Installation
Version 1.3 of the Plug-in has been released! Make sure you've updated.
Version 1.3 allows for generic and cable items to be imported via Vectorworks

Download our plug-in (v1.3) to get started
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Installation is done using the plug-in manager. Click the "Tools" menu, then "Plug-ins", then select the "Plug-In Manager" option.


In the plug-in manager, click the tab labelled "Third Party Plug-Ins"


Click the install button, and select the zip file you downloaded earlier, named "pws_vwplugin.zip"
Once the plug-ins have been installed, you'll be asked to relaunch Vectorworks.


Next you'll need to add the plug-in to your workspace.
From the "Tools" menu, select "Workspaces" then "Edit Current Workspace"


Here we'll create a new menu to store our commands. Drag the "New Menu" item in the left hand column to the right hand column.
You can place the new menu anywhere in the list that makes sense to you. Make sure you are dropping the new menu where you want, as it's quite simple to accidently drop a new menu item INSIDE an existing menu instead of after it.
Rename the new menu by double clicking on it. You can rename the menu however you choose, but we recommend "pws".


Scroll down the left hand column until you find the "Cloud" category. Expand the "Cloud" category and find the five pws menu commands.
Drag "pws send", "pws get (Fixture Num)", "pws get (VW_ID)", "pws get (Unit Number)", and "pws Set Token" over to the right hand column, under your new "pws" menu.
You can also drag menu separators over to the right hand column for better organization
Click save


You should have a new menu, with your five paperwork.show options.

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Usage

In Vectorworks
The first time you use the pws plugin, you'll be asked for a token. This is like a new password we use just for communication between vectorworks and paperwork.show
You'll find your token on paperwork.show, on the "vectorworks" page.

pws send
Send the data contained in your vectorworks drawing to paperwork.show. You'll need to accept the new data from paperwork.show, so don't worry about accidently overriding the wrong project at this stage.
Only visible Lighting Devices will be sent, make sure you have the desired Classes and Layers visible.
You can only have one "send" of vectorworks data waiting to be accepted at a time. If you haven't accepted the vectorworks data in paperwork.show and send another snapshot of your drawing, the old unaccepted data will be replaced.

Get From PWS
There are several ways to match Fixtures in PWS to Fixtures in Vectorworks, each with a different menu option in Vectorworks

pws get (Fixture Num)
Pull the information from paperwork.show and update your vectorworks drawing.
Vectorworks channel numbers will be matched to paperwork.show Fixture Numbers.
This style of matching is the most common, good for updating your drawing when no Fixture Numbers have changed, or for the first time you pull information into a drawing

pws get (VW_ID)
Pull the information from paperwork.show and update your vectorworks drawing.
Matching will be done by vectorworks internal fixture ID. This means you must have already performed a "pws send" to match existing fixtures together.
This method of matching is included for those cases when you change fixture numbers but want to keep the original pairing.

pws get (Unit Number)
Pull the information from paperwork.show and update your vectorworks drawing.
Vectorworks Unit Numbers numbers will be matched to paperwork.show Fixture Numbers.
This style of matching is the same as matching by channel numbers, but works on Vectorworks Unit Numbers instead

pws Set Token
Allows you to set your Paperwork.show token. This token needs to match the token from your Paperwork.show "vectorworks" page

Add Custom Parameters To Vectorworks for Items
Certain features, like Fixture Attached Items or Cable/Generic Item importing, allow data to be sent in custom fields in Vectorworks.

To add Custom Fields, navigate to the "File -> Document Settings -> Spotlight Preferences" Menu

Click the "New" button, and enter your new Parameter's name.


When finished, you can save the Settings for use in future documents, save as default, or click OK to close the window and save these settings only for this document.

The next time you send to Vectorworks, these parameters will appear in the data and the Field Mapping options

Sending Non-Lighting Device symbols
By default, the Vectorworks plug-in will send every visible lighting device in your drawing to Paperwork.show
You can also send any object or symbol by attached a record named "pws" to the object.

