Civil 3d label question

[JerryG]

Hi all - Great site!!!!
I am trying to figure out the bast way to create labels in Civil 3d 2008 that can be viewed when the mouse is dragged over the object
(like adobe or similar markup tools). I am creating an Asset Management map of existing piping and need a way for the people
in the field to be able to look at pipe data etc all from one
dwg. I dont want to use regular text since this would clutter the dwg
up to the point that it would be unreadable.
I know I can link to an Excell sheet etc. but was wondering if there was a way to keep it all in one file?

Thank you in advance for any insight you might be able to provide!!

[rustysilo]

You want a label that will expand on hover? That's a new one to me as far as cadd is concerned, but surely it can be done. I just have no idea how.

[JerryG]

Thanks for the reply RS.
Thats what I was hoping to do.
Maybe there is something in Map 3d?

[dtkell]

I believe there is the ability to attach a "note" to an entity in AutoCAD.
Type note at command line, select item, and attach descriptive notations.
Then with the "Periscope" add-on from Manusoft.com, you can hover your cursor over an object and the entity's information will be listed along with the attached note.

[rustysilo]

Thanks for the reply RS.
Thats what I was hoping to do.
Maybe there is something in Map 3d?
Not that I know of. I'm assuming some programming would be involved for such interactivity. You can attach certain data to objects using Map, but I don't believe you can have that data expand on hover.

[rustysilo]

A possible alternative may be to add attributes to your blocks (if your objects are blocks) and have all the attributes filled in with their display off. This way the data is in the dwg, but they'd still have to double-click the block or initiate the ate (attribute edit) command to see the data. Not to mention it could be inadvertently altered then.

[JerryG]

Thanks for all the great info!!

It has got me thinking in a new direction-
Im wondering if it would be better to
save the dwg as DWF and load
Trueview onto the field guys Laptop so that they can view any associated pipe data .etc and make comments right there in the field
without being able to change the orginal Dwg.

[bsamc2000]

That is what we are now doing with our shop drawings. It was also cheaper and ran better for them.

Brian