Dynamic Block with updating text

Hello,

I am making a dynamic block that I will use to display drawing numbers. It looks something like this

http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm33/Spooksapoppin/Lapu_saraksts.jpg

I use hatches to dim out the pages that are inactive and to emphasize the one page which is currently being viewed.

The problem is that I never know how many pages I will come up with in the end, and I would need each box numbered.

Is this even possible, maybe some other good ideas?

Thanks in advance!

Hi Krztoff

Have you looked at the possibilities of the "Visibility" parameter.

Stack a series of page number blocks on top of one another (as many as you think you may need), then use the 'look up grip' to choose the one you need.

Hi, thanks for the reply merdrignac!

I was thinking about the Invisibility parameter, however the problem i came up with is that you can only insert one visibility parameter, I could use it to show up all the boxes, but how would i go around hatching the ones that are not being viewed by the user. i always leave the active drawing box clean with no hatching.

I am not familiar with the lookup parameter and how it works, maybe this can come in handy here?

So far I was trying out the array parameter to multiply the boxes, and the visibility parameter to hatch the inactive ones away, but there was a problem, I used the X and Y array, and that way I always obtained an even box number, but my drawings are occasionally at an uneven amount If i use the linear X axis array I can go out the page area with those boxes, since I fold my drawings to A4 and I need them all to be visible without unfolding the paper so I can fit only 9 boxes in that are in a single line, after that I start the next line of boxes underneath.

Do you reallty need all the boxes to be visible? surely easier to read if just one visible at a time?

Just a rudimentary example attached, but could be the way to go.

box.dwg

It is sort of a standard here in my country that one should show all the pages that are in the set and emphasize the "currently viewed page" and this symbol with the boxes has been used from back in the days.

Yes I understand your concept merdrignac, but I can't see a way of automating the process in my case, because I would have to make a block with the exact number of drawing page boxes each time I start a new set of drawings. The ideal option would be one block I could insert in any drawing.

Maybe a lisp routine would be better for making this symbol? I am starting to think this might be too much to demand from a block?

Sorry didn't quite understand the problem. I would say you were right to think that a lisp routine will do the job. But I'm afraid I can't help there as I use LT which doesn't support Lisp.

Good luck though, and please post back if you work it out.

you find your answer yet?

if not try this. I've accomplished this with a double lookup LISP. If this is what you are looking for let me know and I can pass this LISP along. Im on my home computer that does not have autocad. Remove the .zip from the dwg and it should work

Hi,

Thanks for the block Lt Dan's legs! It is really nice, it doesn't solve the hatching problem, when I want to hatch the "not in view" page boxes, but I decided that I could solve this by simply emphasizing the "page in view" box with a different text format and color. To add another row of boxes I could simply copy the block another time.

Thanks, this is a step forward!