Model > Data

External Data Link

Links a spreadsheet to this document by a key column (Element ID, GUID or a property) and writes its columns to a custom tab on the matched objects. Refresh re-reads the file and reports matched, unmatched and changed; links are saved with the document's Playground data.

Status

Related asks to confirm

No quote is on record yet. These threads look related, but a person still has to open and read them.

• https://forums.autodesk.com/t5/navisworks-forum/adding-new-properties-to-an-object-with-an-sql-string-through/m-p/6220511

Events it listens to

None. It runs only when you click it.

Files

Paths are relative to the Playground.extension folder.

• Model.tab/Data.panel/Write_Data.pulldown/External_Data_Link.pushbutton/bundle.yaml
• Model.tab/Data.panel/Write_Data.pulldown/External_Data_Link.pushbutton/icon.dark.png
• Model.tab/Data.panel/Write_Data.pulldown/External_Data_Link.pushbutton/icon.png
• Model.tab/Data.panel/Write_Data.pulldown/External_Data_Link.pushbutton/icon.small.dark.png
• Model.tab/Data.panel/Write_Data.pulldown/External_Data_Link.pushbutton/icon.small.png
• Model.tab/Data.panel/Write_Data.pulldown/External_Data_Link.pushbutton/script.py

Install

1. Only this tool. In Navisworks, click pyNavis > Playground, search for External Data Link, tick it and click Install.
2. The whole extension. Download Playground.extension.zip, unzip it, put the Playground.extension folder in %APPDATA%\pyNavis\extensions\, and click pyNavis > Reload. External Data Link is on the Model tab, Data panel.

You need pyNavis 1.3.0 or later.

Source

The tool's own files, word for word as published in pynavis/Playground. Paths are relative to the Playground.extension folder.

script.py

The script that runs on a click.

# -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
"""Manages spreadsheet links that write their columns to custom tabs on matched objects."""
from pynavis import script, toast

from namo import data_common, data_write, ui


def run():
    if ui.is_runner():
        toast.info('External Data Link needs the Navisworks window', 'It cannot open under pynavis run.')
        return
    doc = data_common.active_doc()
    if not data_common.has_models(doc):
        data_common.no_model_toast()
        return
    data_write.link_flow(script.bind(), doc)


run()

Library modules this tool uses

From the shared namo library, which installs with every tool. Each name opens the module on GitHub.

• namo.data_commonShared plumbing for the Inspect and Data panel tools: progress stages, where files go by default, the scope dialog fields, and the small checks every button starts with.
• namo.data_writeThe Write Data pulldown's dialogs and flows: Bulk Property Writer, Find and Replace, Property Mapper and External Data Link. The logic they rest on (planning, matching, mapping, writing inside one transaction) is namo.propwrite; this module asks, previews and reports. Every flow takes the BoundScript `me` (settings) and the document, returns nothing and toasts every outcome; cancelling any dialog is silent.
• namo.uiWPF building blocks for Playground tools, themed from the pyNavis design system.

bundle.yaml

The bundle contract: the keys pyNavis reads for this tool.

title: External Data Link
tooltip: Links a spreadsheet to this document by a key column (Element ID, GUID or a property) and writes its columns to a custom tab on the matched objects. Refresh re-reads the file and reports matched, unmatched and changed; links are saved with the document's Playground data.
context: doc