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Attribute blocks fail to update

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Message 1 of 6
werecub
728 Views, 5 Replies

Attribute blocks fail to update

I am running into an issue with some drawing tags/

I currently have the blocks placed in my drawing, when I go to Design Center to redefine the block from a different drawing to make the block comply with our office standards the blocks update, but the attribute text does not change formatting. If I go into block attribute manager and tell the blocks to "Sync" this does not revert the blocks to the formatting in the newly redefined definition.

My work-around for this has been to copy clip everything to a new drawing file with the proper block definitions preloaded. Once pasted in this new file I can then update the blocks using block manager and the attribute text formats correctly.

Is there a quicker way to do this?
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Message 2 of 6
Anonymous
in reply to: werecub

DesignCenter will not overwrite a block definition when the target file already has a block definition of the same name. Nor will INSERTing a file that contains the revised blocks.

The alternative to your method would be to WBLOCK your revised blocks out to individual files (name of file = block name, defining objects in file, not a nested block) , then using the INSERT command to insert each individual block file and choose Yes when prompted for redefining the file. If you had a lot of files, you could use the -INSERT command in a script file to automate the process.

--

David Koch
Autodesk Discussion Group Facilitator
Using ADT 2004 at work; access to 2005, 2006 & 2007 at home
Message 3 of 6
werecub
in reply to: werecub

I'm confused by your answer. Design Center has the function of importing, importing and redefining, or redefining blocks.

When I use this redefine option, it does redefine the block: old instances change their appearance. If I place any new instances of the block the attributes will be formatted correctly, it is just the attributes that do not update correctly.
Message 4 of 6
Anonymous
in reply to: werecub

Well, I have learned something new today, I can go home now. I rarely use DesignCenter to pull a block definition from within another file, but I see that if I do that, and right click rather than drag and drop, I can choose to insert, insert and redefine or redefine only. Cool - has it always had those options? They are there in 2004; perhaps it did not work that way when DesignCenter was first introduced and I never revisited it.

Here is what I am seeing in 2004, and it is sort of weird. I inserted an attributed block from within a file into a target file, then refedited the block in the target file to change both linework and attribute locations. I then inserted a few more instances within the target file using the modified definition.

1. If I drag and drop an instance of the block from the source file through DesignCenter, on the Folders tab, I get an instance with the target file linework but the source file attribute locations.

2. If I right click the block in the source file in DesignCenter and choose Insert, I get the linework and attribute locations of the target file.

3. If I right click the block in the source file in DesignCenter and choose insert and redefine, the linework of all blocks is redefined and the new instance has the linework and attribute locations of the source file. Newly inserted instances of the block within the target file have the linework and attribute locations from the source file, so it would appear that the block definition has been updated. Running ATTSYNC does NOT update the attribute locations of the ones that were previously placed. Nor does running BATTMAN and using the Sync button (which is, I assume, what you were doing) update the attribute locations. Even odder, there are eight instances of the block in my target file, five with the edited attribute locations, and three with the source file locations (one placed by drag-n-drop in item 1 above, one placed via DesignCenter when redefining and inserting and one placed using the INSERT command after the redefinition. BATTMAN only reports two instances of the block in the drawing, and does not list any other block names that might apply to the other six, even though all eight show in the Properties palette as the same block name.

4. Starting from the point just prior to item 3 above, but using the redefine only option, the results are similar - the linework updates, but the attribute locations remain where they were - the one instance that was dragged-and-dropped in item 1 has the source location for the attributes and the other five keep the edited locations. This remains true after running ATTSYNC and also after using the Sync button in BATTMAN. Even odder, BATTMAN now reports 0 instances of the block - even if I use the Select block button to pick one of the blocks!

AUDIT returned no errors; erasing the blocks and using OOPS to bring them back had no effect. Even using the INSERT command to redefine the block by inserting a WBLOCKed version of the source file definition and running ATTSYNC would not update the rogue attributes. Using LISP to read the blocks entity data shows the block name correctly - but somehow ATTSYNC and BATTMAN are not seeing these instances as being the same block.

This is very odd and very disturbing. What version of ADT are you using?

--

David Koch
Autodesk Discussion Group Facilitator
Using ADT 2004 at work; access to 2005, 2006 & 2007 at home
Message 5 of 6
werecub
in reply to: werecub

This is selfsame isssue I am dealing with.

I am using ADT 2007.

If you open a new drawing, insert the attribute blocks from design center and then copy clip everything from your point 4 into said new drawing, running ATTSYNC (or BATTMAN and then syncing the blocks) should result in a change of the attribute location. - So far this seems to be the only way that I've discovered to get the attribute blocks to 1)display correctly and 2)have proper block counts in BATTMAN.
Message 6 of 6
Phildoak
in reply to: werecub

A problem I've always had is if I create a block with attributes, but decide later I want to change the block, all the existing blocks prior to editing do not get the attributed items updated; linework changes, but an attribute remains unchanged. The ATTSYNC is an AWESOME command, it brings all the existing attributes current with the changes, no need to reinsert each block that didn't get the attributes. Thanks!

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