How to | querying from database-like lists | datamanagement

[Ludo_Poot]

I’m quite new to Grasshopper, especially the data management I am still trying to wrap my brain around in this project. I am used to working with tables in a web environment with header rows where you can get data by querying based on header rows.

A little bit about the project: I’m trying to visualise a manufacturing process. I want to make a visual timeline starting with the stock, being trees, the trees are processed into logs, and these logs are then processed into lamellas, and lamellas are made into components. (Mind you a tree can have multiple logs just as logs can be made into different types of lamellas which serve different types of components.)

→ In what way do I use data management for this, how to query items?
→ And how should I structure (multiple) databases?

Visualisation sketch:

This is my database structure (all on different sheets in an Excel file):
I also tried .csv but this is more transparent for myself.

My sketch so far (I try to lay out the data on a grid, it also shows 3d models of the final wood components): (open image in new tab to see in full scale)

[seltzdesign (Armin Seltz)]

I think you are doing great and it looks like you are doing it “right”. Obviously there is no right or wrong in Grasshopper - there’s always lots of different ways to achieve something.

Handling lots of grafted lists with several levels can be a bit of a pain, but once you are comfortable working with those, you will already have learned one of the harder aspects of GH.

For working with trees I can recommend the TreeFrog plugin for Grasshopper. It used to be part of the Human plugin, which in itself is great, but now is separate. Just use the PackageManager in Rhino to install it. Not sure if you have to install Human as well, but it won’t hurt to have it as well, even though a lot of it’s functionality is now in GH natively.

It will give you just 4 new components, but they can be really handy when dealing with unwieldy data trees, especially AssignPaths and MatchPaths.

I also use the “Sets” components a lot for stuff like you are doing. Especially Member Index can be very handy.

Happy grasshoppering!