Fine tune an Arrayed visibility Vlookup table

[tomhY595S]

Hi I'm trying to merge two methods 

- Array of a containing block 

- Visibility Lookup table 

In order to create a block that can be increased in size and subsequently show more attributes or less according to the requirements. Attached is the block which is essentially a floor finish legend container. With multi-line attribute text on the right, an empty box (that will later be hatched by the user) I want to keep it simple so just the 1 grip point that creates the array and hides/shows the visibility states. 

Tried to merge what I've learned in this post - https://forums.autodesk.com/t5/dynamic-blocks-forum/issue-with-visibility-state-of-attribute-blocks/... 

and something I've stumbled on, on this post - https://forums.autodesk.com/t5/autocad-forum/array-attributes-with-dynamic-blocks/m-p/2757177#M25219... 

There are at least 2 issues with the block that I can see

1) Mainly how to link the visibility state to the grip point

2) When the array is active after the 2nd /3rd array the grip detaches from the current array.

Any help would be appreciated.

screencast - https://share.getcloudapp.com/6quzej7p 

Best

Tom

[Libbya · Accepted solution]

Both of your issues are because your file has a low precision setting.  You have LUPREC set to 4.  Set it to 8 and you will see that your distance for the as-drawn parameter value and for the increment are off because of the rounding of the last four significant digits.  For single value matching the highest precision must be used.  

IMO there is not any reason to have LUPREC set to 4 and it really bothers me that it is the AutoCAD default setting.  It is like having intentionally unfocused glasses.  There is no downside to having it set to the maximum (8) and many problems result when it is set lower than that.

See screencast.

[tomhY595S]

thanks again Libbya, 

That works perfectly. 

Digressing slightly, I wonder if this can be taken slightly further in terms of having the lookup table linked to an excel spreadsheet. For example. A lighting legend, where the user can add/remove the lighting types that they want i.e. those from the present in the drawing in the Excel (which itself can have a filter option) then this sync's to the Lookup table that would then update the visibility of the lighting legend. 

Thanks 

Tom

[Libbya]

A while back I worked on something similar using data extraction, although the update direction was the other way.  If memory serves, selecting a specific state from the dynamic block determined what lighting fixtures appeared on the fixture schedule.  The lighting fixture schedule also updated fixture model information automatically depending on what information was in the excel spreadsheet for that specific state.  Although I got it working, I came to the conclusion that it was complicated enough that it was more effort than it was worth.  YMMV.  It was years ago, so I may not be correct about the details.

[tomhY595S]

One more thought on this. for arrayed attributes. is it possible to have multiple visibility state options? So I want to try make a revision adjustment block where the revision/date / initials  are attributes and description is a visibility state. now I'm applying the lookup table in the same way as the above. however as far as I'm aware I can only have one visibility toggle per block. is that correct? or can that be increased to 15 for example?  

not yet added the lookup tables.. but wanted to see if the above is possible before I do?

Thanks 

Tom

[tomhY595S]

So i'm trying to adjust this revision block. but essentially unsure if I'm overcomplicating it.

- I've created 15 rows of attributes for the different revisions.

- 7 Visibility states (Custom Text for the Anytext attribute / and 6 remaining fix regular texts: issued for planning / issued for pre-planning / issued for follow-up pre-planning / preliminary issue for information / issued for construction / issued for tender) 

I've got a single linear parameter for the distance between rows which is 4.9705 

(following ones are 9.941 / 14.9115 / 19.882 / 24.8525 / 29.823 / 34.7935 / 39.7640 / 44.7345 / 49.7050 / 54.6755 / 59.6460 / 64.6165 / 69.5870 / 74.5575 ) 

- Visibility is currently 1 per state i.e. 1 for "issued for tender" / 1 for "issued for construction" etc 

- Double lookup table 1'st linked to the linear parameter and different distances

and 2nd the visibility states. 

Q 

- Does the linear parameter need an action applied or can it be directly linked to the visibility state? 

- is this the correct setup or is it missing something?

Thanks 

Tom

[tomhY595S]

So, re-worked on further. I've got the 1st table linked to Numbers 1 to 105 and the 105 various visibility states. Lookup table 2 is numbered 1 to 15 and then to the NR (New Row) linear parameter distances. The issue I have now is how to link the linear parameter to control the lookups. 

Please tell me that i don't actually need 15 x the number of variations? 105 x 15 = 1575 - for the different variations of the visibility states