topic Re: The difference between arrayrect and blocks in storage and reading in AutoCAD Forum

The difference between arrayrect and blocks in storage and reading

532868257 — Thu, 06 Apr 2023 08:12:08 GMT

I discovered during development that when arrayrect are stored in DWG format, they are ultimately saved as block references. But ordinary blocks are also stored block references. How do I know if I am reading an array or a block? Is there some keyword information that needs to be stored during storage and judged based on these keywords during reading? I've been searching for a long time but haven't found any keywords, so I'm very confused.

Can anyone help me solve my confusion? Thank you very much.

Re: The difference between arrayrect and blocks in storage and reading

Michiel.Valcke — Thu, 06 Apr 2023 09:23:58 GMT

These are the readouts in DXF (entget (car (entsel))) and VLA (vlax-dump-object (vlax-ename->vla-object (car (entsel))) T) of the same ArrayRect:

((-1 . <Entity name: 219e13b2f70>) (0 . "INSERT") (5 . "287") (102 . "{ACAD_REACTORS") (330 . <Entity name: 219e10c60c0>) (102 . "}") (330 . <Entity name: 219e13b39f0>) (100 . "AcDbEntity") (67 . 0) (410 . "Model") (8 . "0") (100 . "AcDbBlockReference") (2 . "*U3") (10 1638.0 1071.29 0.0) (41 . 1.0) (42 . 1.0) (43 . 1.0) (50 . 0.0) (70 . 0) (71 . 0) (44 . 0.0) (45 . 0.0) (210 0.0 0.0 1.0))

; Property values: ; Application (RO) = #<VLA-OBJECT IAcadApplication 00007ff6e5024110> ; Document (RO) = #<VLA-OBJECT IAcadDocument 000002198fadda28> ; EffectiveName (RO) = "*U3" ; EntityTransparency = "ByLayer" ; Handle (RO) = "287" ; HasAttributes (RO) = 0 ; HasExtensionDictionary (RO) = 0 ; Hyperlinks (RO) = #<VLA-OBJECT IAcadHyperlinks 000002198eda7c68> ; InsertionPoint = (1638.0 1071.29 0.0) ; InsUnits (RO) = "Unitless" ; InsUnitsFactor (RO) = 1.0 ; IsDynamicBlock (RO) = 0 ; Layer = "0" ; Linetype = "ByLayer" ; LinetypeScale = 1.0 ; Lineweight = -1 ; Material = "ByLayer" ; Name = "*U3" ; Normal = (0.0 0.0 1.0) ; ObjectID (RO) = 42 ; ObjectName (RO) = "AcDbBlockReference" ; OwnerID (RO) = 43 ; PlotStyleName = "ByLayer" ; Rotation = 0.0 ; TrueColor = #<VLA-OBJECT IAcadAcCmColor 000002198eda7780> ; Visible = -1 ; XEffectiveScaleFactor = 1.0 ; XScaleFactor = 1.0 ; YEffectiveScaleFactor = 1.0 ; YScaleFactor = 1.0 ; ZEffectiveScaleFactor = 1.0 ; ZScaleFactor = 1.0 ; Methods supported: ; ArrayPolar (3) ; ArrayRectangular (6) ; ConvertToAnonymousBlock () ; ConvertToStaticBlock (1) ; Copy () ; Delete () ; Explode () ; GetAttributes () ; GetBoundingBox (2) ; GetConstantAttributes () ; GetDynamicBlockProperties () ; GetExtensionDictionary () ; GetXData (3) ; Highlight (1) ; IntersectWith (2) ; Mirror (2) ; Mirror3D (3) ; Move (2) ; ResetBlock () ; Rotate (2) ; Rotate3D (3) ; ScaleEntity (2) ; SetXData (2) ; TransformBy (1) ; Update ()

You have several clues to determine it is an array and not a regular block reference:

the name of the block is anonymous (starts with a * - *U3)

If you look up the name in the block definition table you will not find it, so you can test for that in your routine.

