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This is a good question. Generally we think it is the best for people to have the latest major release of OpenStudio, as this gives access to the most recent features and bug fixes, however it isn't always critical to be on the very latest, and there may be times you don't want to, for example when you are working on a team and want to keep on the same versions. Universities also can typically only install once or twice a year. If you are working with some team members who may be using older versions of OpenStudio then it isn't a bad idea to keep them around. The OpenStudio SketchUp plugin typically is setup to use whatever version was more recently installed. There is a way to switch the Plugin between versions but requires hand editing configuration files.

To go back more specifically to your question about measures. In general measures can work on older versions of OpenStudio, but what version is supported is up to the measure writer. By default if yo make a measure in OpenStudio it will be flagged as 1.6. If you as the measure writer know that you are not using new objects or API methods or object types, you can back version it to for example 1.3.0. The GUI looks at the text below from the measure.xml file to decide if it should show the measure.

  <version>
    <software_program>OpenStudio</software_program>
    <identifier>1.6.0</identifier>
    <min_compatible>1.6.0</min_compatible>
  </version>

If you can't see the Group14 measures because your Installer is older, you could manually download them via the BCL website and alter the measure.xml, it may or may not work; but you should probably first ask Group14 if they used newer objects. If they did use newer objects or API methods, then you don't want to even bother trying to use it with newer versions of OpenStudio.

This is a good question. Generally we think it is the best for people to have the latest major release of OpenStudio, as this gives access to the most recent features and bug fixes, however it isn't always critical to be on the very latest, and there may be times you don't want to, for example when you are working on a team and want to keep on the same versions. Universities also can typically only install once or twice a year. If you are working with some team members who may be using older versions of OpenStudio then it isn't a bad idea to keep them old versions around. The OpenStudio SketchUp plugin typically is setup to use whatever version was more recently installed. There is a way to switch the Plugin between versions but requires hand editing configuration files.

To go back more specifically to your question about measures. In general measures can work on older versions of OpenStudio, but what version is supported is up to the measure writer. By default if yo make a measure in OpenStudio it will be flagged as 1.6. If you as the measure writer know that you are not using new objects or API methods or object types, you can back version it to for example 1.3.0. The GUI looks at the text below from the measure.xml file to decide if it should show the measure.

  <version>
    <software_program>OpenStudio</software_program>
    <identifier>1.6.0</identifier>
    <min_compatible>1.6.0</min_compatible>
  </version>

If you can't see the Group14 measures because your Installer is older, you could manually download them via the BCL website and alter the measure.xml, it may or may not work; but you should probably first ask Group14 if they used newer objects. If they did use newer objects or API methods, then you don't want to even bother trying to use it with newer versions of OpenStudio.

This is a good question. Generally we think it is the best for people to have the latest major release of OpenStudio, as this gives access to the most recent features and bug fixes, however it isn't always critical to be on the very latest, and there may be times you don't want to, for example when you are working on a team and want to keep on the same versions. Universities also can typically only install once or twice a year. If you are working with some team members who may be using older versions of OpenStudio then it isn't a bad idea to keep old versions around. The OpenStudio SketchUp plugin typically is setup to use whatever version was more recently installed. There is a way to switch the Plugin between versions but requires hand editing configuration files.

To go back more specifically to your question about measures. In general measures can work on older versions of OpenStudio, but what version is supported is up to the measure writer. By default if yo make a measure in OpenStudio it will be flagged as 1.6. If you as the measure writer know that you are not using new objects or API methods or object types, you can back version it to for example 1.3.0. The GUI looks at the text below from the measure.xml file to decide if it should show the measure.

  <version>
    <software_program>OpenStudio</software_program>
    <identifier>1.6.0</identifier>
    <min_compatible>1.6.0</min_compatible>
  </version>

If you can't see the Group14 measures because your Installer is older, you could manually download them via the BCL website and alter the measure.xml, it may or may not work; but you should probably first ask Group14 if they used newer objects. If they did use newer objects or API methods, then you don't want to even bother trying to use it with without newer versions of OpenStudio.