Xrefing a Titleblock with Fields

[dubin]

Hi - I'm using the SSM and would like to take advantage of fields in a more involved way that I have before. (I'm taking a set of DDs and turning them into CDs - they already have a titleblock xrefed into each.)

The Goal: I want to modify one file, the titleblock file, and insert fields. I want those fields to automatically reflect individual sheet information of the sheet that the titleblock is reffed into.

I tried to take the existing titleblock and put in MText objects with fields in them. But the info didn't update when I opened new drawings. I found some threads suggesting that MText won't update after the initial insertion fo the block (LAME if true). So I changed my approach and used ATTDEF to define some attributes within the titleblock and put fields within those attributes. Still no luck, stuff not updating properly.

Is it that the Xref is the problem? Am I to understand that you must insert the TB into each drawing as a block instead? If so, that's crazy talk. I'm not doing that, that's silly, right? Then I can't changes anything about it without going back through all my drawings.

Please tell me I'm wrong and that this is all very easy and straightforward. I already feel like I'm gonna hurl from four hours of trying different things and getting nowhere.

[tedg]

Hi - I'm using the SSM and would like to take advantage of fields in a more involved way that I have before. (I'm taking a set of DDs and turning them into CDs - they already have a titleblock xrefed into each.)

The Goal: I want to modify one file, the titleblock file, and insert fields. I want those fields to automatically reflect individual sheet information of the sheet that the titleblock is reffed into.

I tried to take the existing titleblock and put in MText objects with fields in them. But the info didn't update when I opened new drawings. I found some threads suggesting that MText won't update after the initial insertion fo the block (LAME if true). So I changed my approach and used ATTDEF to define some attributes within the titleblock and put fields within those attributes. Still no luck, stuff not updating properly.

Is it that the Xref is the problem? Am I to understand that you must insert the TB into each drawing as a block instead? If so, that's crazy talk. I'm not doing that, that's silly, right? Then I can't changes anything about it without going back through all my drawings.

Please tell me I'm wrong and that this is all very easy and straightforward. I already feel like I'm gonna hurl from four hours of trying different things and getting nowhere.
Check here (http://forums.augi.com/showthread.php?t=85187) and here (http://rkmcswain.blogspot.com/2005/07/using-dates-in-fields.html) for more information. R.K. McSwain writes about "fieldeval" in the second link, which may be of some help.

[dubin]

Thanks for the info - so I think I'm getting the picture that you CAN'T! DO! WHAT! I! WANT! TO! DO!!

Oh well. I was hoping to use xrefs, but I'm beginning to believe that you just must insert a block. It's so silly. If you think about it, AutoCAD could have made this so easy if xref'd fields updated - you'd just have to xref a titleblock into each sheet and not bother with that little extra piece of information that must be inserted as a block to fill in the field data.

Shoot.