Chapter 12

Using Attributes

Early in this book, you learned how to create blocks, which are assemblies of AutoCAD objects. Blocks enable you to form parts or symbols that can be easily reproduced. Furniture, bolts, doors, and windows are a few common items that you can create with blocks. Whole rooms and appliances can also be made into blocks. There is no limit to a block’s size.

AutoCAD also offers a feature called attributes that allows you to store text information as a part of a block. For example, you can store the material specifications for a bolt or other mechanical part that you’ve converted into a block. If your application is architecture, you can store the material, hardware, and dimensional information for a door or window that has been converted into a block. You can then quickly gather information about that block that may not be obvious from the graphics. By using attributes, you can keep track of virtually any object in a drawing or maintain textual information in the drawing that can be queried.