Topic: Block problem.

[Keith™]

The layer is defined ureferenced in the block (as is probably all of the offending layers) ...

A neat trick I used to use is to create a block with no graphical entities, then insert that block into AutoCAD... the user cannot select it without programming and the layers cannot be purged.

My thought is this ...
Whoever the culprit is that defined the blocks (or edited them later) failed to purge the unneeded entities before saving the drawing. After being inserted the block then becomes problematic when you want to delete layers ....

[CAB]

If you want to take a look inside the block to see where the layer is hiding
try this routine. It creates a text file called "Block Date-[block name].txt"

The problem as I see it is the parent block can not be modified and the layer
can not be changed without recreating the block. And as Keith pointed out there
are other hiding places for layers.

http://theswamp.org/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?p=15092#15092

[CAB]

You may want to try this routine on a few. It will fix some blocks.

Code deleted:

FixBlock does the same thing with more error checking, sorry but I tried.

[hudster]

I ran the copy block lisp and I've now got it down to 3 layers.

Weird thing is i copied the drawing and deleted everything, inserted each block in turn and purged the drawing each time, and that layers always disappeared, but when they are all together I can't purge these 3.

Looks like i'll have to live with them, as I can't think of anyway to find out what is referencing these layers.

I wish autocad would come up with a way to show all the blocks and their properties, layers etc in a comprehensive list.

***edit***
I've got it down to one layer now.

Some how the architcet has managed to create blocks that begin with a *, i.e. *17, I didn't think this was possible?

But I was clicking around the drawing and found one, used the copyblock lispp and had to delete the *17 block, AutoCAD won't let me use replaceblock on a block with a * in the title, and got rid of two layers.

One to go.

[Keith™]

blocks with a * as the first character are anonymous blocks and can be easily created by third party software.

FYI: Dimensions are considered blocks in the AutoCAD table and until the dimensions are all purged, the layers, blocks, and text styles used in that particular dimension are not purgable, nor is the dimension style. They will be shown in the block table as *Dxx where xx is an integer.