Displaying Property Set Data in a Drawing

[Anonymous]

I think I've seen this before but I can't seem to find it.

Is there a way to display and control the visibility of property set data next to a tag or object in model space?

For example, imagine a floor plan such as a large hotel with a lot of doors.  It would be nice to be able to look at the plan and see which doors have had their property sets filled out and which ones have not; and, it would be great if the visibility of the property set data could be toggled on and off so as not to clutter up the drawing when not needed.

I think I've seen this but don't remember where.

Thanks.

Everett

[Keith.Brown]

I think what you are looking for is a schedule.  You could schedule all of your doors and that way see if the property sets you are interesed in are filled out or not.

I am confused by what you mean by turning a property set on/off.  Do you mean to turn the visibility of the property set off on the property palette so you do not see it?  You could freeze or turn off the layer your tags are on.  The tags just read the information that is in the property set.  Or if you create a schedule you could just turn off the layer of the schedule.  Other than that i am not quite sure what you mean.  Could you please expand on your question?

[Anonymous]

Keith:

Thanks for taking the time to reply.

I have the schedules set up and they work just fine.

I'd like to see the property set entries next to each door without actually having to go look at the schedule.  Kind of like seeing block data nex to the block.  And I'd like to be able to turn it on or off as you would with individual layers.

I don't even know if this is possible, but it seem to me that I've seen it done somewhere else.  I just can't remember where.

Thanks.

Everett

[Keith.Brown]

This is exactly what a tag was created for.  Tags have the ability to read the property set information and display it as text anywhere you want in a drawing.

I would suggest reading up on tags and how to create them.  They are easy to create and the general idea is found in these simple steps.

1. Add some text to your drawing that is non annotative and 1" in height.

2. Select the text and type DefineTag

3. When the dialog appears give the tag a name.

4. Select Property for the type and then select the property set and then the property set definition.

5. Hit ok and when asked to choose an insertion point i would recommend choosing the insertion point of the text.

You are now done.  You can drag the tag to a tool palette and then use it to tag your doors.

Tip:  You can have geometry and as many property set definitions in your tag as you want.

I would seriously recommend reading the help file on this subject.

[Anonymous]

Hello Keith:

I don't think I'm asking the question the right way.

I've already read and understand how to create tags.  I've done that and they work fine.  I've created the schedules and they work fine.  That part isn't an issue; it's all working as planned.

I'm trying to do something else; I'd like to display the data but not using a schedule.  A schedule would show the information for all of the doors.  Due to the way our sheets are set up the schedule is in a different drawing file.  I'd like to display each door's property set data (preferably at a very small scale) next to the door in model space so that I can see at a glance which doors have had their data filled in and which ones haven't without having to go back and forth between the file with the model and the file with the schedule.  I'd also like to control the display of this info on/off to avoid cluttering up the model when it isn't needed.

What I'd like to do may or may not be possible. 

Thanks again.

Everett

[Keith.Brown · Accepted solution]

Hi Everett,

I think i understood your question I just don't think that you understand tags completely.  Property set information can only be displayed in a drawing by either a schedule or a tag.  If you want to display ALL property set information for a specific item in model space then your solution is to create a TAG that has ALL of the information you want to see in it.  There is absolutely no reason why you cannot create a tag that has multiple lines of information.  In your case you would have 1 line per property set definiton.  Each line would contain 2 items.  One would be a piece of text that does not change which would contain the property set definition name.  The other would be a piece of text set to a property that would contain the property set value.  i have attached a drawing that illustrates this. 

I am a MEP designer by trade so i do not know the information you would want to see for a door so i just added them all.  Below is a picture of what the tag looks like.  I hope this makes it a little clearer.

One more thing to add.  You could do this with a schedule also and only schedule a single door.  Just add a new schedule for each door.  Your choice.

[Anonymous]

Hello Keith:

Thanks!  What you have displayed is exactly what I'm trying to do.  I wanted to know if there was a way to do it without a tag or a schedule.  As I understand it the answer is "no".

So as you said, what I need to do is create a tag to do so since that's the only way to do it without using schedules.

Thank you very much for your help!

Regards.

Everett

[David_W_Koch]

Is there a reason why you do not want to use either a tag or a schedule?  So far as I know, those are the only two ways to show property values in a drawing file.  I would use a tag, which could be set up with very small text on a non-plotting layer that is not used for any other objects.  You can freeze the layer when you do not want to see the tags and thaw it when you do.  The information would not plot in either case.

If you are less concerned about the actual values, and just need a graphic way to show which doors have a particular property set attached, you could add a manual text property to your Property Set and set a default value, which you will never change.  You could then set up a Display Theme that turns all Doors that have that property set to the default value an alert color.  Any door that does not have that, would remain the usual color.  You can activate or dectivate the Display Theme as necessary.