Copyright 2015 Integrated Environmental Solutions Limited. All rights reserved.

Transcription

1 Tabular Room Data User Guide IES Virtual Environment Copyright 2015 Integrated Environmental Solutions Limited. All rights reserved. No part of the manual is to be copied or reproduced in any form without the express agreement of Integrated Environmental Solutions Limited.

2 Contents 1 Introduction What is Tabular Room Data? Where does it fit within the Virtual Environment? Tabular Room Data Basics Accessing Tabular Room Data Tabular Room Data Window Data Grid Menu-bar Side Panel Status Bar Information Bar Using Tabular Room Data Selecting a Tab Group Editing Room Attribute Values Value Cells From Template Value Cells Dropdown List Cells Dropdown Window Cells Applying Changes to Multiple Rooms Marking Rooms for Edit Marking and Unmarking All Rooms Configuring Columns and Tabs Managing Columns Managing Tabs within a Tab Group Applying or Cancelling Configuration Changes Data Validation Configuring Data Grid Colours Setting Custom Colours Restoring the Default Colours Configuring Group Switching Enabling and Disabling Switching Setting Custom Switching For Views Data Filtering Filtering Basics Adding a Filter to an Existing Column Identifying Filtered Columns Editing a Filter on an Existing Column Removing a Filter on an Existing Column Disabling Filtering on a Tab Managing Filters Creating a New Filter VE 2015 Tabular Room Data 1

3 4.2.2 Editing a Filter Removing Filters Controlling Filter Application Applying Changes Data Filtering and the Status Bar Exporting and Importing Room Data Exporting Room Data Keywords in Data Output Editing Values with Multiple Units Importing Room Data Requirements for Importing Selecting Data to Import Error Handling Additional Features Automatic Refresh for the Active Building Assign Marked Rooms to a Room Group Deselect Unmarked Rooms Query an Individual Room with Multiple Rooms Selected Appendix A. Known Limitations A.1 VE-Compliance Support A.2 Internal Gains and Air Exchanges A.3 Cannot Delete Tabs and Tab Groups A.4 Column Locking Appendix B. Frequently Asked Questions VE 2015 Tabular Room Data 2

4 1 Introduction 1.1 What is Tabular Room Data? Tabular Room Data is a feature within the Virtual Environment that allows you to rapidly inspect and modify the standard thermal attributes, internal gains and air exchanges for rooms in your models. It provides access to a similar set of data to that available via the standard Query Room and Edit Group Attributes features, but provides the information in a modeless, tabular form. This means that the information for the rooms is displayed automatically and does not prevent you from working with the model if you select a room, it is automatically displayed in the Tabular Room Data grid. In addition to providing a fast and efficient way for you to edit room attributes in your model, Tabular Room Data provides a number of other useful features: - Customizable columns, allowing you to choose exactly which variables you want to see - Sorting, allowing you to sort all grid data either ascending or descending by any column - Filtering, allowing you to only display rooms which pass one or more different criteria - Export and Import of displayed room data, allowing you to externally edit the values for your rooms (e.g. using Microsoft Excel) and then re-import the changes to automatically apply them to your model. 1.2 Where does it fit within the Virtual Environment? Tabular Room Data is currently available within the following Virtual Environment modules: Depending on your current module licensing, you may not have access to all of these modules. However, there is no additional license required to use Tabular Room Data in the above modules. Virtual Environment 2014 Feature Pack 2 introduces the following new feature: - Ability to lock columns in view within a tab. One or more columns can now be locked to the left of a tab, meaning they are always visible when scrolling horizontally through the grid. VE 2015 Tabular Room Data 3

5 2 Tabular Room Data Basics 2.1 Accessing Tabular Room Data The Tabular Room Data window is a modeless window, meaning you can have it open whilst still being able to interact with the rest of the Virtual Environment. To display the window in the supported modules, you can either: - Select the Tabular Room Data item from the View menu on the main Virtual Environment menu-bar, or use the Ctrl+Shift+T keyboard shortcut. - Click the Tabular Room Data button on the toolbar. Both the menu-item and the toolbar button are toggle items they will display the window if it is hidden and close the window if it is displayed. The visible state of the Tabular Room Data window is remembered, both when switching into application modules where it is not supported (e.g. SunCast, Vista, Radiance etc.) and when the Virtual Environment is closed. This means that the Tabular Room Data window will automatically display itself when switching into a supported module. 2.2 Tabular Room Data Window The appearance of the Tabular Room Data window is similar to that shown above. The window floats above the main application window, allowing you to interact with the main view window (e.g. selecting and manipulating rooms) while the window is active. The window is also resizable and supports being VE 2015 Tabular Room Data 4

6 maximized, allowing you to move and position it as you desire to avoid intrusion on your work area. It can also be positioned on a secondary display, if your computer has two or more monitors. The Tabular Room Data window consists of 4 main elements, as detailed below: Data Grid The data grid displays the attributes for each selected room, using the columns specified in the currently active tab. The set of tabs available in the current group is displayed underneath this grid. The grid columns along the top indicate the room attributes being displayed. Each room is displayed on an individual row in the grid. The column currently being used to sort the grid rows is highlighted in a light blue colour, with a small arrow at the top to indicate the sort direction (either ascending or descending). Clicking on a column header will sort the grid rows on that column, and clicking on an existing sort column will toggle between the two sorting directions. There is a column on the left-hand side of the grid containing checkboxes these are known as marking checkboxes and are used to allow changes to a row to be applied to all the rows that have been marked for editing (i.e. their checkbox has been ticked). Whenever you edit a cell on any row (be it marked or not), the corresponding value will be applied to all rows that have been marked. Marked rows are highlighted to provide an additional visual cue to their marked state. The tabs available in the current tab group are displayed along the bottom of the grid. Whenever you click on a tab, the grid columns will be updated to reflect those in the selected tab and the grid content will be refreshed appropriately Menu-bar The menu-bar is displayed across the top of the Tabular Room Data window. This provides you with access to commands for manipulating the tabs that are currently being displayed, for configuring and switching tab groups, filtering data and so on File menu New Group Open Group Save Group Creates a new, untitled tab group. By default, this will contain a single untitled tab with no columns. You can configure the tabs and group by selecting the Configure option. Displays a sub-menu containing all saved tab groups. Selecting an item from this sub-menu will switch the data grid to display the tabs in the selected group. The currently active tab group will be ticked. Saves the changes to the currently active tab group. If the group has not been previously saved, you will be prompted to VE 2015 Tabular Room Data 5

