Overview
The RIB Specifications Team regularly updates the master text, reference standards, and manufacturer content found within SpecLink Cloud. This process occurs when the Specs Team member responsible for the content of the section deems it necessary. This means there is no waiting for a scheduled update.
Important notes regarding updating in SpecLink Cloud:
- Currently, updates in SpecLink Cloud are performed by section.
- Updates to master content do not occur within your project without your acceptance.
- Updates made to the sections of an Office Master do not flow through to imported sections, or sections within projects copied from an Office Master project.
- Deleted content that is not accepted by the user becomes user generated content and is no longer updated by the RIB Content Team.
Types of Master Content Updates
The 3 types of master content updates are:
- Master Text: Includes changes to RIB's master paragraphs.
- Reference Standards: Includes changes to RIB's reference standards library such as the citation, designation, edition, reference title and/or hyperlink.
- Manufacturer Content: Includes changes to RIB's integrated manufacturer data.
Quick Steps for Updating a Section
Note: These quick steps are intended to assist in the updating of a section when the content does not require review, such as at the beginning of a project when you would want the most updated content.
Please review the detailed information contained in this article regarding updates to master text, reference standards, and manufacturer content.
Follow these steps to review and review the available updates.
- Click the " # Updates Available" link located in the project path (breadcrumbs) within the Global Header, next to the Section ID and Title as pictured below.
- Review the update menu located on the right of the section window.
- Click on each type of update listed on the right side of the update menu; Master Text, Reference Standard, and Manufacturer.
- Click the green Accept button to accept all of the updates for each type.
- To return to Edit mode, click the Update menu located in the top right corner of the section window and select Edit.
Accessing Update Mode
In order to identify or accept the updates of a section you must first access "Update mode". There are two ways to access Update Mode within a section.
- The number of available updates is displayed as a link directly below the Section ID and Title. Click this link to access Update Mode. The update link depicted in the image below is labeled "30 Updates Available".
- Alternatively, you can select "Update" from the Edit menu located in the top right corner of the SpecLink Cloud toolbar.
When Update mode is accessed, the update menu will appear on the right side of the screen providing access to the 3 types of updates. The image below shows an update menu providing access to 15 Master Text, 5 Reference Standards, and 10 Manufacturer updates.
All of the listed updates can be accepted by clicking on the green "Accept" button however, it's important to identify and review the updates before accepting all updates.
In some cases, SpecLink Cloud may alert you that certain paragraph updates must be performed individually. An example of this is when reference standard or manufacturer content is embedded in master text and updates are occurring to both. Essentially you will be asked to confirm that is acceptable.
Identifying Updates within a section
Upon accessing Update Mode, all updates will be underlined with specific colors noting what is being updated within that paragraph.
The image below displays an example of underline colors and what they denote for updates. These simply assist in identifying the content that has an update and informs the user if the update is an update to existing content, newly added content, or deleted content.
Master Text Updates
Master text updates include changes to RIB's master paragraphs. Paragraphs can be updated, added, or deleted.
- Updated Paragraphs
- Added Paragraphs
- Deleted Paragraphs
- User Added and User Modified Paragraphs
- Updates Occurring in Multiple Update Categories
Updated Paragraphs
Paragraphs being updated will appear light grey in the update menu along the right side of the section window. When selected within the update menu, a paragraph that is being updated will be displayed twice as pictured below. The top version is the current version with a red strike-through the content. The bottom version is the updated content. This is the content that will be displayed if the update is accepted.
Within the section, the selected paragraph will be underlined as well as shaded in orange for your review.
To accept the update, click the circle check mark within the update menu. This action can not be undone.
If you wish not to accept the update, simply move onto the next item in the update window.
Added Paragraphs
Paragraphs being added will appear black in the update menu along the right side of the section window. When selected within the update menu, a newly added paragraph will be display an Accept Paragraph button.
Within the section, the selected paragraph will be underlined as well as shaded in green for your review.
