Numbering

Overview

Numbering writes a value you compose into a parameter on every element of a category you choose, in an order you decide.

A template holds four things: the category to act on, an optional filter, how to order the elements, and how to build the value. The value is assembled from pieces rather than typed as one fixed format: literal text, the value of another parameter on the element, a separator, a running count, and an assembly number. Counts start where you set them, step by what you set, and pad with zeros to a fixed width. Letter sequences run in capitals, lower case, or capitalised.

Ordering is where the work sits. Group sorts elements by one or more parameter values and numbers each group in turn. Crossing follows a line you pick in the plan, then walks the chain of connected model lines from there, so a corridor drawn as five separate lines counts as one route. Vertex orders by distance from a point you pick. Manual numbers exactly the elements you click, in the order you click them.

When two elements sit on top of each other along the ordering line, that template stops and names the pair instead of choosing between them, because either order would be arbitrary.

Filters are rule sets you can nest, mixing all-of-these and any-of-these conditions on element parameters, including rules for the level above and the level below.

The category list is not fixed. It is built from what the open model actually contains and what can carry parameters, so the same template numbers doors, ducts, distribution boards, or structural framing. A category with nothing in the model does not appear in the list.

Assemblies are handled: ask for an assembly number in the value and every member of the same assembly gets the same one, handed out in numbering order.

A run covers the active view or the whole project. Group uses whichever you choose. Crossing and Vertex are plan operations and always use the active view; Manual is always project-wide, since the elements you picked are the scope. There is no per-level option - level is available as a filter rule instead.

Tick several templates and run them in one pass. Each one is a single undo step, so a result you do not like reverses with one Ctrl+Z. A template missing a required pick, or whose picked line has since been deleted, is flagged and skipped rather than stopping the rest of the batch.

Elements whose target parameter is missing or read-only are passed over, and the number of elements skipped is not reported. Everything runs on the open model on your own machine, with no internet connection, and nothing is read from or written to linked models. The interface is English.