7 Save Group As Revert Group Import Export Close Window Edit menu Copy Data From Current Tab Paste View menu Side Panel Information Bar Status Bar Refresh Tab menu New Tab Insert Tab Close Tab give it a name. Saves a copy of the currently active tab group under a name you specify. Resets the currently active tab group to its last saved state. This option is only enabled if the tab group has been previously saved and you have pending unsaved changes. Displays a sub-menu containing options to import previouslyexported room attributes from either a text file on disk, or from the clipboard. Displays a sub-menu containing options to export the columns contained in all tabs in the current group to either a text file on disk, or to the clipboard. Closes the Tabular Room Data window. Copies only the room attributes visible in the current tab to the clipboard. NOTE: this differs from the Export options (see above), as they will export the room attributes for all tabs in the current group. Imports any room attribute data currently on the clipboard (equivalent to Import From Clipboard). Toggles the display of the Tabular Room Data side panel. The item is ticked whenever the side panel is visible. Toggles the display of the Tabular Room Data information bar. The item is ticked whenever the information bar is visible. Toggles the display of the Tabular Room Data status bar. The item is ticked whenever the status bar is visible. Allows you to perform a manual refresh of the data currently displayed in the grid. Inserts a new, untitled tab into the current tab group. This tab will not contain any columns by default. Displays a sub-menu containing all saved tabs. Selecting an item from this sub-menu will insert the selected tab into the current tab group. If you select a tab that is already in the current group, it will update the data grid to display the columns in that selected tab. All tabs that are part of the active tab group will be ticked. Removes the currently selected tab from the active tab group. VE 2015 Tabular Room Data 6

8 Close Other Tabs Save Tab Save Tab As Revert Tab Filtering Enabled Manage Filters Automatically Hide Unused Columns Columns Actions menu Deselect Unmarked Rooms Assign Marked Rooms to Room Group This option is only enabled if there are at least 2 tabs in the group. NOTE: this does not delete the tab it simply removes it from the active tab group. Removes all tabs except the currently selected tab from the active tab group. This option is only enabled if there are at least 2 tabs in the group. NOTE: this does not delete the tab it simply removes it from the active tab group. Saves the changes to the currently active tab. If the tab has not been previously saved, you will be prompted to give it a name. Saves a copy of the currently active tab under a name you specify. Resets the currently active tab to its last saved state. This option is only enabled if the tab has been previously saved and you have pending unsaved changes. Toggles whether data filters defined on the current tab will be applied. When switched off, the data displayed in the grid is unfiltered (shows all rooms) but any defined filters still exist. The item is ticked whenever filtering is enabled. Displays the Manage Filters dialog, allowing you to add, remove and configure data filters on the current tab. Further details are given in the Managing Filters section. Toggles whether columns in the grid are hidden if none of the displayed rooms contain any valid data for those columns. If switched on, a column is only displayed when at least one room contains valid data in that column. This item is ticked whenever the automatic column hiding is enabled. Displays the Configure dialog, allowing you to manage which columns are displayed in the current tab, and which tabs are in the current tab group. Further details are given in the Configuring Columns and Tabs section. Allows you to quickly deselect all rooms that are not marked for editing in the data grid (i.e. have a tick at the left-hand side of their row). Allows you to quickly assign all rooms that are marked for editing in the data grid into a room grouping scheme. VE 2015 Tabular Room Data 7

9 2.2.3 Side Panel The side panel is displayed on the left of the Tabular Room Data window. This provides quick access to some of the common options from the menu-bar. The side panel can be switched on or off via the View menu on the Tabular Room Data menu-bar, or switched off by clicking the button at its top-right corner. The side panel contains the following options: Export to file Copy data from all tabs Copy data from current tab Import from file Paste from clipboard Deselect unmarked rooms Assign marked rooms to group View User Guide Exports the columns contained in all tabs in the current group to a text file on disk. This is equivalent to the Export->To File item in the Tabular Room Data File menu. Exports the columns contained in all tabs in the current group to the clipboard. This is equivalent to the Export->To Clipboard item in the Tabular Room Data File menu. Exports the columns contained in the currently active tab in the current group to the clipboard. This is equivalent to the Copy Data From Current Tab item in the Tabular Room Data Edit menu. Imports room attributes data from text file on disk. This is equivalent to the Import->From File item in the Tabular Room Data File menu. Imports room attributes data from the clipboard. This is equivalent to the Import->From Clipboard item in the Tabular Room Data File menu. Allows you to quickly deselect all rooms that are not marked for editing in the data grid (i.e. have a tick at the left-hand side of their row). This is equivalent to the Deselect Unmarked Rooms item in the Tabular Room Data Actions menu. Allows you to quickly assign all rooms that are marked for editing in the data grid into a room grouping scheme. This is equivalent to the Assign Marked Rooms to Room Group item in the Tabular Room Data Actions menu. Provides a shortcut to view this user guide. Refresh Allows you to perform a manual refresh of the data currently displayed in the grid. This is equivalent to the Refresh item in the Tabular Room Data View menu. VE 2015 Tabular Room Data 8

10 Manage filters Configure tabs and columns Displays the Manage Filters dialog, allowing you to add, remove and configure data filters on the current tab. This is equivalent to the Manage Filters item in the Tabular Room Data Tab menu. Displays the Configure dialog, allowing you to manage which columns are displayed in the current tab, and which tabs are in the current tab group. This is equivalent to the Columns item in the Tabular Room Data Tab menu Status Bar The status bar is displayed along the bottom of the Tabular Room Data window. This displays information on the number of rooms currently being displayed by the grid and also the number of data filters in-use (if any). Further details on the text displayed in the status bar are given in the Data Filtering and the Status Bar section Information Bar The information bar is displayed above the data grid the Tabular Room Data window, and is used to display the building model that is currently active. The information bar can be switched on or off via the View menu on the Tabular Room Data menu-bar, or switched off by clicking the button at its top-right corner. Some examples of the information bar display are given below: In Apache: In VE-Compliance: In ASHRAE 90.1 App. G - PRM: VE 2015 Tabular Room Data 9

11 3 Using Tabular Room Data 3.1 Selecting a Tab Group As the name suggests, a tab group is simply a set of tabs that you can view with Tabular Room Data. A single tab group is active at any one time and within this group, the data grid will be displaying the columns from a single tab. The tabs in the current group are displayed along the bottom of the grid. By default, Tabular Room Data ships with 2 defined tab groups Room Data (used in ApacheView and ASHRAE 90.1 PRM) and Room Data (NCM) (used in <VE Compliance>). These include tabs that are set up to mimic those in the standard Query Room window. The Room Data group will be selected by default when you first use Tabular Room Data. To select a tab group, simply select it from the Open Group sub-menu in the Tabular Room Data File menu. 3.2 Editing Room Attribute Values It is very simple to edit room attributes using Tabular Room Data, but the exact method depends on the type of cell used to represent the attribute. An overview of the different types of cell in use is given below Value Cells From Template Value Cells Where an attribute is simply a textual value (e.g. Room Name) or a numerical value (e.g. Heating Unit Size), a basic value cell is used. To edit the value in one of these cells, simply double-click it you can apply the edit by clicking on another cell or pressing the ENTER key, or cancel the edit by pressing the ESC key. NOTE: Some basic value cells are non-editable (e.g. Room ID, Gain Reference). Double-clicking on these cells does nothing, as the values are not modifiable. Some attributes can have values that are derived from the current thermal template, but that you can also choose to modify from the value defined by the template. These attributes are represented by From Template value cells and are distinguishable by their checkbox at the right-hand side. VE 2015 Tabular Room Data 10

