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Accepted solution
@BBP-Arch wrote:
ACA2016
My questions:
- How do I change the default font? It's default is RomanS...I think. I want to change it to our office standard.
- How do I change the default color of the leader UPON insertion? I figured out how to manually change its color AFTER insertion.
- Can I locate this symbol on our server so that others can access it?
- The out of the box tool is set to use the font from the current text style in the target drawing, at the time that content is first added to the drawing. If your drawings always have your preferred font assigned to the current text style, you may find that acceptable. We have our tools set up to use the font assigned to the content in the source file, to avoid any surprises should someone have gotten "creative" and failed to reset the current text style back to the office standard. In the tool properties, this is controlled by the Attribute style property. The out-of-the-box settings are shown in the image below. Use Target drawing text style to have the font set by the current text style on first use in a file. Choose As defined by tag to have the font set in the source file used, regardless of the current text style in the target file.
- The leader color is controlled by the Multileader style set for the content. The out-of-the-box Block (Straight Leader) style sets the color to ByBlock, which uses the color of the Multileader. If your drawing default color is set to ByLayer, then the leader (and the block, which is also defined with components set to ByBlock) will pick up the color of the layer on which the Multileader is placed. You could create your own Multileader style, and set the leader color to be a specific color. If you do so, then you will need to edit the tool properties to use your Multileader Style.
- You sure can, and I would expect that you would want to do so (for this and any other office-standard content). Set up a place on the network that is accessible to everyone. I have no idea what your office environment is like, but I would recommend limiting most users to read-only privileges for this location, with just those charged with creating and maintaining office standard content having write access. Create source files for your content; I would recommend keeping your content separate from the out-of-the-box content, to make it easier to keep track of your custom content and to make it easier to migrate it to newer releases in the future. I would also recommend setting up at least one separate tool catalog for your office custom tools, for the same reasons. You can start with a copy of the out-of-the-box tool, if you like, and then edit the properties to point to your source file(s) for Multileader style and Symbol. (I would highly recommend giving your block definition a different name than the out-of-the-box block, particularly if you make any changes, to avoid issues should you be working in a drawing that has the out-of-the-box block definition in it.
@BBP-Arch wrote:
ACA2016
My questions:
- How do I change the default font? It's default is RomanS...I think. I want to change it to our office standard.
- How do I change the default color of the leader UPON insertion? I figured out how to manually change its color AFTER insertion.
- Can I locate this symbol on our server so that others can access it?
- The out of the box tool is set to use the font from the current text style in the target drawing, at the time that content is first added to the drawing. If your drawings always have your preferred font assigned to the current text style, you may find that acceptable. We have our tools set up to use the font assigned to the content in the source file, to avoid any surprises should someone have gotten "creative" and failed to reset the current text style back to the office standard. In the tool properties, this is controlled by the Attribute style property. The out-of-the-box settings are shown in the image below. Use Target drawing text style to have the font set by the current text style on first use in a file. Choose As defined by tag to have the font set in the source file used, regardless of the current text style in the target file.
- The leader color is controlled by the Multileader style set for the content. The out-of-the-box Block (Straight Leader) style sets the color to ByBlock, which uses the color of the Multileader. If your drawing default color is set to ByLayer, then the leader (and the block, which is also defined with components set to ByBlock) will pick up the color of the layer on which the Multileader is placed. You could create your own Multileader style, and set the leader color to be a specific color. If you do so, then you will need to edit the tool properties to use your Multileader Style.
- You sure can, and I would expect that you would want to do so (for this and any other office-standard content). Set up a place on the network that is accessible to everyone. I have no idea what your office environment is like, but I would recommend limiting most users to read-only privileges for this location, with just those charged with creating and maintaining office standard content having write access. Create source files for your content; I would recommend keeping your content separate from the out-of-the-box content, to make it easier to keep track of your custom content and to make it easier to migrate it to newer releases in the future. I would also recommend setting up at least one separate tool catalog for your office custom tools, for the same reasons. You can start with a copy of the out-of-the-box tool, if you like, and then edit the properties to point to your source file(s) for Multileader style and Symbol. (I would highly recommend giving your block definition a different name than the out-of-the-box block, particularly if you make any changes, to avoid issues should you be working in a drawing that has the out-of-the-box block definition in it.
