AutoCAD
by: Paul Li
Insert or Xref? That is the Question. O
MORE THAN ONE WAY TO SKIN A…
n second thought, I better not go there since I don’t want to offend any Auto “CAT” lovers. But seriously, the Auto “CAD” program from the beginning has always offered more than one way of doing the same thing. For example, with the latest AutoCAD version, command entries can be entered ranging from typing it in on the Command Line to selecting it from icons on Toolbars, Palettes or the Ribbon. Likewise, AutoCAD comes loaded with built-in commands that may generate similarly looking objects like LINE versus POLYLINE or TEXT versus MTEXT. Relative to the aforementioned examples though the reasons to choose one command versus another may be fairly simple. But when it comes down to choosing the command to INSERT versus XREF a Block, this warrants a deeper discussion.
WHAT’S UP BLOCK
To kick off this discussion since AutoCAD categorizes both an Insert and Xref as a BLOCK, it’s important to go over what makes up a Block in AutoCAD. The following is the definition from the AutoCAD help screen: 40 AUGIWORLD Magazine | June 2023
“A block is one or more objects combined to create a single object.” Actually, this description is not 100% accurate or perhaps not 100% complete. A Block actually can be created without a single object in it. For example, you may want to create a drawing with just Layer names assigned with Colors and Linetypes. Or perhaps you may want a drawing to contain just Text style names and or Dimension style settings. In either case there are no objects in this kind of drawing. But such a drawing can still be brought in as a Block and used as a Template to begin a project. Now a Block at the minimum must contain the features shown in Figure 1. 1.
At time of creation (Block Definition) and placement (Insert or Xref): a. A Name – up to 255 characters in length with the following thirteen characters not supported: \ / : * ? ” < > | ; , = ` Note: The Microsoft Windows operating system does support the following four characters in a file name: ; , = ` So when a augi.com