Heidi Hewett's Blog

Good Question: Block Attribute Position

Today’s good question comes from Henk. He asked what would prevent him from being able to view and select attribute grips within a block insertion.

In AutoCAD 2006, as part of the dynamic block functionality, the new Lock Position property was added to block attributes. It’s enabled by default because if you define a dynamic block and want the attribute's position to be included in an action's selection set, it must be locked. An additional benefit of locking the position, especially with dynamic blocks, is that the attribute grips are not displayed when the block insertion is selected. This helps simplify the appearance of selected blocks making it easier to see the dynamic block grips without being overwhelmed by attribute grips.

The Lock Position property is turned on by default in the Attribute Definition dialog box. If you turn it off, you’ll be able to see and move block attributes within the block insertions. Note in AutoCAD 2006 and 2007, the Lock Position option is in the lower left corner of the dialog box.

If you’ve already defined an attribute definition with Lock Position enabled, you can change it using the Properties window. To update blocks that have already been inserted in the drawing, you’ll need to use ATTSYNC.

Thanks to Henk for the good question!

Scenes from Los Angeles

Last week I had the opportunity to present AutoCAD 2009 Tips & Tricks at the Los Angeles CAD Camp. The event, the audience, and the FOOD, were fantastic!

If you’re near Miami, Washington DC, or Philadelphia, check out the upcoming CAD Camps in those locations!

AutoCAD Success Stories

If you use AutoCAD or AutoCAD LT, please consider this request from the AutoCAD marketing team:

Autodesk is looking for Customer Success Stories focusing on AutoCAD users like you! We are looking for new customer success stories and would love to hear from some of you.  If you are using AutoCAD and are interested in sharing your story please contact fanya.seabrook@autodesk.com.  The next step would be for us to gather information for the success story starting with a 30-minute phone conversation/interview with you and/or anyone else appropriate. During this phone interview, we will gather background for the story. We will send you sample questions ahead of time. After the interview, we will write a two-page case study with an outside agency (that you will review and approve) focusing on how you are using the product.

You can view some of our completed customer stories on our website at www.autodesk.com/dwf-customers.  If your company agrees (usually we work with a communications or public relations person at the company) we can develop a press release based on the case study.

We would also be interested in receiving some of your model/design datasets (for demo purposes only, all proprietary data will be removed).

We look forward to hearing from you!

AutoCAD 2009 Tips & Tricks Webcast

If you missed the  of AutoCAD 2009 Tips & Tricks Webcast premiere on May 8th, no problem! You can catch the rerun on autodesk.com!

Autodesk Developer Camps Coming in June

Partners, customers, and prospective customers with interest in developing on Autodesk software are invited to attend Autodesk DevCamps 2008!

Want to deepen your relationships with your customers?  Want to drive your customers to evangelize Autodesk technology within their organization and make it “their own”?  Then think about expanding your knowledge of the customization potential of Autodesk’s product line by attending this summer’s ADN Developer Camp.

Manufacturing
June 11-13
Portland, Oregon

Architecture, Engineering & Construction
June 16-18
Wakefield, Massachusetts (near Boston)

Geospatial
June 25-27
San Rafael, California (near San Francisco)

By extending Autodesk technology – going beyond what is delivered in the box – Autodesk partners and customers greatly increase the value they get from Autodesk products.  Customization and extension lead to stickier solutions that conform to customers’ workflows and the realization that Autodesk technology can be the foundation for shared design and workflows.  Customers and partners can get kick-started with extending Autodesk technology and increasing their competitive advantage by attending this summer’s Autodesk Developer Camps. Visit www.autodesk.com/devcamp2008 for more information!

Good Question: Action Macros and VBA

Today’s good questions come from Paul. He is interested in combining the power of VBA with the ease of Action Macros in AutoCAD 2009.

Q: Do you know of any way to convert an Action Macro into VBA format?
A: No. The ACTM is a binary/undocumented format.

Q: Alternatively, is there a line I could insert in my VBA project to call the ACTION?
A: Each Action Recorder Macro is a standalone AutoCAD command. So you can pass the name of the macro to the "SendCommand" automation API in your VBA routine to call it.

Thanks to Paul for the good questions and to Ravi (and the AutoCAD development team) for the answers!

AutoCAD 2009... Free Webcast!

It isn't too late to register for tomorrow's FREE AutoCAD 2009 Tips & Tricks Webcast!

AutoCAD 2009 Tips & Tricks

Date & Time: Thursday, May 8, 2008 10:00 - 11:30 a.m. PDT
Join this informative session for an insider's look at AutoCAD® Tips & Tricks. AutoCAD Technical Product Manager, Heidi Hewett, will help you hone your AutoCAD skills and show you how the latest release of AutoCAD can make you more productive than ever! You're sure to learn some powerful techniques to shorten your design time.