Updating Data Extraction DX info to & from my Blocks (Piles)

[ernestlai888]

Hi all,

I am learning to use Data Extraction (DX) wizard in Autocad and need a little help please. 

I have a block which is a pile that has various information.  Northing Easting and various values like live load, dead load etc..  I then use DX Wizard to extract this data into a table. Please see image uploaded here:

At the moment a lot of these values (apart from the co-ordinates) are blank.  I would like to fill in this information manually.  However I do not want to click on each pile individually to insert it into the "Attributes" box.  Now if the values for each attribute (say "DEAD_LOAD") was all the same I could just select all the similar blocks and enter the value for all, unfortunately this is not the case.

Is there a way I can see all my blocks (piles) attributes in a table and edit them like a spreadsheet.  Like a reverse DX Wizard if it makes sense.  I enter the data in a table and it gets put back into the blocks (piles).

Many thanks in advance

Ernest

[Alfred.NESWADBA · Accepted solution]

Hi,

>> Is there a way I can see all my blocks (piles) attributes in a table and edit them like a spreadsheet

You can use command _ATTOUT to export the data to a CSV, open then the CSV to edit the data (e.g. using Excel) and after modification use command _ATTIN to get the attributive data back and filled into the block-attributes.

- alfred -
PS: _ATTIN and _ATTOUT are commands from the ExpressTools, so ExpressTools have to be installed with your AutoCAD.

[ernestlai888]

Many thanks Alfred!

That was perfect so simple and worked like a charm! 

Best regards

Ernest

[lovecraft]

Thanks, Alfred, for your ongoing advice to many puzzling questions........

When I see the following dialogue within the data extraction wizard, is this simply another way to accomplish what you described with _ATTOUT & _ATTIN?

 

Thanks in advance,

LC

[ernestlai888]

Hi LC, I am not Alfred or anywhere near as experienced. But from what I have been doing. Data Extraction Wizard only let's you output data from a .DWG very easily. However there's no easy way for me to add or edit this data. I found that I could only sort or move columns around. With _ATTOUT and _ATTIN I can output data into a tab delimited file. Manipulate large volumes of this data with ease. And then put it back into my .DWG and then use Data Ex Wizard to display my newly manipulated data. Alternatively I could "paste special" an excel table that would auto update when the excel file is edited. However I wanted to keep the co-ordinates of my piles auto updated as I have plotted them on an OS scaled map. Regards Ernie

[Alfred.NESWADBA]

Hi,

>> When I see the following dialogue within the data extraction wizard, is this simply

>> another way to accomplish what you described with _ATTOUT & _ATTIN?

Additionally to Ernest's answer: no, it is not. The data from DATAEXTRACTION can not be imported back to update the existiting block-attributes.

The reason for that is that ATTOUT stores the handle (= internal ID of an object in AutoCAD) in the exported file ... so when you import it back the importer (command ATTIN) knows what data belongs to which block-insertion. DATAEXTRACTION does  not contain that info, so it's only a one-way ticket.

- alfred -

[lovecraft]

Thanks to both of you for the insights.  I've just begun recently to try my hand at data manipulation/management and have started to obtain some useful results, but you have shown me that there is far more to explore and implement in this area.

Much appreciated,

LC