By Shelley Cannady, ASLA, Connoisseur Gardens

The Attribute Extraction?EUR??,,????'???Select Attributes dialogue box. After checking the blocks you want extracted, you must highlight them one-by-one and check the attributes individually for each block highlighted.

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Last month, Part I of this series explained creating blocks with visible and hidden attributes that could be automatically counted. I used the making of a white oak tree symbol with appropriate attributes for the automatic creation of a plant schedule, but the same process can be applied to creating lighting or electrical plans, irrigation plans, or for cost estimating (if cost attributes are assigned.) Use this method as a guideline and modify attributes and spreadsheets to your firm?EUR??,,????'???s labeling style and table content.

The Attribute Extraction?EUR??,,????'???Select Attributes dialogue box. Uncheck any blocks listed that aren?EUR??,,????'???t trees, or check the ?EUR??,,????'??exclude blocks without attributes?EUR??,,????'?? option. Also, go through the ?EUR??,,????'??exclude general/block properties?EUR??,,????'?? and uncheck the common names. This saves you the step of deleting these as separate columns in your extracted spreadsheet.

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Making The Automatic Table

Step 1: Extract the Block Attributes to an MS Excel spreadsheet

Within this function, there are some variations in the order of the decisions and operations depending on which version of AutoCAD you have. Some versions of AutoCAD may only allow extraction to an AutoCAD table. The following are the command sequences for both * AutoCAD 2005 and 2007.

AutoCAD 2005:

• Tools/Attribute Extraction
• Select drawing: current drawing.
• Settings: uncheck or ignore the choices.
• Use template: No template (there are none available until you make them)
• Select Attributes: Check only the blocks and attributes you want to extract. After checking the blocks you want extracted, you must highlight them one by one and check the attributes individually for each block highlighted (see graphic example below.)
• View Output: The default view is best (it is by block occurrence, the other is by block values).
• Save Template: You can save a template for future use if you like.
• Export: Choose .xls filetype, give it a name and filepath.

AutoCAD 2007:TOOLS/ATTRIBUTE EXTRACTION

• Create Table or external file from scratch.
• Select drawing: current drawing.
• Uncheck any blocks listed that aren?EUR??,,????'???t trees, or check the ?EUR??,,????'??exclude blocks without attributes?EUR??,,????'?? option. Also, go through the ?EUR??,,????'??exclude general/block properties?EUR??,,????'?? and uncheck the common names. This saves you the step of deleting these as separate columns in your extracted spreadsheet. (See graphic example below.)
• Finalize Output: Click the BOTANICAL NAME column header to alphabetize. Check the ?EUR??,,????'??External File?EUR??,,????'?? extraction option, then click the filepath browse button to give it a name, location, and .xls filetype.
• FINISH, and your Excel spreadsheet will be created and saved to the designated location.

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Step 2: Open and edit the MS Excel spreadsheet

Make sure the columns are in the standard order and have proper headings, etc. You may have some unnecessary columns to delete. Don?EUR??,,????'???t worry if you need to add or delete something later. You can continue to edit it even after attaching it to your AutoCAD drawing.

Step 3: Attach the spreadsheet to your drawing

Object Linking and Embedding (OLE)

Set up your planting plan sheet in AutoCAD as you prefer, allowing space for the Plant Schedule. You are going to insert a link to the .xls plant table as an OLE object. After insertion, you can move or scale it like any other object in your drawing, and you can edit it in place simply by double-clicking it, which will retrieve it in Excel. Here are the steps:

• INSERT/OLE object
• Create from file
• Microsoft Excel Worksheet
• OK
• Browse for your .xls plant table
• Check the LINK button
• OK

Arrange it appropriately on your sheet.

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Set The Table!

Making tables in AutoCAD is easy, and your block attributes can be extracted to a table in your drawing if you?EUR??,,????'???d rather not use MS Excel or if your version of AutoCAD doesn?EUR??,,????'???t support external extraction.

First, format a table style to your liking:

• FORMAT/table style/(NEW or MODIFY STANDARD)
• Choose your preferences for each of the DATA, COLUMN HEADS, and TITLE tabs.
• OK/Set Current/Close.
  Note: If you create a text style for a table, set its height to ?EUR??,,????'??0.00?EUR??,,????'?? when formatting it. This way, you can use it with different height s specified for DATA, COLUMN HEADS, and TITLE.
• Next, extract your block attributes:

AutoCAD Table Modification:

Modifying tables in AutoCAD is easy, and there are several approaches. Select the entire table or individual cells and experiment with right-click options, property palette options, and moving the grips themselves. You can even make a KEY column and insert the plant symbol referred to by selecting a cell, then right click/insert block/(select a tree block)/OK.

Shelley Cannady, ASLA, and her partner own Connoisseur Gardens, a boutique landscape design firm. She has taught periodically for the University of Georgia for several years and was hired as an assistant professor starting this August. She is currently teaching advanced AutoCAD.