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Is there any way that when you go to add a void to a siding hatch for a window or door that it will search and use the perimeter outline of the symbol?

No, but you can add a knockout entity that will knockout the hatch. It works really well.

If you do use Knockout you must pay very close attention to the order that it is in - whether included within a symbol or by itself.

Not sure what you mean by knockout. I was trying to see if I could use continuous search to create a void in a hatch pattern on a symbol in my case a window and a roof vent. I am guessing that it won't work and I have to use the create function to get a void of a symbol.

Not sure what you mean by knockout

"Knockout"was introduced in DataCAD 14, but has yet to make it into the Reference Manual (it does get a mention in the Toolbar Action Codes, but there is nothing explaining what it is or how to use it).

You will find the Knockout option in a few different menus, such as Text, Curves, 3D Polygons, Slabs. I think that most if not all of these settings are independent of each other.

The revision history describes that knockout 'masks entities behind it with a "transparent" solid fill'.

Both entity creation order and layer order are important in determining the knockout behavour:

• Items on the same layer as the knockout are obscured in they were created before the knockout entity (although that can be modified if they are re-linked to a different group and maybe by other actions as well?)
• Items on layers that are earlier in the layer list will be obscured by knockouts on later layers (you can re-order layers in the Layer Manager if required)
• When a layer is active, entities that are knocked out by entities on other layers are displayed. But you need to be aware of this as they will not actually print even though they are displayed.

The above is based on my observations when I played with Knockout a bit at the time of writing my Space Planner macro (which has a knockout option for room labels it creates). What I have written may not be complete, and may not even be totally accurate (in which case I hope that somebody will correct it!)

I hope that at some stage DataCAD will update the reference manual to document this and various other enhancements that have been added over the years, as a lack of documentation does make it difficult for new users (and for people like you and me ... I did not use any of the versions between 11 and 19). In the meantime you can glean a bit of information from the revision history included under the Help menu.

Best Regards,
David H.

KnockOuts, and other features that have been added since DataCAD 10, are documented in the What's New in DaaCAD? manual. You can access this PDF document via Help, What's New?