The "pws" record should have the following fields:

• Item Name: The name of your item. If this is blank then PWS will try and find the name via the object properties
• Length: Length of the item. If this is blank then we'll try and parse the length from the start of the item name
• Quantity: How many of this item. If this is blank we'll assume one
• Position: Which Project Position should this item be attached to. If it's blank it'll end up in the Active Position

None of them are required, but Position is Recommended for every item and Item Name is recommended on any item without a clear cut name in the properties.

Creating and Attaching the record

Open the Resource Browser, select your document in the left hand list, right click on a blank area of the symbol list and select "New Resource -> Record Format"


Enter "pws" as the name of the record, and use the "New..." button to create the "Item Name", "Length", "Position", "Quantity" text fields


Press "Ok" to save and return to the drawing. Select the object you'd like to send to Paperwork.show and attach the record by selecting the "Data" tab in the "Object Info" Palette. Click the "Attach Record" button, find your new "pws" record, and double click on it



Fill out the fields if neccessary. Now this item will be included in the objects the plug-in will send to Paperwork.show


You can attach the record to multiple objects at once and fill out the fields at the same time, just like any other object.

If you use the same symbols in every drawing and you would like to always include the pws record, you can edit the symbol and attach the record directly to the symbol definition.

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Inside paperwork.show

Options
Most of the options for the plug-in are held here

Vectorwork Token
The Vectorworks token is you username and password between Vectorworks and Paperwork.show
The token identfies you, and gives vectorworks access to the fixture information in your current Project.
If you think your token is public information, use the "Regenerate Token" link to create a new token.

Add a '#' to Circuit Numbers in Vectorworks
Adds a '#' character before the circuit number when sending the info to Vectorworks. Some users may prefer not to do this.

Fixture Number Source
Paperwork.show uses one identifier for Fixtures, the Fixture Number. Commonly, Vectorworks drawing use either the Channel or the Unit Number parameter as the unique identifier for fixtures.
This option lets you select the required parameter.

Fixture Matching
Matching existing fixtures between Vectorworks and Paperwork.show can be done in two ways, each with their pro's and con's

Match By Fixture Number: Match fixtures soley by their Fixture Number. This is the default method and should be used the first time you import information from Vectorworks for each drawing, or any time you send new information with from Vectorworks where the Fixture Numbers haven't changed.

Match By Vectorworks ID: Match fixtures by the internal ID assigned to the symbols by Vectorworks. This is a unique value assigned by Vectorworks when you first draw the symbol in Vectorworks. While Matching by Fixture Number is generally recommended, Matching by Vectorworks ID is the only way to sync changes to fixture numbers.

On a not very useful but sometimes helpful note: If a drawing has blank Fixture Numbers (or you've selected the wrong Fixture Number Source), each fixture will have the same fixture number: blank.
When Matching by fixture number, you'll end up with only a single Fixture (the last one) as each blank fixture number will match to the previous blank fixture number and the previous fixture details will be overwritten.

In this instance you could match by Vectorworks ID and at least get the correct quantities of fixture in your project.

New/Existing Filter
These check boxes let you choose to only import new fixtures, or only update existing fixtures

As your drawings get more and more complex and other users collaborate, these options help ensure your not accidently adding in new fixtures or overwriting existing ones as you work.

Vectorworks Field Mapping
Certain features require extra vectorworks parameters. Here you can map the VW parameters to Paperwork.show information. An important note: There are a certain number of default Vectorworks Parameters that will always be shown, but any custom Parameters from Vectorworks are only shown if they're included in the data sent from Vectorworks. If there is no data waiting in Paperwork.show, then no additional fields are shown. Depending on the type of objects being sent to Paperwork.show and what records are attached, there may be a great deal more Vectorworks Parameters than you would expect.

Fixture Attached Items
Fixtures can have items "attached" to them and added to the Equipment list, like accessories, jumper cables, etc.
Setting a field here will let Paperwork.show use the information contained in those parameters to create items in the Equipment List.

