Change block attribute text style & height

[lturley]

Hi, I have a project which is an amalgamation of previous work. Some of the sheets were created by different designers who had there own views on text styles and general appearence of drawings. In trying to get the drawings to look the same, I find I am short of a utility that can globally change the text style of attributes within blocks. ie. Somthing similar to the tools found in 'Project wide utilities'

For example. Change RATING1 attribute from text style "Times" to "WD" and change height from "2" to "3".

I don't expect a fully tested solution, I can competently modify lisp routines to suit variable names etc, but am by no means a programmer. If I've missed a trick in the standard tools could some one point me in the right direction, if not could Autdesk help? Thanks in advance
Leigh

[Anonymous]

Did you already try the options on the Project-Wide Utilites dialog in the
Change Attribute section (lower right)? This sounds like what you are trying
to do.

Pat Murnen

wrote in message news:5791643@discussion.autodesk.com...
Hi, I have a project which is an amalgamation of previous work. Some of the
sheets were created by different designers who had there own views on text
styles and general appearence of drawings. In trying to get the drawings to
look the same, I find I am short of a utility that can globally change the
text style of attributes within blocks. ie. Somthing similar to the tools
found in 'Project wide utilities'

For example. Change RATING1 attribute from text style "Times" to "WD" and
change height from "2" to "3".

I don't expect a fully tested solution, I can competently modify lisp
routines to suit variable names etc, but am by no means a programmer. If
I've missed a trick in the standard tools could some one point me in the
right direction, if not could Autdesk help? Thanks in advance
Leigh

[akbcad]

I had exactly the same problem, but after digging through the menus found the command EATTEDIT (Modify a block attribute definition).

Run the command, select the block then a tabbed dialogue box appears allowing editing of the attributes, including text style, size, etc.

Easy peasy !

Andy

[johnq]

Hi all

I can sympethise with your delimer.

A double click will get you to the same edit position and I do not need to remember an command.  The height in my version (ace2012) is faint which menans that it is not possible to edit it.

I am assuming that you are trying to edit a block built by "symbol Buiilder"  If yes then you must go back and change the height using symbol builder. in the block.

Letting engineers do CAD is a good technique to created a totally random looking drawings.

I reciently had the dubious honour of editing a set of architects drawings.   There were many lined on top of one another or several short lines to make a long line.

SLOPPY.

If some one knows how to do a global change of text height in symbols be enlighening for me and save time.

Many thanks John Q

[Icemanau]

2 ways to do it, dependiing on if the block is inserted or not....

If the block is inserted, the Project Wide Utilities that Pat mentioned is the way to go.

If you are talking about a Directory of blocks that you wish to modify, there is a utility under the Symbol Library drop down in the components menu that will go through, open each block and make the required changes before saving it again. It is logically called 'MODIFY SYMBOL LIBRARY'.

Be warned that the modify symbol library will take time to run, especially if there are a lot of blocks in the directory. It would be best to start this function before leaving for the night and let it run overnight.

Regards Brad

[sonny3g]

I used the Action Recorder to make a couple of quickie macros to do that for me while I was "fixing" a few thousand custom blocks that were made before I got this job.  This macro works on any text that is not 1) nested and 2) not already an attribute.  Basically, it first makes sure that the approved styles are correctly configured and exist in the drawing.  Then it selects ALL entities in the drawing.  From there I go to properties and drop down the box to select text, mtext, attdefs and change the style to the correct one.  Sometimes I also change other characteristics like width, height and if they are visible or not.

As we are running into this a lot, I am going to have to invest some time in a routine to make it go faster and include attributes too.

Scott

[Icemanau]

I would suggest add a purge of each block to get rid of unused text styles, layers and such.

This will make the file for the block a lot smaller. It will also help to keep your dwgs smaller as well.

Regards Brad

[bertbert]

That's it!!!

Thanks!

2012

[rwydesk500]

"Did you already try the options on the Project-Wide Utilities dialog in the
Change Attribute section (lower right)? This sounds like what you are trying
to do.

Pat Murnen"

That was the solution... even in ACE 2016! It's a beautiful thing.

[craig.snyder]

AutoCAD Mechanical 2014:  I'm working with a drawing that uses blocks with attributes to form a Bill Of Material.  Each line in the BOM is a block with 12 text entities.  I can use BEDIT or any of another commands which bring up the Edit Block Definition dialogue box in which it is necessary to pick each of the 12 text entities individually to change the text style.    To change the entire drawing using this method will take hours.  Is there another way?  I wrote a simple LSP routine that changes the style of selected text within the drawing but it won't work on text within a block.  If I could redefine the block to globally use the desired text style in every instance of the block within a drawing that would be very helpful.

