AutoCAD FAQ

Linetypes with text in them are known as complex (custom) linetypes. If the text is not showing properly in the linetype, it is generally because of one of two reasons:

• The line is too short to display any text.
• The textstyle being used, has a different font to that which the linetype was defined to use.

Before the linetype will load in the drawing, the textstyle defined for the linetype must be loaded. Otherwise the linetype will not load.

Consider the following typical complex linetype definition:

*RCP,--RCP----RCP--
A,2,-1.7,["RCP",ISO,S=1.2,R=0,X=-1.2,Y=-0.6],-1.7,2

The above linetype definition will place the text RCP along a line. The definition uses the textstyle ISO. Defining a textstyle for linetypes is the same as defining a textsyle for use within AutoCad itself (using the STYLE command).

The linetype definition does not indicate which font was originally used to define the text style. Using the wrong font to define the text style could result in the line text not fitting along the line correctly. It is therefore a good practice to define the text style with the same name as the font used in the style definition, and define a textstyle that is not used anywhere else in the drawing, only used for linestyle definitions.

In the above example, the text style ISO uses the font ISO.shx in order to work correctly. Therefore the textstyle ISO in the drawing must also use the font ISO.shx, otherwise the text will appear incorrect within the linestyle. As shown below:

If the textstyle ISO was redefined in the drawing to use the font Courier New.shx, then the text within the line will appear incorrectly (as shown above).

When this happens, the textstyle ISO has to be redefined to use the font ISO.shx. Once the textstyle has been redefined, then all the linestyles will change to the new font, and will appear correctly.

In order to find the name of the textstyle being used in the linetype definition, the linetype definition must be found. The linetype definitions are generally found in the file acad.lin, or in custom linetype files *.lin. To find all the linetype files, use windows explorer to search for all files *.lin. Take a note of their full names and locations, then open them in Notepad until the file with the specific linetype definition has been found.

Help on creating complex linetypes can be found in AutoCad help under Customization GuideCustom LinetypesText in Custom Linetypes.