This Tutorial presents the procedure to create new custom User Defined Project Properties (UDPP) in the Project Wizard. It also supplements the basic method of manually entering a default project property value with options for linking that value to a global variable or another type of variable.
As you will see below, these properties may be used either for reports or use in your AutoCAD blocks.
This Tutorial applies to build 15.5 and greater.
Click the "Project" tab on the Toolbox palette and click "Project Properties."
Click User Defined Project Properties and right-click in the Property Value column of the row User-Defined Property. In this Tutorial, we want to add a project level property that we will use to enter the base door style.
Click "Add Project Level Property" from the menu.
Click in the Value column for the row Property Name and enter "BaseDoorStyle" for this example. This is the name of your custom property and should be the name you select for your custom property. This is required data.
Click in the Value column for the row Property Value and enter "Contempo Overlay" for this example. This is the value for the custom property named in the step above. It should be the default value for the property. This is required data.
This results in two entries in a single row or the UDPP screen, as shown below. This is your new custom property.
Repeat these steps for each property needed.
There are optional values that expand the capabilities of the User-Defined Project Properties. You can set a reference to a global variable, to a wizard variable, to a spec group name, or a project variable name within the Properties box. See the following screenshots for these optional values.
The first is "Global Variable Name" and should be used if you want a default value populated from a specific global variable value. Select the global variable name from the list in the Value column and click the button OK, then Update.
To display the value of that global in the Project Setup screen grid, in the Project Setup screen right-click in a blank area of the screen and click Update Database.
The second optional value is "Project Wizard Variable Name" and should be used if you want a default value populated from a specific project wizard variable value. Select the wizard variable name from the list in the Value column.
The third optional value is "Specification Group Name" and should be used if you want a default value populated from the global variable located in a specific specification group. Select the spec group name from the list in the Value column.
The fourth optional value is "Project Variable Name" and should be used if you want a default value populated from a project variable. Select the variable name from the list in the Value column.
As mentioned at the outset of this article, the UDPP may also be used in various AutoCAD blocks. The two properties below specifically apply to data that you want the project wizard to populate to AutoCAD title blocks. Still, the principle applies to any AutoCAD block of your choice.
Title Block Name: Enter the AutoCAD block name in the Value column that you want this property to update in the project drawing. To edit multiple blocks, enter multiple block names separated by the | pipe symbol (|).
Title Block Attribute Name: Enter the AutoCAD attribute name in the Value column that you want this property to modify in the project drawing. These names must exist in the block specified in the previous step.
The remaining options on the right-click menu are as follows.
Show Template Project Properties to display a list of all the template level properties. These are the properties that will display by default each time a new project is created.
Edit Project Level Property to display the editing screen for the existing properties.
Refresh From Template to reset all the user-defined project properties to their default state as defined in the list of template properties. This command may delete properties that are not defined as template properties.
Make Template Property to add a custom project property to the list of template level properties available when a new project is created.