Dynamic Text with Dynamic Block

[radiohaktive]

I am working on making some view tags, and I would like the underline between the tag's title and the scale (any arch or engineer would know what im talking about) to stretch as text is added or taken away. Basically I want the right end of the underline to always be aligned with the right "edge" of the last letter of text. And no, I can't just underline it, the architect is very particular about not doing that. Right now I have this awesome dynamic sheet view tag with a rotatable north arrow and a dozen visibility states for the scale bars, but it all seems in vain if I still have to work with it manually. The text is an attribute, no special properties or settings, just locked in position. 

Thanks, any help or previous experience with this issue would be HUGE. 

[Charles_Shade]

Sorry, there is no way to drive the length of a Line with the width of a Text entity.

The architect is going to have to do some work to make this be.

[pendean]

... Or the underline option you want to avoid.
Back to the architect to work out what you both wish to compromise on.

If you need further help then post what you have developed for others to dive into your project.

[Bob_Zurunkle]

You could try to define the text as underlined in the editor, but I hink you'd find that that underline would jump around vertically depending on what is in the body of the text, and what lined up with the callout bubble before might not line up the next time.

Even in Revit you have to grab that line's grip and stretch it to the length you desire, but Revit does try to align it with other similar items on a sheet. What I did for AutoCAD was I gave my underlind a dynamic stretch action.

[radiohaktive]

Ya, it looks like it's impossible without some lisp. Amazing how expensive, yet incompetent AutoCAD is. If there was some kind of Text parameter that you could use chain actions with, it would probably solve the issue. There are literally dozens if not hundreds of times throughout a drawing where this little tiny bit of automation could help out to guarantee consistency. Oh well, wish list it goes. (we all know how much Autodesk cares about small engineering firms)

[pendean]

They don't know about missing features unless users tell them and ask for them: start making suggestions, they do watch and read everyone that comes in.

For maximum bang, be very detailed and even link to a sample image or DWG demonstrating your desire. After that all it takes is a few others to ask for the same thing.

And be realistic: no one here will say it out loud but they are probably working a few versions down the road today and not the "next' version, so your wishlist, if it takes hold, will always be a few versions out from seeing the light of day.

Alternatively: you find a buddy that is good at some coding and you both create an add-on that gets posted to the AutoCAD Exchange Apps forum and fellow users can enjoy your brilliant ideas sooner (free or for pay, you decide).

The possibilities are endless: but you can't wait for Autodesk to dream them up on their own. You have to participate: small engineering firm or large, or one-man-shop.

[radiohaktive]

Hmm thanks for the tip, I feel more educated about my options now. I'm losing my lisp as the new firm I'm working for is only LT, but I'll see what I can do. Do you know if I can write something outside of the VLIDE and still use it. We have one copy of AutoCAD MEP 2011 in the principal's office, but I won't be able to sit at it with the IDE. If I'm able to go the emacs route, I could most certainly do that.