Titleblock and attributes
I have 27 sheet tabs (Details) in one drawing. Each paper space tab having the same attributed titleblock (Copied).
I want to update an attribute and have it populate all tabs.
if its a copied title block, sharing the same attributes, why wont they all change?
For example. I add a revision on D-1, or change the date....I want all sheets to get the same!
Hope someone can help
Thank you, Thank you
BFG
Comments
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I don't use attributes, but my understanding is that they're a way of having text in a block that can be different in different insertions of the block. If you want text to be the same in all insertions, you can use a Text or Mtext entity instead of an Attribute. You should be able to use the Refedit command to remove the Attribute and replace it with a Text. Or maybe you can just Burst the Attribute during a Refedit session. I think that changes an Attribute into a Text.
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Anthony is correct, in that each instance of a block can have its own independent values in attributes. (Though, one possible exception aree are attributes that are set to be constants... so I am no sure about those kind of attributes.)
Yes, changing that attribute into a text object is one way. however, if you ever start to use that drawing with the block in another drawing, the block definitions will be different and the currently open drawing wins the fight.
So, I suspect that using a FIELD is a better choice. But, I have not used them much. Note that fields only update after a Regen. So, keep that in mind while you are testing them.
-Joe
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The Sheet-mm.dwt template drawing contains a Title block with Sheet set fields, defined in the BIM-section-metric.dst sheet set. For Imperial units look at Sheet-imperial.dwt and BIM-section-imperial.dst.
Templates sit in the C:\Users\UserName\AppData\Local\Bricsys\BricsCAD\V19x64\en_US\Templates folder.0 -
Thank You all for the insight. I ended up externally referencing (XREF) Titleblock into each tab. Editing Titleblck.dwg updates all tabs. Doesn't fit my need perfectly but it's working for now.
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I would recommend against the use of Xrefs for title blocks. Any externally referenced file, regardless of if it is an Xref, Pen Plotting Table, Image, or PDF, it will inevitably cause headaches. It may take many years, but someone will inherit a headache. You will send the drawing to a customer, and he will not get the title block, or the path won't work. You may also change the title block in the future, by adding something that makes it larger, which will mess-up existing drawings by covering parts up. The list of potential problems is endless.
Before fields, there wasn't really another way besides Xrefs or making the date a normal text entity that you edited. But, with fields, you have a much better solution.
Switch to using fields now while you have only a few drawings using the Xref approach. Alternatively, if the project is fairly small, then tape a note to your monitor to remind you to change them at the end of the project. Then be faithful to go to each DWG and use the "attach" feature of the Xref utility, to attach all Xref as blocks.
-joe
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In small projects which 'fit' in a single drawing, you can also use fields using custom drawing properties in title blocks.
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Xref was never my intent, nor do I disagree with the headache comment. I just cant seem to have all titleblocks read the same using fields. Works great for one titleblock drawing. Not so great for multiples on Tabs.
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I would also like a release date field that I can update on each title block at once. I recall pursuing this several years ago, but was never succeeded.
I know that each drawing has properties (in v14, go to FILE/DRAWING PROPERTIES). This has several properties available, such as "description". But, it also includes the ability to add you own custom properties. The v14 help file describes that these can be accessed in fields. Ideally, I would like a custom property called "Release Date", where I would type the date the drawing set was released. But, in my v14, I cannot find a way to link any text to the user's custom properties for the file. When I attempt to insert the custom property as a field, there are no custom properties shown in the field window.
Here is what the v14 help file says. The v17 help file says the same thing.
Adding custom properties
1) Open the Drawing Properties dialog.
2) Open the Custom tab page.
3) Click the Add button.
The Custom Property dialog displays.
4) Type a name in the Name field.
The custom property name is listed under Document in the Field dialog.
5) Type a value in the Value field.
The value displays in multiline texts where the custom property is inserted as a field.Perhaps it is a bug in my v14. But, perhaps this has never been fixed, and so that is why you can't get it to work.
-Joe
There is also a list of variables in DWG files that the user can take advantage of.
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@Joe Dunfee
These custom properties are listed under the 'Document' node. I do not see a bug in V14.0 -
Thanks Roy. Since the custom properties are on their own tab where the drawing properties are displayed, I was always looking for a heading like, "Custom Properties", expecting to see the list of custom properties I had created as a sub-category. I see now that any custom properties are listed at the same level as the other standard properties.
So, to the original poster, I can confidently say that this is a good approach.
The only thing that may fool you, if you are unaware of this, is that you must do a REGEN for any changes to fields to show up. That little detail is probably the thing that made my efforts a few years ago fail.
My approach the past few years, has been to have a field that shows the print date. And since any releases we do are done by printing to a PDF printer driver, that has served as the release date for any set. I will probably change to the method of using a custom property that shows the release date.
-Joe
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@Joe Dunfee said:
The only thing that may fool you, if you are unaware of this, is that you must do a REGEN for any changes to fields to show up. That little detail is probably the thing that made my efforts a few years ago fail.
-Joe
Check out system variable FIELDEVAL in settings
Big fan of fields, used to store everything from material types, to job number and worksite address in Custom Properties
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I wish there were an option with the FIELDEVAL that would automatically update the fields when the linked object was changed.
-Joe
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@Joe Dunfee said:
I would recommend against the use of Xrefs for title blocks. Any externally referenced file, regardless of if it is an Xref, Pen Plotting Table, Image, or PDF, it will inevitably cause headaches. .......You will send the drawing to a customer, and he will not get the title block, or the path won't work. .....-joe
You're right Joe. I just posted a new discussion about the disaster with my XREF'd assemblies. The paths to the components changed on me. BricsCAD assigns absolute paths to XREF components rather than relative components.. So if you try and backup the folder containing the assembly file and xrefs, the backup will be pointing to the original XREF's. That doesn't seem right to me....
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It is possible to set the paths to be relative. Though, even then, at some point in the future, perhaps years from now, the xref will be separated from the drawing.
-joe0 -
BFG,
It would be fairly easy to create a lisp program that uses a dialog to enter the values that you need to change, and have it change the attributes across all of the tabs in the drawing. I created something similar for a client that controls all of the attributes in a title block that is controlled by an excel sheet. Do you use the same attributed title sheet in all of your drawings?
Regards,
Kevin0
