Problem with RText in AutoCAD 2002, when Saved from AutoCAD 2004 or 2005

[michael.12445]

Hi everyone,

We got a drawing from a consultant that has an RTEXT object that I'd like to remove, but it seems impossible to do.

We're using AutoCAD 2002, but he's using either AutoCAD 2004 or 2005, and saved his drawing down to the R2000 format that 2002 uses. When I list out the RTEXT object, it says it was made with an application called Rtext, and that it's an "AutoCAD Express Tool."

Now we have the Express Tools from 2000/2000i installed in our AutoCAD 2002, but AutoCAD 2002 treats this object as a proxy object and refuses to do anything with it other than display and plot it. It seems like the RTEXT Express Tool that created the object is somehow incompatible with our RTEXT Express Tool.

Specifically: The ERASE command is ineffective. AutoCAD says "1 found" and highlights it when the object is selected, then does nothing when ENTER is pressed. The highlighting goes away, and the object is still there.
- The MOVE command similarly does nothing. The object cannot be moved.
- EXPLODE changes the color of the object, but when you try to ERASE the result, it goes back to its original state.
- COPYCLIP, CUTCLIP, and PASTECLIP do not work on this object.
- The AutoLISP function (entdel) will not delete the object.

Additionally, this object is in a paper space layout, and oddly, the viewport in that layout also cannot be COPYCLIPped. The command runs as if nothing is wrong (no error messages), but no new viewport is created either in another drawing or another layout. (Yes, I know about the fact that new viewports created in this way are OFF by default, but this is different - no viewport, OFF or ON, appears at all.)

Now the classic method of getting rid of unwanted or problematic data in drawings is to WBLOCK the desired objects to a new drawing file, but there's a problem here: the drawing consists of several XREFs in model space, with a viewport plus several "normal" objects I want in paper space, along with the one I don't want. I don't know how to select everything, both in model and paper space, minus the RTEXT object in paper space, and then export them, while preserving the XREF structure intact (not convert everything to blocks).

Autodesk has a support article that discusses proxy objects in general, and warns that using applications to remove them from drawings can result in "severe data corruption." Is there ANY WAY to get rid of the RTEXT object without having to totally reconstruct the drawing?

Michael Evans
Togawa & Smith, Inc.

[Mike.Perry]

Hi

Can you please post the drawing file here so we can take a look.

Have a good one, Mike

[mjfarrell]

I wonder if what you are seeing is the plot stamp?
Take a look at the page setup and see if this drawing is
using plot stamp.

[richardtt33978]

Try saving the file to r13.
Then re-open the file without saving it to 2000.
I believe "RTEXT" wasn't available to release 13.

The RTEXT should either disappear or change to plain text. Not sure?

Hope that helps.

[michael.12445]

Hi

Can you please post the drawing file here so we can take a look.

Have a good one, Mike

Mike,

What we received is a ZIP file, since the drawing has several xrefs. The ZIP file is 1.1Mb, so this forum won't allow me to post it. (However, I would be happy to email it to you directly.)

Someone asked if it might be a date stamp. I think it is, since it's at the lower right corner of the layout, and it's on a layer called "date stamp." However, when we open the drawing in 2002 we do not see a date, just a box with a small "Rtext" notation at the bottom.

Michael

[Mike.Perry]

Hi Michael

Please feel free to E-mail me the ZIP file....

E-mail address is in my signature (see below).

Mike

[mjfarrell]

Look at Plot Stamp in the help file....

Plot Stamp On

Turns on plot stamping. Places a plot stamp on a specified corner of each drawing. Plot stamps can also be saved in a log file. Plot stamp settings are specified in the Plot Stamp dialog box, in which you can specify the information that you want applied to the plot stamp, such as drawing name, date and time, plot scale, and so on. To open the Plot Stamp dialog box, select the Plot Stamp On option, and then click the Plot Stamp Settings button that is displayed to the right of the option.

You can also open the Plot Stamp dialog box by clicking the Plot Stamp Settings button on the Plot and Publish tab of the Options dialog box.

Plot Stamp Settings button

Displays the Plot Stamp dialog box when the Plot Stamp On option is selected in the Plot dialog box.


Either turn off plot stampping or assign a new Page Setup to this group of drawings
with the plot stamp turned off.

send me one too, if you want to....

