Well it has been nearly a year, but AUGI has decided to re-run my “FIELD of Study” ATP course for the month of May. I’ve kept in touch with Ken Leary, the ATP Coordinator and Board Member for AUGI, and I agreed with him that it would be a great idea to post the course again. This course covers everything from the very basic purpose and application of AutoCAD Fields all the way to the most complex implementation of customized Fields into the Sheet Set Manager, AutoCAD Tables, and Dynamic …

Q:  I want to insert a block containing Fields and then select existing objects in my drawing to associate with the Fields in the block.  How can I do this, such as insert the block and select a Viewport to associate with a Scale Field?
A:  AutoCAD doesn’t prompt you to select an object from the drawing you’re inserted the text block into by default. However, there is a default way to select an object in the drawing.
-Go ahead and insert the block containing all of your title block text including …

Q:  I am using AutoCAD LT 2005 and am trying to use Fields as much as they are capable.  Can I use Fields in conjunction with the Sheet Set Manager?
A:  Unfortunately, Fields aren’t supported in your situation. A list of Field-supported features in AutoCAD 2005 are as follows:
-Use field to count AutoCAD blocks.
-Use field to calculate the area of multiple AutoCAD objects.
-Use field to calculate the length of multiple AutoCAD objects.
-Create the AutoCAD field based on the specific cell of AutoCAD native table.
-Import the specific cell of the …

Q:  My “Date” Field isn’t updating when I regen my drawing.  What am I doing wrong?
A:  A “Date” Field in an attribute for a block doesn’t update dynamically with the calendar date based upon the FIELDEVAL system variable. I’ve also experienced this problem carrying over to Fields within regular text entities without any explanation. However, there are a few easy solutions to this issue.
My favorite is simply changing the “Date” Field to a “PlotDate” Field as it will populate with the current date and/or time when the document is plotted or …

Q:  What if I want to make a Field representing the date the drawing was created? I don’t want it to update everytime I print.
A:  You can insert the Create Date as a Field under the Date & Time category. Simply pick “CreateDate”, select the example you would like to use or modify it to your liking, and select “OK”. Create Date is supported by the TDCREATE and TDUCREATE system variables and it will not change throughout the file’s existence. So when the Fields in you drawing are updated to …