topic Betreff: Plot Date Field Format in AutoCAD Forum

Plot Date Field Format

pmclean — Fri, 01 Nov 2019 20:02:51 GMT

I have a field set in my titleblock for Plot Date. (see the attachments) for the field category I have selected and the format. Occasionally when I plot a drawing I see November 20YY and most of the time I see November 2019 (I want November 2019 all the time). I can't figure out what is going on, or what settings I need to adjust.

I've tried changing the format to MMMM yyyy but that just seems to automatically reset to MMMM yy.

Any help or suggestions would be great. thanks

Betreff: Plot Date Field Format

cadffm — Fri, 01 Nov 2019 20:56:47 GMT

Please upload a sample DWG you see the wrong value.

Betreff: Plot Date Field Format

cadffm — Fri, 01 Nov 2019 21:09:59 GMT

The only way i see this happens:

You used a WRONG custom built fieldcode (%<\AcVar PlotDate \f "MMMM yyYY">%)

Are you really created these fields by hand via field-dialog?

Re: Plot Date Field Format

ChicagoLooper — Fri, 01 Nov 2019 21:47:20 GMT

There are two possible reasons why this is happening (most likely it's #2):

Before your plot you need to update the contents of the field. You can do this by entering REA (regenerate all) on the command line. Performing REA will force the field to update.
The variable 'FIELDEVAL' needs to be changed. To get a good understanding how Fieldeval operates, go to Express Tools Tab=>Tools Panel=>System variables Button, then use the bitcode to get the desired results (see image).

All fields will 'update' if bitcode is set to 31.

Betreff: Plot Date Field Format

pmclean — Mon, 04 Nov 2019 12:32:13 GMT

I've attached an example.

the trick so far has been to try and figure out what is causing the field to display incorrectly, most of the time it shows up the way we want it but occasionally it does the 20YY thing.

Re: Plot Date Field Format

pmclean — Mon, 04 Nov 2019 12:33:13 GMT

I've checked the feildeval setting and mine is currently set to 31.

Betreff: Plot Date Field Format

pmclean — Mon, 04 Nov 2019 15:22:17 GMT

Here is one that I'm getting the error on.

Betreff: Plot Date Field Format

cadffm — Mon, 04 Nov 2019 22:58:12 GMT

I checked the fieldcode in your error.dwg and what i guessed in my post#3 is correct,

your fieldcode is %<\AcVar PlotDate \f "MMMM yyYY">% instead of %<\AcVar PlotDate \f "MMMM yyyy">%

I don't know how, when, why - i just can say what the current fieldcode is, not what was the code before or point of change.

And because of my knowledge about standard fieldcodes i think to know you created

this fieldcode by hand or macro/script/program, but not via GUI (not via Field-Dialog), right?

(Except you edited the fdc file for that dialog).

Sorry that i can not help more

Are you using special tools

Re: Plot Date Field Format

ChicagoLooper — Tue, 05 Nov 2019 01:19:23 GMT

You have an error in your field expression. You need to change the year from YY to yy because upper case YY is different from lower case yy. You must do this:

1-Delete 'November 20YY' and make the field blank.

After you delete the existing field, manually enter this expression as the value for the tag named GHD_DATE. Note the upper case and lower case letters in the expression. It should look like this:

2-The value for GD_DATE should be like shown above.

When you enter the last character, %, you will see ----. It will change to Month Year when you perform plot. Notice the month is using upper case while the year is using lower case.

Betreff: Plot Date Field Format

pmclean — Tue, 05 Nov 2019 12:39:27 GMT

thanks for looking into this for me. The field code is different but everytime I try to change it to MMMM yyyy then exit the field dialog box and immediately go back in to it the fieldcode flips to MMMM yy. I haven't been able to make the change stick permanently.

I don't even know where the uppercase YY is coming from because I always input it with lower case yy.

Re: Plot Date Field Format

pmclean — Tue, 05 Nov 2019 12:41:24 GMT

Hey, thanks for looking at this for me. I've tried manually inputting the fieldcode like you have indicated but each time I do it I get #### instead of ---- and then it doesn't update when I plot. I'm not sure what is going on, but I appreciate the help.

Re: Plot Date Field Format

pmclean — Tue, 05 Nov 2019 12:49:19 GMT

of course I send that message and try it again and its successful. my concern is once I've input the field manually and then go back into the field dialog box it reverts back to MMMM yy. see the attached image that shows the steps I took and the end result when I go back into the field dialog box.

Re: Plot Date Field Format

ChicagoLooper — Tue, 05 Nov 2019 13:30:25 GMT

Do NOT go back to the field dialog box. If you do, you will override the MMMM yyyy date format. The field dialog does not contain your desired format, that’s why you have to enter it manually.