(DEFUN C:CHGSTYLE (/)
(SETVAR "CMDECHO" 0)
(SETQ NEWSTYLE (GETSTRING "NEW TEXT STYLE:  "))
(SETQ A (SSGET))
(SETQ N (SSLENGTH A))
(SETQ INDEX 0)
(REPEAT N
   (SETQ B1 (ENTGET (SSNAME A INDEX)))
   (SETQ INDEX (1+ INDEX))
   (SETQ B (ASSOC 0 B1))
   (IF (= "TEXT" (CDR B))
      (PROGN
         (SETQ C (ASSOC 7 B1))
         (SETQ D (CONS (CAR C) NEWSTYLE))
         (SETQ B2 (SUBST D C B1))
         (ENTMOD B2)
         )
      )
   )

(PRINC)
)

Any suggestions on changes to the LSP routine or a better method of making text style changes within a block would be appreciated.

[craig.snyder]

Eureka!  Or something like that.  I found a solution to my problem.  I edited the above program to:

DEFUN C:CHGATTTS (/)
(SETVAR "CMDECHO" 0)
(SETQ NEWSTYLE (GETSTRING "NEW TEXT STYLE:  "))
(SETQ A (SSGET))
(SETQ N (SSLENGTH A))
(SETQ INDEX 0)
(REPEAT N
   (SETQ B1 (ENTGET (SSNAME A INDEX)))
   (SETQ INDEX (1+ INDEX))
   (SETQ B (ASSOC 0 B1))
   (IF (= "ATTDEF" (CDR B))
      (PROGN
         (SETQ C (ASSOC 7 B1))
         (SETQ D (CONS (CAR C) NEWSTYLE))
         (SETQ B2 (SUBST D C B1))
         (ENTMOD B2)
         )
      )
   )

(PRINC)
)

Next I used the BEDIT command.  While the Block Editor window was open I loaded the above LSP routine and entered the command "CHGATTTS".  I was able to select all of the text in the Block Editor window.  The text style of all of the attributes associated with the block changed text style.  Next I closed the Block Editor and opted for saving the changes.  The text style had changed for every instance of the block within the drawing. 

A similar LSP routine could be written to change text height, layer, etc.

[rhesusminus]

You CAN do this without any coding as well.

Open block i block editor.

Press CTRL+1 to open the properties palette

Press CTRL+A to select everything

Filter on Attribute Definitions in the prpperties palette

Change style/height/color whatever....

[LOGESH2000]

i have attribute to change in lot of items but how to do at once else i need to edit them one by one ?

Could you please help me on this.

[LOGESH2000]

hi I want to change text romans how can we implement for attribute ?

[Icemanau]

There are several ways...

Already inserted ACADE blocks

Open each dwg and then type '_STYLE on the command line.

Select the WD text style.

Change the Font and any other settings required.

Click 'Apply' and then click 'Set Current'

Click 'OK' to exit

For non ACADE blocks, select the text style used in the creation of the attributes.

For the next two methods you will need the Menu Bar turned on.

If your Menu Bar is turned off, click on the down arrow on the Quick Access tool bar and then click on 'Show Menu Bar'

From the Projects menu, select 'Project-Wide Utilities'

In the Change Attribute section, check the 'Change Style' box and then click on 'Setup'.

Select the new font required and Click 'OK'.

From there it goes through the standard Project/Active Drawing choice and will then process all the blocks to the new font.

To adjust the entire library so you only have to do this once, go to 'Components' and select 'Symbol Library'.

From the Symbol Library, select 'Modify Symbol Library'.

Select the directory that your symbol library resides in and click 'OK'

Check the box to 'Change the "WD" style' and select your new font.

Click Start to have ACADE start processing the library.

**NOTE** The processing of a library will take quite a few hours as ACADE opens each dwg, makes the changes and then saves and closes the dwg.

Make sure to start the run just before you finish work for the day and leave it to run overnight.

Regards Brad

[craig.snyder]

Thank you for the very insightful response.

Craig Snyder, PE
Manufacturing Engineer
Paccar Engine Company
(662) 245 5375
craig.snyder@paccar.com

[craig.snyder]

Thank you for the very insightful response.

Craig Snyder, PE
Manufacturing Engineer
Paccar Engine Company
(662) 245 5375
craig.snyder@paccar.com