12 When the checkbox is checked, this means the value displayed is taken from the thermal template and is not editable. The value is also displayed in the From Template text colour (blue by default) as an additional visual cue. In order to edit the value, you must un-tick the checkbox to prevent the template value being used this will cause the text colour to change, indicating that the value can now be edited. To edit the value in one of these cells, simply double-click it when the checkbox is un-ticked you can apply the edit by clicking on another cell or pressing the ENTER key, or cancel the edit by pressing the ESC key Dropdown List Cells Some attributes (such as profiles and Apache systems) are designed for you to choose a value from an acceptable set, rather than manually typing in a value. These attributes use a dropdown list cell as the name suggests, they display a dropdown list containing all the valid options for that particular attribute. To edit the value in one of these cells, simply click on the cell to display the dropdown list of options you can select an option by scrolling to it (if necessary) and clicking it, or cancel the dropdown list without changing selecting anything by pressing the ESC key when the list is displayed. Many of these attributes can use the value defined in the room s thermal template. These are represented in the dropdown list by a From Template item at the top of the list this will show the template value in parenthesis. The value on the cell is also displayed in the From Template text colour (blue by default) as an additional visual cue. Some dropdown list attributes (e.g. Aux. Vent System and DHW System, Plant Profile) make use of additional custom options in their lists, such as Use Main System, Set As Heating Profile and Set As Cooling Profile. Again, colour cues on the cell text are used to indicate these at a glance. These custom options are always visible when using the dropdown list and are identifiable by being displayed above the dividing line. VE 2015 Tabular Room Data 11

13 3.2.4 Dropdown Window Cells Where none of the standard cell types are suitable for a particular attribute, a dropdown window cell is used. This type of cell resembles a dropdown list cell, but when clicked it displays a custom pop-up window, rather than a list. Dropdown window cells are currently used for the Heating Setpoint and Cooling Setpoint attributes (where they allow you to switch between a constant temperature value and a timed profile), and for DHW Consumption. To edit the value in a dropdown window cell, simply click the cell to display the window, then edit as appropriate. You can apply the changes by clicking the OK button (or pressing ENTER) or by clicking the Apply button this will apply the changes without dismissing the dropdown window. To cancel any changes made in the dropdown window, click the Cancel button (or press ESC). If the dropdown window defined its value as being derived from the thermal template, the value on the cell is also displayed in the From Template text colour (blue by default) as an additional visual cue. 3.3 Applying Changes to Multiple Rooms Marking Rooms for Edit The process for editing a value across multiple rooms at once is the same as that outlined for the various cell-types above the only difference is that before you perform the edit, you mark the rooms you want to apply the change to. You can mark a room by clicking its marking checkbox at the left-hand side of the grid. The following example shows 4 rooms in a model that have been marked for edit: The next image shows the same rooms, after clicking the checkbox in the Solar Reflected Fraction column for the room L00: Office and editing the value from 0.05 to 0.4: VE 2015 Tabular Room Data 12

14 As you can see, the changes to both the From Template checkbox and the fraction value were applied across all marked rooms. The changes will be applied regardless of the cell type the process works in the same way for Basic Value cells, Dropdown List cells and Dropdown Window cells. Bear in mind that there are cases where the specified value cannot be applied across all marked rooms. Consider the following example, involving Fixed Heating Capacity: If you attempt to modify the value of Fixed Heating Capacity for room L01: NW Office to 5.1, the change will only be applied to the rooms L01: NW Office, L00: Office and L01: Room. It would not be applied to L01: Servers because that room is using Unlimited for its Simulation Heating Unit Capacity. Similarly, the change would not be applied to L02: Roof Void either this is because that room has no main system, therefore the options for heating capacity are unavailable Marking and Unmarking All Rooms You can quickly mark all rooms for editing by clicking the checkbox next to the column headers: When this checkbox is ticked, all rooms displayed in the current tab will be marked for editing. If you click the checkbox again, all rooms will be unmarked. Alternatively, you can mark and unmark a room by clicking on its own marking checkbox. The grid will also mark a row in response to standard SHIFT-click and CTRL-click gestures you can use these to mark ranges of rooms within the grid. You can also unmark a room by right-clicking on it and selecting the Unmark <Room Name> item in the pop-up menu. Similarly, you can unmark all other rooms except the one you have right-clicked on by selecting the Unmark Other Rooms item. VE 2015 Tabular Room Data 13

15 3.4 Configuring Columns and Tabs The easiest way to manage the columns displayed in the current tab, and to manage the tabs available in the current tab group, is via the Configure window. You can access this either by selecting the Columns item in the Tabular Room Data Tab menu, or by clicking the Configure columns and tabs link on the side panel. The window consists of two tabs one for managing the columns in the active tab, and one for managing the tabs in the active tab group Managing Columns You can manage the columns in the active tab using this window the name of the tab is indicated at the top. The right-hand list shows the columns currently included in the tab, while the left-hand list shows all other columns that are available. Due to support for viewing the same column in different variant building models, the list of available columns is large you can filter it to only show you the columns for a particular model variant by using the Show dropdown above the list. An additional text filter is available below the list you can enter some or all of a column name to limit the left-hand list to only show those items containing the text Adding Columns to a Tab To add one or more columns to a tab, simply select the relevant columns in the left-hand list and either: - Click the Add button. If no columns are selected in the right-hand list, the new columns will be added after the last existing column. If one or more columns are selected in the right-hand list, the new columns will be added immediately before the first selected column. - Drag the selected columns from the left-hand list to the right-hand list. When you drag the new columns over an existing column in the right-hand list, the column under the mouse will highlight this indicates that the new columns will be added immediately before the highlighted column. OR VE 2015 Tabular Room Data 14

