Block attribute rotation issue.

[peterjwinberg]

I'm not sure how to even describe this. I have this block (attached) that I use for window information. I set it up this way so the order of information relative to a wall/window is the same whether rotated or mirrored. There's an attribute for header size, an mtext attribute for window and rough opening info (mtext so when rotated/mirrored it stays justified how I want - window size over RO), and an mtext attribute for fall protection (mtext again so it justifies how I want).

My issue occurs when I need to use it for a window that has "exterior" to the left and "interior" to the right (a "left hand" wall in floor plan view). If I insert the block, then rotate 90, then mirror... it is setup and justified how I want it: header next to wall, then window size/RO, then fall protection. The "text rotation" in "text options" in the EAE is set at 90. Now the problem... If I close the drawing and reopen, the block is still as I saved it. However, if I insert and redefine the block then all of the blocks with this rotation/mirror/justification change so the "text rotation" in the EAE is set to 270 instead of 90. I then have to go through each of these blocks, rotate them again, mirror them again, yada yada yada,

I'm sure this setup is archaic, but I'm wondering if there's a way to tweak my block settings so the text rotation doesn't change like this. It's a pain.

[Libbya]

Why do you need to 'redefine' the block?  

[peterjwinberg]

Because I made an update to the layer properties of one of the attributes, and wanted each block to update at once.

[Libbya]

Did you run ATTSYNC after REDEFINE?

[peterjwinberg]

It doesn't fix the issue.

I wasted some time to recreate the block with unnecessary complexity using a lookup table, and I still have the issue after mirroring/rotating. It has something to do with the rotation after mirroring. Technically it's not wrong I suppose... AutoCAD has it rotated 90 degrees from the mirrored value.

I was hoping to have all this info within one object, but I'm just going to give up and use text instead of a block.

[Libbya]

Some of your description is hard to follow.  It would be better if you inserted several blocks in the various orientations and then showed the ways that the block behavior differs from what you desire.

That said, You might well be able to avoid the whole issue by adding a rotation parameter/action and a flip parameter/action to the block and do all of your text orientation without actually using the mirror command and using the flip/rotate instead.

[peterjwinberg · Accepted solution]

I would add the rotation and flip parameters, but the mirror command is unavoidable due to our plan catalog setup and change order process for when a plan requires a global reverse.

I'm over complicating the issue when it could just be resolved using multiple text objects instead of blocks.

Thanks for your help 🙂

[KenWashburn]

Did you ever find an answer to this?

[peterjwinberg]

I did not. I was using 2015 at the time so perhaps it would work in 2020, but I haven't even thought about this block since this post 🙂