Understanding the AutoCAD link

Title block data synchronization is the primary configurable feature of the AutoCAD link. The link can synchronize attribute values in drawing title blocks with Meridian document properties. It is able to do this for AutoCAD and its different editions (Mechanical Desktop, Architectural Desktop, and so on) without requiring AutoCAD to be installed. For more information on AutoCAD attributes, see the AutoCAD documentation.

Meridian can synchronize property values automatically at key events in a document’s life cycle and manually using commands in the Meridian client applications and provided by add-ins installed in the linked applications. The synchronization events are determined by the document’s type, as described in Configuring title block updates. You configure the AutoCAD link by specifying:

• Which blocks in drawings contain attributes to synchronize
• Which attributes in each block to synchronize
• Which Meridian property to map to (synchronize with) each attribute
• Which direction to synchronize each attribute, from AutoCAD to Meridian or from Meridian to AutoCAD

Title block synchronization is designed to synchronize one title block per drawing file. Therefore, the feature does not work well when one drawing file contains multiple title blocks (sheets).

Lastly, the AutoCAD link can synchronize AutoCAD file (also known as Summary) properties and AutoCAD sheet set properties with Meridian document properties.

Note    The link for AutoCAD Electrical requires a user interface extension (IcAcadElectricalExt.dll) to be registered as described in Registering custom interface extensions. Apply the extension to the document type assigned to the AutoCAD Electrical project file (.wpd), and ensure that it can be deployed to the computers of AutoCAD Electrical users. The extension is only supported by the 32-bit Meridian Enterprise clients. Extensions are not needed for the other AutoCAD versions.

You configure the AutoCAD link by editing an INI-like text file that is stored in a hidden area of the vault. The file can be edited in Configurator, as described in the following topics.