16 Removing Columns from a Tab To remove one or more columns from a tab, simply select the relevant columns in the right-hand list and either: - Click the Remove button, or press the Delete key. - Drag the selected columns from the right-hand list to the left-hand list Reordering Columns in a Tab To reorder the columns in the tab, simply select one or more of the columns in the right-hand list and either: - Click the Move Up or Move Down buttons as appropriate. Note that when the first selected item is at the top of the list, the Move Up button will be disabled. Likewise, when the last selected item is at the bottom of the list, the Move Down button will be disabled. - Drag the selected columns within the right-hand list. When you drag the columns over an existing column in the list, the column under the mouse will highlight this indicates that the first set of contiguous selected columns will be moved immediately before the highlighted column. OR OR For example, the following images show the result of moving the Floor Area, Floor Lettable Area and Floor Circulation Area columns to the position of the General Template column: Locking Columns You can lock one or more columns to the left of the grid within a tab so that they will always be visible, even if you have to horizontally scroll to the right. To lock one or more columns, select them in the righthand list and click the lock button if you select one or more columns that are already locked, clicking the lock button will unlock those columns. NOTE: Locking of columns is only supported in VE2014 Feature Pack 2 or later Reverting Column Changes If you have made modifications to the column configuration in the right-hand list but wish to cancel your changes, click the Reset button underneath the right-hand-list. This will restore the list to its last saved state and will allow you to restart modifications to the column configuration. VE 2015 Tabular Room Data 15

17 3.4.2 Managing Tabs within a Tab Group You can manage the tabs within the active tab group using the second tab of the Configure dialog the name of the tab group is indicated at the top. The right-hand list shows the tabs currently included in the tab group, while the left-hand list shows all other tabs that are available. As with column management, you can filter the left-hand list by entering part or all of a tab name to help find the tab you are interested in Adding Tabs to a Tab Group To add one or more tabs to the active tab group, simply select the relevant tabs in the left-hand list and either: - Click the Add button. If no tabs are selected in the right-hand list, the new tabs will be added after the last existing tab. If one or more tabs are selected in the right-hand list, the new tabs will be added immediately before the first selected tab. - Drag the selected tabs from the left-hand list to the right-hand list. When you drag the new tabs over an existing tab in the right-hand list, the tab under the mouse will highlight this indicates that the new tabs will be added immediately before the highlighted tab Removing Tabs from a Tab Group To remove one or more tabs from the active tab group, simply select the relevant tabs in the right-hand list and either: - Click the Remove button, or press the Delete key. - Drag the selected tabs from the right-hand list to the left-hand list. OR OR VE 2015 Tabular Room Data 16

18 Reordering Tabs in a Tab Group To reorder the tabs in the active tab group, simply select one or more of the tabs in the right-hand list and either: - Click the Move Up or Move Down buttons as appropriate. Note that when the first selected item is at the top of the list, the Move Up button will be disabled. Likewise, when the last selected item is at the bottom of the list, the Move Down button will be disabled. - Drag the selected tabs within the right-hand list. When you drag the tabs over an existing tab in the list, the tab under the mouse will highlight this indicates that the first set of contiguous selected tabs will be moved immediately before the highlighted column. OR For example, the following images show the result of moving the System and Air Exchanges tabs to the position of the General tab: Reverting Tab Group Changes If you have made modifications to the tab configuration in the right-hand list but wish to cancel your changes, click the Reset button underneath the right-hand-list. This will restore the list to its last saved state and will allow you to restart modifications to the tab configuration Applying or Cancelling Configuration Changes Once you have made changes to the column and/or tab set-up using the Configure dialog, simply click the OK button (or press RETURN) to apply the changes and close the dialog the data grid will then be refreshed to reflect your new column and tab group configuration. Alternatively, you can use the Apply button to apply the changes without closing the dialog this will allow you to make further changes to either the column configuration or to the active tab group. Alternatively, if you wish to cancel any changes you have made to both the column configuration and the tab group, simply click the Cancel button (or press ESC). Note that if you have previously clicked the Apply button, only changes made since that point will be cancelled. VE 2015 Tabular Room Data 17

19 3.5 Data Validation In basic value cells and From Template value cells, there is always the scope for the user to enter an incorrect value. This could be due to a typing error, or a range-check error (e.g. entering a negative value or a value greater than 100 for a percentage). In these cases, Tabular Room Data will display a balloon tip to warn you about the problem and will not apply the change. Some examples of these warnings are shown below: The warnings will be displayed if you press the RETURN key to apply an invalid value. Note that they will not be displayed if you cancel the edit, click directly on another cell or move the mouse over the main application window in those cases, an invalid entry will simply be ignored. 3.6 Configuring Data Grid Colours The data grid uses colours for its cell text and cell backgrounds to show data of a certain type and to indicate rows that have been marked for editing. The cell text colour can be defined for the following types: - Normal values - Read-only values - Disabled values - From Template values - Aux. Vent and HVAC System Use Main System values - Plant Profile Same As Heating Profile value - Plant Profile Same As Cooling Profile value The row background colours can be defined for the following types: - Normal rows - Rows marked for editing - Locked columns (NOTE: only available in VE2014 Feature Pack 2 or later) Setting Custom Colours Although Tabular Room Data ships with a default set of colours defined for the above items, you can modify these colours to suit your own tastes. To configure the colours, select Preferences from the Tabular Room Data Edit menu. VE 2015 Tabular Room Data 18

20 The Colours tab shows you the colours that are currently applied to the different data types. To edit a colour, click on the relevant colour block: This will display the standard colour picker window, allowing you to select the colour you desire: Once you have selected the colour you wish to use, click OK in the Colour dialog. The Preferences dialog will then be updated to show you the new colour. Once you have finished modifying the colours for the different text and row types, click OK and the data grid will update to reflect your new colour scheme Restoring the Default Colours If you want to restore all the colour choices back to their default values, simply open the Preferences dialog and click on the Restore Default Colours button this will return each of the colours to their default values. You can then click OK to apply the colour changes. 3.7 Configuring Group Switching By default, Tabular Room Data is configured to automatically display the NCM-specific room data items in the <VE Compliance> module and the Apache-specific items in the Apache and ASHRAE 90.1 App. G PRM modules. However, you can customise this behaviour to display your own tab groups on entry to the specific views, or disable the auto-switch behaviour entirely. VE 2015 Tabular Room Data 19

21 To configure the Group Switching behaviour, select Preferences from the Tabular Room Data Edit menu and then click on the Group Switching tab Enabling and Disabling Switching You can turn the auto-switch behaviour on and off by clicking the When switching to these views button above the view list when the button is checked, the auto-switch behaviour is switched on and the tab group choices shown in the view list will be applied when you enter those views. To disable all auto-switching, click the button again to remove the check the options for auto-switching will then be disabled. When switched off, whichever tab group is active will remain displayed when switching between different modules in the <VE> Setting Custom Switching For Views When auto-switching is turned on, you can configure which tab group will be selected for each supported module. This can be one of the standard supplied groups (Room Data or Room Data (NCM)) or a custom group that you have previously saved. Alternatively, you can choose to do nothing when a particular module is selected. To set the switching action for a particular view, select the appropriate row in the list and click on the drop-list column this will display a list of all available tab groups, plus an additional Do Nothing option: - To set a particular tab group to become active for the module, select its name from the bottom area of the drop-list. - To set a particular module to use whichever tab group is currently active when you enter, select the Do Nothing item at the top of the drop-list. VE 2015 Tabular Room Data 20

