Dynamic Block Attribute Not Displaying

[Anonymous]

Hello all... I rarely post, but this particular issue has me stumped!

I have a dynamic block I use for a title block with attributes. The default view shows all but one attribute. When I change to the other view, which shows all the attributes, the one attribute is not visible...

When I go into block editor, nothing about the attribute definition explains this issue... it's not set to "Invisible." it's on the same layer and has the same definitions as the other (visible) attributes...

...yet this one field wants to stay hidden. What's really confusing is that the attribute is already populated with data, so (I would assume) the attribute has ~something~ to show.

Is this an issue with the dynamic visibility parameter(?)...so that attributes not initially visible stay invisible? Or am I missing some other nuance...? Any thoughts or insights would be greatly appreciated. I have attached the block for anyone's perusal.

[Using AutoCAD 2017 on Windows 7]

[beyoungjr]

And I see that when I move the state that includes the project number to the top of the sates manager list, the block inserts with that state as default and includes the project number.  Unfortunately when I switch the visibility to the non-project number, it remains.

The problem is inversely present as well I think?

This is confusing!

[Anonymous]

Interesting approach...but nice to see the problem persists (and I'm not missing something simple). I think I took a similar approach when I first created the block, but then gave up when I couldn't figure it out. We're starting to use this feature in our office more and I'd like to fix it, but...

Thanks for trying!  -MRC

[dmfrazier]

Could this be as simple as AttSync?

[Anonymous]

---

@dmfrazier wrote:

Could this be as simple as AttSync?

---

Unfortunately not, as I tried that before posting and it made no difference...both before and after numerous attempts at editing the block.

[john.vellek]

Hi @Anonymous,

I see that you are visiting as a new member to the AutoCAD forum. Welcome to the Autodesk Community!

Please try this version of the block and let me know if it is behaving the way you want it to or if I am not understanding the problem correctly.

[dmfrazier]

I should have opened the DWG you had attached to your 1st post before I replied.

When I open that file, I get a (custom) notice that there are invisible objects in the DWG.

My guess would be that at some point (or points) in the process of working on this, you exploded a dynamic block with visibility states (which uses the visibility property of objects to turn them "off and on"), so some objects were left invisible at that point.

Command: LIST
4 found

                  ATTRIBUTE DEFINITION  Layer: "G-Anno-Note"
                            Space: Model space
                            Invisible
                   Color: BYBLOCK    Linetype: "BYLAYER"
                   Handle = 95
             Style = "SS-Title-Attrib"
        Annotative: No
             Font file = architxt.shx
               substituted by monotxt.shx
             start point, X=-0'-7 7/16"  Y=0'-0 3/16"  Z=    0'-0"
            height 0'-0 3/16"
           default ########## [####]
            prompt Project Name and/or Number
               tag PROJECTNAMENUMBER
          rotation angle      0
             width scale factor    0.7000
         obliquing angle      0
             flags normal
        generation normal

                  TEXT      Layer: "0"
                            Space: Model space
                            Invisible
                   Color: 1 (red)    Linetype: "BYLAYER"
                   Handle = 8c
             Style = "SS-Title-SmallHeaders"
        Annotative: No
             Font file = simplex.shx
          top/left point, X=-0'-7 1/2"  Y=0'-0 7/16"  Z=    0'-0"
            height 0'-0 1/16"
              text PROJECT NAME/No.
          rotation angle      0
             width scale factor    1.0000
         obliquing angle      0
        generation normal

                  LWPOLYLINE  Layer: "0"
                            Space: Model space
                            Invisible
                   Color: BYBLOCK    Linetype: "BYBLOCK"
                   LineWeight: BYBLOCK
                    Material: ByBlock
                   Handle = 8b
              Open
    Constant width     0'-0"
              area   0.67 square in. (0.0047 square ft.)
            length   0'-3 3/16"

          at point  X=-0'-7 9/16"  Y=    0'-0"  Z=    0'-0"
          at point  X=-0'-7 9/16"  Y=    0'-0"  Z=    0'-0"
          at point  X=-0'-7 9/16"  Y=0'-0 1/2"  Z=    0'-0"
          at point  X=-0'-4 7/8"  Y=0'-0 1/2"  Z=    0'-0"

                  BLOCK REFERENCE  Layer: "0"
                            Space: Model space
                            Invisible
                   Handle = 8a
       Block Name: "LOGO-NSF"
                at point, X=-0'-7 13/16"  Y=0'-0 1/4"  Z=    0'-0"
   X scale factor:    1.0000

[Anonymous]

---

@dmfrazier wrote:

When I open that file, I get a (custom) notice that there are invisible objects in the DWG.

My guess would be that at some point (or points) in the process of working on this, you exploded a dynamic block with visibility states (which uses the visibility property of objects to turn them "off and on"), so some objects were left invisible at that point.

---

I created the block from scratch (a standard practice for me due to these kind of issues), so this LIST-ing is showing the objects that are by default invisible (in the visibility parameter). I created the block within our standard drawing template, then WBLOCK-ed it to create the drawing file in our library (which I attached to my original post....so whenever I open that file, AUtoCAD always tells me it "contains authoring elements" and asks me to "Open in Block Editor?"...which it should have asked you too, but.... (?)

[Anonymous]

---

@john.vellek wrote:

Hi @Anonymous,

I see that you are visiting as a new member to the AutoCAD forum. Welcome to the Autodesk Community!

