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How to Create ATTRIBUTES 1

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kbravo

Agricultural
Apr 29, 2002
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I want to Use Attributes in my Title Block. Can anybody give me some simple instructions on doing this????

Any Help would be apperciated.
Thanks

Kurt
 
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type att in the command line then enter, a dialog box will open , type a tag for your attribute( its like a title),then type a prompt(its like the qestion u will asked to type every time u inster the attribute), if u want to enter a defualt value type it in the Value line, then pick the opint u want to put the attribute in ( beside your block),

this will give u only one line of data attribute( foor more data attribute lines just repeat att acommand), then select your block and the attribute u have just done, type b ( for block) in the command line then enter, the block window will open, continue doing your block .

now when u insert this block u will get asked each time for the prombet u type, it may be Price ,date of purchase, or any other data u want to be typed beside your block.


there is many other properties for your attribute, for more info when u r in the attribute window click F1 that will open the autocad help in the page of the command u r running.


hope that helps for u to begin use data attribute,

if u want more info, pls let me know :)

Pea$e
 
Ok, to create some simple attributes try this:
(I'm going to assume you're using ACAD2000+ but the principles are similar with R14 etc)

1) Type DDATTDEF at the command line to bring up the Attribute dialogue box.

The first boxes to look at are TAG, PROMPT and VALUE

TAG - This is the name that will appear on screen and will act like normal DTEXT to allow you to move it around to fit your title block etc.
PROMPT - This is the descriptive text that will appear next to the editable attribute boxes when you edit your title block.
VALUE - This is the default text that will appear when you insert the block into your drawing. ie, these boxes will already be filled in. An example of this would be an attribute for paper size, this will always be A0 when you insert an A0 sheet (block), so you don't want to have to fill this in each time, you can set 'A0' as the default.

Next look at the 'Text Options' (justification, height etc) and change these accordingly.

To create the Attribute on your drawing go to 'insertion point' and pick a convenient point on your drawing (you don't have to be accurate at this stage) then click 'OK' and your attribute should appear on your drawing.

To create more attributes you can go through this whole process repeatedly, but it's easier to just copy your first attribute as many times as you think you'll need them. You will now need to go back and edit all these 'copied' attributes to ensure they all have DIFFERENT TAGS (so each one can be uniquely identified). To edit them either double click them or type DDEDIT and select them. When you do a simple edit like this all you'll be able to change is the 3 main properties, ie TAG, PROMPT and VALUE, but to be honest this is usually enough. (You can change a few more details, Text height, style etc, if you bring up the 'Properties' box while you work, just type PROPERTIES at the command line)

Now you need to arrange these to suit your titleblock. Bear in mind that the TAG name/size has no reflection on the look of the final block. For example, you can call your 'revision' attribute tag 'CURRENT_DRAWING_REVISION' and still fit this into a small rev box on your border, TAG name size is irrelevant.

Ok, so now you should have a few attributes all correctly TAG'ed up and ready to make into a block.

To create the block you will need to select these attributes in the right order, to avoid problems try this:

Zoom into you attributed title block area so you can see them all clearly and when promted for block objects select the attibutes individually in the order you want them to appear when you edit them, usually top to bottom. Once you've SELECTED THESE FIRST you can then zoom out and select the rest of the objects to become part of you title block.

Your block should now be created, so give it a try and see if there are any problems.

It's worth noting that on earlier versions of CAD you had to select the attributes in REVERSE order when picking them for the block, so if they do appear out of order, try that.

To edit a title block with attributes in just type DDATTE and select the block in question, or you can just double click the block.

I think that covers the basics, I'll let you know if I think of anything else.

Regards

Marc
 
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