Data Shortcuts

[Anonymous]

I need some help regarding data shortcuts....could be my own ignorance
on the subject, could be my workflow...who knows. The scenario is this:
I developed my FG surface in a base file (FG Design 1.dwg) and
exported a data shortcut for that surface. I reference that data
shortcut into another file (Grading 1.dwg) which contains all of the
other features for my grading plan (storm piping, labels, etc.). For
plotting purposes, I have my sheet files in a separate directory, with
each sheet all in individual files (C2.0 Grading Plan.dwg). The intent
is to retain all older files when revisions are made and to only change
the XREF file name in the sheet drawing, therefore when major changes
are made I do a "Save As..." and add to the sequence (i.e. Grading 1
becomes Grading 2).

Ok, a semi-major revision is made to the drawings. I save the old FG
design file to a new one (FG Design 2.dwg) and make my changes. I then
open Grading 1.dwg and saveas Grading 2.dwg in order to keep the old
file, but have a base to start from. I then go into "Edit Data
Shortcuts...", change the source drawing for the "FG" surface to now be
FG Design 2.dwg. So far so good....the new surface design shows up
correctly and I'm able to make my changes accordingly.

Here's where the problem occurs: I open up the sheet file and change
the XREF file name from Grading 1.dwg to Grading 2.dwg. It shows all of
the changes I made INSIDE of that Grading 2.dwg file (revised storm
piping, revised labels, etc.), but the old surface (from FG Design
1.dwg) is still being shown instead of the new surface. When I go back
into the file that's being XREF'd into the sheet file (Grading 2.dwg),
it shows the new surface correctly. The only way I can get the proper
surface to show in the sheet file is to promote that surface in the
Grading 2.dwg file, thus loosing the ability for my dynamic update if I
do have any "minor" changes to be made.

Questions:
1. Why will the data shortcut show up properly in the Grading 2.dwg
file just based on changing the name of the Source Drawing for it, yet
reverts back to the old, original drawing when that file is XREF'd into
a new file?
2. Is there any trick (i.e. XML edit) that can be done to rectify this?
3. Am I asking too much from the data shortcut capabilities to begin with?

Any help with this would be greatly appreciated.

[jmodglin]

Chris,
If you are changing the source drawing in the "Edit Data Shortcuts" pallette then you are already editing the XML file. That should work as best as I can tell from your description.

For Xrefs and others issues (such as the one you are describing), I encourage companies to ALWAYS keep the working drawing the same name. For example, if there is a major change to "Grading.dwg" the old file becomes "Grading-old.dwg" and the new file stays "Grading.dwg". That way no changes to xrefs or shortcuts are needed.

Joshua Modglin

[Anonymous]

I wholeheartedly second JM's remarks!!! Channging the file names in this
manner causes nothing but problems.

Matt