Link & search attribute info

[brisbanea]

Hi guys,

What i am trying to do it have an attributed block in model space, which is repeated 20 or 30 times, each with 4 or 5 attributes of data. I then want to incorporate some of this info into in paper space, simply by doing some sort of "look up" for the first attribute line (which would be unique for each of the 20-30 blocks). This would then hopefully appear in a table or simple text.

Hope someone can help, been trying to sort this out for ages.

Thanks

Aidan

[irneb]

Welcome to AUGI & congrats on your 1st post.

Firstly, which AC version are you using? There are various ways of doing this, depending on the version:

1. Prior to 2002 (I think) you could only do it by using the Express Tool: ATTOUT, then copy & paste an OLE from Excel (or such spread sheet program).
2. Prior to 2005 (I think) you could use the Attribute Extraction to do the same.
3. Prior to 2008 the Attribute Extractor could generate a table directly.
4. These days, there's Data Extraction which is a lot more complete & has more features to allow for filtering & calculation, including "automatically" updating if the values change.

Do a Google on "AutoCAD Data Extraction tutorial", there's quite a few (including videos).

[brisbanea]

Hi Guys,

Further to my previous post, I have attached a file to show what I am trying to achieve. Bascially in model space, there will be multiple attributed blocks (panel info) with 7 pieces of data to each of these attributed blocks. Basically in paper space, I want to be able to search via the first data (P1, P2 P3 etc) and then the other 6 pieces of data will come up.

I have been told that fields may be the answer, but no matter how hard I have tried, I cant find a way. Any help any one could give would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers
Aidan

[irneb]

Attached is what I meant by using the Data Extract. The ZIP contains both the DWG file as well as the DXE file generated when setting up the Data Extract. It's a simple eTransmit of the DWG. Simply extract all to one folder.

The Panel Summary table contains 4 calculated columns, which simply convert the attributes's text values to numbers and then give totals / averages in the last row. Also there's a Count column since I've set the combine rows on. Thus if you have a panel block which has the same values as another, it would indicate the count as 2 and sum the values together.

What you're asking for may need something from DBConnections. But that's another issue. Fields aren't going to do this for you.