Add intelligent text fields to a drawing

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A field is a special type of

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text annotation that contains instructions to display data

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that you expect to change during the life cycle of a drawing.

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When a field is updated, the latest data is displayed,

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for example, in the exercise file on the model tab,

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you see a floor plan for a hospital,

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various areas have been filled with solid hatch color coded to indicate their use.

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Since the program can report the area of a hatch object.

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You can use fields to create a legend that reports

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the total area for each of the five usage categories.

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Since fields are typically inserted as part of a text object

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before you begin to create text on the status bar,

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make sure the annotation scale is set to 1/8 inch equals 1 ft.

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The scale at which the floor plan view will

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most likely appear on the paper space layout.

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Next on the home ribbon

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in the layers panel, make sure text is the current layer

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switch to the annotate ribbon

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in the text panel,

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expand the textile drop down

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and in the style gallery select annotative if it

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is not already set as the current textile.

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Now you are ready to create text,

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start the multi line text command.

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When the program prompts you to specify the first corner

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zoom into the legend in the lower right

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and then use object snap tracking

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to track to the right from the upper right corner of the first color swatch,

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select a point

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and then specify the opposite corner.

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As soon as you do the ribbon changes to the text editor, contextual ribbon

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in the style panel set the text height to 1/8 inch

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if that is not already set as the text height.

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Now you are ready to create the text

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type patience space

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and an open parenthesis.

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Then on the contextual ribbon

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in the insert panel, click the field tool

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to open the field dialogue

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with the field category set to all

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the field names. List displays a list of all available fields.

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Since you want to add a field that will report the area of a hatch object,

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expand the field category, drop down and choose objects.

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Now the list displays just those fields related to objects,

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select object.

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When you do a select object button appears adjacent to the object type field.

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When you click this button,

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the dialogue box temporarily disappears so that you can

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select the object whose data you want to track.

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Click to select the hatch object inside one of the patient rooms.

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The dialogue box reappears

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in the object type field. You can see that you selected a hatch object.

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And in the property column,

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you can see a list of all the properties associated with hatch objects.

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Select area

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in the format list.

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You can choose how you want the field data to be formatted.

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By default, the field will use the current display units,

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select architectural,

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expand the precision drop down

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here. You can specify the number of decimal places.

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By default.

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The program will use the same number of decimal places as the current display units

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change this to zero.

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As you make each change, you can see the results in the preview field.

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Click additional format to open the additional format dialogue.

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You can use the tools in this dialogue to add additional formatting parameters.

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For example, you could change the conversion factor

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which is currently set to convert square inches into square feet.

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In the additional text group box, you can add a prefix or suffix,

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expand the thousands drop down and choose comma

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to add a comma between the hundreds and thousands place in large numbers.

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Tools in the zero suppression group box,

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let you suppress leading and trailing zeros,

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click OK to close both dialogue boxes,

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then type a closing parenthesis

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and then click close text editor.

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You have just added a field as part of the text.

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Although the field appears in the drawing with a shaded background,

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the background only serves as a visual identifier.

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So you can differentiate between fields and regular text.

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The background does not show up when you print the drawing,

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the appearance of the field, text is controlled by the text style setting,

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just like regular text

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on your own.

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You can repeat these steps to add labels

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and fields for the other four usage categories.