When applicable, the new paragraph may also have an Accept Branch button. Clicking the Accept Branch button accepts all of the new paragraphs within a new branch. The images below represent examples of the results of Accept Paragraph and Accept Branch.
Click the appropriate button to accept the addition(s). This action can not be undone. If you wish not to accept the update(s), simply move onto the next item in the update window.
Deleted Paragraphs
Paragraphs being deleted will appear light grey in the update menu along the right side of the section window. Deleted content that is not accepted by the user becomes user generated content and is no longer updated by the RIB Content Team.
When selected within the update menu, a paragraph that is being deleted will be displayed with a red strike-through the content.
Within the section, the selected paragraph will be highlighted in red for your review.
To accept the deletion, click the circle check mark within the update menu. This action can not be undone. If you wish not to accept the deletion, simply move onto the next item in the update window.
User Added and User Modified Paragraphs:
- User added paragraphs will not be deleted or placed randomly when new paragraphs are added above a user added paragraph.
- User modified lines will not change if updates are applied. The user will have the ability to click the “M*” to toggle between master text and user modifications before and after applying updates.
Updates Occurring in Multiple Update Categories
There are times when accepting master text updates causes an update to a Reference Standard or Manufacturer Content.
In the example below, the section has 4 Master Text Updates.
When the Accept button is clicked a message will appear in the middle of the section stating:
The following paragraphs cannot be accepted without also accepting paragraphs from a different Update category. Would you like to accept those paragraphs as well?
This message is alerting the user that either one or multiple updates to Reference Standards or Manufacturer Content will be automatically accepted when the Master Text updates are accepted. When the user clicks OK, the count of updates indicates how many updates have been accepted.
In the example above, not only were the 4 Master Text updates accepted, but 3 Manufacturer Content updates were automatically accepted.
Reference Standard Updates
Updates to RIB's reference standards library include changes to the citation, designation, edition date, and/or hyperlink.
It is important to note when it comes to updating reference standards, that importing a section to a project can impact what updates are applied to those Reference Standards.
When importing a section from Project A to Project B, the Reference Standard Edition in the Project A section will automatically update to match the corresponding Reference Standard in Project B as long as that Reference Standard has ever been active in Project B. If the corresponding Reference Standard in Project B has never been active, then the update edition will remain however it is set in Project A.
Please be aware that once a Reference Standard has been updated, it can not be undone.
Updated Reference Standards
Reference Standards being updated will appear light grey in the update menu along the right side of the section window. When selected within the update menu, a reference standard being updated will display any changes being made. In the image below, the Reference Edition as well as the Hyperlink Target are being updated.
Within the section, the updated standard will appear shaded in orange for your review.
To accept the update, click the circle check mark within the update menu. This action cannot be undone.
If you wish not to accept the update, simply move onto the next item in the update window.
Added Reference Standards
Reference Standards being added will appear black in the update menu along the right side of the section window. When selected within the update menu, a newly added reference standard will be displayed with an Accept Paragraph button.
Within the section, the new standard will appear shaded in green for your review.
Click the Accept Paragraph button to add the new standard to the section. This action cannot be undone.
If you wish not to accept the update, simply move onto the next item in the update window.
Deleted Reference Standards
Reference Standards being deleted will appear light grey in the update menu along the right side of the section window. When selected within the update menu, the reference that is being deleted will be displayed with a red strike-through the content.
Within the section, the selected reference will be highlighted in red for your review.
To accept the deletion, click the circle check mark within the update menu. This action cannot be undone.
If you wish not to accept the update, simply move onto the next item in the update window.
Note: Reference Standards can be updated in modified or user added paragraphs.
Manufacturer Content
Manufacturer updates include changes to RIB's integrated manufacturer data.
Updated Manufacturer Content
Manufacturer content being updated will appear light grey in the update menu along the right side of the section window. When selected within the update menu, manufacturer content that is being updated will be displayed twice. The top version is the current version with a red strike-through the content. The bottom version is the updated content. This is the content that will be displayed if the update is accepted.
