Block attributes

What attributes are

An attribute is a named value that travels with a block reference: an equipment tag's item number, a room tag's name, a door's fire rating. The block's definition says which attributes it has (each has a tag, a prompt, a default and a place, size and angle for its text). Every reference to the block carries its own values.

Some attributes are invisible: they hold data, such as a maker or a model number, but never draw. Some are constant: the same for every reference, fixed by the block.

Where attributes come from

• Blocks in DWG and DXF files you open keep their attributes, with each reference's values.
• Blocks you bring in with INSERT and the File option keep theirs. See Insert from a file or the library.
• Library items come in as blocks with attributes: a visible item number and the item's data, invisible.

Blocks you make yourself with BLOCK have no attributes: CadCraft cannot define new ones yet.

Fill them in when you place a block

1. Type I and press ReturnEnter, type the block name and press ReturnEnter.
2. Click where it goes.
3. CadCraft asks for each value, for example Enter Item number (ITEM) <>. Type the value and press ReturnEnter, or press ReturnEnter to keep the default shown in angle brackets.

Values the block marks as preset, and constant ones, are not asked for. They take their default.

See and change the values

1. Click a block reference.
2. In the right panel, under Attributes, each tag has its value. Invisible ones say hidden.
3. Click a value, type the new one and press ReturnEnter.

The drawing shows the new value at once. Each change is one step: ⌘ZCtrl+Z undoes it.

The values of a library item's own fields (its id, version, license and attribution) are shown but not editable, so that checking for updates keeps working. Its item number and quantity are yours to change.

List them

Select references and type LI (for LIST). The history shows each attribute as TAG = value, with (invisible) or (constant) where that applies.

Moving, turning and exploding

• MOVE, ROTATE, SCALE and MIRROR keep the values; the text moves with the block and stays readable.
• EXPLODE turns the visible attributes into plain text with their values. The invisible ones are dropped.

Saving

A saved DWG and a saved DXF both keep every attribute: each block's definitions (invisible, constant and preset ones too) and each reference's values. Other CAD programs read them as ordinary block attributes.

In a DXF R12, a value longer than 255 characters is cut to 255, and the history says so.

Common mistakes

• A value does not show on the drawing. It is invisible, or it is empty. Invisible values still show in the right panel.
• The value I typed went to the command line. Click into the value box in the right panel first.