(tblobjname "layer" "*U3")

Re: The difference between arrayrect and blocks in storage and reading

Michiel.Valcke — Thu, 06 Apr 2023 09:34:56 GMT

You can ignore my first post, look for the classname with the dumpallproperties:

(dumpallproperties (car (entsel)))

Annotative (type: bool) (LocalName: Annotative) = Failed to get value AnnotativeScale (type: AcString) (RO) (LocalName: Annotative scale) = Failed to get value AnonymousBlockTableRecord (type: AcDbObjectId) (RO) = 0 AttributeCollection (type: AcDbObjectId) (RO) AxesAngle (type: double) (LocalName: Included axis angle) = 1.570796 Base/X (type: double) (LocalName: Base X) = 1638.003639 Base/Y (type: double) (LocalName: Base Y) = 1071.290822 Base/Z (type: double) (LocalName: Base Z) = 0.000000 BlockId (type: AcDbObjectId) (RO) = 219e13b39f0 BlockTableRecord (type: AcDbObjectId) = Failed to get value BlockTableRecord/BlockScaling (type: AcDbBlockTableRecord::BlockScaling) (RO) = Failed to get value BlockTableRecord/Name (type: const ACHAR*) (RO) (LocalName: Name) = Failed to get value BlockTableRecord/PathName (type: const ACHAR*) (RO) = Failed to get value BlockTableRecord/UnitFactor (type: double) (RO) (LocalName: Unit factor) = Failed to get value BlockTableRecord/Units (type: AcString) (RO) (LocalName: Block Unit) = Failed to get value BlockTransform (type: AcGeMatrix3d) = ((1.000000 0.000000 0.000000 0.000000)(0.000000 1.000000 0.000000 0.000000) (0.000000 0.000000 1.000000 0.000000) (1638.003639 1071.290822 0.000000 1.000000)) CastShadows (type: bool) = 1 ClassName (type: AcString) (RO) = AcDbAssociativeRectangularArray CollisionType (type: AcDb::CollisionType) (RO) = 1 Color (type: AcCmColor) (LocalName: Color) = BYLAYER DynamicBlockReferencePropertyCollection (type: AcDbDynBlockReferenceProperty) (RO) DynamicBlockTableRecord (type: AcDbObjectId) (RO) = 219e13b2f40 ExtensionDictionary (type: AcDbObjectId) (RO) = 0 ExternalPath (type: AcString) (RO) (LocalName: Saved Path) = Failed to get value Handle (type: AcDbHandle) (RO) = 287 HasFields (type: bool) (RO) = 0 HasSaveVersionOverride (type: bool) = 0 Hyperlinks (type: AcDbHyperlink*) IsA (type: AcRxClass*) (RO) = AcDbBlockReference IsAProxy (type: bool) (RO) = 0 IsCancelling (type: bool) (RO) = 0 IsComparedReference (type: bool) (RO) = 0 IsDynamicBlock (type: bool) (RO) = 0 IsEraseStatusToggled (type: bool) (RO) = 0 IsErased (type: bool) (RO) = 0 IsModified (type: bool) (RO) = 0 IsModifiedGraphics (type: bool) (RO) = 0 IsModifiedXData (type: bool) (RO) = 0 IsNewObject (type: bool) (RO) = 0 IsNotifyEnabled (type: bool) (RO) = 0 IsNotifying (type: bool) (RO) = 0 IsObjectIdsInFlux (type: bool) (RO) = 0 IsPersistent (type: bool) (RO) = 1 IsPlanar (type: bool) (RO) = 1 IsReadEnabled (type: bool) (RO) = 1 IsReallyClosing (type: bool) (RO) = 1 IsTransactionResident (type: bool) (RO) = 0 IsUndoing (type: bool) (RO) = 0 IsWriteEnabled (type: bool) (RO) = 0 ItemSpacing (type: double) (LocalName: Column spacing) = 266.786298 ItemSpan (type: double) (LocalName: Total column distance) = 800.358894 Items (type: int) (LocalName: Columns) = 4 LayerId (type: AcDbObjectId) (LocalName: Layer) = 219e13b3900 LayerPropertyOverrides (type: bool) (RO) (LocalName: Layer property overrides) = Failed to get value LevelSpacing (type: