Can you lock fields in a block?

[revitrookie]

I have my title blocks setup with fields inside of attributes all linked to the Sheet set manager. Everything works fine as long as everyone uses the S.S.M. to update the title block, but you can still double click on the block, change the attribute & loose the link to the field.

Is there anyway to lock the attribute so that it can't be tampered with & loose the field link?
I've tried using dtext but when I use dtext within a block my fields don't update even with fieldeval set to 31.

thanks.

[RobertB]

Nope. This is a training issue.

[ReachAndre]

Did you try changing the attributes properties to Constant?

Andre

[RobertB]

Did you try changing the attributes properties to Constant?

That ought to work for titleblocks. Good one!

[irneb]

The problem with a constant attrib is it works very much similar to a normal DText / MText inside a block. The value is contained inside the block's definition and thus only shows the same value for all insertions; doesn't work like a normal attrib which is actually a separate (but linked) entity for each block insertion. If using fields, this means something like %<\AcVar ctab>% could work, but an object reference like %<\AcObjProp Object(%<\_ObjId 2130417976>%).Area \f "%lu2">% would show the same object's area in all insertions.

So depending on what you want, it could work fine. If you're obtaining all the values from the SSM, you should have no problem. You could even use MText inside the block instead of AttDef's. But for something else there's unfortunately no option.

[revitrookie]

I did try constant properties for the attribute & it keeps the value of the sheet set property that is was created in. I also tried a field within Dtext & Mtext in a block with the same result. The only way I could get the fields to work with the SSM was to use attributes without checking constant. It just seems like there should be some way to lock the fields or at least have them update when you have Mtext in a block.

[irneb]

That's exactly what I mean by Cons Attribs being (and working) exactly the same as MText / Text. The only values which would show correctly are those which are only relevant to the DWF file as a whole.

The only way to get these "varying" attributes is to not have them as constant. And thus you cannot lock them ... thus the answer (as RobertB's alluded to): "Train your staff to not go fiddling with the field attributes." Or better yet: "Train them in how to use fields, so they can fix them if broken." And if you're using SSM, definitely: "Train your staff to use the SSM properties instead of editing the attribute values"

[revitrookie]

It's quite frustrating that I held training meetings, I put together a 7 page step by step manual on creating & revising the S.S.M. I have a huge note next to my title block that says "USE SHEET SET MANAGER TO REVISE TITLE BLOCK" & people still double click & change the text. I'm about ready to give up on the S.S.M. I set up our company title blocks in revit & you double click on the shared parameter change the text on one sheet & it changes the whole set. Flawless.

[irneb]

You know, there's something you could do through Lisp: Redefine the EAttEdit command to check that they're not editing the title block. If they are, show an alert stating they should use SSM instead. If it's some other block then issue the normal EAttEdit command by prefixing it with a full-stop.

[revitrookie]

I don't know a whole lot about lisp but I would be interested to try something. Can you point me in the right direction, I don't know if there is something that's already been written for this or not?