The System Variable Editor

Systems variables, they can really mess thing up, and they can really give you a lot of power. Thing is, it's difficult to seek out an unknown variable. It seems you are in the know or you're not.


Well, welcome to the club, because I have your key to knowing it all about system variables. All you need is Express tools loaded. If it is not loaded, and you have the privilege to do so, go to Add/Remove programs. Select AutoCAD 200X and select change.



From there select Add Remove features.


Then select Express Tools and "Will be installed on local Hard Drive". Yes and OK your way out of that and express tools will be installed.



From the Express menu select Tools and then System Variable Editor. Or type sysvdlg on the command line.
This will invoke the the magical Systems Variables dialog box. On the left you can browse through all the available system variables. Well, in 2007 you can. In some older versions, I think 2004-2005 not all were supported. On the right see the current value, provide a new value, see a description where it's saved... dang! It's everything you ever needed.

In the screen shot above I located a cool little variable called mtjigstring. This guy let's me define the preview text in the mtext dialog. I just changed it to the company name. It's the little things in life, isn't it.

There is a lot more for you to discover in here, so I leave it to you. Go forth and find that variable that saves the day.

Thinking Outside the Block

Dynamic blocks have been out there for a while and I think we have all had some idea of what we can use them for. That being said, I think there are many uses for dynamic blocks that don't initially come to mind. I have had a few ideas of my own and some suggested that have really gone far in making the team more efficient. I thought I would share some.

Scheduling
Schedules have repeating rows and columns. If you are not using OLE to bring in Excel files or attribute extraction, using the array and stretch functions in a dynamic block is a great way to add rows and columns on the fly. A word of caution, if you want to use attributes in a dynamic block, the location (in Properties) must be locked to be selected for most anything.

Title Blocks
Seriously, you can have one title block that uses visibility states to morph into all of your standards sizes retaining information through the use of fields. Nest into that an expanding revisions area.

Symbology
North Arrows that rotate the true North, Flipping and stretching section cut symbols. Visibility states can be used to add proper graphic scale to drawings.

Detailing
Give standard details some flexibility by nesting in varying hatch patterns and standard arraying or size changing components. Even standard notes for different situations can be tied to a visibility state.

The point I hope to make is that a door, table or window dynamic block is great, but there are many more options with this powerful new tool if you think outside the block.