*U anonymous block handles

[Metalloy]

Hi.

I have a problem with drawings containing dynamic blocks that "seem" to lose their original names. These blocks have the

following symptoms :

1. Example original dynamic block called "PB-01". There are (say) 70 inserted in the drawing.

2. When all the (70) are selected, the Properties pane shows the proper name "PB-01" for all 70.

3. Some other functions, such as "FILTER" fail to identify many of these blocks.

4. Some Express Tools functions, such as "GETSEL" handle them normally.

5. Other Express Tools such as "BLOCKREPLACE" completely fail to identify them, indicating an error that

    block names should not contain an "*" (!), while they are properly displayed in the Properties pane.

6. A hand-made LISP routine, displayed their names as "*U1234, *U1235, ... "etc.

Is this a bug ? It is becoming problematic in most of our large drawings, and is very difficult to recover manually, because

we are here talking about 200-300 different dynamic block types, and each is inserted 20-500 times, each with its own

attributes, layers, colors etc. Replacing them manually is an absolute drafter's nightmare. Can you please advise.

P.S. Running a LISP that renames them systimatically to some sequential name (TEMP-1, 2, ...) is actually useless, because we have so many other routines that process the drawing and assume that the blocks have their standard names allocated to them, ex. the routines look for Power Boards knowing that they are all called PB-01. etc.

We would like to have our original block names back, please. Thank you Autodesk.

Last question : is there a formal way in which this can be escalated to Autodesk, like a Bug Report or something ?

[Charles_Shade]

A Dynamic Block is by its very nature is, well... dynamic.

In order for AutoCAD to know what that dynamic block is an anonymous name is assigned to it either when it is inserted or after it is modified (I would think upon insertion). This way AutoCAD knows that it is a 2'4 or 2'8 or whatever window/widget. If there was not a seperate dinstinction then the block would be no smarter that any other.

It may be great to go in and replace all the blocks with an update but then would you not still have to go to each and every one and change its Dynamic Properties? Or does just changing them cause no harm?

If you wish to keep all the names the same then I would think to not use Dynamic Blocks.

AFAIK this is normal Dynamic Block behavior.

Search Anonymous Block Names in this Forum for other discussions over the years.

QSELECT has been suggested as useful too.

[M_Hensley · Accepted solution]

For dynamic blocks you cannot go by the block name because of the anonymous block issue. AutoCAD added a new property for dynamic blocks called effective name that is available to vlisp.

In programs you have to get all the blocks then step through each one checking its effective name and then adding it to a selection set if it matches.

[Anonymous]

"In programs you have to get all the blocks then step through each one checking its effective name and then adding it to a selection set if it matches."

How do you do that?

[Libbya]

Are you looking for a way to select all insertions of a dynamic block using stock AuotCAD?  If so, then QSELECT is the answer.  

Are you looking for a way to select all insertions of a dynamic block using a program like LISP?  If so, then you should post to one of the customization forums that actually deal with custom code:  

https://forums.autodesk.com/t5/autocad-customization/ct-p/AutoCADTopic1

[Owackenreuther]

Thank you. The *U block handles were related to dynamic blocks with authoring elements in my case.