Editing JIC Library Blocks

[Anonymous]

I am using the JIC125 symbol library in AutoCADE 2013. I did not like the way that the source and destination arrows looked and how the attributes defaulted, so I went into the library and editing each drawing that gets referenced by the blocks in projects. Essentially all I changed is the size of the arrow and the alignment of the attributes. 

But when I insert a new source/destination arrow now, it still has the old style. I tried closing out autocad and verifying the project settings for the location it looks to for the symbols, but I can't figure out why it's not inserting the modified new blocks.

Does anyone have experience making minor modifications to the symbol libraries and getting your projects to default to those drawings when you insert symbols?

Thanks,

Justin

[jseefdrumr · Accepted solution]

If you are inserting the arrows into a drawing that has already had them inserted once before, you need to use a different workflow.

When you put a block into a dwg, ACAD remembers its information. This is known as a block definition. It's information that is stored within the dwg itself. When you insert a block, the first thing ACAD does is check to see if it's been inserted into that dwg before. If it has, then ACAD simply uses the definition that is already in place.

If you go back and make changes to the source file, ACAD doesn't know that. All it knows is that a block definition exists already, so it uses that instead.

Traditionally, the fix for this was to erase all instances of that block from the drawing, and then run PURGE to remove the block definitions too (which are just invisible data). Then, you could re-insert the block and see your new edits. Later on, you could update all affected blocks after a BEDIT command.

Fortunately, ACADE has a tool, Swap/Update block. This will do what you need. It's under Edit Components in the Schematic tab.

Hope this helps,

Jim

[TRLitsey]

Hi there,

Two thoughts. If you are inserting the new geometry into a drawing that already has the block within the drawing you need to do one of two things:

1. Use the Swap/Update tool to update the existing block geometry.
2. Delete all of the visible ‘old’ blocks and use the Purge tool to remove them from the drawing.

Remember, even if there are no visible blocks, if the block reference is in the drawing ACE will reference that one before it goes outside the drawing to look for a new version of a block with the same name.

Please comment if this is a solution and kudos are always welcome.

Good luck

[Anonymous]

Thanks so much! I didn't know about being autocad continuing to reference the original block inserted even if it had been deleted. I purged the data and then inserted a new source arrow and destination arrow and it work fine.

This will help with lots of things! Thanks again!