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Is this possible without tons of repetitive work?

13 REPLIES 13
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Message 1 of 14
drathak
397 Views, 13 Replies

Is this possible without tons of repetitive work?

On our one line symbols we would like to add a visibility parameter to indicate how a particular device is communicating with SCADA.  I can add that to a symbol just fine.  The problem is that as far as I know, there is no way to duplicate that on every symbol without literally rebuilding the visibility stack every stinkin' time.  Seriously?  There has to be a way to do this better than that.

 

Caveat: I'm only minimally versed in Dynamic Blocks yet.

--------------
Joe Weaver
Principle Associate Engineer - Nashville Electric Service
P&C Committee Chair – SDS Industry Consortium
13 REPLIES 13
Message 2 of 14
Libbya
in reply to: drathak

Post a version of the block and a description of how you would like it to behave and I will try to help.

Message 3 of 14
drathak
in reply to: Libbya


@Libbya wrote:

Post a version of the block and a description of how you would like it to behave and I will try to help.


I have the block working like I want it no problem.  Now I just need to get similar functionality into several other blocks without having to build the same visibilty parameters every time.  Which you would think should be possible, but everything I'm reading tells me it isn't.  Which to me seems like a SERIOUS flaw.

--------------
Joe Weaver
Principle Associate Engineer - Nashville Electric Service
P&C Committee Chair – SDS Industry Consortium
Message 4 of 14
Libbya
in reply to: drathak

So, let me see if I have this straight, you currently have a block definition with several visibility states and it works the way you would like.  You would now like to make several other block definitions with similar visibility states already defined?  That's easy.  Go into block editor and use 'Save As' and create another block definition with a new name, then copy whatever linework is necessary into your new block.  What is the flaw of which you speak?

Message 5 of 14
drathak
in reply to: Libbya


@Libbya wrote:

So, let me see if I have this straight, you currently have a block definition with several visibility states and it works the way you would like.  You would now like to make several other block definitions with similar visibility states already defined?  That's easy.  Go into block editor and use 'Save As' and create another block definition with a new name, then copy whatever linework is necessary into your new block.  What is the flaw of which you speak?


That is correct, except these other blocks are existing blocks that I want to add the visibility states to.  Which seems to be impossible without working backwards as you suggest.  (Rename old blocks, save copies of the one new block to the names of the old blocks, edit the old block to copy graphics, then edit a new block to place graphics.)  I do think I tried that for one and had issues getting the graphics to stay visible, but that could just be my newbness.

The flaw I see is not being able to copy those authoring elements (visibility states in this case) and paste that into another block.  And from all the questions I've found where other people are asking this, I'm not alone in feeling like that is something that should just work.

--------------
Joe Weaver
Principle Associate Engineer - Nashville Electric Service
P&C Committee Chair – SDS Industry Consortium
Message 6 of 14
Libbya
in reply to: drathak

There is not any way to copy parameters, period.  Not within a block and certainly not from one block to the next.  I can understand why that does not exist and I can also see how very useful it would be if it did.  I guess I have a different definition of what a flaw is.

 

If you want any explanations on how to work effectively with visibility states, let me know.

Message 7 of 14
kasperwuyts
in reply to: Libbya

It might be handy feature for native autocad, but let's be honest; this is why customization exists.

You can easily record an action macro that will automatically add a set of specifically named visibility states for a block, using the BParameter and the -BVstate commands. If you're unfamiliar with the action recorder I might give you some more instructions on how to achieve this.


Best regards
Kasper Wuyts
_______________________________________________________________________________
If this post solves your problem, clicking the 'accept as solution' button would be greatly appreciated.
Message 8 of 14
drathak
in reply to: Libbya


@Libbya wrote:

There is not any way to copy parameters, period.  Not within a block and certainly not from one block to the next.  I can understand why that does not exist and I can also see how very useful it would be if it did.


Could you please expand on this a bit?  Other than "it hasn't been coded" why can't it exist?

And any tips would be very much appreciated.

--------------
Joe Weaver
Principle Associate Engineer - Nashville Electric Service
P&C Committee Chair – SDS Industry Consortium
Message 9 of 14
drathak
in reply to: kasperwuyts


@kasperwuyts wrote:

It might be handy feature for native autocad, but let's be honest; this is why customization exists.

You can easily record an action macro that will automatically add a set of specifically named visibility states for a block, using the BParameter and the -BVstate commands. If you're unfamiliar with the action recorder I might give you some more instructions on how to achieve this.


Copy & Paste has become so much a central part of all software that it just seems like it should be there. In my example, the visibility states and the items ruled by them are all entities within the drawing file.  Why can't they be copied?  Is there a solid reason, as I asked above, or is this just something they overlooked?

Recording a macro could accomplish creating and possibly assigning objects to a visibility state.  Very cumbersome way to have to so it though.

--------------
Joe Weaver
Principle Associate Engineer - Nashville Electric Service
P&C Committee Chair – SDS Industry Consortium
Message 10 of 14
steven-g
in reply to: drathak

Why not use a macro as kasperwuyts suggested.

^C^C^Cbparameter;V;\;1;-bvstate;new;on;show;;new;off;show;-bvstate;delete;VisibilityState0;

 This would create 2 visibilitystates called "on" and "off" and make all the geometry visible in all the states, so then you can make the changes to what and what isn't seen, without having to manually create the vis states each time

Message 11 of 14
drathak
in reply to: steven-g


@steven-g wrote:

Why not use a macro as kasperwuyts suggested.

^C^C^Cbparameter;V;\;1;-bvstate;new;on;show;;new;off;show;-bvstate;delete;VisibilityState0;

 This would create 2 visibilitystates called "on" and "off" and make all the geometry visible in all the states, so then you can make the changes to what and what isn't seen, without having to manually create the vis states each time


But now let's say I have at least a half dozen possible states with geometry in each of them.  And these states need names that are recognizeable to my users.

I have attached a copy of the one block I had a user create.  It's rough, but it shows what we were thinking about doing.  Maybe there is a better way than visibility states, but if no authoring elements can be copied, then the problem is the same.  I need to get that option element into several existing block files.

--------------
Joe Weaver
Principle Associate Engineer - Nashville Electric Service
P&C Committee Chair – SDS Industry Consortium
Message 12 of 14
Libbya
in reply to: drathak

Are the existing blocks already dynamic?  If not, then it could not be easier.  Do a Save As for your block with all the visibility states and copyclip any additional linework into it.  Select the linework, right-click and select 'show for all states'. 

Message 13 of 14
steven-g
in reply to: drathak

^C^C^Cbparameter;V;\;1;-bvstate;new;232;show;-bvstate;new;485;show;-bvstate;new;ETHERNET;show;-bvstate;new;FIBER OPTIC;show;-bvstate;delete;VisibilityState0;

 You can alter the macro to create as many states as you want, but you will have to physically put the geometry onto the correct states, your first few posts gave the impression that you only wanted to create the same visibility states in existing blocks, what you can't do is move existing geometry onto different visibility states, that has to be done manually, unless there are common features such as layers or positioning, but that would probably take longer to automate than actually do by hand.

You could possibly run up a macro to place the symbols onto the correct vis states as you create them but that would require a lot more info from you.

Message 14 of 14
Charles_Shade
in reply to: drathak

A Dynamic Action is tied to a particular entity and the entity has to be chosen as part of the Selection Set.

There is no reason to Copy/Paste an Action to another Block since the new entity would have to be selected anyway and the Dynamic Palette is readily accessible.

EVERY entity in AutoCAD has a unique identifier. No two are the same.

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