make Xref drawing the master?

[kevranemail-augi]

We work alot with Xref drawings (normally 4 drawings at a time) and would like to be able to have the option to promote one of the Xref drawings to the Master drawing and make the Master an Xref.

Master ..................> Xref 2
Xref 1 ..................> Xref 1
Xref 2 ....promote...> Master
Xref 3 ...................> Xref 3
Xref 4 ....................> Xref 4

We used to have the facility in a product called ISICAD before we moved to AutoCAD and Archibus/FM.
Don't know if other users would find this useful but it would save us alot of time closing and opening of drawings.

[lcamara]

It sounds like you just want to see the other drawings in all xrefs - try using the "overlay" option for the xrefs.

Try xref-ing the "master" as an overlay into each of the xrefs (I'm not sure if it will work on multiple xrefs like this). I had a drawing where I made the xref as an overlay in the master, and the master as an overlay in the xref. I got a circular reference warning, but everything still worked okay (since they were just overlays).

If xref-ing the master doesn't work, you're going to have to xref each of the other xrefs as overlays (into each xref). It will be a hassle to setup, but you might be able to write a routine to automate it.

hope this helps.

[kevranemail-augi]

Hi,
Sorry, we work with the Scenario you're talking about all the time.
Its just that we have a Furniture Drawing (to do scenarios of room layouts for moves and changes for existing staff and new encumbents), Data Drawing (showing all PC/printers etc), Voice Drawing (all types of Faxes, phones etc), Building Outline Drawing (walls, doors, toilets etc.) and a Building Services Drawing (air conditioning system, water, power).
Say for instance we were working on the Data Drawing and someone wanted a new phone we would have to save and exit the current work on the Data drawing and then open the Voice drawing (which has all the others attached - yes we have gone through the pain of xref-fing everything - but we don't get circular xrefs as we're using Cyco Auto manager workflow to manage the users' using the drawings) it also monitors who has what drawing open in case we need to ring another department who has opened the drawing we would like read-write.
(Having a read-only profile to open drawings for users would be good too thinking about it....).
Anyway, thanks for you're time and comments.
regards
Kevin

[Rick.B]

Do you use the REFEDIT command or have you tried the Open Xref option from the right click menu if the reference file is the current selection?

[madcadder]

Kevin,


I created this lisp to open xrefs by pick. If the drawing is open it will make it active instead.

Toolbar settings:
Name: Open External Reference
Disc: Opens an external reference selected in the current drawing. Makes that drawing active.
Macro: ^C^C(if (not c:openx)(load "openx.lsp"));openx

[kevranemail-augi]

Thanks Tod and Rick for the suggestions and lisp etc.
Will try both when I get back to work....Not used the REFEDIT command before, we're currently on AutoCAD 14.01 but hope to move up to AutoCAD 2005 in the next month or so.
We're always open to suggestions, we're not what you'd call hardcore every day AutoCAD implementers - we use it as a telecoms engineering tool, not using AutoCADs full functionality.
Anyway thanks again for the info, I'll let you know how we get on.
regards
Kevin

[jpaulsen]

REFEDIT is not available in R14. Your testing my memory now but R14 did have a tool to edit and xref. I believe it was an Express tool that opened the xref in another drawing session. No where near as nice as REFEDIT but functional.

You should be very pleased when you upgrade to 2005. There are more useful enhancements than I can mention. In 2005 you can use REFEDIT or from within the XREF manager you can open the xref as a drawing.

Word of warning, with so many enhancements between R14 and 2005 you can expect a considerable amount of training and learning curve but in the end it will be worth it.