Dynamic Blocks as Title blocks using Title Block Update Command

[mfunkFX6K7]

Hello,

I've been fooling around with automating title blocks and learned how to use fields and dynamic blocks to do so. I have a block for the standard drawing details like name, author, date, etc., and a dynamic block as a revision table.

When using the Title Block Setup/Update thru the .wdt file for the dynamic block (ie: BLOCK=rev_table), it cannot find the block.

After some digging I did figure out that dynamic blocks are given alias names to differentiate multiple instances that are in different states within the same drawing. The frustrating part about figuring this out is that nowhere is this indicated in its properties nor definition. You can get the alias thru the Title Block Setup command, when prompted to select the block use the "pick block" option and select the dynamic block. It gives an error "Problem finding Attributes on block(s): {block alias name}" which therein provides the alias.

Using the alias in the .wdt file works, however this solution is unsatisfactory for me.

When testing the extent of this solution I found a few issues with it:

-Upon the initial insertion of a dynamic block it has no alias and using the block name in the .wdt file works. However, once I use the dynamic properties of the block, and in turn change its state, it assigns an alias to the block.

-When an instance of the block exists in paper space and an instance is inserted into model space, it prompts the user to redefine the paper-space instance and in-turn changes the alias.

-When multiple drawings have an instance of a dynamic block but each have different aliases the .wdt file will have to reference each alias

I'd like to know if there is a better way to use .wdt Title Block Updates for dynamic blocks. Preferably I'd like a solution where I can use the known block name in the .wdt file.

Thanks.

[Lott99]

You may already be aware of the .wdt file notes here, but posting them in case you're not (see below). Can you predict what the alias names might change to and add the block and alias names all into your .wdt file for processing? You can have different attributes updated for each block so it would probably work for the aliases too -- I have not tried it though.

[mfunkFX6K7]

Yes I know of those notes, and yes I agree that it would work to use wildcards to predict the block aliases (ie BLOCK='*U*).

I didn't really think it thru when I read those notes since I also thought of a situation where I have a dynamic block with an alias in the model space I don't want affected. It's a very unlikely case where it has an attribute with the same name as one in the revtable so its pretty much a non-issue.

This whole post is a bit on a non-issue since I'll probably never have an issue with using the solution I came up with or the one you proposed since the blocks are from a drawing template and will never have a different alias unless I change the revtable block that somehow changes the its alias. I always think of edge cases where a solution won't work so I'm looking for a perfect solution which is probably just my OCD talking.

Thank you so much for the Reply! Much appreciated!

[Icemanau]

As far as I am aware, the alias assigned when a dynamic block is changed is random.

There has always been a problem with using dynamic blocks within Electrical as blocks need to be tracked by the database.

As the Dynamic Blocks are part of the base Autocad, it doesn't update the database when things are changed. This means that the Electrical database loses track of it and any command that looks for the original block will throw up an error.

It is recommended that you don't use dynamic blocks when using Electrical.

Regards Brad