Please try this version of the block and let me know if it is behaving the way you want it to or if I am not understanding the problem correctly.

---

First, thank you, John! Glad to be here! 🙂

Second, I tried your file and interestingly enough, the opposite is happening: that particular attribute in question is now always visible!

😕  The caveat is that when I open the block in the editor, it acts as it is supposed to (invisible in the "ONLY" state, but visible in the "with project info." state)...so I'm really confused now!

I'm thinking that there is some issue with the visibility parameter itself, possibly due tot he fact that I originally created the block in an earlier version of AutoCAD. I think I need to re-create this block from scratch using the current version... What do you think?

[dmfrazier]

AutoCAD did tell me that it contained authoring elements, but I told AutoCAD that I did not want to open it in the block editor, precisely because I wanted to open the file "normally" to see if the invisible object notice would appear.

If you never did any sort of exploding, then I'm confused as well. (And I'm also a little distracted at the moment, so it's going to be a while before I can give this mystery any more attention.  Maybe @john.vellek can shed some light on this?)

[john.vellek · Accepted solution]

Hi @Michael,

If rebuilding is an option that is likely the fastest route.  I will try to dig in a bit more on this yet today.

You might try replacing the one attribute with a new one to see if you can get the visibility to behave.

Please select the Accept as Solution button if my post solves your issue or answers your question.

[dmfrazier]

I had some time to play around with your DB this morning and was able to get the misbehaving attdef to behave by using Block Editor (BEdit) to:

1. Add a "ShowAll" visibility state which (of course) has all objects visible, including the misbehaving attdef. (I usually do this to make it easier to work with DBs that use visibility states.)

2. Made sure the attdef appeared and disappeared appropriately as the visibility states changed in Block Editor. (It did.)

3. Saved the changes.

4. Ran AttSync on the DB.

After doing this, the redefined block seems to work as (I think) you want. The misbehaving attdef shows up in the "with project info" visibility state.

Interestingly, when I then went back into Block Editor and removed the "ShowAll" visibility state, saved the block, and then ran Attsync, the attdef goes back to misbehaving. (The attdef's grip shows up, but it is still invisible, and still does not show up in Properties.) Even after going back in again and re-assigning the visibility state to the attdef, still no dice.  However, if I assign both of your visibility states to the attdef, save, and AttSync, it then shows up in both visibility states.  Going back in at this point to remove it from the one visibility state causes it to behave as if it has been removed from both.

Since it's standard practice for me to include a "ShowAll" visibility state in DBs, I can't say whether this is "as designed" behavior for attdefs in DBs (which doesn't strike me as good design) or if it's some sort of "bug".

[Anonymous]

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@john.vellek wrote:

@Anonymous @Anonymous,

If rebuilding is an option that is likely the fastest route.

---

Hello again, John... Sorry, but work got a little crazy, so I've been to busy to delve back into this; however, I am specifically working on our library today, so my first task will be to re-create this particular block from scratch and see if that ends this mystery.

I flagged your post as the solution for this thread, but I will also follow-up once I've made a working version of my block. Thanks again to you and dmfrazier for your efforts!

[Anonymous]

Hello again!

Well, I have meticulously recreated my block from scratch and I am very happy to say that the issue in question is...no long an issue! Not only does the faulty attribute now display and hide with the view selection, but it also is listed in the attribute editor, too!

I have attached the new drawing file in case anyone would like to see how the title block is supposed to work.

Thanks again for everyone's input and efforts!

[arkelec]

I know this is an old thread, but I too have been puzzling over this issue.

I think the solution is to ensure that the attribute has a "value" which reflects the desired value from the table for the initial visible state.

A small oversight on my part, but that's another 45 minutes of my life I'm not getting back.  Hopefully, it might help others.

[cadffm]

Thats right. Because if you never used the dynamic feature for this blockreference (normal for the initial inserting),

the dynamic features will not fire any value to nowhere.

The dynamic feature will not fire any value to nowhere.
No length, no rotation and no attribute value.

[Anonymous]

The issue I found with this is associated with another issue with blocks that I have found. Sometimes, stray copies of elements of a block appear, including attributes. So the block gets confused and won't show the attribute if a stray copy of it has been made. I still don't understand why stray copies of parts of blocks are created. So if a line is copied, there will be two of the same line copied, but the copy will not be linked to any dynamic block actions. So it won't scale if a scale action is associated with the line it was copied from. To resolve this, I will move all the elements I intend to be there and then see if anything remains behind it. So you have to select things one at a time.

[arman3438760]

@john.vellek Hi John, I did changes on my attribute to have two different ones for A1 and A3 Title blocks , and in Test Block is ok , but when I close and save the block and click on dynamic arrow, it shows attribute blocks of A1 out of A3 when I switch to A3, but all attributes in A1 are ok. Could you please help me as I need it for my job?

Kind Regards,

Arman

[MSchille-1994]

I just ran across this issue and found a fix.  I have a street sign with two different attribute locations for the sign size.  They were not showing up when I picked either visibility state that is supposed to display them. 

The fix I found was, because there are two different attributes in my case (one for the first location and another one for the other location) I set the Lock Position setting for each attribute to Yes and each attribute has it's own Tag name.  So for me, one of the tags is size1 and the other tag is size2.  I believe this is needed due to the fact that both attributes having the same Tag name confused AutoCAD as to where each attribute was located, so it didn't display either of them.

Hope this helps you even though this is an older post.