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The program now allows you to create a workspace file, called a Project file, that consists of one Concept mode file and any number of beam and column files. It allows you to save the project files and all its members as a group. The ability to manage the files within a project has been added to the Project Settings page.
(Note that those individual beam and column files that were previously referred to as “projects” are now referred to as member files, the word “member” meaning both a building member, and a member of a project.)
The ability to view any number of beam and column files at once is not limited to the workspace feature. Sizer also has the ability to have a number of disconnected files open. In either case, it has added the capability of being able to open, save, and close multiple files simultaneously. (The number of files is of course limited by computer memory constraints.)
The Project Settings page has been expanded to allow you to manage the files within a project. The four line description in that page now applies to all files within a project; the program has added a Member Description input in beam load view to distinguish between member files within the project.
Menus, Toolbars, and File Operations
This feature involves numerous complex and interconnected changes to the program toolbars and File menu, and to the file operations that they control. These are best described by reference to the illustrations from the program, so you are referred to the document Sizer Version 9 Features that is included with the Sizer installation for a complete description of these changes to program operation.
Project Management in Project Dialog
You can view and manage which files are in the project by clicking on the new Project button on a toolbar or by navigating in the menu bar to Settings | Change | Project Description property page. In both cases, the Project Settings page comes up, which now includes the following inputs. .
Absolute maximum no of files
When a project is opened through Open or Open Project it also opens up files in the project. The maximum number of files that a project can open is set in the Maximum number of files to open when opening project spin control. The upper limit of the maximum number of files to open is 30.
Maximum no of files open
The default maximum number of files that are open when a project is open is different depending on the project. It is at least 1, but can be at most 30, the absolute maximum number of files.
Project List
The Project Description dialog page also provides a multi-select list box that allows you to view files in the project, as well as files that do not have a file location and are unsaved.
First listed are files that have been previously saved to disk and have a file location. The rules of how this file is displayed are as follows:
Files that are currently open in the program are indicated with a *
Only the filename is used if the file resides in the same folder as the project file
If the file resides in a different folder than the project file, the absolute file path (including the file location) is used to display in the list box
Next listed are files that are new files that have not been saved to disk (and thus do not have a file location). These files are displayed with the title of the document e.g. Beam1 enclosed in square brackets [].
Since this listbox allows the selection of multiple items, operations related to managing a project can be applied to multiple files at a time.
Remove from Project
This button is enabled only when there is an item selected in the Project Description listbox. For each file that is selected in the list box it will:
Close each file, prompting only if it has been modified, the same as Close File behaviour as in g)ii.
For each file closed this way, the file will also be removed from the project. Note that new files that have not yet been saved will simply be closed (since they were never part of the project).
If the user clicks ‘cancel’ in any of the prompts, the process of removing from the project will halt.
Open
This button is enabled only when there is an item selected in the Project Description listbox. For each file that is selected in the list box it will open each file if the file has not yet already been opened.
The first file that is selected in the list box (that is, the topmost file), regardless of whether or not it was opened prior to the user clicking on the open button, will be activated.
Close
This button is enabled only when there is an item selected in the Project Description listbox and that is also open (this can either be a file marked with a * or a file enclosed in square brackets []).
For each file that is selected in the list box, it will close each file, prompting only if it has been modified.
If the user clicks ‘cancel’ in any of the prompts, the process of closing files from the project will halt.
Project Information
In previous versions, you modified project description for a file in the Project Description settings. When generating a Design Result output or Design Check output, the project description was displayed in the top upper left corner. Each file had maintained its own project description.
The project description is now identical for all files in a project. This is enforced in several ways when a project is open:
Files that are part of the project, but not opened, will not have the Project Description changed.
There is no warning when the project description is be erased and replaced with the new one.
When a project is not open, program operation is identical to existing behaviour and the project description can be different for each individual member file that is open.