22 With the switching behaviour defined, you also have to select the appropriate option for dealing with unsaved changes on the current tab group. This is done by the three option buttons underneath the list: - Automatically save the changes If there are unsaved changes to either the tabs or the group itself, these will be automatically saved prior to switching. You will still be prompted if the changes involve unsaved tabs or an unsaved group. - Automatically discard the changes If there are unsaved changes to either the tabs or the group itself, these will be discarded prior to switching without prompting you. Any unsaved tabs or an unsaved group will be lost. - Ask me what to do You will be prompted as to whether you want to save the changes before any switching happens. NOTE: if you cancel the save, the tab group will remain in-place. The changes you make to group switching will be applied once the OK button is clicked on the Tabular Room Data Preferences window. VE 2015 Tabular Room Data 21

23 4 Data Filtering One of the more powerful features of Tabular Room Data is that it allows you to apply data filtering to control which rooms are actually displayed in a tab. By default, all selected rooms will be displayed, but by filtering the data you can limit the grid to display to only those rooms that meet a set of criteria that you choose. You can apply a filter on any available column (including columns not currently in the tab) and each filter can contain up to ten conditions you have control over how the filter treats each of these conditions. In addition, you can define the way an individual filter applies its conditions by default, the filter will be set so that data is only displayed if all conditions are met, but you can also set it to pass if any of the conditions are met or if none of the conditions are met. This section explores how to create, edit and manage filters on your tabs. 4.1 Filtering Basics Adding a Filter to an Existing Column The quickest way of filtering is to simply define data filters on one or more of the columns currently visible in the tab. To do this, right-click on the column you wish to filter on and select Add Filter on <column name> from the context menu. This will display the Custom Filter window in its default state, as shown in the following example for Room Name: By default, the window allows you to enter a single condition the condition type can be chosen from the dropdown list, while you then type the condition value into the text box. The available condition types depend on whether the cell is textual or numeric. Textual data (such as Room ID, Room Name, Variation Profile and so on) offers the following condition types: - Value is <your condition> - Value is not <your condition> - Value contains <your condition> - Value does not contain <your condition> - Value begins with <your condition> - Value ends with <your condition> In comparison, numeric data (such as Volume, Floor Area, Solar Reflected Fraction and so on) offers the following condition types: - Value equals <your condition> - Value does not equal <your condition> VE 2015 Tabular Room Data 22

24 - Value is less than <your condition> - Value is less than or equal to <your condition> - Value is greater than <your condition> - Value is greater than or equal to <your condition> If you require more than one condition on a single column, you can add another condition row by clicking the + button: If you have more than one condition defined, you can remove an individual condition by clicking on the button next to it. Note that the order in which the conditions are defined is not important, and text values are not case-sensitive. Consider the following rooms selected in a model: If a Room Name filter was defined as in the previous example (begins with L00 and does not contain void ), the results of the filtering would be as follows: Only four of the rooms can pass both conditions defined in the Room Name filter, so those are the only rooms displayed in the tab. Note that the other rooms are still selected they are just being hidden from the grid by data filtering. VE 2015 Tabular Room Data 23

25 4.1.2 Identifying Filtered Columns When a filter has been defined on a particular column, a blue identifier bar is shown at the bottom of the column header. This allows you to quickly identify which of the current columns have filters applied. In addition, you can get a summary of the filter if you move the mouse pointer over this blue bar: Clicking the Edit the filter link in the balloon will also allow you to make changes to the filter conditions Editing a Filter on an Existing Column The process for editing a defined filter on a column in the grid is very similar to that for adding a filter. To do this, you can right-click on the column you wish to filter on and select Add Filter on <column name> from the context menu, or click on the link in the summary balloon (see previous section). This will display the Custom Filter window, pre-populated with the conditions defined in the filter: The Custom Filter window functions in exactly the same way as it does when you are adding a new filter you can use the + and buttons to add and remove conditions on the filter and can configure the application of the conditions using the Show data when dropdown Removing a Filter on an Existing Column When a filter is defined on one of the columns in the active tab, it is trivial to remove the filter if you no longer require it. Simply right-click on the column you wish to remove the filter from and select Clear Filter from <column name> - the filter will be removed and the data grid will be refreshed accordingly. Once the filter is removed, the blue indicator band will be removed from the column header Disabling Filtering on a Tab You can temporarily disable the effects of data filtering on a tab to show all selected rooms in your model without actually having to delete the defined filters. This enables you to quickly compare the results of the filtered and unfiltered room attributes. Filtering is enabled on a tab by default, but you can disable it VE 2015 Tabular Room Data 24

26 by turning off the Filtering Enabled item in the Tabular Edit Tab menu, or by right-clicking on the tab itself selecting the equivalent item from the pop-up menu: When filtering is disabled, any columns with data filters applied will change their indicator bar from blue to dark grey the grid will then refresh to display the room attributes for all selected rooms. To re-enable the defined filters, simply re-select the Filtering Enabled menu-item. 4.2 Managing Filters One of the more powerful filtering features in Tabular Room Data is the ability to filter on columns that aren t actually displayed in the current tab. In order to do this, you use the Manage Filters window this lists all the filters that are defined for the tab, allowing you to create new filters, edit and/or remove existing filters and control how the overall filtering is applied (i.e. whether a room must pass all defined filters, can pass any filter or must pass none of the filters). VE 2015 Tabular Room Data 25

27 You can access the Manage Filters window for the current tab by selecting the Manage Filters item from the Tabular Room Data Tab menu, or by right-clicking on the tab itself and selecting the equivalent item from the pop-up menu Creating a New Filter The Manage Filters window allows you to create a filter on any available column in any available variant building model you are not limited to only the columns already defined in the tab. In order to create a filter, you select the appropriate column to filter on from the dropdown list and then click the Add button. This will then display the Custom Filter window as normal, allowing you define the conditions for the new filter. Once you have set up the conditions as you desire, click OK on the Custom Filter window and the new filter will be added to the list in the Manage Filters window. NOTE: The dropdown list for creating a filter contains a large number of items. The easiest way to quickly select the item you want to add is to click on the dropdown to display the list, then type the first few characters of the column you wish to add a filter on Editing a Filter You can edit any defined filter either by double-clicking its entry in the Manage Filters list, or by selecting the appropriate filter from the list and then clicking the Edit button. This will then display the Custom Filter window as normal, allowing you change the conditions for the new filter. Once you have modified the conditions as you desire, click OK on the Custom Filter window. Note that the Edit button will be disabled if there are no list entries selected, or if there are multiple entries selected Removing Filters Unlike the data grid, the Manage Filters window allows you to remove multiple filters at once. To remove filters, simply select the relevant entries in the list (use the SHIFT and/or CTRL key when clicking to select multiple items) and then click the Remove button. Alternatively, you can select the items and the press the Delete key. The relevant entries will then be removed from the list Controlling Filter Application The Manage Filters window also allows you to control the method used to apply the filters, in a similar fashion to the way you can control how the conditions within a single filter are applied. You can experiment with this to provide different results from your data filtering. VE 2015 Tabular Room Data 26

