A little side-effect of grouping

[Nick the Cabin Boy]

While messing about with a plan today, I wanted to name some lines, but didn't really want text boxes all over the place. I realised that by cutting a line, I could then "re-assemble" it by Grouping the two segments. This also meant that I could name the grouped line.

As part of what I was working on (the control panel wiring for my layout), I wanted to separate the wires going to the switches from those going from them. To do this, I set up some more layers. My idea was to do all the work on each line and then move it to its new layer. It was when I was doing this last bit that I noticed that, when I selected the line, it wasn't showing as being in the layer I expected. A quick investigation showed that when I cut the line, the two segments were automatically moved to the ACTIVE layer (which was not any of the new layers, just the last one I did anything in. I also discovered that Grouping also moves the final item into the active layer.

So now, when working with the panel wiring, I set the active layer to be the one where I intend to put the finished line, and save a step. It might not seem much, but if I can save a step on 170 operations, I'm gonna do it!

Hope this helps somebody,

Nick

[The Track Planner]

Hi Nick,

While I don't design control panels for my clients, I have ran into the layer grouping issue numerous times. I don't blame AnyRail, it is what it is. Because of AnyRails "little quarks" I've learned to create some work around's.

Having used AnyRail professionally for over ten years, I've developed some design standards for myself to help me work smarter and hopefully faster. I've developed three blank room plans. One measures 20 ft x 14 ft, one 24 ft x 16ft and one 28 ft x 18 ft. Nothing special about these sizes, they just seem to cover the most common layout sizes I design.

Each blank starts with 36 layers. My layer naming convention starts with 00. PLAN (PL), 00a. PL - Outline, 00b. PL - Information; 01 ROOM (RM), 01a. RM Walls Doors Windows, 01b. RM - Interior Dimensions; 01c. RM - Call Outs; and so on until I've reach the 36 layers.

With my years of experience using AnyRail I'm able to work fairly quickly, i.e., time is money [as they say]. The issue I ran into was working fast caused me to have plans that had numerous objects on the wrong layers. I would forget to switch layers as I was working. Having 36 layers to go through and check to make sure every layer had only the correct objects attached to it was very time consuming and frustrating.

Thus I developed a system that works for me. I start every design session having layer 00. PLAN (PL) [the top layer] as the active layer. At the end of a session (which could be 3 or 4 hours later) I go through layer 00. PLAN (PL) and click on multiple objects of the same kind (which AnyRail lets you do), than move them to their appropriate layer. While this still is doing double work, I find that I can move multiple objects to a different layer fairly quickly. At that point, the top layer 00. Plan (PL) is empty and ready for the next design session. Using this procedure, I don't have to worry about trying the keep changing layers during a design session.

Like you, hopefully the information will help someone else,

Bill Beranek - The Track Planner