Active updating of references

[Makana]

Hello all,
New to this but had a question. Is there a way in AutoCad
so that if you change layer properties in a reference file,
it will show up with the changes to the active file.
I know if I detach the file and re-attach that this will work. r14 had the save changes to xref'd layers in the layer dialogue box and if you had this off, I am pretty sure
you would see the updates?I forget this variable.
anyway any ideas?

Thanks

 

[CarlB]

VISRETAIN XREF
Type: Integer
Saved in: Drawing
Initial value: 1
Controls the visibility, color, linetype, lineweight, and plot styles (if PSTYLEPOLICY is set to 0) of xref-dependent layers and specifies whether nested xref path changes are saved.

0 The layer table, as stored in the reference drawing (xref) takes precedence. Changes made to xref-dependent layers in the current drawing are valid in the current session only and are not saved with the drawing. When the current drawing is reopened, the layer table is reloaded from the reference drawing and the current drawing reflects those settings. The layer settings affected are On, Off, Freeze, Thaw, Color, Ltype, LWeight, and PStyle (if PSTYLEPOLICY is set to 0). This setting also specifies that changes made to the paths of nested xrefs are for the current session only and are not saved with the drawing.

1 Xref-dependent layer changes made in the current drawing take precedence. Layer settings are saved with the current drawing's layer table and persist from session to session. Nested xref path changes are saved with the current drawing and persist from session to session.

 

[Makana]

ok,
so if visretain off (0) then the colors, linetyles, settings(on/off/frozen) etc are managed and will be defaulted to what the reference file is set at correct.

For efficient use of the system and not having to turn layers on,off, freeze,thaw everytime you get into a drawing
you will need to have visretain on (1).

Is there any other way around this? Right now I am in the
start of creating standards and colors seem to change a lot
as the need to get various ouputs as required by the engineers.

Thanks for the info,
Makana