28 By using the Show data when dropdown, you can control whether a room s data attributes will be displayed in the grid only if all of the filters are passed, if any of the filters are passed, or if none of the filters pass Applying Changes Any modifications you make via the Manage Filters window are not immediately applied this allows you to cancel the updates you have made if you decide that they are not suitable, or if you have made a mistake during editing. If you click the Cancel button on the Manage Filters window, all modifications will be discarded. Once you have completed all the editing, creating and removal that is required, you can apply the changes by clicking the OK button. The data grid will then be refreshed to reflect the modifications to the data filters. 4.3 Data Filtering and the Status Bar The Tabular Room Data status bar provides a fast method to show you both the number of rooms currently in the grid (shown in the first pane), as well as the number of data filters in-use (shown in the second pane). Some examples of the status bar display are shown below: 27 Rooms selected, No filters defined, Filtering Enabled 27 Rooms selected, 2 filters defined, Filtering Enabled 27 Rooms selected, 2 filters defined, Filtering Disabled You can also double-click on the second pane to quickly access the Manage Filters window. VE 2015 Tabular Room Data 27

29 5 Exporting and Importing Room Data In addition to the powerful support for data filtering within Tabular Room Data, you can also output your room data attributes as tab-delimited text. This enables you to view and manipulate the output using software such as Microsoft Excel, similar to the Export Room Data feature provided in previous versions of the Virtual Environment. However, Tabular Room Data takes things a step further by also allowing you to import data from tab-delimited text this means that it is now possible to export the data, edit it externally as you require and then import it back into the Virtual Environment, with your modifications being quickly and easily applied across the rooms in your model. This can offer a significant time saving over previous versions of the software, which only allowed data to be manually input on a room-by-room basis. The export and import feature provides a number of helpful features to make things easy for you to manage the data: - Export either all columns in the current tab group, or only those in the active tab. This allows you to configure exactly what appears in the output. - Exporting only takes account of the rooms visible in the grid. So, if you use data filtering, you ll only get output for the filtered rooms, rather than all rooms. This means you can get the output for the rooms you are interested in, rather than having to get it for all rooms. - Exported output is sorted based on the current sort column in the active tab. This means you can choose the sort order of the output prior to export. - Importing previously exported data works regardless of whether the columns are visible in the current tab, or if the ordering of the columns differs in the output from that used in the tabs. If Tabular Room Data can identify the appropriate column from its header text, it will modify the value. - Importing previously exported data also works regardless of sort order of the rooms in the output. Tabular Room Data will identify its rooms using the Room ID in the output, to ensure that the values are set on the correct room regardless of the order. - Importing will also take account of the data format of the values, even if it differs from the currently active input format (e.g. data being imported is in IP, while the Virtual Environment is currently running in Metric). Tabular Room Data will do the appropriate conversion during import to keep things valid in the current input format. - Full error-checking is performed when importing, with a list of issues being displayed on completion of the import process. This allows you to review all the errors in one place, rather than having to deal with repeated error messages while the import progresses it also allows you to fix the problematic values in-place, if you want to. This section details the process for exporting data and then re-importing it. 5.1 Exporting Room Data If you want to export all the columns currently in use in the active tab group, you can either: VE 2015 Tabular Room Data 28

30 Select the To File or To Clipboard item from the Export sub-menu of the Tabular Room Data File menu. Select the Export to file or Copy data from all tabs item from the side panel. Alternatively, if you only want to export the columns in the current tab (not all tabs in the group): Select the Copy Data From Current Tab item from the Tabular Room Data Edit menu. Select the Copy data from current Tab item from the Tabular Room Data Edit menu. Note that both of these items will always export to the clipboard. If you have selected to export the data to a file, you will be prompted to select the location to save the file to: VE 2015 Tabular Room Data 29

31 The export process will then begin a progress window will be displayed if the output process takes more than a second or so, allowing you to get an estimate of how much time the export is likely to take as well as allowing you to cancel the export: Once the progress window completes, your output is then ready to be opened or pasted. The following example shows the result of opening the data in Microsoft Excel: Keywords in Data Output Various room data attributes in the Virtual Environment need to reflect special flags as well as just their value. The most obvious of these is if a value is taken from the thermal template (and will therefore be automatically updated if the template assigned to the room is changed, or if the template itself is modified), but there are other special cases relating to systems and to the plant profile. In order to correctly maintain these in output, Tabular Room Data includes keywords in the data where they are needed. VE 2015 Tabular Room Data 30

32 The following keywords are currently recognized: <from template> <main system> <heating profile> <cooling profile> Supported on all columns that can derive a value from the thermal template. Indicates that the value is taken from the thermal template instead of being specified directly. This keyword overrides all other keywords. Supported on the Aux. Vent System and DHW System columns. Indicates that the relevant system will match that set for the System column. Supported on the Plant Profile column. Indicates that the Plant Profile will match that set for the Heating Profile. Supported on the Plant Profile column. Indicates that the Plant Profile will match that set for the Cooling Profile. When a keyword is defined in a cell, any other value in the cell is disregarded during the import process. However, the export process does include the value alongside the keyword for informative purposes. So, the effect of applying the following would be the same in all cases: <from template> <from template> - Random <from template> - <from template> In all four cases above, the From Template flag would be set for the value and whatever value was defined in the template would be used. Note that if you assign a keyword to a cell when its column does not support that keyword, it will be flagged as an error at the end of the import process (except for a column such as Room Name, which will accept any text input) Editing Values with Multiple Units One special case to be aware of when editing the output from the export process concerns values that can be displayed in multiple units. These are the following: - Fixed Heating Capacity - Fixed Cooling Capacity - Flow Rate - Free Cooling Flow Capacity - Extract Flow Rate - Max. Flow (Air Exchanges) The default tab set-up for Tabular Room Data includes these values in multiple units. For example, the following output is for Extract Flow Rate in IP units: Extract Flow Rate (ac/hr) Extract Flow Rate (cfm) Extract Flow Rate (cfm/ft²) Extract Flow Rate (cfm/person) VE 2015 Tabular Room Data 31

