Setting up a Sheet Set

[RobertB]

I thought that a walkthru on how to setup a sheet set would be appreciated. This sample is, by nature, brief and non-inclusive of all the features. But it may serve to clear up some of the confusion.

The key to effectively setting up your template for a new sheet set lies in working in a sample sheet and then saving that sample back as the actual template. Below is a brief step-by-step procedure, which assumes that you have already created the sheet set itself, along with whatever custom properties you require:

1. Verify that the sheet set's template is your desired template.
2. Create a new sheet that will be tossed at the end of this process. I usually name mine "Sample".
3. Provide good sample data for all the properties that your sheet needs to display.
4. Open the sample sheet. You should be in the layout now.
5. Insert (or XRef) your titleblock. Note that the titleblock does not need to have attributes or associated MText yet. (Side note: why MText? Many of the properties in a sheet set will be lengthy. Attributes do not word-wrap. MText does. Because every sheet in the sheet set is created from the template's layout, there is no harm in using MText to display the titleblock's data (I group the MText objects to the titleblock insertion, BTW). If you need to tie to an external database and use attributes for this purpose, you will run into some agony.)
6. Add an MText object for each area that needs to display sheet properties. Note that one MText object can display multiple fields, and plain text within the same object.
   
   1. Assume we want an MText object for the Sheet number. Add the MText object.
   2. Add a field while in the MText editor. You may use <Ctrl><F> or right-click, Insert Field.
   3. Select the Field category Sheet Set in the Field dialog box.
   4. Select CurrentSheetNumber and the format you desire. Note that the value displayed to the upper-right should match the sheet's property's value.
   5. Repeat for all properties that need to be displayed.
7. Once all properties are positioned and displayed to your satisfaction, group the titleblock and MText objects.
8. Rename the layout to match the specified layout for the sheet set's template.
9. SaveAs this sheet to the template, overwriting the original template.
10. Test your new template before releasing the sheet set on the unsuspecting masses.

Alternate to step 6. If you feel that you *must* use attributes, explode the inserted titleblock, and modify the AttDefs to use the fields in the same manner as listed for the MText approach. Make sure the AttDefs are set to the Preset mode.

Alternate to step 7. After the AttDefs are redefined, reblock and reinsert your titleblock.

[walkerkd]

i have one question and everything is set up i just cant automate the sequencing of my sheets. example 1 of 200 and so on. we have been typing this in per job is there a way to let fields do this for us?

[Glenn Pope]

You use CurrentSheetNumber to get the sheet number that was assigned in the SSM. To get the number of sheets that are in the set, the only I have found is to make a custom property in the SSM and manually put that number there. Then if you add or subtract sheets you just modify this one number.

[walkerkd]

oh really well that gets me closer maybe i can do it that way for now. i would like to find a way to automate that function. theres bound to be a way.. thanks alot.

[cjneedham]

Anyone ever had any issues with dropping views from a resource drawing, only to find that the viewport's UCSFOLLOW value seems to be 1 (thus zooming the viewport to it's extents, rather than sticking to the assigned scale)?

The problem is that you can't change the UCSFOLLOW variable value that is associated with a viewport until you have created it. Now if the viewport doesn't exist and is only created as you drag and drop your view, you can't change it until it's too late...

I'm surprised by how few posts there are on this. It threw me... for a while. Thought I'd share the solution.

Set UCSFOLLOW in model space to 0. The viewports default to that value if there are none already. Therefore set this value in MS of your sheet set template and most of your issues with this will be eliminated.

Hope this helps others.