This example is a useful illustration of the general steps required to modify a DataGroup Annotation Cell.
Please Note: Some of the steps in this may require administrator access to the dataset files involved or may be a task restricted to your CAD/BIM Management team.
The text fields used by DG Annotation Cells must have a specified length (like many text strings used in computing).
If the room number that is entered when a space is created exceeds the specified number of characters in the DG Annotation Cell selected for use by Auto Annotation the room number will be displayed as a string of hash characters (just like Excel does when the column is too narrow to display the values, there's a clue!).
You might ask why does the Space tool allow me to use a Room Number String that is longer than the DG Annotation Cell can accommodate? Well, it helpfully avoids a hard constraint at the placement stage, the Annotation Cells can be changed downstream to accommodate the requirements of the design. The Space label artifact will display the Room Name in the 3D model at placement independently of the Annotation Cell that is used downstream:
To change the label used by Auto Annotation on your 2D sheets first identify the DG Annotation Cell that has been set as the default for your project or company dataset. Open the 'Annotate Tool Settings' dialog:
Expand the DataGroup Annotation item and scroll down to Spaces:
The Cell Name currently assigned to Spaces will be shown. Keep this dialog open.
(Note I dragged the Cell column to the left to fit it in the screen grab, it defaults to the right hand side)
Next pick 'Manage DataGroup Annotation Cells'.
This will open the DG Annotation Cell library and the Manage DataGroup Annotation Cells dialog, when you finish by clicking the Close button, the library will close and your previously active file/model will open:
Here you can see all the cells available in the library listed in the Current Annotation Cell menu.
You can choose to modify an existing cell, copy an existing cell for modification or create a new cell.
I'd recommend copying and modifying an existing cell.
Use the Copy Current Model tool to do this:
Here I've copied Advanced Space Label-Metric:
and renamed it accordingly in the same way as any other model would be renamed.
The existing Number label only contains 4 characters:
Delete this existing label.
Scroll down the DataGroup Information list, select Number, change the Length to 10:
Click the Place Text button; the text string 'Number ____ ' will be at the cursor for placement:
Note, the symbology of the various elements in the cell can be set just like any other cell, so for instance, if you wish to display Room Numbers separately from the rest of the data in the cell, change the element levels as required.
When finished click the Close button to return to your active file/model.
Go back to the Annotate Tool Settings dialog and change the cell to 'Advanced Space Label-Metric 10 character number':
Click OK.
In a sheet or Drawing model use the 'Refresh Automatic Annotations' tool or key-in 'bbannotate byvisibility' to regenerate the labels.
Alternatively, next time you open the file with Enable Auto Annotations set to On the labels will be regenerated.
See Also:
Essential reading Batch Update of Cached Visible Edges (CVE) in AECOsim Building Designer