Cross Section Title Block "Title" Auto Field Population

[Danloes]

Alright, this one is pretty hairy. 

I'm working on a project where I've got about 800 cross sections. I've created multiple views and linked it to a template and have the template title block all set up to auto populate the sheet number based on the sheet set manager, all's good. I've got 6 cross section on each layout. 140 sheets in my sheet set manager. The last thing that I'm needing to do to get these out to the client is populate a block attribute in the title block that says "Cross Section 4500+00.00 - 4506+00.00". On my first submittal, I did it by hand and took about 4 hrs to go thru all 140 layouts. 

Heres what I want. 

I want a block attribute (title block att.) to be linked to something that will auto populate the attribute with the stations that are present on that page. 

eg. Page one layout is called Cross Section - 1. Layout 1 has 6 cross sections on it at 100' stationings. I want to link the title block attribute "Exhibit_Name" to something that has the stationing values for each layout so I dont have to go thru each layout and populate the attribute with "Cross Section xxxx+xx.xx - xxxx+xx.xx"

I have a feeling that I can  tweak the sheet set manager to name the layouts Cross Section - ####+##.## - ####+##.## and then link the attribute in my title block the the layout name, but I dont know how to make this happen. 

The skinny:

Each Layout has 6 cross sections on it. I want to auto populate either a piece of text or an attribute in my title block to display theses stations. 

Ready, GO!!!

Any input will be greatly appreciated

[Jay_B]

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Danloes wrote:

I have a feeling that I can  tweak the sheet set manager to name the layouts Cross Section - ####+##.## - ####+##.## and then link the attribute in my title block the the layout name, but I dont know how to make this happen.

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If I'm following you correctly here, I see 2 options to get the "Layout Name" populate a field with your section stations = the Layout Name.

Option 1:

Rename all Layouts to xxx+xxx to xxx+xxx etc. as desired.

Create the Field using Field Category: Other > SystemVariable > CTAB (Which represents the "Current Tab")

Option 2:

Very similar to Option 1 where Layouts "Sheet Title" is renamed to match Layout Name in sheet set manager via the rename & renumber option.

Create the Field using Field Category: Sheet Set > CurrentSheetTitle

[Joe-Bouza]

The option in PP is available to automatically name the tabs <startStation - EndStation>. Is it there in the section generator?

[yonah.ge]

Hello Danloes,

              I am working the same. But Im having trouble of linking my sections to templates. Will you give your procedure? Thanks!

-yonah 🙂

[Danloes]

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@yonah.ge wrote:

Hello Danloes,

              I am working the same. But Im having trouble of linking my sections to templates. Will you give your procedure? Thanks!

• When linking your template to your cross sections, you need to verify that the template that you are pointing to has a layout with a viewport of the type "section".
• When you go into your template, click on the layout that you are wanting to use and look at the properties of the viewport. There is an option of View Port Type. Verify that this options is set to "section". 
• Then set the view port scale to your desired scale ( I used 30 scale).
• Next, click on the view port and see what the dimensions (length & Width) are on the view port. I'm using an 11x17 sheet and the width and length of the view port are given in the properties. These dimensions are going to become the dimensions of a new paper size in your drawing with the cross sections in it. 
• In your drawing where the cross sections are, create a new paper size called "XS Paper Size" or something along those lines. If I under stand this process correctly, ACAD wants to know the area in which you are wanting your cross sections to be plotted on, ie the sheet size, which needs to correspond to the view port size in your template. 
• Once this is set up, create your sample lines and what ever interval you desire. If your doing volumes, you need to set up a material list which is hiding in the analyse tab under volumes and materials, "compute Materials". And finally, you need your alignment and surfaces.
• Under the home tab, Profiles & Section Views is "Section Views", "Create Multiple Views". 
• Go thru the dialogs box to set all your options. One of the pages asks you to point to the template you are wanting. Once you have it pathed to the template, the layout that has the specified "section" type view port in it will appear. Select that one. 
• Pick a point out in space and let it cook. (NOTE: the model space scale of your drawing must match the view port scale in your template or else all the cross sections will land on top of each other and do what its suppose to do. )
• I've never been able to get the cross sections to look the way I want them to on the first go so at this point, click on one of the cross sections and find the option of "edit group view" or something along those line. This options is where most of you style live. Get familiar with this tap and all of its glory. 
• Finally, once your cross sections are all dialed in, click on one of the green rectangles around your cross sections and go to "Create Sheets". I think this will ask you for your template again, but I'm sure it asks you for the alignment, surfaces, etc.
• Once this is set up, you pull the trigger and you should come up with layouts automagically aligned
  
  

I hope this helps. I'm not looking at that drawing right now so some of the tab names may differ from what I specified. This is the general gist of what I went thru to make this work properly. 

[lpeitzmeier]

It is not there in the section generator, thus the need for a work around.

I use the current tab operator for my page numbers, but I'm sure I could do something more sensical and use the current tab operator as indicated above. but even then I don't think i have the control over the output of the section numbers as I would like but I'll take functionality over detail control in this instance.