Archicad 28 introduces a new library format: library package, which can be used in a more flexible way than the previously used library container files (.lcf). This article shows you how to create a new library package from scratch or upgrade your existing libraries. Archicad still supports .lcf files, so…
Library File Format Changes for Library Packages
Library parts made for Archicad can be in many different formats. Some are used for development, while others are optimized for delivering these libraries to users. From Archicad 28, a new format is introduced: the library packages (or libpacks for short). While all other formats were in use before, the…
Libpack info Files
As mentioned before, library packages contain more knowledge than a simple .lcf. For Archicad to read this additional data, we have .info files that define them. package.info This is the most essential file for a library package. It contains basic data about the package in XML format. The format of…
Creating parammapping.xml and MappingDefinitions.json
Before creating MappingDefinitions.json, make sure to study How Editable Parameter Defaults Work to understand the connections from library part parameters to attributes in your Archicad Plan file. To be able to change parameter defaults on a library, the library packages have to contain a MappingDefinitions.json file. The meaning names listed…
Conversion Between Library Formats
This article describes possible ways of converting between different library file formats. The following illustrations show the process in general, and below that, you find the detailed conversion steps. Conversion in Archicad: Conversion with the LP_XMLConverter: LP_XMLConverter As Archicad can not solve all conversions (see conversion between hsf and .gsm),…
Creating symbolStrings.po
symbolStrings.po contains all translatable strings collected from each library part in the library package. This includes: parameter descriptions (which appear on the All Parameters tabpage and in listfields) string parameter values (note that the default string value can be overwritten by mapping values as well (Creating parammapping.xml and MappingDefinitions.json), in…
Creating pathNameTable.json
pathNameTable files are used to create alternate folder structures for library packages. They are also needed to translate the folders’ and library parts’ names (Creating fileNames.po and folderNames.po). For creating and editing pathNameTable files, it is advised to use VSCode with the latest version of the GDL Add-on, which includes…
Creating fileNames.po and folderNames.po
Creating and handling fileNames.po and folderNames.po works similarly to symbolStrings.po, with the main exception that fileNames and folderNames are generated based on the pathNameTable.json instead of the library parts’ source. This also means that you need a pathNameTable.json for this to work (Creating pathNameTable.json). If you have multiple pathNameTable.json files…
How Editable Parameter Defaults Work
The User Documentation explains how Setting Library Part Defaults is made available for library packages. Once you have understood the method, you can jump right into it by continuing with Creating parammapping.xml and MappingDefinitions.json and Example workflow to change parameter defaults in released Library Packages, which guides you through creating the in-between…