Finding Blocks

Hi,

I have looked and looked. Really. I don't see this question anywhere. I have created a title block and inserted it into my drawing, but I can't remember where it is located. I don't know what I was smoking, but I cannot find it. My question is this: is there anyway to find out where a block in a drawing has come from? Is this basic knowledge that I slept through?

Thanks

You created a titleblock and inserted it into a drawing but you can't remember where the titleblock is located? Seems odd. Maybe you created the titleblock in another drawing and used the Design Center to drag/drop the titleblock into your new drawing?

Do you recall using WBlock to save the titleblock to your hard drive?

I don't think AutoCAD really has a command for that, mainly because when you insert a block into a drawing it becomes part of the drawing. If the block was inserted from a separate file, try running a search on the drive for the block name. This is one of the reasons I recommend a well organized block library so you can find what you need quickly.

If you're looking to reuse the titleblock you can use WBLOCK to save it in a separate file. One nice way to handle title blocks is to create fields for the necessary information (name, date, filepath, etc.) the can either be pulled from the drawing information itself, or from custom properties. Once you have that set up you can XREF the titleblock into drawings enabling you to update multiple instances if necessary. Check out this tutorial for more information. It was created for 2005, but the basic principles remain the same.

I just read that Design Center will allow the user to search for a block across all drawings. Haven't tried it so I cannot vouch for the accuracy of the statement. However, I did come across a routine that claims to be able to search for blocks. Go to the link below and read through the entire "conversation" and determine for yourself if it suits your needs.

http://discussion.autodesk.com/forums/thread.jspa?threadID=469932

i have a script that exports all blocks zoomed extents

maybe your block is xclipped and you don't see it

Hi ReMark,

My husband has terminal cancer, so I spend a lot of time using the Remote Terminal to work on standard drawings. The problem I run into is if I inadvertently save it without specifying the drive, folder, etc., I tend to lose the file. When I run searches on the computer, it can't find it. However, I think the link you referred me to will help.

Thanks,

Robin

Robin: Sorry to hear about your husband.

I think you need to nail down your "paths" to drawings, blocks, etc. that you use whether frequently or infrequently. Are you the only person providing the drawings?

I am the only one creating the standard drawings; there have never been any and it is a somewhat daunting task. There are drawings and blocks scattered throughout the network. I'm trying to keep what I am creating in my personal folder until I am ready to implement them (which I suspect may be part of the problem). Anyone could access them, and we have people that don't understand the necessity for using the standards in these drawings as well. Ideally, we will ask the developers for their drawings in cad form, and they will be using our standards for applicable information. The ultimate destination will be GIS; hence the necessity for everyone to follow the rules.

Then I guess the ball is in your court to set the standard and see that others abide by it. A master location for files would go a long ways towards keeping things working smoothly.

Is there a CAD Standards manual at this time?

No, I'll be creating that as well. I tried using the lisp file you referred me to, but it won't work. I get a message ";error: no function definition: STRPARSE"

I think I'll just recreate it, thanks for all your help.

i think it is a bind you can fall into because of a mistaken xclip

post the file let us find your titleblock?

I wonder if this information is stored in the Autocad block table record for each item.

Maybe we could develop a custom routine that will store the block location as Xdata whenever a block is inserted into a drawing.

Has anyone done this before?

at first sorry for your husband

What i understand is

You created a block in a dwg and want to find.

I do that in 2 steps

1- Use BE or BEDIT command blockedit thin highlight one by one and look at preview untill get the block, so o have the block name

2- Use QSELECT and refer to the blocktitle i can search about

If you want in detail and with images I can do for you.

I went ahead and recreated the block. Thanks for all your help!