Within the section, the selected manufacturer content will be underlined as well as shaded in orange for your review.
Newly added Manufacturer Content
Manufacturer content being added will appear black in the update menu along the right side of the section window.
When selected within the update menu, a newly added manufacturer content will be displayed with an Accept Paragraph button.
Within the section, newly added manufacturer content will appear shaded in green for your review.
In the update column, you can choose to click the Accept Paragraph button, or, when applicable, you can click the Accept Branch button to accept all of the new paragraphs within a new branch.
This action cannot be undone.
If you wish not to accept the update, simply move onto the next item in the update window.
Deleted Manufacturer Content
Manufacturer content being deleted will appear light grey in the update menu along the right side of the section window. When selected within the update menu, manufacturer content that is being deleted will be displayed with a red strike-through the content.
Within the section, the selected manufacturer content will be highlighted in red for your review.
To accept the deletion, click the circle check mark within the update menu. This action cannot be undone.
If you wish not to accept the update, simply move onto the next item in the update window.
Comments
18 comments
Updates to SpecLink Cloud are to cumbersome and time consuming. SpecLink-e was one click of the accept button and then you had to go through the red flagged paragraphs and you were done 15 minutes max, I'd say....Do not like the update feature in cloud.
I agree. I would like to see this streamlined.
I agree, what is the point of keeping an office master if I have to accept dozens of items one section at a time and do not even know what they are. I am better of to start with an updated "blank" project.
'Sad to say, I agree with Michael and Peggy.
like everyone else, I say that this is a big step backwards. Takes too much time and effort and I'm never quite sure if it actually did the update. just another problem with the new program
Is there a timeframe for getting a universal update function in speclink cloud?
Since nothing appears to have changed, let me add to the above comments that the ease and user-friendliness of the updating SpecLink-E was one of the clinching factors in moving our masters from a word-processing program to a relational database.
This has GOT to come back, updating the entire project, and soon! In SLE I wished for an option to permanently opt-out of updates for a project once it goes out to bid, because at that point it should not be changed. But before that, we really need the WHOLE project to be updated!
And besides that, the update process within each section is extremely cumbersome. Sometimes I have to Accept updates, then go back to Edit, then come back and accept MORE updates, sometimes as many as 3 times before it will finally tell me that there are no more updates. And often the browser hangs and doesn't appear to be doing anything, at which point I have to F5 refresh just to see what has happened. And yes I know that some of this was improved in the most recent update, and yes I'm using Chrome. But the issues persist.
Hi Patrick,
Gary Christensen from BSD writing. Thanks for the feedback here. I understand there is a track in place for this issue with our development team. Improvements to the updating are on our roadmap for a future release. Thanks again!
Gary
It appears that this is an unresolved issue that is at least 2 years old. When will this software update occur?
I would like to know as well. On a recent project I had sections with hundreds of updates, and sometimes I had to keep going back to accept more and more updates as many as 8 to 10 times! So ridiculous!
Any progress on getting back to the one-click updating process for SLC?
I understand that the server software that supports SLE is aging out and will force users who don't want to put up with the current updating process in SLC to leave SpecLink. Will one-click updating in SLC be ready in time?
I just went through about a hundred sections that I wrote half a year ago as "office masters". I wanted to accept all updates. It took a lot longer to do it section by section than in the old SLE.
Any update to the "update globally"???
When a sequence that has had links added to it by a user is updated by RIB, does it mess with the links?
When a branch is promoted by a user and RIB master content is changed in any of the sequences that are part of the branch - does the updating still work (updating widget still recognizes the sequences - which now are at a different level of hierarchy)?
Walter, Updating in the Cloud works the exact same way as the updates to SLE worked. No difference. Any paragraph that has been edited/modified by the user will be flagged so that the user must accept the update. They system won't allow changes to hierarchy that will cause a break.
Hope this helps
Any progress on getting to the one-click updating process for SLC?
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