Attributes vs Fields for title block information

[rdaniel]

Well, you can write simple formulas inside of the field itself, but I don't know if it will support anything as complex as a boolean (if / then) statement. For that matter, I don't know if you can combine a formula with a database field. Check it out inside of the field dialog box and I'll try to look at it later today as I have time. I've been hoping that there was someway to be able to select the view and cause it to auto-populate the other fields (title, #, scale, etc.), but I haven't given it too much of an effort yet. If you find something let me know. Maybe the ADT developers / pros can chirp in? Hello? Calling all pros. Are you out there?

[rdaniel]

Well, I dug around a bit in 2006 and wasn't able to combine a formula with an AEC database (not that I found anyway). We are looking at deploying 2008 pretty soon here, and maybe that will have some new options. Don't know yet????

If you get any ingenious ideas or run accross another way, let me know. This method is still pretty handy, especially when you have multiple callouts for one drawing. My goal is to get a project template set up with all of the drawing titles and callouts pre-programmed, so then you just change the values in the excel file and everything is coordinated.

[Avatart]

Well, I dug around a bit in 2006 and wasn't able to combine a formula with an AEC database (not that I found anyway). We are looking at deploying 2008 pretty soon here, and maybe that will have some new options. Don't know yet????

If you get any ingenious ideas or run accross another way, let me know. This method is still pretty handy, especially when you have multiple callouts for one drawing. My goal is to get a project template set up with all of the drawing titles and callouts pre-programmed, so then you just change the values in the excel file and everything is coordinated.

I'm kinda hoping that 2008 will solve all these problems. We haven't had the roll-out of that yet, but I'm looking forward to having a play.

I'll keep you posted of any developments.

[abdulhuck]

My suggestion is to use Access database with attribute blocks. In attributes you can use any field. So it will grab the required value automatically and if you configure access database properly, it can write back the values to the database. It is more difficult to interrogate and excel file than an access database. I would prefer to code the routines in VBA as the functionality of the built in tools in AutoCAD are very limited.

Let's say I have a Drawing Schedule that has three lines of entry:

D-30-010 Architecture, General Arrangement, Ground Floor 1:100
D-50-010 Mechanical Services, General Arrangement, Ground Floor 1:100
D-63-010 Electrical Services, General Arrangement, Ground Floor, Lighting 1:100

And from a drawing with the filename D-50-010, I want the Title Block to interrogate the Drawing Schedule, look for it's own filename and read the Title and Scale, etc. to populate out the rest of attributes.

In this case, you may require to create an MDB with minimum 3 fields, FILENAME, TITLE, SCALE. If the title is swapped into more lines, make it as TITLE1, TITLE2 & TITLE3 as required. In your drawing title block, use field within attribute for FILENAME, which will be updated automatically when you save the drawing. On begin save event or through a command call, open your database through VBA, seek for the file name field, update all other attributes from the values read from the database.

I could not find the topic VBA: Integrating AutoCAD VBA with Microsoft Access - Part 1 to 3 by Dave Espinosa-Aguilar, as listed here. It would have given you a good start with database manipulation.

Regards,
Abdul Huck

[Avatart]

Hi Abdul,

Thanks for the pointers, I found the articles you mentions, they are here. It does look extraodinarily complicated to just lookup a value and post it back to AutoCad....

[dannyk346068]

I'm. I'm sure about the capability of this @ 2007 Since I Used it in 2005. If A Sheet set Template and A Drawing Template are in the Template Path(s), When you Create A New Sheet Set based on the template and add new Sheets to it, all the Title Block Issues become fully automatic. Besides all the Standard Properties, You can Add Custom Properties to meet your Needs. When doing so, You can Add Custom properties to Sheet(s) (Shuch as 'Sheet #' )/or to the whole Sheet Set (such as 'Project Name').
If You Nedd more help, you can approach me directly.
Dannyk