Block name?

[Anonymous]

Its been a little while since I used Autocad so sorry for asking.

I have a block selected and I go to its propeties to see its name.

Under Misc -> Name : *U1848.  

But when I go to insert block  thats not the name of the block.  So that information under propeties name isnt the real name ? Or is it because of something else that I dont know of ? How to find its "real" name

Thanks for the help.

[Alfred.NESWADBA · Accepted solution]

Hi,

blocknames starting with an asterik are called "anonymous blocks" and are used only for AutoCAD internal use (for objects needed to be created in runtime, e.g. results of dynamic blocks).

These blocks can only be used by AutoCAD, by applications, but not manually for INSERT.

- alfred -

[Kent1Cooper]

Is it a Dynamic Block?  If so, I assume you are looking for its "Effective Name."  You can try this extract, which checks whether the EffectiveName property is available for that Block [it checks because just asking for that will fail in older versions that don't have dynamic Blocks] -- if so, it gets that [and here, stores it in the blkname variable]; if not, it gets just the regular Block name:

(vl-load-com); if needed

(setq
  blkobj (vlax-ename->vla-object (car (entsel "\nSelect Block: ")))
  blkname
    (vlax-get-property blkobj
      (if (vlax-property-available-p blkobj 'EffectiveName) 'EffectiveName 'Name)
    ); ...get-property & blkname
); setq

[Anonymous]

The thing is that I got this dwg file and noone knows how it has been draw before. Dont have any contact with the previous drawer of the file. So I have to figure out what each block has as a name. So i can easily insert that block again if I want to add more.  But yeah thats why  I was asking how I can easily get to know the blocked they created before hand. Because i dont have any information.  

The only solution for me now is to   'Add a block'   and on block list just go 1 for 1 and look on the thumbnail and see what kind of block it is and the name and so on until I find the right one. 

Abit time consuming so thats why it would have been so much easier if the block had the right name under its properties information.... 

[Moshe-A]

Christopher hi,

I agree with Alfred. if the name you see in property is '*Unnn' then this is a simple Anonymous block (you can not INSERT it)

if it is a dynamic block? the property it will show you the real block name (the Effective name)

Moshe

[Alfred.NESWADBA]

Hi,

>> So I have to figure out what each block has as a name. So i can easily insert that block again if I want to add more

Just as info, if you already have a block (not an anonymous one) in the drawing and you need to reinsert it, you don't need the _INSERT command again, you can use the COPY command or the "Add Selected" option (command _ADDSELECTED) in the context menu for a selected geometry object (also none block objects, e.g. starts also the _PLINE command and uses the same pline properties like layername):

- alfred -

[Anonymous]

Yeah copying is easy just wanted to get the name so I knew more about the drawing and what names they used for each furniture. Thought perhaps there was an option for that I guess not.

Thanks for the replies people , much appreciated 🙂