Setting a field to a Generic Item tells PWS to try and parse that parameter as if it was any normal item being added to the equipment list. This is a good place to add "barndoors", "rain covers", etc. Multiple items can be added, separated by commas, and quantities can be added with the standard format "5x cow bells, 2x Tru1 Fanout"

Setting a field to a Specific Item lets you enter a specific item into the field, "5-pin DMX Cable" for example. PWS would then look for a length, or list of lengths, in that parameter. Each length found would add another item to the equipment list. For example, entering "5pin DMX Cable" in the Field Mapping options, and entering "10,10,15" in that parameter of a Fixture, will cause Paperwork.show to add "2x 10ft 5pin DMX Cable" and "1x 15ft 5pin DMX Cable".

These items remain attached to their Fixture (as opposed to how Generic and Cable items work), and need to be confirmed via the Fixture Sheet

Generic Items
Generic Items are Lighting Devices sent from Vectorworks, but the Fixture Type is matched to "Generic Item" instead of an actual Fixture Type. Any Lighting Deviced matched as a Generic Item will be added to the Equipment List instead of creating a Fixture.

Cable Items
Similar to a Generic Item, these are Lighting Device Fixture Types from Vectorworks where the Fixture Type is matched to "Cable Worksheet Item" instead of a Fixture Type. The fields have slightly more complex behaviour, to mimic creating cables with the Cable Worksheet. See the specific help section for more details.

Fixture and Item Aliases
Every time you match a Vectorworks item to a Paperwork.show item, an alias is created to save time on future imports. Here you can view all your Vectorworks aliases and delete them if neccessary.

Note that Vectorworks Aliases are distinct per user and per Inventory, you only see your aliases, and aliases are not shared between Inventories.

Also this is separate from Equipment Aliases, which are handled on the equipment page.

New Data From Vectorworks
Here you'll find all the data sent from Vectorworks. Each time you send information to Paperwork.show from Vectorworks, anything existing queued data is replaced. Below you'll be able to set assorted items specific to this particular transaction and Accept the data into Paperwork.show, adding and updating your Project.

Column Filter
Sometimes you don't need to bring over every piece of information from Vectorworks. The Column filter lets you choose specific Vectorworks parameters to allow.
The "Quick Select" box will set filters based on some predefined sets, or click the "Show" link to show the full suite of parameters to choose from.

The parameter "Additional Fields" encompases every custom parameter you've added to Vectorworks.

Fixture Type Matching
This section allows you to match Instrument Type from Vectorworks to fixture types in your Inventory.

The first cell is a sample Fixture Number that was found, then you'll see the Instrument type found in Vectorworks, and a dropdown to select the correct Inventory Item, then a the same is repeated for the Fixture Mode.

It's common for fixtures in Vectorworks to not have any mode information, in which case you'll see "No Mode Given".

Finally a checkbox to "Ignore this Type", which will ignore all Devices from Vectorworks with that Instrument Type.

Additionally, above the table is a red "Ignore all types without fixture numbers" link, which will check the Ignore box on any row where a Fixture Number wasn't found. This is useful if you only want Fixtures to be imported and would like to ignore any non-fixtures.

If you don't see ANY fixture numbers, check your "Fixture Number Source" settings, you may be set to Unit Number by accident.

Fixture Mode Matching
This section is for Vectorworks Lighting Devices where we've found a match for the Instrument Type, but not for the Fixture Mode. You can set those modes here.

Type and Mode Overwrite
Here you can temporarily set a different Fixture Type or Mode for an item that has been properly matched by name or alias. If the drawing has the wrong type of fixture, the best practice is to change the symbol in Vectorworks. Otherwise, overwrite the match here, or simply import the fixtures and change their type and mode later in the Fixture Sheet here.

Fixtures/Items Tables
The final tables preview the end results of the import. You'll see lists of New or Updated fixtures, and in the Items tab you see all the Generic or Cable items, either from Lighting Devices or by attaching a "pws" record to an item in Vectorworks.

Uncheck a row to not import that specific item.

Click the green "Click Here to Accept" button to import the information