Sketchup version 17.
Bug 1: changing one property of a dynamic component (colour) changes others (X, LenX) instead!
Bug 2: changing one component does not change other instances of same component.
Bug 3: replacing dodgy component with working component causes all dodgy components to move!
see video for more details:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=80rPLHSPpvc
Bug 4: even crazier - there’s a “ghost” in the component! watch this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lVXiRk_f5Ds
A video is nice, a .skp file is better! Pls upload the component, someone might have a look.
Though the Dynamic Components can act buggy, there are some of us whom has found way’s or ‘workarounds’ to cope with.
Bug 1,3:
Did you, in the process of drawing, scale at any time?
Bug 2: changing the options or ‘settings’ of a DC does not alter the options or settings of the other instances, that is the whole point of the DC, so please elaborate what you would like to see happening?
Bug 4: due to the deviated Trimble connect bug, I am not really sure if you purged before deleting the inserted component. Leftovers might be there. Did you know that the 3D text tools are inserted as components with the name of the text?
This can cause confusing as well.
Btw: if you update the Trimble Connect extension via the Extension Warehouse, you won’t be bogged again, numerous threads around here on the forum:
Probably an error in the component, not a SketchUp bug. My dynamic components don’t behave in that way
As Mike says, the point of dynamic components is that the dynamic properties only change the component instance. If you want all similar to change, you must edit the component definition. Note that for technical reasons, dynamic components create new component definitions on the fly so all instances do not remain connected to a single definition (I confess not liking this).
When editing components, try keeping the component axis constant.
Hi Mike, thanks so much for your reply. the .skp file is too big to upload, but here’s a link to a dropbox copy.https://www.dropbox.com/s/mt5a97h9ctso06m/Granville-Chambers-v10%28BUGS%29.skp?dl=0.
As you may imagine, I did quite a lot to this model trying to fix the bugs, so I’m not 100% sure this is the exact model in the video, but it’s very close and it did exhibit the same behaviours.
In response to your questions:
1,3: no, I did not scale the model (e.g. using tape measure), nor the component (e.g. using scale tool).
2: I want to change the component attributes / options for all components in order to create a “fresh” (bug-free?) version of the component from scratch, so as to replace the existing (buggy?) components. My desired outcome was that the new “fresh” attributes, options and OnClick behaviours would replace the old ones, but no 
If this is the “intended” behaviour, then it creates a major head-ache if you want to change a component after you’ve deployed it; I wonder if there’s a solution to this?
4: yes, I purge all the time. However, I cannot purge the old component before replacing it with a new one. The problem is that there are hundreds of them, so I did a “select… replace selected…” operation, which means I can only purge the old component once I’ve replaced it with the new one.
I have in fact improved the behaviour, by creating a component which does not have sub-components / groups with options / links to parent behaviour. However, this significantly reduces the functionality that I wanted, and doesn’t completely fix the weird behaviour (e.g. there’s a bug 5 which is when I select a group of components, and bulk-set an option, then that option is set even for the components I didn’t select. The only fix seems to be to set an option, and then set another option - so setting the option twice for every component in order to get it to stick. This is better than the previous behaviour though, which was much more random).
Thanks again for your reply, and if you want to look at the .skp file - feel free 
J
Hi Anssi,
Thanks for the reply. In response:
1: yes, I agree, something is wrong with the component, but nothing obvious. My [other] dynamic components don’t behave that way either! The problem component has given no errors in previous versions of the file, and even in the buggy version, sometimes it works fine, others not. This intermittent behaviour suggests there’s more than just the component at issue here.
2: To be clear, I do edit the component definition, but this does not seem to allow me to overwrite the component options and attributes, which as you and Mike point out, seem to exist outside the component. My real question is: how can I replace these attributes and options with “fresh” ones?
3: So I almost never change a component axis, which is true in this case. the only exception is for things like dynamic doors, so I can rotate the component around a different axis. I’m fairly confident this is not at the root of my issues.
After considering your reply and Mike’s reply, I think my most pressing question is:
“How can I change the options and attributes of a component in bulk, after having deployed the component and set different attributes / options for different components?”
Regards, J
I think the best way to accomplish that is to have a ‘working file’ which contains the DC with options set to prefered and then right click on the component and choose ‘Save as’ . You can then insert that component via the component panel. This is the prefered way of inserting components versus the copy-paste method which you showed on the vids.
Check this pic:
You might also make a ‘wrapper’ or container in the main model (another level in the Component hiarchy) in which that component is replaced by the new made component. (When editing the ‘master’, delete the old one, insert the new)
Thanks Mike,
I did read that article, but I didn’t really understand it, and then I dismissed it because it seemed to be all about 3D warehouse, and unrelated to my problem.
I’ll revisit the articles, but if I’m honest, I still don’t really understand: not because your explanation is unclear, but because I have one of those brains that can’t understand the “How” until it first understands the “why” (for example: “Why is inserting a component from a collection different from pasting it?”).
Also, I’m unclear about how creating a component wrapper helps
On the one hand, if I explode the outer shell (which I think is one suggestion?), I have to make them back into a component one-by-one before I can then replace them, so I still have a lot of manual work.
And if I don’t explode them, I still have the issue of the attributes of the wrapper needing to be changed (depending on how radically I’m re-designing the component). Also, the exhibited behaviour suggests that nested components / groups was part of what was confusing sketchup (even though that should not be the case).
But look, you’ve given me some good pointers, and enough new ideas to go away and experiment, so don’t feel you have to reply to this message just because I’m too dim to understand straight off the bat.
Thanks for all your help. Much appreciated. I’ll let you know if I get an aha! moment.
J
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