Default values in "new drawing properties dialog"

[rhesusminus]

Hi.

Just wondering...
Is it possible to set some default values when creating a new drawing?
Maybe take some project settings, and put them into some of the textboxes in the drawing properties dialog?

Trond Hasse

[dougmcalexander]

If the drawing is added to the project you can select the drawing, and
others as well (hold down CTRL or SHIFT and select multiples), then
right-click on any selected drawing, select properties and when it flies out
select Apply Project Defaults.

To manually set the defaults for a drawing (perhaps to save it as a template
for re-use) click Drawing Properties while the drawing is open or
right-click the drawing name in the drawing list and select
Properties>Drawing Properties.


wrote in message news:5728638@discussion.autodesk.com...
Hi.

Just wondering...
Is it possible to set some default values when creating a new drawing?
Maybe take some project settings, and put them into some of the textboxes in
the drawing properties dialog?

Trond Hasse

[rhesusminus]

Thanks Doug.

I knew about these options, but what I wanted to know was if it's possible to get any predefined values into the "create new drawing"-dialog box.

TH

[dougmcalexander]

You usually define them in the template so they come in automatically as
part of the new drawing function.

wrote in message news:5729650@discussion.autodesk.com...
Thanks Doug.

I knew about these options, but what I wanted to know was if it's possible
to get any predefined values into the "create new drawing"-dialog box.

TH

[rhesusminus]

I'm not trying to be difficult here, but is the answer "no, you can't insert any default values into the 'create new drawing dialog box'" ?

TH

[dougmcalexander]

There is no option to define default values in the create new drawing
dialog. It would not make sense. As soon as you click OK to insert the new
drawing, AcadE prompts you if you want to apply the project default values.
I allow this when I have made a specific modification at project level, for
this project only, thus I do not want to make a permanent change to the
drawing template.

It almost sounds as if you have no drawing template with the AcadE defaults
already defined. To make the most of AcadE you should have a border
template (.dwt file) that has the WD_TB attribute for title block update
(set up using Title Block Setup tool). This WD_TB attribute is added by the
Title Block Setup and you must be at the level of the border drawing where
all title block attributes are visible. Once this is complete, save this
drawing as a .dwg. Next click QNEW or File>New and use the acad.dwt
template. It is blank. Insert the drawing you created earlier (do not
explode on insert) at coordinates 0,0,0. Next click the Drawing Properties
icon on the ACE toolbar and set your most common defaults. Optionally you
might also add some of the common wire types you use so they will already
exist when you use this template to start a new drawing. The wire spool
flyout has a Create/Edit Wire Type icon for this.

Finally save this drawing as a template file in the template folder by
clicking Save As and changing the file type to template (.dwt). This will
be the file that you point to in the second line of the Create New Drawing
dialog. Now when you start a new drawing you get the defaults
automatically. If you need to change one or two items for a specific
project, set this in project properties and apply project defaults on
insert.

wrote in message news:5730837@discussion.autodesk.com...
I'm not trying to be difficult here, but is the answer "no, you can't insert
any default values into the 'create new drawing dialog box'" ?

TH

[rhesusminus]

Hello again Doug, and thank you for taking the time.
I have the title block set up. No problem there. And I have to disagree with you that this "add default values to the add new drawing dialog problem" wouldn't make sense.

Some of our customers use the same drawing number for the entire drawing set, while others have a unique drawing number for every sheet. An som customers have a drawing number generator (external program), so that with a little lisp routine I would be enabled to get a new drawing number, and insert this number into the correct field in the "add new drawing dialog". Same with sheet number.. automatically find the next sheet number, and insert it into the sheet number field. And maybe even the filename of the drawing could be a combination av the drawing number and the sheet number? It would be great to get this automagically into the dialog.
In my case right now, I'm working with a title block with only 3 lines of descriptive text. The 2 first lines are normally project specific, but WILL be different for SOME of the drawing sheets. That's why I would like to get the default LINE1 and LINE2 texts from the project descriptions, and put them into line 1 & 2 in the drawing properties. This would make sure that the changes aren't overwritten when running the title block update.
It would also make it easier for the user to see that he should use line 3 in the drawing properties for the 3rd line in the title block.

But, if it can't be done, I'd stop bugging you with it 🙂

Again, thanks for your time Doug.

TH

[dougmcalexander]

I guess I must have misunderstood what you are trying to do. I thought you
were referring to the default drawing properties, which are derived from the
WD_M block. Of course the New Drawing dialog has fields for 3 lines of
drawing description, sheet, drawing number, etc. but this is not
automatically filled in. AcadE gives us total freedom in that respect.
Some competitors auto-fill it but you don't get much choice in the matter,
not even for the file name.

wrote in message news:5731960@discussion.autodesk.com...
Hello again Doug, and thank you for taking the time.
I have the title block set up. No problem there. And I have to disagree with
you that this "add default values to the add new drawing dialog problem"
wouldn't make sense.

Some of our customers use the same drawing number for the entire drawing
set, while others have a unique drawing number for every sheet. An som
customers have a drawing number generator (external program), so that with a
little lisp routine I would be enabled to get a new drawing number, and
insert this number into the correct field in the "add new drawing dialog".
Same with sheet number.. automatically find the next sheet number, and
insert it into the sheet number field. And maybe even the filename of the
drawing could be a combination av the drawing number and the sheet number?
It would be great to get this automagically into the dialog.
In my case right now, I'm working with a title block with only 3 lines of
descriptive text. The 2 first lines are normally project specific, but WILL
be different for SOME of the drawing sheets. That's why I would like to get
the default LINE1 and LINE2 texts from the project descriptions, and put
them into line 1 & 2 in the drawing properties. This would make sure that
the changes aren't overwritten when running the title block update.
It would also make it easier for the user to see that he should use line 3
in the drawing properties for the 3rd line in the title block.

But, if it can't be done, I'd stop bugging you with it 🙂

Again, thanks for your time Doug.

TH

[ericmm85]

Hi, I need something like that. There is a command or routine to autofill the data in the "new drawing dialog box" for more than one drawing? Maybe from an excel sheet. It would be very useful.

[Anonymous]

I sent you a note on your similar post. We have our template preset to default values that, typically, are always the same or close to it. Then the user only needs to edit if necessary. I have also played with setting defaults in the wdt file. Many ways to achieve this, one way may be to use a lisp routnine to auto-populate certain attributes once a template is loaded.
The other remarks in this forum on the subject work too.
I don't know if this helps but good luck.