Standardized Beams from Excel

[Alisn]

Hi!
So I try to build a grasshopper file of standardized beams in order to switch quickly to one another. This would be useful if you do not know which beam you will use for your project yet.
I am still a beginner in grasshopper and found bumblebee to connect Grasshopper and Excel, but couldnt find a basics tutorial. Or is there any simpler option? The Excel File is not supposed to be changed, so I dont think it needs to be too complicated to insert that data into a list in Grasshopper.
An example file would be great!

Thanks a lot!

[Rickson]

What are you doing in grasshopper with the list?

[Joseph_Oster]

Reading CSV files isn’t complicated and doesn’t require a plugin, but isn’t necessary either. You can use GH panels to type in tabular data, then parse it:

lumber_2019Oct24a.gh (14.4 KB)

[Alisn]

The goal is to be able to assign the beams so multiple curves, for example for a ceiling. But I need to be able to switch between the standardized beams. So my idea was to have several lists, one for the height, with all the meassurements of the height of all standardized beams (in excel that would be a column), one for the width and so on. In the end there would be a list item component where I can basically choose from beam 0, with all the meassurements of the list items 0, to beam 18. The final goal would be to easily switch between beams and have a look at their strength with the help of other plug ins. I hope you got that, my grasshopperfile is not worth posting yet.
Thanks so much!

[Alisn]

You are talking about typing in every single number? Or is there a way to copy a column from excel to a list in grasshopper? I am trying the number panel right now, where I am actually typing in every single number, but I am sure there is an easier option, to do so with all standardized beams would be crazy!

[Rickson]

this 2D member script is pretty cool (R5)

I might take a shot at updating and incorporating into GH this weekend.

Standard Steel Beams

If you have that script you might want to post it and perhaps someone can check it for RH5 / 6. Other than that, search for e.g. structural steel on www.food4rhino.com. Here are a few that might be worth looking into:

[Alisn]

Cool!
But still I would be interested in using data from excel, I might need that in the future. Are there any basic tutorials? I have no clue how to integrate the data for example with bumblebee. Would it work with pythons and how?

[Rickson]

I use this one for excel, it has examples.

Import and export Excel files with the NPOI plugin : EXCELLENT!

This Plugin rocks ! NPOI_Excel Plugin -No need for Excel to be opened -Very fast write -Ability to create files with multiple worksheets -Import and export of cell ranges -… It is based on NPOI, a Dot Net port of POI , a java library allowing to read and wrtite multiple Microsoft formats. The example file is partly in Chinese, but I have translated it in English here : ExcelExample-Translated.gh (17.8 KB)