[aaziz]

if you mail the dwg to aaziz@grandistazioni.it, I would be pleased to help you out.
I believe there is a reactor (lisp or vba program) which does not allow you thru autocad cmds to remove etc the rtext. I use it a lot, specially to make it impossible fro dummies to corrupt some data.
I am waiting, and in the worst cases, I 'll send you back the clean dwg and a practical method for similar cases.
Have a nice day.
Ciao

[Mike.Perry]

What we received is a ZIP file, since the drawing has several xrefs. The ZIP file is 1.1Mb, so this forum won't allow me to post it. (However, I would be happy to email it to you directly.)

Someone asked if it might be a date stamp. I think it is, since it's at the lower right corner of the layout, and it's on a layer called "date stamp." However, when we open the drawing in 2002 we do not see a date, just a box with a small "Rtext" notation at the bottom.

Hi Michael

After looking at the ZIP file you sent I can now see the issue / problem -

The drawing files were created or at least worked on, in an Autodesk 2004 product.

The "problem" Object is an RText Object created via "rtext.arx", unfortunately for yourself the "problem" Object was created in the Autodesk 2004 product, this is why it lists as a "ACAD_PROXY_ENTITY".

All ARX files had to be recompiled / rewritten for AutoCAD 2004, hence AutoCAD 2002 treats the "problem" Object (RText Object) as an "ACAD_PROXY_ENTITY".

Below snippet is from DotSoft's AutoCAD 2004 Review -

<snip>
ARX Specification: This has changed. This means that most add-ons built for AutoCAD 2000 will not work in 2004. You will need to contact the add-on developer for a 2004 compatible version of the add-on. Simple lisp routines should run without any problems.
</snip>

If you Open the drawing in AutoCAD 2004 or 2005 you will find the "problem" Object (RText Object) displays and functions correctly - The same ARX file (version) is being used.

Have attached two images:

One showing the "problem" Object in AutoCAD 2002 (I believe this is what you see at your end).

The other shows the "problem" Object displaying correctly in AutoCAD 2004 (Sorry can't show you it in AutoCAD 2005, but please believe me that it will function correctly. If you need proof I can do this tonight at home where I have access to AutoCAD 2005).

The following Technical Documents on the Autodesk web site may help shed a little more light on this particular issue -

ID: TS20015 - Proxy objects in drawings

ID: TS79478 - Save as R12 DXF format from AutoCAD®

Do you want me to Save the drawing file with the "problem" Object removed and then sent back to yourself?

Have a good one, Mike

[michael.12445]

Mike,

Thank you so much for your analysis - just writing your reply must have taken quite a while.

What I did to "resolve" the issue was to copy the drawing to a new file, and make a new layout. I COPYCLIPped all the objects in paper space except the Rtext object (and the viewport, which refused to be COPYCLIPped) to the new layout. Then I made a new viewport in the new layout the same size and on the same layer as the one in the old layout. Then I manipulated the panning/zooming in the new viewport to match that of the old one.

After all this, the Rtext object is still in the drawing, but I have a new layout that doesn't include it.

So thank you for the offer to get rid of it in R2004 and save it back down to R2000 format, but I think I can live with what I've got for now. The consultant's drawing will be subject to revision, so next time I'll just ask him to remove the Rtext date stamp before sending it to us.

Interestingly, I did manage to find someone with R2005 and opened the drawing on that computer. Apparently, however, the Express Tools that come with 2005 are optional and don't get installed by default, so he didn't have them. So on a computer with 2005 but no Express Tools, the drawing behaved exactly the same as in 2002, that is, the Rtext became a proxy object.

//Rant

Now, if you all will forgive a little paranoid ranting on my part, I'm getting a big loud subtext message from this situation that says all my problems will go away if I'll just be a good boy and upgrade. But my blackmail radar is sounding alarms at the thought. What happens next year, when Autodesk decides to juke around with the DWG format again for 2006? Or 2007? When does it ever end? And what about our other consultants, who need to get drawings from us, and who are all still using R2000 products (except, of course, for those still using R14!!!)?

So if anybody from Autodesk cares to listen, and as far as I can tell, they don't, this little episode is just one more nail in their coffin as far as we are concerned. Contrary to their claims that each new release brings a Radiant Future of ever-greater productivity gains, we find the direct opposite is true - whatever milliseconds might be saved by having prettier menu buttons are offset - by a factor of hundreds if not thousands - when we are forced to struggle with version incompatibilites, mystery crashes, unplottable files, etc., etc. I wonder how they would suggest I explain to the boss that the R2002 software that cost him thousands of dollars (multiple seats) is incapable of erasing a single object in a consultant's file, and that to get the drawing he wants, we have to spend considerable time and effort reconstructing it?

What other conclusion can we draw, than Autodesk does not make products that meet our needs?

End Rant //

Michael Evans