double) (LocalName: Level spacing) = 1.000000 LevelSpan (type: double) (LocalName: Total level distance) = 1.000000 Levels (type: int) (LocalName: Levels) = 1 LineWeight (type: AcDb::LineWeight) (LocalName: Lineweight) = -1 LinetypeId (type: AcDbObjectId) (LocalName: Linetype) = 219e13b3950 LinetypeScale (type: double) (RO) (LocalName: Linetype scale) = 1.000000 LocalizedName (type: AcString) (RO) = Array (Rectangular) MatchOrientationToLayout (type: bool) (LocalName: Match orientation to layout) = Failed to get value MaterialId (type: AcDbObjectId) (LocalName: Material) = 219e13b3ec0 MergeStyle (type: AcDb::DuplicateRecordCloning) (RO) = 1 Normal/X (type: double) = 0.000000 Normal/Y (type: double) = 0.000000 Normal/Z (type: double) = 1.000000 ObjectId (type: AcDbObjectId) (RO) = 219e13b2f70 OwnerId (type: AcDbObjectId) (RO) = 219e13b39f0 PlotStyleName (type: AcString) (RO) (LocalName: Plot style) = ByColor Position/X (type: double) (RO) (LocalName: Insertion point X) = Failed to get value Position/Y (type: double) (RO) (LocalName: Insertion point Y) = Failed to get value Position/Z (type: double) (RO) (LocalName: Insertion point Z) = Failed to get value ReceiveShadows (type: bool) = 1 Rotation (type: double) (LocalName: Rotation) = Failed to get value RowElevation (type: double) (LocalName: Row elevation increment) = 0.000000 RowSpacingWithExpression (type: double) (LocalName: Row spacing) = 318.348203 RowSpan (type: double) (LocalName: Total row distance) = 636.696405 RowsWithExpression (type: int) (LocalName: Rows) = 3 ScaleFactors/UniformScale (type: double) (RO) (LocalName: Scale) = Failed to get value ScaleFactors/X (type: double) (RO) (LocalName: Scale X) = Failed to get value ScaleFactors/Y (type: double) (RO) (LocalName: Scale Y) = Failed to get value ScaleFactors/Z (type: double) (RO) (LocalName: Scale Z) = Failed to get value ShadowDisplay (type: AcDb::ShadowFlags) (RO) (LocalName: Shadow Display) = Failed to get value Transparency (type: AcCmTransparency) (LocalName: Transparency) = 0 TreatAsBlockRefForExplode (type: bool) (RO) = 0 Type (type: AcString) (RO) (LocalName: Type) = Rectangular Visible (type: AcDb::Visibility) = 0 End object dump

If you look at the classname, it will tell you it's a AcDbAssociativeRectangularArray

In autolisp you can get that value with (getpropertyvalue ename propertyname)

Re: The difference between arrayrect and blocks in storage and reading

532868257 — Fri, 07 Apr 2023 01:52:40 GMT

When I use ODA to read a DWG file containing a arrayrect, the data I received shows that the type of arrayrect is OdDbBlockReference. This is the same type as a regular block. So I always recognize the arrayrect as a block. I don't know how to distinguish them. Because they are both OdDbBlockReference.

Re: The difference between arrayrect and blocks in storage and reading

Michiel.Valcke — Fri, 07 Apr 2023 19:37:02 GMT

ODA? What language or tool are you trying to use to read / modify your .dwg?

The above example I'm using is Autolisp. Try to post your question in the customization forums to get help from someone with more experience with the language you are using.

You're apparently looking at the following property, while you should be looking at the ClassName

IsA (type: AcRxClass*) (RO) = AcDbBlockReference