Inserting Blocks into Tool Palettes

[stephen.coff]

Hi to all,
I am sure i am doing something wrong but mot sure what, could someone help.
I have never used the Tool Palettes and started trying to set it up with some custom blocks.
I am trying to drag and drop some blocks i have made on to the palette though it won't go over. I have saved the file before try the drag and drop?

Can anyone help.

Regards

Stephen

[jbayne]

What I have to do is save the drawing/block into a folder and then navigate to that folder thru Design Center. Then I can drag the drawing to the tool palette and to content browser.

[stephen.coff]

Thanks James,
Shall try that.

Regards

Stephen

[Mike.Perry]

Hi

Try plugging in the following search criteria into the forum search facility ( should be returned with a reasonable list of relevant and useful results )...

Key Word(s): *Block* + Tool + *Palette*

Have a good one, Mike

[ljones.27809]

If I may ask you all how do you add schematic symbols to a tool palette? I have tried and unfortunately have not found a way to do it. If I use design center to add the schematic symbols it works but the properties (such as layers and color) associated with the blocks do not exist???

Thanks.

[stephen.coff]

Well,
I have found you can't make a block consisting of multiple layers. By this i mean ?
I make a block that is of a car.
I can not make the block with the wheels on a layer wheels and the sheel on the layer car when making it.
Even if after making the block i make the blocks layer car, when you try to isolate the block it won't isolate.
I am sure you have the same problem if the block was made on layer "X" and set in the proerties of the tool paletles to insert on layer "Y".
I have played around with the blocks and palettes alot recently and found as long as all the entities of the block whilst being created are on the same layer name and blocked to the same layer name.
When you view the folder in design center and drag the block to the palette and then set the properties and ALL has worked perfect from there.

I have made blocks of A/C ductwork, the duct being made a block and then the text added. The text contains the length and the width of the duct and the depth of the duct is an attribute.
I set the properties to explode and prompt for rotation, set the layer and colour as block etc.
This is hard to understand what i am describing but it works much like the pluggin programs i have previously used at other companies.
If i need to draw a 500 wide X 250 deep duct i simply select the 500 wide block and paste it in my location, select the angle. The attribute asks what depth the duct is to be, i type 250 and done perfect. The blocks lenghts are already fixed in the block and the depth is a 3rd dimension which can't be seen in 2D. because the duct was made a block and the text then added the text can be repositioned if needed whilst still having the duct as a block which is very handy !

Well probably gone a little off track but hopefully this can assist you and inspire you to broaden you ideas and uses with blocks and the use of the palettes.
They can be very handy !

Regards

Stephen

[ljones.27809]

Stephen,

Thank you for your quick response. I am going to drag and drop the schematic symbols from Design Center on to my palette and then right click and change the properties of each symbol. Once I am finished customizing my tool palette I will then transfer my palettes to Catalogs.

[ljones.27809]

Stephen,

I cannot seem to get my schematic symbols to work properly. I used Design Center to drag and drop symbols to my palette and then changed the properties. When I add a symbol to a schematic pipe the line does not break and the symbol does not inherit the properties of the line. I am attaching 2 screen shots of my situation for you to see and advice.

Thank you very much.

[stephen.coff]

Ijones,
So can i just mke sure i am clear on what you are doing.
You have made blocks and wishing them to be set to take on the properties of the block or the layer your inserting them on ?
See i have standard set of layers made eg: -M-DUCT for duct work or -M-DAMPER for all dampers. So when i made the blocks i constructed them on those layers and then made them into a block with the relevent layer. When constructing the block i made all the line types to suit the block as i was making it and have all the proerties set to "By Block".
From here they all have work perfect.
Before i had blocks made consisting of different layers or they were block as layer "X" and inserted on layer "Y". Some inserted ok some didn't, the other issues i incounted was though they looked to be ok but whe you tried to isolate them they would disappere. Whilst i am not sure, you may try to construct the block in layer 0. You could be having problems because the block lines were constructed with the line types set to specified lines rather than by layer, if you wish the block to take on the inserted layers attributes i would imagine the lines need to be set to "By Layer" ?
I hope i am being of some assistance ?

You mentioned making the palettes into catalogues ?
What do you mean by this, i have only ever used palettes as a palette on the side of my screen ?
I would love to be able to set specified templates to open with specific palettes eg:
If iam doing a mechanical drawing i open the mechanical template file containing the mechanical tittle block with a palette consisting of mechanical info or an electrical template file consisting of an electrical tittle block with a palette containing specifically electrical info.
It seems as though this is still to come.


Regards

Stephen

[ljones.27809]

Actually I have not made any blocks myself I am using Building Systems OOTB schematic symbols. I used Design Center to drag and drop the schematic symbols that we are going to use the most on to the network tool palette. Now I am trying to figure out how to associate system definitions and scale to these symbols to make them as functional as possible. Right now they are all on layer "0".

From what I understand the best way to manage network tool palettes is to create a catalog (right click to create catalog) in the Content Browser. Click on the new catalog and at the bottom left corner you can select to create new palettes. You then populate these palettes (drag and drop) with the tools that you have on your tool palettes. Once you have your palettes setup the way you want them you then use the idropper to drag these palettes back to your tool palette on your workspace. Each palette will have a refresh button which you can use to update your palettes when changes have been made to the catalog.

I am still not quite sure how this will work on the other users systems? I am thinking that since we have a network installation setup that the catalog I create will be available to everyone and all I may have to do is just drag and drop the palettes from the catalog to their tool palettes? I hope I am not confusing you to much I am just trying to explain to you the best way I know how to right now since this is all very new to me still.

Hope fully we can help each other out.