Updating Blocks And Fields

[Anonymous]

I have been updating some blocks that have had fields tied to them. After
the blocks have been updated (using the electrical block update), the fields
lose their connection to the block and come up as hash marks. Is this normal
and is there a way to update the blocks without losing the connection to the
field?

Regards Brad

[Anonymous]

Not sure what you mean by fields, but let me take a shot. If you are
referring to a symbol that has been inserted into a schematic page and
attribute values have been assigned, then you change the block, you can use
update block to purge the older version off the drawing(s) and replace them
with the new version. However if the change you make to the block involves
the attributes, and you have the radio button marked to discard old
attribute values, you will lose data that was inserted from the insert/edit
dialog. The default is to copy the old values to the new block, but if you
select to discard old values you will get blanks.

This may not be your problem, but I'm just not quire sure what fields you
are referring to. The schematic symbols have attributes in them. When
you enter text into the description boxes, MFG, CAT, etc. this data is
stored as attribute values and recorded in the project scratch database. If
you update a block the default is to delete the existing block, purge,
replace with the new version of the block, and copy the text data from the
scratch database back into the attributes.

"Brad Coleman" wrote in message
news:5792578@discussion.autodesk.com...
I have been updating some blocks that have had fields tied to them. After
the blocks have been updated (using the electrical block update), the fields
lose their connection to the block and come up as hash marks. Is this normal
and is there a way to update the blocks without losing the connection to the
field?

Regards Brad

[Anonymous]

No I don't mean attributes. I'm talking about the standard Autocad field,
which is inserted via the 'Insert/Field' command from the drop down menus. I
use the field to duplicate data from certain attributes in the title block
elsewhere in the title block (ie duplicate drawing number). Our title blocks
have 2 copies of the drawing number to allow for different ways of folding
the drawing. By using fields we only have to change One number when we setup
the drawing.

The problem is, If you make a change and update the block using the
Electrical block update command, the field loses it's connection to the
attribute it was getting it's data from.

Regards Brad

"Doug McAlexander" wrote in message
news:5805562@discussion.autodesk.com...
Not sure what you mean by fields, but let me take a shot. If you are
referring to a symbol that has been inserted into a schematic page and
attribute values have been assigned, then you change the block, you can use
update block to purge the older version off the drawing(s) and replace them
with the new version. However if the change you make to the block involves
the attributes, and you have the radio button marked to discard old
attribute values, you will lose data that was inserted from the insert/edit
dialog. The default is to copy the old values to the new block, but if you
select to discard old values you will get blanks.

This may not be your problem, but I'm just not quire sure what fields you
are referring to. The schematic symbols have attributes in them. When
you enter text into the description boxes, MFG, CAT, etc. this data is
stored as attribute values and recorded in the project scratch database. If
you update a block the default is to delete the existing block, purge,
replace with the new version of the block, and copy the text data from the
scratch database back into the attributes.

[Anonymous]

How are you using a field to duplicate attribute information? If you are inserting a field and referencing it to an attribute value when you create the block I believe it’s the default value of the attribute that is being referenced and not the actual value. However if you insert your block into the drawing. You can use eattedit to insert a field as the value of the attribute you want to carry the duplicate value. The field would reference the attribute with the value you want to duplicate. Once that’s done all you have to do is regen the drawing to have the field update if the referenced attribute value changes.

[Anonymous]

That is what I am doing and it works fine. The problem arises when I update
the block to a new version using the ACADE block update command. The field
looses is connection to the block when that happens. As we make use of a
fair few fields to duplicate various attributes through some of our
drawings, it takes a while to remove the old fields and put a new fields in
place and then tie to the new block. If we have to do that over a large
project it can become very costly.

I'm after a way to do a block update that doesn't break any links to fields
or to reset the link after the block update is done.

Regards Brad


wrote in message news:5817627@discussion.autodesk.com...
How are you using a field to duplicate attribute information? If you are
inserting a field and referencing it to an attribute value when you create
the block I believe it's the default value of the attribute that is being
referenced and not the actual value. However if you insert your block into
the drawing. You can use eattedit to insert a field as the value of the
attribute you want to carry the duplicate value. The field would reference
the attribute with the value you want to duplicate. Once that's done all
you have to do is regen the drawing to have the field update if the
referenced attribute value changes.