AutoCAD: An Area That Still Needs Improvement
Field of Dreams
In June of 2021, I wrote an article titled An AREA That Needed Improvement. I pointed out that AutoCAD 2005’s new FIELD command provided a powerful dynamic feature. With this command users can now link properties like an object’s area value to a text field. Any time the object changes in size the area value in the text field would update automatically. Though the Field command is a dream come true, it is very complicated to use. The graphical user interface (GUI) required a number of mouse clicks to select an object to link. An additional dialog box would have to appear one on top of another to format the selected value. Worst of all, it was not intuitive at all on how to link a property of multiple objects. This caused me to develop back then and share with the AutoCAD community for free the Area Object Link (AOL) app. Since that time, AOL has gone through a major upgrade to fulfill this area that still needs improvement. I will introduce these new features in this follow up article.
AOL’s New Features
Briefly, the new AOL v5.0 offers the following four major GUI driven command modules:
- AOL or Area Object Link – this is the original AOL GUI linking objects such as Circles, Ellipses, Hatches, closed Plines and Regions’ Area values but with a number of added improvements
- POL or Perimeter Object Link – this uses a similar GUI as AOL to link objects such as Circles, Pline Ellipses, closed Plines and Regions’ Perimeter values
- APL or Area Perimeter Link – this offers a GUI combining AOL and POL to link objects’ Area and Perimeter values
- AOT or Area Object Table – this offers a GUI to link all the inserted Area and Perimeter values into a Table with the option to include a total summation.
I’ll now proceed into more detail as to what each of these four AOL command modules entail.
1. AOL vs AOL
First of all, the upgraded AOL (Area Object Link) command module like the previous version still offers a simple to use GUI presenting various options in a single window to create a link to the object(s) area value (see Figure 1).
Figure 1
There are four major additions to the AOL command module:
1. At the top of the GUI under the Area Object Commands section is added the Draw Command. This command first executes the PLINE command for you to complete a closed polygon. Afterwards the Block Attribute is Inserted automatically linking to the drawn PLINE’s Area value. This saves you the steps of having to first manually enter the PLINE command to draw the shape. Then secondly, launch the AOL app. And third, you still have to select the drawn object to complete the link (see Figure 2).
Figure 2
2. Also, under the Area Object Commands section is added the Select command. This command gives the user the ability to select already drawn objects such as Circles, Ellipses, Hatches, closed Plines and Regions and have them sequentially labeled and automatically linked to their Area values. This is a major time saver. Instead of having to tediously select the objects one by one, now in one fell swoop all the selected objects are labelled and Area linked (see Figure 3).
Figure 3
3. In the middle of the AOL GUI next to Suffix Type now offers a section dedicated to adding a Prefix Type before the Area value. You can select from a list of built-in prefixes or choose Custom and enter your own (see Figure 1).
4. At the bottom of AOL’s GUI is the new Settings button. This opens up a separate AOL Settings GUI that offers the option to save the following Block Attribute settings as default:
- Layer – this selects a Layer where the Block Attribute labels are to be placed when Inserted into the drawing.
- Font – this selects from any of the True Type Fonts (ttf) located in your Windows OS and AutoCAD Fonts (shx) found in the AutoCAD support path to be used as the default Font for the Block Attribute.
- Height & Width – this offers the option to select paper space sized height and width factor values to be used as default by the Block Attribute.
These Block Attribute Settings open up the possibility of implementing your own favorite look and feel to the Block Attribute label (See Figure 4).
Figure 4
2. POL vs AOL
Second, the new POL (Perimeter Object Link) command module offers a similar GUI as the AOL command module. All the options including the newly added ones are located exactly in the same position under similarly labeled sections: Perimeter (vs Area) Object Commands, Measuring Units, Insert Options, Prefix & Suffix Types. I purposely designed the POL GUI based on AOL so there’s a little to no learning curve. This makes it very easy and straight forward to use this new command module to link to the objects’ Perimeter value (see Figure 5).
Figure 5
Unlike AOL, the main difference with POL of course is with the linked value. Instead of getting a squared format value representing an object’s Area, POL links to the object’s Perimeter value which is in linear units. Also, since the Hatch and Ellipse objects do not provide a Perimeter value, I programmed POL to exclude these object types from the selection process. Lastly, when the drawing is in Imperial units and the Perimeter Length selected is in Feet under the Suffix Type section, I included a toggle button labeled “Ft-In” to return the value in Foot and Inch format. In the Imperial unit standards of measurement Architects tend to design and layout their drawings showing measurements not in decimal feet. But instead, sizes and dimensions are typically shown in foot and inches. So, offering this feature in POL is a must (see Figure 6).
Figure 6
3. APL: AOL & POL
Third, the new APL (Area Perimeter Link) command module combines the best of both worlds of AOL & POL. When inserted the APL Block Attribute label shows both the Area, and the Perimeter linked values. APL’s GUI is designed so that many of the selections can be commonly applied to both. For example, the commands under the Area Perimeter Commands section are effective for both the Area and Perimeter. But when it comes to selections that are specific to one vs the other, I clustered the Area related selections on the left and the Perimeter related selections on the right. This makes it possible for you to have the cake and eat it (see Figure 7).
Figure 7
Because of APL’s duality of purpose, there are some options where the user must choose to either implement the command on an Area or Perimeter, but it cannot be both. For example, under Area Perimeter’s Link command a drop-down menu is made available for the user to select to either link to the objects’ Area or Perimeter. Another feature I made available to the user with APL is the ability to show the Area value in a different unit than the Perimeter value. So, the user can choose to show the Area in Square Feet while the Perimeter value can be selected to be shown in Inches (see Figure 8).
Figure 8
4. Table for Three
Fourth, I wanted to offer a command module where all the linked Areas and Perimeters can be listed, sorted alphabetically by Space Name and tabulated with a grand total. I developed the new AOT (Area Object Table) command module to meet this purpose. AOT gives the user an option to select either the AOL, POL or APL Block Attribute labels linking the values to generate a Summary Table. AOT’s GUI offers options for you to customize the Table’s Title and Column Headings (see Figure 9).
Figure 9
In addition to placing a Table object into AutoCAD I also wanted to offer the user the option to export the Table directly into Excel as an added bonus. Lastly, I programmed AOT so the cells in the Table are composed of Fields. This makes it possible so that at any time when AOL, POL and APL’s Area or Perimeter value changes the values in the Table also update automatically (see Figure 10):
Figure 10
Dream Come True
This most recent upgrade to AOL 5.0 fulfills a number of wishes & dreams on my plate. I wanted to enhance this app to help fulfill the needs of the vast community of AutoCAD users. Actually, a number of these added features came as requests from AutoCAD users like you. I'm glad AOL can fill the gap since this is still an area that needs improvement in AutoCAD.
