topic Re: Issues adding an Attribute to an Entity in .NET Forum

Issues adding an Attribute to an Entity

Anonymous — Thu, 10 May 2012 12:46:07 GMT

Hey everyone,

I'm trying to add an attribute to an entity, however it seems that the AttributeDefinition requires a Point3d and as such appear in my modelspace. I don't want this, i just wanted it to appear as an attribute with a value when i click on my entity, is there any way of making it so that i does not add into modelspace?

Cheers

Vince

 {
                    BlockTable bt = (BlockTable)trans.GetObject(db.BlockTableId, OpenMode.ForRead);

                    for (int i = 0; i < prSelectionResult.Value.Count; i++)
                    {
                        // Get the entity the user had selected
                        Entity ent = (Entity)trans.GetObject(prSelectionResult.Value[i].ObjectId, OpenMode.ForWrite);

                        if (ent.GetType() == typeof(BlockReference))
                        {
                            // Add attribute to layer
                            BlockReference blockRef = (BlockReference)ent;
                            AttributeDefinition attDef = new AttributeDefinition(new Point3d(0d, 0d, 0d), "World, I'm an attribute!", "Hello", "", db.Textstyle);
                            
                            // Add the attribute to to the BlockTrableRecord of the blockdefinition of the selected block
                            ObjectId btrId = blockRef.BlockTableRecord;
                            BlockTableRecord btrBlock = (BlockTableRecord)trans.GetObject(btrId, OpenMode.ForWrite);
                            btrBlock.AppendEntity(attDef);
                            trans.AddNewlyCreatedDBObject(attDef, true);

                            // Add the AttributeReference to the BlockReference                            
                             AttributeReference attRef = new AttributeReference();
                             attRef.SetAttributeFromBlock(attDef, blockRef.BlockTransform);
                             blockRef.AttributeCollection.AppendAttribute(attRef);
                             trans.AddNewlyCreatedDBObject(attRef, true);
                                          
                        }
                    }

Re: Issues adding an Attribute to an Entity

Alexander.Rivilis — Thu, 10 May 2012 13:15:13 GMT

Maybe you can explain in detail what does it do?
It seems to me that this is not the best practice each time to change the number AttributeDefinition in the block.

Re: Issues adding an Attribute to an Entity

Anonymous — Thu, 10 May 2012 14:04:27 GMT

Hello,

I was searching through other posts and examples in the forums and came across this. What it does is add an attribute to an entity, in this case:

Hello: World, I'm an Attribute!

As you can see in the attached photo however, the attribute is also placed into modelspace as per the lines:

BlockReference blockRef = (BlockReference)ent;
                            AttributeDefinition attDef = new AttributeDefinition(new Point3d(0d, 0d, 0d), "World, I'm an Attribute!", "Hello", "", db.Textstyle);

What i'm trying to do is avoid having the attribute placed in my modelspace, just in the entity.

Re: Issues adding an Attribute to an Entity

Alexander.Rivilis — Thu, 10 May 2012 14:19:34 GMT

Do I understand correctly that you do not want to attributes were visible on the screen (model space)?
Then it is sufficient to set their property Invisible to true or property Visible to false.

Property Visible is common entity property, but Invisible is only AttributeReference (and AttributeDefinition) property.

attdef.Invisible = true;
attref.Invisible = true;

Re: Issues adding an Attribute to an Entity

Anonymous — Thu, 10 May 2012 14:42:05 GMT

Fantastic!!!! That's exactly what i was looking for!!!! Thank you!

***Edited for spelling

Re: Issues adding an Attribute to an Entity

Alexander.Rivilis — Thu, 10 May 2012 14:21:29 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:

Fatnastic!!!! That's exactly what i was looking for!!!! Thank you!

This is not fantasy - it is a minimal knowledge of the AutoCAD capabilities .

Re: Issues adding an Attribute to an Entity

Anonymous — Thu, 10 May 2012 14:43:38 GMT

I've just begun working with attributes and am very new to the AutoCAD API in general so I was not aware of this property. Although it may seem like minimal knowledge to some, to me it's quite new and something I will definetly remember as I continue 🙂

Cheers

Vince

Re: Issues adding an Attribute to an Entity

Hallex — Thu, 10 May 2012 15:06:10 GMT

Would be good as well to add one line in your code

AttributeReference attRef = newAttributeReference();

attRef.SetAttributeFromBlock(attDef, blockRef.BlockTransform);

blockRef.AttributeCollection.AppendAttribute(attRef);

// additional line:

attRef.AdjustAlignment(db);

trans.AddNewlyCreatedDBObject(attRef,

true);

~'J'~

Re: Issues adding an Attribute to an Entity

Anonymous — Thu, 10 May 2012 15:08:45 GMT

Thanks Hallex, will do!