinist and I manage our CNC department's file system. My first thought was tags or labels. But we only have 7 CNC machines so then I thought about custom columns. I created a custom column by modifying 1(undefined) to be "Machine," but I have no idea how to append the property (which machine?) to the file itself. In the help section I read about custom columns and then about special properties, but it was all way over my head. I've done some experimenting, no luck.

To put it plainly I want to have a column named "Machine" in the caption and the contents of the column will reflect which machine the part was made with. Anyone?

Thanks

Re: Custom Columns, Tags Labels....

Posted: 15 Feb 2019 00:55
by highend
Is it a necessity that the column must have the name "Machine"
Otherwise you could just show the "Tags" column...

If it needs to have that name, use this script inside the "Script:" field
for your custom column: return tagitems("tags", , <cc_item>);

And regarding tagging: Select all files that belong to a machine and
Menu - Favorites - Tags - Add Tags...
or Add Tags by List (if you're populating the tag list with all machine names)...

Re: Custom Columns, Tags Labels....

Posted: 15 Feb 2019 01:30
by zmachine01
I haven't tried your suggestion yet but to answer your first question, yes, it would be ideal for the column to be named "Machine." I organize our system based on year. We have a "2019" folder, a "2018" folder, a "2009" folder, and so on going back to 1992. When I am looking for a suspected file, I generally know where to look. So if I were to open the 2003 folder I would instantly be able to sort by "Machine." That is my objective

Re: Custom Columns, Tags Labels....

Posted: 15 Feb 2019 14:35
by zmachine01
So I tried your suggestion, I think I may have the wrong grammar in my script:

return tagitems("tags",HAAS VF-3 , <cc_item>);

whereas HAAS VF-3 is the machine.

Re: Custom Columns, Tags Labels....

Posted: 15 Feb 2019 14:41
by highend
What exactly are you trying to do there?

If you tagged the 191110.nc file with HAAS VF-3 before, the script
line I posted would be exactly what you need...

Re: Custom Columns, Tags Labels....

Posted: 15 Feb 2019 20:08
by bdeshi
Do these files have the machine model as an intrinsic property, or are you trying to manually tag files with machine models?
If you're going to use tags, your best option is an Extra Column of the "popup list" format.

Add an extra column with Menu > View > Columns > Extra #. (one of "Extra 1/2/3/4/5" which is available.)
Right click on the newly added Extra # column header, and click Configure... .
2019-02-16.00-40-49.png
2019-02-16.00-40-49.png (14.17 KiB) Viewed 3887 times
Now in the configuration dialog, set up the column like this:

Code: Select all

Caption:      Machine
Type:         Pop-up List
Pop-up list:  (Enter machine names here, one in each line.)
              HAAS VF-3
              HAAS VF-4
              HAAS VF-5
              HAAS VF-6
Okay. Now you can right click on the "Machine" column of a file and tag it with appropriate machine model
2019-02-16.00-58-57.png
2019-02-16.00-58-57.png (63.97 KiB) Viewed 3887 times
(hint: multiple files can be selected to apply the same machine tag to them at once).
--
Now, you can search by this Machine field like this:
  • in address bar: ?Machine: "HAAS VF-3"
  • in find files panel: Machine: "HAAS VF-3"

Re: Custom Columns, Tags Labels....

Posted: 16 Feb 2019 00:59
by zmachine01
Yes! This is exactly what I intended. It is important that I make the system easier to use for the not-so computery guys. Being able to add the machine attribute to the file on the fly is perfect. I also made a "Material" column using the same method. As you can see I don't use the tree, so I have plenty of room for columns. Thanks!

Re: Custom Columns, Tags Labels....

Posted: 16 Feb 2019 12:28
by admin
Btw, I'm thinking about increasing the number of Extra columns from 5 to 16. Does that sound interesting?

Re: Custom Columns, Tags Labels....

Posted: 16 Feb 2019 12:50
by bdeshi
very!

Re: Custom Columns, Tags Labels....

Posted: 17 Feb 2019 15:02
by admin
Okay, did it. :cup: 8) :beer:

Re: Custom Columns, Tags Labels....

Posted: 17 Feb 2019 15:23
by bdeshi
cool! :beer:

Re: Custom Columns, Tags Labels....

Posted: 18 Feb 2019 05:17
by matt dugas
The new columns are good. The coder was using Custom columns which use scripts while the machinist was using Extra columns which are not programmable. You may want to have that as an option for the Extras. Also we will want to right, mid or left justify the simple text, I am sure that is already in there somewhere. Matt

Re: Custom Columns, Tags Labels....

Posted: 18 Feb 2019 06:04
by bdeshi
matt dugas wrote: 18 Feb 2019 05:17 The coder was using Custom columns which use scripts while the machinist was using Extra columns which are not programmable. You may want to have that as an option for the Extras.
Extra Columns are really containers of additional types of tags (extra tags), these are not supposed to be programmable. Custom columns can be created to programmatically modify extra tags of files.

Re: Custom Columns, Tags Labels....

Posted: 18 Feb 2019 08:33
by admin
matt dugas: Theoretically I could make Extra tags programmable in the sense that they could be scripts whose results would be shown in the column, or which would do something whenever the file they are assigned to is listed. But I currently cannot imagine a good use case for this. Do you have an example?

Re: Custom Columns, Tags Labels....

Posted: 19 Feb 2019 22:37
by matt dugas
OK- After discussion with Support, Extra columns are for user input data and Custom are for metadata from the files or date user can add to file metadata through various limited means such as Properties menu that is associated with the File proper. For my purposes, I want to use Extra columns where me or my team can add to our Folders, most often at the Folder level only. Thanks Donald.