Dynamic Blocks

[#1]

I think the multi-VIs states and the BPT are not playing nice together.

That's about all I can tell. I tried the same procedure here on the first blocks you posted and it caused my CAD to crash.

Unless the author Nikolay comes along I'm not sure I can help you further.

You may want to try in this thread:

http://forums.autodesk.com/t5/Dynamic-Blocks/You-gotta-try-visibility-add-eng-v1-1/td-p/2521041/high...

as it gets looked at from time to time and the contributors rapidcad or ojuris have a good handle on the Macro.

[#2]

Thanks for your help, Mr. Shade.

However, the second block that I created for you (the one with the ellipse, Before 2 & After 2) also has the same issue with the Block Properties Table, and there is not a single visibility parameter in the block. There is no need to even have visibility parameters in the ellipse block, either. It is a simple block, with an ellipse, 1 attribute, and the BPT.

I wish that I knew what else to say. Both blocks have the same problem, and I need to create both. Looks like I gotta go back to old-school CAD with this, and type in what I want each block attribute is to read from now on, each time I insert the block in a file.

How prehistoric.

Chris Martin

[#3]

The second one did not crash but there was no information populating the BPT that was there.

Have you just tried to WBLOCK to a new file and nothing else?

(I hope I have not asked that already.)

[#4]

So far, WBLOCK is a command that is not allowed to be used in Block Editor space. And, I cannot make a block with any of the parameters I need in model space. No Tables, no multiple visibilities, no rotations, none of those can be made in Model Space.

Chris Martin

[#5 · Accepted solution]

Make the Block in the BE as you have been.

Save Block As... WITHOUT the Save Block Definition to Drawing File checked.

Close the BE

Run WBLOCK and choose the Block you just named.

Now does it retain the BPT?

[#6]

Salvation!

It worked! It's quite a few kilobytes larger than the way I was saving blocks, but considering my way turned out to be a failure, compared to yours which was successful, I'll deal with it.

Thank you. Thank you so very much.

Chris Martin

[#7]

That sounds like a bug report should be issued for the failure in the BE.

Glad that it works for you now. Nothing more frustrating than having to recreate the block for no reason other than a software hiccup.

Bug Report

[#8]

I didn't see this thread until today, but I could add two tips to aid with this discussion.

First, MVP blocks (using the Visibility Add Lisp to add multiple visibility parameters) does not officially support use of the Block Property Table (BPT). The author, Andre Lazebny pointed this out in his posts. However, though much trial and error I discovered that the sticking point between MVP and BPT is actually only the user parameter which is generated from within the table.

If you place an EMPTY(no columns or rows or properties defined yet) BPT in a dyn block BEFORE you convert it into a MVP dyn block you can sucessfully create a block using both. you would create all your visibility parameters and define your states, and when everything else is defined, the last thing you would do is fill in the table using existing parameters and even defining user parameters. this would then lead us to the second trick which is pertainant to this thread...

I find that for me, I use two or three AutoCAD files when I develop dynamic blocks.

File one - my dnamic block library source file. This contains iterations of each dynamic block until it reaches completion.

File two, an empty drawing to paste blocks into for editing in the block editor - I rarely even save this drawing - I just go with Drawing1.dwg generated from my template.

Fle three isn't actually a drawing by definition - it is the drawing test window.

Here's my procedure: I copy-paste the block I want to modify into Drawing1 from my dynamic block library source file. Then I add all the actions, entities, a block table if needed, and I test. Every time I test I rename the block WITHIN THE TEST WINDOW, then copy-paste it back into my sorce file as an iteration. I immediately save my source file each time so I am safeguarded from a lockup (which the  lisp definately increases the frequency of).  When I get all done with the functioning block, I fill out the block properties table (if it has one) and test in the test window, rename and copy-paste into my source file. From the source file I wblock out the finished MVP dyn block and it can now be inserted with lisp or a tool palette or both or by using the good old insert comand or drag and drop or whatever.

It's a long post but I hope it helps you get past the root of those two hurdles.

Ron