33 Care must be taken if you want to edit this the key thing to note is that values are applied left-to-right, so if you modify one value in one unit, you should clear the values in the other unit columns. For example, if you modified the Extract Flow Rate (cfm) to be 14.5, the following shows the wrong method and the correct methods: Extract Flow Rate (ac/hr) Extract Flow Rate (cfm) Extract Flow Rate (cfm/ft²) Extract Flow Rate (cfm/person) Extract Flow Rate (ac/hr) Extract Flow Rate (ac/hr) Extract Flow Rate (cfm) 14.5 Extract Flow Rate (cfm) Extract Flow Rate (cfm/ft²) Extract Flow Rate (cfm/ft²) Extract Flow Rate (cfm/person) Extract Flow Rate (cfm/person) The first case would apply incorrectly because the Extract Flow Rate (cfm/ft²) and Extract Flow Rate (cfm/person) cases would be subsequently applied, thus cancelling out your change. Therefore, if you make a manual edit to any such multiple unit value, you should either blank out the other units or place a hyphen in place for them. This will ensure that they will be ignored during importing of the data. 5.2 Importing Room Data Once you have completed any editing to the output in an external application, it is then ready to be brought back into Tabular Room Data to have the modifications applied to your model. As with the export process, you can import from either a tab-delimited text file on disk or from tab-delimited text on the clipboard Requirements for Importing In order to begin the import process, you must ensure that the data: - Includes all column headers. These are the first row in the exported output, so you must ensure that they are included when you attempt to import the data back to Tabular Room Data. - Includes valid values for the Room ID column. This is what Tabular Room Data uses to identify which room is being modified, so it must appear in the data to be imported. If either of these conditions is not met, an error message will be displayed to indicate that no valid data could be found for importing. In order for the import process to apply changes, you must have all the required rooms selected in your model. You can ensure this by simply selecting all rooms in the model prior to importing data Selecting Data to Import To begin importing data, you can either: VE 2015 Tabular Room Data 32

34 Select the From File or From Clipboard item from the Import sub-menu of the Tabular Room Data File menu. Select the Paste item from the Tabular Room Data Edit menu. Select the Import from file or Paste from clipboard item from the side panel. Note: that importing from the clipboard is only enabled if there is text content currently on the clipboard. If you have chosen to import the data from a file, you will be prompted to select the location of the file: The import process will then begin a progress window will be displayed if the import process takes more than a second or so, allowing you to get an estimate of how much time the import is likely to take as well as allowing you to cancel the import: VE 2015 Tabular Room Data 33

35 It is important to note that as the import process modifies the room attributes, cancelling it while it is in progress will result in some of your data potentially being modified and some of it unmodified it is therefore your responsibility to ensure that the data remains in a valid state. A warning message will be displayed if you click Cancel: Click No in this warning message to allow the import process to continue. Once the import has completed, the progress box will close automatically Error Handling If the import process encountered any problems with the data for rooms, the following warning message will be displayed once importing is completed: You can dismiss the warning at this stage, but it is very useful to see the details of what values went wrong in each room. To see this, click the Show Detail button at the bottom-right corner: VE 2015 Tabular Room Data 34

36 In its expanded form, the window shows a list containing each value that it could not apply, grouped by room (the group titles are in the form <Room ID>: <Room Name>). This allows you to quickly review the issues and decide on the best resolution. One of the more powerful features of this list is that it allows you to fix the errors in-place if you want to. To edit a value, simply double-click on it in the Value column: This will make the value be editable, allowing you to type in the corrected value. If the variable in question supports the use of keywords such as <from template>, you can also enter these into the edit box just as you would in an external editor (see the Keywords in Data Output section for details on supported keywords). Apply your edited value by simply pressing RETURN once you are finished with the edit if the value is now valid, it will be automatically applied and that error will be removed from the list. You can then continue to perform the same correction method on the other errors in the list. Once all errors have been fixed, the warning message will automatically close. Note that you can close the warning message at any time by clicking the OK button however, any remaining errors in the list will be ignored and their values in your data will not have been modified. VE 2015 Tabular Room Data 35

37 6 Additional Features In addition to its core features outlined in previous sections, Tabular Room Data also includes some other smaller features to help you quickly and efficiently modify the rooms in your model. These are briefly outlined in the following section. 6.1 Automatic Refresh for the Active Building The pre-supplied tab groups have been updated to use active columns. This means that the data displayed for the variables will be taken from whichever building model is currently active the data grid will automatically update whenever the active building changes. In addition, where separate room selection is maintained between different building models (e.g. between Actual and Notional in VE-Compliance) the grid will automatically update to show the currently selected rooms in the active building. When an active column is displayed, the column header will automatically include the name of the building model that it is currently representing (e.g. (Real) in Apache, (Actual) or (Notional) in VE- Compliance). In conjunction with the information bar (see the Information Bar section), this will allow you to quickly identify that you are modifying data for the rooms in the building that is currently displayed. The following example shows a subset of 3 rooms in a model, displayed in the VE-Compliance module. All 3 rooms were selected in the Actual building prior to switching to the Notional building where a single room was selected (shown below): As you can see, the data grid columns have updated to reflect that they are displaying Notional building data (note the NB-specific non-editable systems that are assigned). VE 2015 Tabular Room Data 36

38 On switching back to the Actual building, the Tabular Room Data grid will automatically refresh its columns and information bar to reflect that the actual building is now active, and it will also update to show the three selected rooms again: The data grid now shows the assigned data for the Actual Building (note the system values and the editability of the Heating Plant Radiant Fraction values) and the information bar has updated. This happened without any need to directly modify the active tab group in Tabular Room Data. 6.2 Assign Marked Rooms to a Room Group The sorting and filtering features of Tabular Room Data can enable you to quickly identify rooms in the model that have common attributes, values within a particular range and so on. Combined with the ability to mark multiple rooms (see the Applying Changes to Multiple Rooms section), you can then quickly assign marked rooms in any existing room grouping scheme direct from the Tabular Room Data window. Simply mark the rooms you wish to assign to a grouping scheme, and then select either: Assign Marked Rooms to Room Group from the Tabular Room Data Actions menu. Assign marked rooms to a group from the side panel. VE 2015 Tabular Room Data 37

