Creation of Dynamic Block to Retrieve Value

[blakeburton09]

Hi AutoCAD Team,

I'm a newbie and I'm working on creating a block that has 4 Attributes. However, I want the 4th attribute to automatically update based on the 1st attributes value. For example, I'm trying to return a text value for the inches I provide in the 1st attribute. For example, if I put in 5", I want to have the 4th attribute return PNK-WHT, which it it's code from a table I've created. Then if I change it to 2.5", I want it to return BLU-ORA (which is in the table as well).

Can someone help walk me through this creation? I've been struggling to relate the two attributes together. Thank you.

[MMcCall402 · Accepted solution]

You could do it with a block table that simply relates the selection of the first value to the second.  You could probably copy the contents of your current table into this block table.

[blakeburton09]

Mark - Thank you very much for the assistance here. That is exactly what I needed. One more question I have is if there's a way to scale the table dropdown selector?

Currently it's a bit small but I wanted to see if I could increase its size a bit. If you could let me know, that would be fantastic. Thanks.

[MMcCall402]

I don't know of a way to change the size of the dropdown selector.  Its size is independent of the zoom factor so I'd guess it might be based on the screen resolution settings.

[blakeburton09]

Mark - Thank you very much for the update on this. I appreciate the support.

I have (1) other question. When I go to use Global Attribute Edit, I am unable to change any of the attributes within my Block. For example, I have the attached Block that I have the table working off of for Attribute 1 and 4. However, the Pour Attribute is on its own (and hidden) and the Length Attribute is on its own (and visible).

However, when using GATTE, I'm unable to change the Pours for Selected blocks and/or chair height (from the table) or Length. 

Is there a way to use GATTE with this Block/Attribute?

[pendean]

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@blakeburton09 wrote:

...However, the Pour Attribute is on its own (and hidden) and the Length Attribute is on its own (and visible).....

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[blakeburton09]

Hi Pendean - Thank you for your response. However, I want to keep it invisible, but I want to be able to change the attribute using GATTE.

I'm currently unable to do that with any of the attributes in this Block. Do you know how I can get that privilege back?

[MMcCall402]

It appears like the GATTE lisp wants you to be able to select not just the block, but the attribute as well.  It seems logical, as that's how it chooses which attribute to edit for all instances of that block.  "Pour" is not a visible attribute so it can't be selected.  There is an option to enter the name of the block and it will then prompt you for the attribute name to edit.  This fails as soon as you get to a space in the block name.

A) Make the attribute visible, but on a non-plotting layer.

B) Make the block name have no spaces.

C) Don't use GATTE for this attribute.  Select one block and then choose "Select Similar" from the right click menu.  The attribute will be visible in the properties window and you can edit the value there for all the selected blocks.

[blakeburton09 · Accepted solution]

Mark - Thank you for the quick response. When I tried editing the Block name, I used DeBar_Chair_BB, however, that doesn't seem to be valid. Am I not able to use "_"??

Also, I made the Pour Visible, but still did not have luck in adjusting the Pour Attribute. Thank you.

[blakeburton09]

@MMcCall402 - I wanted to follow up. So my coworker (has AutoCad Full) runs into the same issue, where we cannot use GATTE to change any attribute (primarily the Pour attribute) for selected Dynamic Blocks. Via my research, it doesn't look like GATTE will work with a dynamic block? 

If not, is there a simpler way to change an attribute for many blocks in my drawing at the same time to the same value?

[Ed.Jobe]

Try the FIND command. It will work with dynamic block attributes.