Constraint a text or block

katrein

How do I fix a text or block in the middle of a rectangle ?
Geometrical and dimensional contraints don't work with text or block.

Anthony Apostolaros

The attached image shows a green simple text entity, with middle-center justification, and a yellow block. Each was placed by grabbing its central grip and dragging it to the center of the rectangle. I drew a diagonal line on the Defpoints layer so there'd be a snap point at the center of the rectangle. If the text or the block is edited, it will stay centered in the rectangle.

katrein

In the attached image you see that I use geometric and dimensional constraints in my rectangle.

When I try to use gccoincident to attach the text to the middle of diagonal (using entitysnap Insert) I get the message below.

_gccoincident
Select first point or [Entity/Autoconstrain] :
*Invalid point*

It seems that constraints don't work with entitysnap Insert.
Is there a workaround ?

Anthony Apostolaros

I've never heard of that GcCoincident command, and I can't figure out what it's supposed to do.

Why doesn't the thing I suggested work? It keeps the text or block centered in the rectangle. What's the other thing that you need, that you were hoping the GcCoincident command would do?

MDunn

katrein,
Turned on the Ribbon to access the Parametric commands (always off, don’t see a need for it wasting screen real estate); as I use the CommandLine exclusively because it is faster than picking all the pulldowns, etc.
Created a rectangle w/ parallel & perpendicular constraints w/ text, & you are right, the text is not supported by the Coincident constraint.
Turned rec/txt into a block, but see no usefulness for the parametrics used to create it.
Truly, I fail to see where the parametrics is useful as the geometry & text are not truly ‘grouped’ together & do not seem to work parametrically as designed. What am I doing wrong?
That being said, what are you doing where a simple rectangle w/ text would not do the job?
Anthony described the same technique I use, simple rec/text combo, & even turn it into a block w/ attributed text for multiple insertions of same block but different text.

Roy Klein Gebbinck

A path array can be used as a workaround. See the attached example.
Note:
when selecting the curve for the array make sure to click near the correct endpoint (nearest the text/block).

Edit 1: Example created with V18.

Edit 2: Attached a new file (with local component).

Jason Bourhill

The most obvious way to create boxed text is to use an MTEXT entity with the frame turned on. You can control the size of the frame and whether it's displayed via the property bar.

I also created an option utilising geometric constraints. In my take, I don't constraint the text (ATTDEF). Instead I move the box relative to it. Should note that to create this example (and the one offered by Roy), you need to have BricsCAD Platinum as a minimum. This is because you need to make use of BMXXXX commands.

Attach examples. The right hand one with background fill is MTEXT.

Regards,
Jason Bourhill
BricsCAD V19 Ultimate
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katrein

Thanks for your reactions.
The workaround that Roy suggested is what I needed. It will also work with blocks.
The solution of Jason would be fine if I could constrain the textframe.

BricsCAD V19 does not constrain text, blocks and dimensions.
AutoCAD 2018 does constrain text and blocks, but not dimensions.
When I constrain a text or block with AutoCAD, it wil give strange results in BricsCAD.

For now: problem solved.
Still looking for constraining dimensions.

Roy Klein Gebbinck

The path array workaround also works if the (m)text contains fields. So maybe you can use a field instead of a dimension?
Note: To update fields use the _UpdateField or the _Regen command.

katrein

Thanks Roy. The last solution with fields is also very usefull.
My compliments for your imaginative mind.