Topic: ATTREDEF Not Working?

[M-dub]

I have a drawing with a bunch of blocks in it.  The blocks have a single attribute in them.  I've exploded it and recreated it with all of my additional attributes.  Re-inserted it into the drawing, but only the new blocks show all of the attributes.  Blocks that were existing already remain the same.  I've tried ATTREDEF with no results.  When I explode the blocks (after redefinition), all of the attributes are there, but aren't showing up in the ddatte dialog box.  What's going on here?  Is there some kind of setting I missed in acad2004?

Thanks a lot,
Mike

[M-dub]

Oops...

ATTSYNC

[M-dub]

Here's the next question (you're gonna love this one...)

The contractor who placed all of these blocks isn't what I'd call a power draftsman, but I can understand why he did this, although it's frowned upon...

This block is a dot with an attribute as a text label.  After he inserted them, he moved the text using its grip to a better location, then used a line as a pseudo leader. *shudder*

My problem is (now) this:  After entering the attsync command, all of the labels revert back to their original insertion point.  Am I up the creep on this one or is there a way to update the blocks with the new attributes without changing the insertion points of the attributes?

[Andrew H]

I see what your dilemma is. I just recreated the situation you've described and have the same results. I know I've come across this before, but don't believe I found a suitable solution.

One thing I did do was to revert back to the original block with the original location of the attribute. Draw a line from the insert point of the attribute to the insert point of the objects in the block (or at least an easy to locate endpoint or something along those lines). Update the block as needed and then relocate the attributes using the line I created. It worked for me because I only had 3 or 4 blocks to update and the block didn't modify all that much, but if you have several blocks or a major block change it may not be a feasible solution.

[M-dub]

Thanks a lot, Andrew...
Unfortunately, the current block count is 224.  

It's too bad there wasn't an enhanced ATTSYNC command or something where you could sync certain parts of an attribute such as X, Y, Z, Justification, Text, etc...

Ah well, I might end up doing what you had posted there.  I had though about that, but it'll be a definite last resort.  I haven't un-crossed my fingers yet...

Thanks again Andrew,
Mike

[Andrew H]

You're very welcome. I didn't figure it would be practical for a situation with lots of blocks. Yes, attrubits really suck, I love the feilds of 2005, much nicer.

Oh wait I have it.

Create a new block (with a new name) with the desired attributes and locations. Do a replace block with another block command. Then do a purge (before purge note the name of the original block) to delete the original block. Then do a rename to rename your new block to the name of the old block.

Let me know if this works.

[M-dub]

It sounded good, but I ended up having to do an ATTSYNC anyway to get the rest of the attributes to show up.

I'm going to try it on one of our old acad 2000 systems...see if this is thanks to one of Autdesk's famous 'Fixes'....

Thanks,
Mike

[Andrew H]

You got me stumped on this one. I'm not sure if there is anything that can help a grip modified attribute location in a block update.

Sorry I couldn't help.

[M-dub]

Hey, don't worry about it!  I appreciate the effort, for sure!

I think I'm going to have to either manually or forget it completely.

.......friggin' contractors....

[Andrew H]

I don't think Autodork thought of this situation, or they would have made an option to not allow the moving of attributes with their grips.

[M-dub]

Well, like I said, I do kind of understand why he did what he did, but that doesn't make it any less 'hokey-pokey'.

Here's a visual of what I'm dealing with:



Becomes this after ATTSYNC

[Andrew H]

Maybe try blocks with no attributes and use a quick leader?

[M-dub]

That's what it looks like he should have done, but...(long story)
His original need for the attribute was to both label the dot and to extract the X & Y co-ordinates.  He then entered those X & Y's into a spreadsheet along with all kinds of additional information.
I don't know why he didn't add all of the info in attributes in the first place.  I like attributes in certain cases, but not all.  As far as I'm concerned, he should have used ALL attributes or NONE!

[Andrew H]

I agree.

[hendie]

I've been watching this.. and I'm stumped also.
one question is: the new attributes you are adding..do they have to be visible  ? do they need to be in position as shown in pic 1 ?

can't you add your new attributes as a completely different block but "cross refer" it and use it as a kind of legend ?
i.e. you have existing block "X" and the value is HB18 ~ you insert your new block "Y" which has a Tag "Parent" which has a value of HB18 and the rest of your new attributes