@BBP-Arch wrote:
David-
I read your solution and it made sense so I responded as a solution...
However, the attribute is already set to Target Drawing Text Style...yet it does not do that. My drawing's default text style does not appear when the block is inserted from the Tool Palette. Also, I had changed the block to have a leader that is color 8. It ignores that as well. Do I have to somehow update the Tool Palette?
If I go the other route that you do in your office, I assume I have to explode and re-define the block, "Anno_Square_na"?
Scott
As previously noted, using the target drawing's font for the attribute only works the first time you insert it into a drawing. Once the block is defined in the target drawing, that version will be used for all subsequent uses of the tool. Try starting a new drawing and, before using the tool, verify that Anno_Square_na is not already defined in the file. (If it is, purge it, and also purge it from your template file(s).) The font assignment should then work, for the first use. That font becomes the font for that block, in that file, from that point forward.
The leader is not part of the block (even if the block is inserted into the source file as part of a Multileader). In order to change the color, you have to edit the Multileader definition. Do this in the source file, and also check your template file and any source files in which you want to have the color change stick when using the tool. Like (most?) all ACA tools, the tool itself does not hold any content definitions, but refers to a source file, from which the needed content definition is retrieved, IF AND ONLY IF the content is NOT already defined in the target file. So if you did edit the Multileader definition in the source file to set the color the way you want, but then only tested it in a file that already had the old Multileader definition in it, the old definition in the target file will be used and the revised one in the source file will be ignored. That is why I highly recommend not just modifing the out-of-the-box content and using the same name. It is too easy for the original definitions to find their way into target files, preventing the customizations you make from being brought into the file.
You would only need to edit the tool properties if you change the name of the block definition for the symbol, the name of the Multileader style, or the source drawing from which the tool should obtain the block definition and/or Multileader style if it does not exist in the target drawing.
If you like the Anno_Square_na block definition the way it is, you would not have to explode and redefine; you could simply rename it if you want to mark it as your content. If you want to make changes, you could also just rename the block and then use edit-in-place on an instance of it. Just remember to use ATTSYNC to have any changes made to an attribute pushed back down on the instance you edited in place.
@BBP-Arch wrote:
David-
I read your solution and it made sense so I responded as a solution...
However, the attribute is already set to Target Drawing Text Style...yet it does not do that. My drawing's default text style does not appear when the block is inserted from the Tool Palette. Also, I had changed the block to have a leader that is color 8. It ignores that as well. Do I have to somehow update the Tool Palette?
If I go the other route that you do in your office, I assume I have to explode and re-define the block, "Anno_Square_na"?
Scott
As previously noted, using the target drawing's font for the attribute only works the first time you insert it into a drawing. Once the block is defined in the target drawing, that version will be used for all subsequent uses of the tool. Try starting a new drawing and, before using the tool, verify that Anno_Square_na is not already defined in the file. (If it is, purge it, and also purge it from your template file(s).) The font assignment should then work, for the first use. That font becomes the font for that block, in that file, from that point forward.
The leader is not part of the block (even if the block is inserted into the source file as part of a Multileader). In order to change the color, you have to edit the Multileader definition. Do this in the source file, and also check your template file and any source files in which you want to have the color change stick when using the tool. Like (most?) all ACA tools, the tool itself does not hold any content definitions, but refers to a source file, from which the needed content definition is retrieved, IF AND ONLY IF the content is NOT already defined in the target file. So if you did edit the Multileader definition in the source file to set the color the way you want, but then only tested it in a file that already had the old Multileader definition in it, the old definition in the target file will be used and the revised one in the source file will be ignored. That is why I highly recommend not just modifing the out-of-the-box content and using the same name. It is too easy for the original definitions to find their way into target files, preventing the customizations you make from being brought into the file.
You would only need to edit the tool properties if you change the name of the block definition for the symbol, the name of the Multileader style, or the source drawing from which the tool should obtain the block definition and/or Multileader style if it does not exist in the target drawing.
If you like the Anno_Square_na block definition the way it is, you would not have to explode and redefine; you could simply rename it if you want to mark it as your content. If you want to make changes, you could also just rename the block and then use edit-in-place on an instance of it. Just remember to use ATTSYNC to have any changes made to an attribute pushed back down on the instance you edited in place.
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