Work with linked panels

Link a panel to its clones or mirrors so a change to one carries forward to the others.

Tilt-up buildings are full of near-identical panels — the same panel repeated down a wall, or the same panel in opposite hand on the facing wall. Linked Panels lets you draft that panel once: link the copies to the original, and whenever the original changes, ConstructiVision offers to walk through every linked panel and bring it up to date — renumbering, mirroring, and redrawing each one automatically.

A link relates two panels in one of two ways:

  • Clone — the linked panel is an exact copy of the origin (with its own panel number).

  • Mirror (op. hand) — the linked panel is the opposite-hand version of the origin.

Steps

  1. Open the panel drawing you want to be the origin.

  2. Click Linked Panels on the ConstructiVision toolbar. A project must be open — if none is, you are asked to create or open one first.

  3. In the Linked Panels dialog, do one of the following:

    • Link panels that already exist — select one or more panels in the Link an existing panel list, choose Clone or Mirror (op. hand), and click Link Selected.

    • Create the linked panel from scratch — under Create a copy, type the New panel number (just the number, or the full panel mark), tick Mirror (op. hand) if it should be opposite hand, and click Create a Copy + Link. The current panel must have been saved at least once before a copy can be made.

  4. Click Done. If you created a copy, ConstructiVision immediately offers to update linked panels now — accept, and it opens each linked drawing in turn, renumbers it, mirrors it if asked, redraws it, and returns you to the panel you started from.

  5. From then on, every time you save the origin panel you are asked whether to update its linked panels. Choose Update Now to run the same automatic walk, or Later to keep working — the linked panels are simply marked out of date until the next update.

The dialog’s sections:

Section

What it does

Linked panels

Every link this panel takes part in, in both directions: -> rows are panels driven by this one, <- rows show the origin this panel was created from. Each row shows the relation (clone or mirror) and whether it is in sync or STALE (out of date).

Unlink Selected

Removes the selected link. The panels themselves are untouched — they just stop updating together.

Link an existing panel

Panels in the same mark series that are not yet linked to this one. Supports multi-select; the Clone / Mirror (op. hand) choice applies to all selected panels.

Create a copy

Makes a new panel drawing as a copy of the current one and links it in one step. A number that already exists in the project is rejected — use Link Selected for existing panels.

Notes

  • Links work in both directions. If you edit and save a linked panel instead of the origin, ConstructiVision offers to push the changes back to the origin. If you decline, the changes stay local — but a later update from the origin will overwrite them. Because one link covers both directions, linking the same pair the other way round is not needed (and not allowed).

  • Each panel keeps its own identity. The panel number and the gridline marks are never copied by an update — a clone or mirror gets the origin’s geometry and features, but keeps its own panel mark and its own position on the grid.

  • Opening an out-of-date panel prompts you. If you open a linked panel whose origin has moved ahead, ConstructiVision tells you which revision it was last synced to and offers to update and redraw now.

  • Batch operations warn but proceed. If any linked panels are out of sync when you start a Batch Utilities run (for example, printing the panel book), you get a warning listing them — the batch then uses the panels as they are. Update first if you want the book to match.

  • A fresh copy starts out STALE. That is expected: the copy only becomes its own panel after its first update, which is why the update is offered as soon as the dialog closes.

  • If a linked drawing has been deleted or renamed, the update walk skips it with a message and continues with the rest. Remove the dead row with Unlink Selected.

  • Choose Mirror (op. hand) when the two panels face each other on opposite walls; choose Clone when the panel simply repeats along the same wall.