Field Format Settings

[mraafateg]

Hi,
I have a room tag block with a room area attribute. For the value of this attribute, I intend to link each block instance to the area polyline it is referring to. I'm working in millimeters, but I need the area to appear in square meters. I can achieve this by editing the field format setting for the area field I have inserted. Do I have to do this for each and every block instance, or can I do it just once and have the field format settings preserved?
Thanks for your help

[Avatart]

Hi,
I have a room tag block with a room area attribute. For the value of this attribute, I intend to link each block instance to the area polyline it is referring to. I'm working in millimeters, but I need the area to appear in square meters. I can achieve this by editing the field format setting for the area field I have inserted. Do I have to do this for each and every block instance, or can I do it just once and have the field format settings preserved?
Thanks for your help

If the Attribute in the Room Tag Block is a fielded formula, I can see no reason why you should have to revisit each one.

If that doesn't work, rather than resetting the units to metres, you could divide your area value by 1000000.

[mraafateg]

Thank you for your reply.
The problem I'm having is this:
I have a file containing hundreds of room tags. I need the room tags to include the room areas. I modified the existing room tag block to include a room area attribute, and then, using the block attribute manager, "sync"ed all block instances. Now each block instance contains a room area attribute. I also have polylines drawn for all spaces. I want to link each block instance to its corresponding polyline by inserting a polyline area field as a value for the room area attribute. The problem is that the file I'm working with is in millimeters and I need the areas in square meters. When I linked my first block instance to its corresponding polyline I remedied this by clicking on the field format button and setting a conversion factor of .000001. I also added a "sq. m." suffix to the area. When linking the next tag/polyline pair these settings were not preserved. I'd like for these field format settings to be preserved so that I can skip this step (like I said, I have hundreds of blocks). What can I do?

[Avatart]

Thank you for your reply.
The problem I'm having is this:
I have a file containing hundreds of room tags. I need the room tags to include the room areas. I modified the existing room tag block to include a room area attribute, and then, using the block attribute manager, "sync"ed all block instances. Now each block instance contains a room area attribute. I also have polylines drawn for all spaces. I want to link each block instance to its corresponding polyline by inserting a polyline area field as a value for the room area attribute. The problem is that the file I'm working with is in millimeters and I need the areas in square meters. When I linked my first block instance to its corresponding polyline I remedied this by clicking on the field format button and setting a conversion factor of .000001. I also added a "sq. m." suffix to the area. When linking the next tag/polyline pair these settings were not preserved. I'd like for these field format settings to be preserved so that I can skip this step (like I said, I have hundreds of blocks). What can I do?

What I would do is to put a formula into the attribute, rather than use the conversion factor (I am a little suprised that the conversion factor has not come through to other blocks).

Having done a very quick test on my theory, I can see your problem, it's getting the tag to associate with a space or room when you insert it.

Unfortunately I don't have time to look into this much more, but i would suggest that you could make a new property data set and property set definition and insert that into your tag.

[mraafateg]

Thank you for your response. I'll look into that.
Thanks!

[casey2005]

Hiya and sorry for this lame question, but it concerns this topic!
I have a project where I have thousands of block attributes and I also want to link a polyline area to the "area" attribute of my block. How in the **** do you do that?
Thanx for any help, it will save me hours and days of manual updating when I move a wall 20cm!
Sorry again, but I guess this is what you call a learning process!
Thanx

[casey2005]

Anyone...?

[dkoch]

What version of ADT are you using? 2005 and later support fields. Assuming that you have a drawing file already created, with polylines and attributed AutoCAD blocks already in place, you could edit the "area" attribute of each block, replacing the contents (if any) with a field, then link that field to show the area of the polyline.

If you just have the drawing with polylines and have not yet placed the AutoCAD blocks, you may want to consider creating a Property Set Definition that applies to polyline objects, adding an automatic Area property, and creating a Schedule Tag that will attach that Property Set to your polylines and display the area automatic property. You could also add one or more manual properties to hold room name or other information that could then be displayed in the same tag.

If you have not started the drawing at all, you may want to consider using ADT Spaces to represent the rooms and create a schedule tag that displays the area of the Space (and other data).

[casey2005]

Thanx for the possible fields of investigation. Unfortunately I am on ADT2004. Although I don't quite get the whole picture, it seems that the fields are probably the easiest way to achieve my goal. I'll try to see what I can do with ADT2004... this is turning out to be a lot more complexe than imagined!
Thanx and feel free to add any extra comments!!!

[dkoch]

Unfortunately I am on ADT2004.

I feel your pain; my office still uses 2004 as well (2008 is coming soon!). Fields will not be an option in 2004. Property sets and tags would probably be the best way to do what you want. You may find this blog article, and the sample file in the linked Autodesk Discussion Group thread of interest.