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#81825 by DavidBergman
Tue Dec 27, 2022 6:34 pm
Just when I thought I'd figured out a few things.....

Text, dimension and even Print Preview settings are not holding. I set my dimension and text settings the way I want them (and save the Dimension Style), but then when I go to a new or different part of the file (usually with a different scale), nothing is the way I left it. I then try reloading the saved Style, but it's not how I have set it.

And even Print Preview sometimes gets unchecked.

I'm sure it's something I'm doing incorrectly, but I can't figure out what.

(BTW, is saving Dimension Styles somewhere in the manual? I can't find it.)

Text Scale is selected. I set the scale for the part of the drawing/detail I'm working (and have even saved it as a GTV), but then much of the time the settings are wrong. I try reloading the save Dim Style, but that doesn't help. The settings are not what I saved. Text (regular text, not in dimensions) often goes to zero. Other settings may have gone to zero or otherwise not how I have set them.

[I've also noticed, btw - and not to further confuse matters - that when I attempt to layout a GTV in MSP, there is nothing there (no outline box) until I save the detail (even though I can't see it), and then click the detail, at which point I can see it and then position it correctly.]

Am I fundamentally misunderstanding something?
#81842 by Joseph Baron
Wed Jan 04, 2023 5:32 pm
Hi David,
Dimstyles were new in DataCAD 10.05 according to DataCAD's Revision History PDF.
The dimstyle file is basically an INI type file that saves settings for future recall. You can open the dimstyle file in a text editor to see the contents. It may help you to see the file to determine what is not getting set right.

When you open a new file the dimension settings are set by the default file that you are using.

The dimstyle saved settings are relative to the current plot scale when you save the dimstyle file. So if you save a dimstyle when at 1 1/2" scale then load it when at 3/4" scale it may have different results dependent on your settings.

There are two important settings to consider when saving dimstyles.

Text Scale which sets the txtuseplt=TRUE dimstyle setting.
Lock Size which sets the LockTextSize=TRUE dimstyle setting.

If you save a dimstyle file with Text Scale ON (or LockTextSize=TRUE) then you should load it with DataCAD set to the same PLOT SCALE that was used when the dimstyle file was saved, then change the plot scale to what is needed. For simplicity you could use full scale when creating dimstyles or incorporate the saved scale into the dimstyle filename.

I hope this helps.
#81843 by DavidBergman
Wed Jan 04, 2023 7:14 pm
Thanks Joseph! I do have TextScale ON in the Text settings in Dimensions (as well as in the regular text settings), but had no idea there were things to check or set manually in the DimStyle file. In there, LockTextSize is set to FALSE, though txtuseplt is set to TRUE. (I would have thought those would be check boxes when saving the DimStyle. How did they get set?)

So it sounds like I should manually change the LockTextSize setting.

I’m attaching the DimStyle file in case that’s useful. I had to make it into a PDF because it wouldn't allow me to attach the actual file.

And I don’t recall what scale the file was set to when I created the DimStyle. (I figured it didn’t matter since it would then adjust to whatever scale the file was at as I drew, e.g. the saved scale in a GTV.) Perhaps the problem was that I didn’t have the scale set to full size when I created the Dim Style. So maybe I should recreate it (perhaps in a new clean aec). And then, when I load the saved Style, do I need to have the file I’m working on set to full scale? AND manually check the settings in that DimStyle file?

Thanks again.
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#81857 by Joseph Baron
Wed Jan 11, 2023 12:05 pm
David,

I've never had to manually set anything in a dimstyle file. I just remember that when creating dimstyle files it is created using the current dimension settings.

I suggested that you take a look at them to better understand what they are and because you mentioned things were not as you had saved them.

Dimstyle files have been useful for us when importing AutoCAD files for further editing.
#81872 by DavidBergman
Sun Jan 15, 2023 11:59 am
Hi Joseph. I'm not quite clear what you mean. I've set up everything the way I want it: dimension line lengths, text size, arrows, etc. and saved it as a dimstyle. Then, when working within a file, I'll frequently find that the settings have changed and general text size - not just in dimensions - has gone to zero. Reloading the saved dimstyle doesn't do anything. The only thing I can do is manually reset everything, which is time consuming and annoying.

Sometimes when I've reloaded the dims style, the settings are way off. Sometimes they are zero.

I've looked at the dimstyle in Notepad, and the settings look correct.

This happens frequently. I think it may be triggered when switching to a new GTV, but I'm not sure.

Often, I find that Print Preview has also turned itself off. I don't know if that is related or if maybe it provides a clue.

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