How to remove a block by name?

[m09366023695]

I want to remove a block by name :

ThisDrawing.Blocks.Item("1|3137.xxx-xxxxxxxx|22059.6018301436|13369.4589738571|18917.7435065279||line").Delete

yes, my block name is long ! 🙂

But I got this error:

[norman.yuan]

A block definition, which you are trying to delete, cannot be deleted if it is referenced (that is, an AcadBlockReference of this block, a AcadBlock, exists somewhere in the drawing). IN your case, if you call AcadDocument.PurgeAll(), this block definition would still remain in the drawing.

[m09366023695]

Tnx.

I didn't understand.

I should call PurgeAll function? how to do?

[norman.yuan]

I assume you do know how to run the "PURGE" command in AutoCAD. If you run that command, you would not see that particular block definition is listed as purge-able, BECAUSE it is/are referenced, that is, there is/are block reference (block, as user sees) of this block definition somewhere in the drawing, thus, it CANNOT BE purged/deleted.

If you run code 

ThisDrawing.PurgeAll

it does the same thing as if you execute command "Purge" with "all" option. It is possible to call PurgeAll()/execute command "Purge" multiple time to purge/delete nested block definitions.

Anyway, in your case, if you do not see this actual block reference of this odd block definition anywhere in the drawing, it could be a nested block in another block definition. So, you can try run "Purge" command/ call ThisDrawing.PurgeAll multiple times (2 or 3 times, say) to see if this block definition is gone or not. 

Or, since you are doing programming, you can actually search the drawing, (modelSpace/layout/all block definitions...) to see if you can find an AcadBlockReference with this block name. If yes, then you CANNOT delete the block definition!

[m09366023695]

I found this solution (link😞  

Function DelBlock(strBnm As String)
    Dim objDef As AcadBlock
    Dim objCmp As AcadObject
    
    For Each objDef In ThisDrawing.Blocks
        If Not objDef.IsXRef Then
            For Each objCmp In objDef
                If objCmp.ObjectName = "AcDbBlockReference" Then
                    If objCmp.Name = strBnm Then
                        objCmp.Delete
                    End If
                End If
            Next objCmp
        End If
    Next objDef
    
    ThisDrawing.Blocks(strBnm).Delete
End Function