Batch Edit of Non-ACADE Attributes in Title Block

[drathak]

There needs to be a way (and maybe there is) to batch edit attributes in the title block that AREN'T avaiable in the Drawing Properties dialog.  For example, I have quite a few additional attributes (both visible and invisible) that carry project and drawing related information.  In some cases, I would want to edit an attribute across all drawings (DESIGN_DATE for example) whereas other drawings I might only need to edti a subset of drawings.  (EQ_SERIAL_NUM for example.)

Is there a good way already to do this?  I tried exporting to spreadsheet but those fields aren't included.  (Can they be?)

I have also looked at editing the scratch database, and I think the data is there, but it would require some hefty database work to find and edit the right attributes in there.  So I consider that a last resort.  (And a job for a programmer better than myself.)

Any suggestions are welcomed.

[electricman1]

Hi, if you need a good generic title block example with all the bells and whistles. Try this site:

http://www.racklayout.com

[drathak]

Got a title block with more bells and whistles than I can manage now! 

Plus what I'm designing (Electric Distribution Substations) doesn't use PLC's nor adhere to any outside standards. 

I'm working from the ground up.

[Icemanau · Accepted solution]

Look at how the titel block is set up within Electrical.

Map all the attributes to the project lines and you can do a project wide update of selected lines.

You just need to remember to update the descriptions for the line in question.

To do so,

Open the title block as a dwg and explode it so that ALL attributes can be seen as attibute definitions.

Go to the Projects tab and select Title Block Setup.

Now select your method of mapping the title block attributes. I recomend the WD_TB Attrib method.

Set each line to one of the attributes you need mapped.

Click on the Dwg Values button and set any attributes there that need doing so.

Click OK to save all the settings.

Save the dwg.

Start a blank sheet and insert the saved titleblock, then set any standard project settings you need.

Save the dwg as a template file.

Now start a new project and add a new dwg and use the template file you just saved.

Right click on the project name and select Descriptions.

Fill in the lines as required.

Do a title block update and place a check mark in the box in front of the lines you need to update.

All done and all you need to do in future is fill in the descriptions and update the title blocks.

You can choose to update ALL the dwgs in the project, only some of the dwgs or the active dwg.

Regards Brad

[drathak]

I've done all that, but there are some attributes that don't update on a project wide basis.  For the things that are, I use the project description lines to update them. (Mapped in the WD_TB attribute.)  But where I have drawing specific data, such as major equipment manufacturer, style and reference file, I don't want those pushed to every drawing. 

And I know I can select the drawings to update only update a subset, but if I ever need to do another project wide update, then whatever was in those line values would get pushed to every drawing.  (Many of which don't even get that info normally.)

Aaaaand never mind.  While writing this I looked and you have to SELECT what gets updated before anything done project wide so that is a non issue.  I just need to add those attributes to the mapping.  Duh!

Thanks!

[rhesusminus]

Hi.

You should take a look at Stan Wiles blogpost:

http://myacade.blogspot.no/2013/09/i-need-more-fields-pushing-past-limits.html

Some really smart ideas there, and with some tweaking you might get exactly what you need.

[rwydesk500]

I'm not saying I wouldn't do it the way some of the others are suggesting, however there is a way they have not mentioned and it works really well. You must know how to write a script that is able to change attributes in a drawing (title block, etc.) Once you write and run a script successfully on one drawing, you can use the ACE script tool to apply it to as many drawings, or sets of drawings, as you wish. Look in Project > Project Tools > Utilities and you will encounter the Project-Wide Utilities dialog box. About 2/3 of the way down is run the command script file selection.