Master inside a Master

[Dazling]

Hello All,

I have two master shapes, one is the layout(PLC controller shape) of sorts which we will call master A in a stencil, then another master(B), which will be used to display the Inputs and Outputs of the PLC controller in the same stencil. Is there a way to do this? Currently, I only have the master and many repeated groups of shapes to represent the Inputs/Outputs, if I decide to make a change to anything, I have to repeat the change hundreds of times, I was hoping that I could somehow only edit Master B and all the changes get pushed down.

Thank You.

[Surrogate]

Is there a way to do this?

IMHO No way!

When shape placed inside the master, it loses its connection (or inheritance) with its master shape.

[Yacine]

Yes, pity. Otherwise one could build up nicely chained masters. You edit one in the chain and change all the following ones automatically.

But hold on. What changes are you talking about? Usually you edit masters only when developing a solution. Your description however sounds like regular work. Can you tell more about your case?

[wapperdude]

Firstly, is using a macro acceptable?

Secondly...
What is the amount range of inputs, and of outputs per shape?  Is there a minimum?  Are these just located on two opposite sides?  Are these placed in nice, regular spaced increments, that is no gaps? 

An alternative approach might be a smart shape, quite possibly a shapesheet only implementation.  It would take a bit of time to build, but a single shape might cover all your variations.

[Dazling]

Hi All, first off thanks for the replies. Although I dont think i can do what I want in adding submasters, ill still elaborate just in case there is a better solution for what I am currently doing!

A little bit more detail, what I think i have currently made is a smart shape, which you set properties on, as well as change list items to show/hide certain shapes (analog or digital input/output), the issue I am trying to solve is, as we deal with many different manufacturers of PLCs, as time goes on with newer devices, I make changes to the IO Smart shapes, to keep backward compatibility for older version I then go and update the 50 or so other devices i have already made, which is time consuming. 

[Surrogate]

to keep backward compatibility for older version I then go and update the 50 or so other devices i have already made, which is time consuming. 

which changes into sub-shapes do you mean?

[wapperdude]

Can you upload examples...showing old shape, new shape so that we can see what your implementation and updating process looks like? 

Also, you didn't indicate if using macros (code) is allowed.