Trimble Business Center

Most of my models contain several alignments, sometimes 30 or more, and personally I don't like having the screen clutter of all alignment labels on one layer or on the same layer as the alignment so I create a layer for those alignment labels: ex. Alignment 1 (the actual alignment) Alignment 1 Lab (alignment labels). Within the Create Labels window there are upto 8 places that require layer assignment. It would be wonderful if we could just choose the first layer and then select a box to auto fill additional label layers. Is there already a trick around this nuscience?

The Alignment Labels show up in Project Explorer under the Alignment. Each set of Alignment Labels can be Turned On and Off using their Properties or using their layers - this way you can put all your alignment labels on one Layer and then turn them on and off using their properties. Select the Alignment Labels in Project Explorer and then select Rebuild Method "Show Empty" to turn them off or Auto to turn them On

Alan

You could also use the RPS Command called Layer Manager to add prefix or Suffix Layer Names after they have been created - then you can do each block once at least.

With the Project Explorer approach above, you can select a number of Alignment Label Sets at one time and then change the common property in one pass.

Alan 

This RPS Command might be useful to me, typically I create most of my major job layers as needed or as they occur. So they are a consequence of creating a item, in this case an alignment. I do keep a job template with layer groups already created 01 Control 02 Roadway 03 Side Streets...; however, I tend to remove them once all the groups are populated by items under that layer group name have been created. Because of my workflow with TXDOT plans I don't know immediately if I would use it that frequently or to what extent. *Unseen in the attached image is a group 04 Driveways, all of those are on a single layer and there is no need for labels.

The attached image note would be more effective IMO, I am unsure if a macro can produce this box that if checked fills subsequent boxes in this tab and other 3 tabs?

I like this idea a lot Scott. Would save us from having to re-assign labeling layers every time a new alignment is created. I was unaware of the properties method and it would certainly help but we, as you do, create new label layers each time a new alignment is created. So this particular project has 8 wall alignments and 3 road alignments all with labeled baselines. Since I usually don't need to deal with Station Equations, 2 label layer reassignments are not needed, but for the 11 alignments for the project, I had to make 66 label layer reassignments in the Alignment Label Settings dialogue. Assigning the layer once and clicking a box (box should be sticky) would be a big help with this tedious task for sure. 

Can I make a suggestion here- it seems that currently you want to have a new layer for every set of alignment labels - I would have thought that that was burdensome on the project if you have a lot of alignments. So to me, I think I would prefer to always put my alignment labels on a single set of layers and then have an easy way to display / not display those for each alignment. So if for example there was a command that would list all of the Alignment Label Sets that are in the project and the Alignment Name that they belong to, and you could turn them On / Off in a single dialog - would that not be a better solution - OK this dialog would maybe not be the View Filter Manager - it would be the Alignment Label Manager or similar, but through that one spot you could control all of the Alignment Labeling, you could maybe find a way to link an alignment label setup to a View Filter (or t least adjust a view filter to show the labels) so that you have a single switch that would allow you to View / Hide alignment labels of visible alignments only etc. 

The alternative for me is to rewrite the existing command so that there is one place you go to change the layers not several tabs and you set them once - but you can elect to use a single layer for labels or split layers for labels - because I agree that I put Ticks and Labels on the same layer all the time and the dialog changes to suit your choices.

I cannot promise anything here, but just some alternative ideas.

Alan

"it seems that you want to have new layer for every set of alignments..." Yes and No. The project you are currently viewing and I am working on is 9 intersecting side streets, 1 major crossing street (under) the mainline, 3 parallel railroads, 2 bridges, 96 total driveways (17 of which intersect the mainline), 5 retaining walls, two bridges, and 1 additional side street with a railroad crossing. Of those 115 alignments I have the major roadways stationed in seperate layers with the added suffix Lab. Driveways and walls aren't labeled; however if I did so I would likely label all the driveways, "Driveways Lab" and "Retaining Walls Lab". My thought process here is that I have "Design - View Filter" set for each design. When I am able to use vcl's for Works Manager, I will no longer require the labeling for the data collector; however, I will still need it for my own visualization and that of the machine control, catalyst, and sitevision designs.

"Alignment Label Sets that are in the project and the Alignment Name that they belong to, and you could turn them On / Off in a single dialog - would that not be a better solution" Yes, but how would that work for just one alignment? Would we be able to pick and choose which we see and which we don't, can we group them?

I am sending you a seperate link to your email containing the file.