Today’s trick…
Text objects could be linked to some properties of objects in AutoCAD, so as to enable them to update automatically when that property of the object changes.
Lets look at it...
Assume
that this is a wall.
You
can see the length of the wall mentioned below.
Cool...!!! Here is how it is…
This
is the magic of “Insert Field” option in AutoCAD.
What
is a field?
In
simple words, it is a text. But how it differ from text? It can update the data
automatically. That is the difference.
How
does field help us?
Look
at the picture above. Assume that you have a drawing and all the wall lengths
have been mentioned inside a table in the same drawing. You are changing the
length of one wall. How should it reflect in the table?
Unless
you use Field, you will end up updating the table manually.
How
to create a field.
Go
to the MText command and right click in the editor window. You will see this
list shown below;
Do
you see “Insert Field (Ctrl+F)” there?
Click
that. You will see this window.
Click
on Field Category, you can see some items there. You can select an item from
this category.
Below
the Field Category, you can see the items in the selected category. See the
Formats of the selected item towards the right.
Now,
do you know how I updated that wall length without touching that text? Go
to the Field Category and select “Object”.
In
Field names, Select Object Again. Do you see a pick button Next to Object Type?
I clicked it and selected the center line of the wall.
Once
you select the line, you can see these options.
You
can insert to the text, any of these properties of the selected line shown in
the list. Select one and just click OK. You are done with it..!!
It
will not update the field immediately after you change the length of the line.
Just do a 'Regen' and see….. Is it not working now????
Now
find out a lot out of the field option. Remember that it is not only in the
MText editor that you can insert a field. Inside a block, for an attribute too,
you can insert field. Like this, many places, field becomes a useful tool.
Explore
each item in the field category, field names, and Property.
Note:
Don’t worry about that grey background seen behind the field. It won’t print...
Wait for more... Have a nice day friends…!!
--
Harilal M. N.
harilalmn@gmail.com
Bangalore, India.