39 This will then display the standard Assign Room Group window, allowing you select a grouping scheme and corresponding group to add the marked rooms to: 6.3 Deselect Unmarked Rooms The Tabular Room Data grid displays data for all selected rooms (excluding those that do not pass any defined data filters), but there may be situations where you want to identify a subset of the selected rooms then deselect those that aren t in that subset. This is easy to achieve simply mark the rooms you wish to remain selected (i.e. those you want to continue to view in the data grid) and then select either: Deselect Unmarked Rooms from the Tabular Room Data Actions menu. Deselect unmarked rooms from the side panel. 6.4 Query an Individual Room with Multiple Rooms Selected As detailed previously, the Tabular Room Data grid displays data for all selected rooms. Typically, you will use it to view the attributes for multiple rooms simultaneously however, this would typically prevent you from accessing the standard Query Room functionality for an individual room. This could be problematic for situations that cannot be addressed using Tabular Room Data, such as adding or removing internal gains and air exchanges to a room. In order to work around this, you can access the Query Room window for any single room in the data grid by right-clicking on the room and selecting the Query Room <Room Name> item from the pop-up menu. This will then display the normal Query Room window, allowing you to edit the room attributes via the traditional method. The grid will be refreshed to reflect any changes when the Query Room window is closed. IMPORTANT: Be aware that the Query Room functionality will be invoked for the currently active building model, even if you right-click on a column for a different model variant. For example, if selected in <VE Compliance> by right-clicking on a Notional Building column in the grid while the Actual Building is currently selected, the Query Room window will display the room data for the Actual Building. VE 2015 Tabular Room Data 38

40 Appendix A. Known Limitations A.1 VE-Compliance Support Virtual Environment 2014 has full editing support for variables in VE-Compliance, including the NCM Lighting Data variables. The only exception to this is the Transpired Solar Collectors section of Room Data for SBEM this is not currently supported via Tabular Room Data. You should continue to use the existing Query Room functionality to view and manipulate these settings. In addition, any Actual, Notional and Reference building columns in the active tab will not display data outwith the VE-Compliance module this is due to differences in the inner volume methodology between VE-Compliance and other modules, which can result in differing floor areas for rooms (thus having a knock-on effect on other derived values). As a result of this, you will only be able to export NCM-specific data (either to file or to the clipboard for external editing) when you have the VE-Compliance module active. A.2 Internal Gains and Air Exchanges Tabular Room Data supports a maximum of 10 internal gains and 10 air exchanges per room. In the unlikely event that a room uses more gains or air exchanges than this, you must use the existing Query Room functionality to view and manipulate the gains. In addition, Tabular Room Data provides no means of adding or removing gains and air exchanges from a room if you require this, you must add or remove from either the thermal template assigned to the room or use the Query Room functionality. Both gains and air exchanges are treated by Tabular Room Data in the order they appear within the Query Room window. This means that there may be discrepancies between the types of gain between rooms assigned different thermal templates, as in the following example: The first three rooms in the grid all have a people gain as their first gain, but the last (a lift) has a fluorescent lighting gain as its first gain. For this reason, care must be taken to ensure that modifications applied across multiple gains are correctly applicable as you expect. VE 2015 Tabular Room Data 39

41 A.3 Cannot Delete Tabs and Tab Groups Although this version of Tabular Room Data allows you to create your own custom tabs and tab groups, there is currently no way of deleting them (you can only remove a tab from being included in a tab group). This limitation will be removed in a future release of the software, providing support from within the application for removing either your own custom tabs and groups, or those provided by default with the Virtual Environment. In addition, if you have made modifications to the built-in tabs and/or tab groups, there is currently no method for you to reset these back to their default states. Again, this will be addressed in a future version of the software by allowing you to restore the tab and tab group settings to their defaults. A.4 Column Locking In VE2014 Feature Pack 2 or later, Tabular Room Data allows one or more columns to be locked to the left of the grid, meaning they will remain visible even if the grid is horizontally scrolled. However, if any columns are locked it is not possible to manually reorder columns in the grid by dragging the headers. In this situation, you must use the Configure Columns And Tabs window to re-order the items (see section 3.4). VE 2015 Tabular Room Data 40

42 Appendix B. Frequently Asked Questions Why are some of the columns in my tab not being displayed? By default, tabs are set to automatically hide any column that does not contain any valid data for any of the rooms being displayed this is done to avoid unneeded clutter and is particularly useful for internal gains and air exchanges (e.g. if no room in your model contains more than three gains, the columns relating to gains 4 through to 10 are automatically hidden). However, you can turn off the auto-hiding behaviour by un-ticking the Automatically Hide Unused Columns item in the Tabular Room Data Tab menu or by right-clicking on the tab and selecting the equivalent item from the pop-up menu this will make all columns always visible in that tab. I exported my room attributes from Tabular Room Data, but the output didn t contain the room(s)/column(s) I expected? Unlike the older Export Room Data feature (which exports a fixed, non-editable subset of attributes for all rooms in the model), Tabular Room Data s exporting feature works from either the currently active tab or from all tabs in the currently active group. Therefore, it is your responsibility to ensure that you select the appropriate rooms you want to export, and that your current tab/tab group set-up features all the columns you require. Also, be aware that the Export items on the side panel and in the File menu will export the columns from all tabs in the group, whereas the Copy All Data From Current Tab option in the Edit menu will only export the columns in the currently active tab. I imported room attributes into Tabular Room Data and got no errors, but the value hasn t changed to what was in the imported data? In order for the import process to apply changes, the rooms referenced in the data you are importing must be selected in the current model. Any rooms that are not selected will be ignored and any modifications you have made will not be applied. You must also ensure that you do not modify the Room ID values in the data, as this could also cause rooms to be skipped. Finally, ensure that all column header text remains unchanged and is included as the first line in the data you are importing failure to do this will result in no modifications being made to your room attributes, as Tabular Room Data cannot identify the different columns in the input data. I tried to import room attributes into Tabular Room Data and had all the necessary rooms selected, but an error message was displayed saying The supplied data is not valid for importing? There are two possible causes of this message: VE 2015 Tabular Room Data 41

43 This message means that Tabular Room Data was unable to identify the Room ID column in the import data (left hand message) or was unable to identify any recognized columns in the import data (right hand message). Without the Room ID column, it is not possible to perform an import, as there is no way for Tabular Room Data to determine what rooms the values should apply to. When preparing the data for import, you must ensure that it includes the Room ID column, with a valid ID for each room. Some examples of valid and invalid input (viewed within Microsoft Excel prior to copying to the clipboard or saving to a tab-delimited file) are given below: Valid Data for Input: Missing Column Headers: Missing Room ID Column: Can I use exported data from Tabular Room Data to apply changes to another model? The intention of the export functionality in Tabular Room Data is to allow you to make use of external tools such as Microsoft Excel for editing room attributes thus, the tool is designed with the intention of the user exporting data from a model, making appropriate modifications and then importing the modified data back to the same model. It is not intended to be used to transfer information between different models there are two main reasons behind this: - Room IDs may not be consistent between different models, and the export/import functionality relies on consistent IDs in order to apply changes. - No true model data is exported. Notably, there is no geometry information, templates, Apache systems or profiles included in the data. Therefore, there is no mechanism to correctly apply the attributes to a different model. For this reason, you should never attempt to import data from one model into another. VE 2015 Tabular Room Data 42