Attribute Color Changed Dynamically

[ianwill93]

Well this seems to be an unanswered question in this forum's history,

Is it possible to change the assigned color of an attribute dynamically?

Like perhaps using a Visibility States?

To give some context, I am designing a game machine that has 2 different models that I will have within 1 DB.

One of the attributes inserted into the block needs to change color based off of the model in use.

From the tinkering i've done, I havent seen anyway of doing this...

I apologize if this has been answered before and I just missed it in my searches.

Thanks for any help provided!

[Anonymous]

Hey,

Will it be what you want if set the colour of attrib "ByBlock"?

If not, let us know so guys here will work on it. I haven't done this by visibility but ALMOST anything is possible with dynamic blocks.

Regards,

[ianwill93]

No for me that's as good as manually changing the layer that the block is on.

I was hoping to perhaps automate the process of the color changing. At the moment, the machine block has various models within it defined by Visibility states.

I would like the color to change with the switch to a new "model".

Hopefully that makes sense.

If layer switching is the only way to do this, then I can already do it that way.

[ojuris · Accepted solution]

hi!

try this. You can change text in properties window. Don't forget use REGEN

Regards

Juris

[ianwill93]

Yes that is the way I currently do it, but my question was if it can be more automated.

That still requires me to both change the visiblity state, and then change the color of the attribute.

I was wondering if we could've eliminated the step of changing the color by somehow attaching to the "model" of machine in use.

[ianwill93]

I should add that I have no issues with changing layers or changing the properties.

My reason for wanting more automation is simply for those in the company who can only access the move command on a good day....

I gave them a grip to click to change visibility states (the model of machine) and i'd like that to also change the color of 1 attribute at the same time.

[Libbya]

---

@ianwill93 wrote:

That still requires me to both change the visiblity state, and then change the color of the attribute.

I was wondering if we could've eliminated the step of changing the color by somehow attaching to the "model" of machine in use.

---

Nope, it doesn't.  The file Ojuris posted changes the visibility state and the color of the attribute at the same time.

[ianwill93]

Oh wow thanks!

I'm sorry I didnt even see the attachment there.

Yes that is exactly what I was looking for! Now how do you do it?

(Edit: Sorry that is a block with 3 different texts that have seperate colors.)

[ianwill93]

Oh ok so this is actually text with the attributes all being invisible.

I got it. Well I may be able to make this work.

Thanks for the idea.

If anyone does know how to change the color of Attributes specifically, I'd love to hear some ideas.

[Anonymous]

Hey,

Glad you found your answer.

Please select the post that answered your question as a solution and if you want give the author of that post a kudo to cheer them up 🙂

I underestand you are still waiting for specific solution.

Cheers,

[ojuris]

hi

perhaps you could clarify what exactly is needed?

may be some example?

[ianwill93]

Yes I can.

Basically I would like to make the color of an attribute change based off of visibility states WITHOUT duplicating the attribute name.

That way the value can be properly entered into a Table or Extracted.

Attached is an example WITH a duplicated attribute. If someone has a better solution I'd love to know.

Or if someone knows how to place 2 copies of an attribute in 1 block then that would also be helpful.

[Libbya]

I think you may still be misunderstanding the function of the block Ojuris posted.  In it, there is ONE attribute and three text objects.  Each of the text objects are a different color and contain a field referencing the attribute value.  If you change attribute value and regen, the three fields update to the new attribute value.  The visibility state controls which text object is displayed and consequently the color of the displayed text that shows the value of the single attribute. How does that differ from the functionality you desire? 

[ianwill93]

I most certainly did misunderstand.

He even posted "dont forget to regen"

Hahaha wow! Yes i'll be marking that as the solution!

Now how is the value of the text linked to the attribute?!

[Libbya]

Within block editor, within the text object, right click and select Insert Field.  Field category should be Object.  For Object type, use the little selection tool on the right and select the attribute.  Under Property, select Value. 

[ianwill93]

Wow thanks so much guys!

Very cool!

Always appreciate learning how to do something new!

[Libbya]

I'm sorry, I gave the wrong procedure for the field in a text object.  Here's the correct one.

In model space, select the block, right click, edit attributes.  At the bottom under Value, right click and select Insert Field.  For Field category select Object.  Under Object Type use the selection tool and select the block.  Under Property select the Attribute name.  At the bottom of the screen select the field expression and copy it to your clipboard.  Exit the field/attribute editor.  Select the block, enter block editor, select the text object, paste the field expression, save the changes.   

[ojuris]

exactly

[ianwill93]

Hahaha yeah I tried the original and it wouldnt update with the reference, I eventually figured out that it was looking up the default value only.

Thank you all for your help!

[tom.buhler]

Hi all,

I followed the steps shown but if I insert a second same-block or copy the first block, then all of the blocks only show the value of the first block's attributes. Is this the correct behavior? Is there a different field reference that would fix this? Maybe there is a way to change the field expression to include a diesel expression to extract the current objects id number and insert that into the copied expression in the text fields?