About the AutoCAD link

The Meridian Enterprise application link for AutoCAD provides basic functionality for most of the discipline-specific editions of AutoCAD such as AutoCAD Land Desktop, AutoCAD Map 3D, and AutoCAD Architecture. Specific functionality is supported for other editions of AutoCAD such as AutoCAD Plant 3D, and AutoCAD Electrical.

Note    The AutoCAD link also supports specific functionality when it is used with the Meridian Asset Management Module. For information about this functionality, see the BlueCielo Meridian Asset Management Module User’s Guide.

Basic link functionality includes:

• Title block (attribute) data exchange
• File property data exchange, including custom properties
• Sheet set references

• External reference file management
• Redline import to AutoCAD layers

Application-specific functionality includes:

• Project file management
• Assembly/subassembly/part structure management

The most important of these features are title block data exchange and external reference management because they can affect the integrity of your drawings. Some features, such as external reference file management, are automatic and don’t require any action on your part. Other features, such as redline import, are activated at your discretion.

Title block data exchange between AutoCAD and Meridian Enterprise occurs by a link between Meridian Enterprise properties and AutoCAD attributes. If your drawing title blocks (static or dynamic) use attributes for the title block text, that text can be synchronized with properties in a Meridian Enterprise vault. Normal AutoCAD text cannot be linked with Meridian. Meridian Enterprise can support multiple title block standards simultaneously. Title block data exchange is configured by a system administrator as described in the BlueCielo Meridian Enterprise Configuration Guide .

External reference file (X-Ref) management by Meridian Enterprise entails automatically detecting and tracking AutoCAD X-Refs regardless of where the files may reside in a vault, including local workspace. This means that Meridian Enterprise can maintain the referential integrity of X-Refs as you import drawings into a vault, move them, create revisions, and even exchange drawings with other parties using briefcases. When you open a drawing in AutoCAD that has X-Refs , the AutoCAD link finds the current location of the X-Ref files in the vault and updates the locations of the X-Refs in the drawing. The link will even detect if the X-Ref files have been renamed in the vault and will resolve them correctly in AutoCAD.

The AutoCAD link automatically creates and maintains Meridian Enterprise references between drawings and their X-Refs (attached, overlaid, and underlaid). These links can be used to view X-Ref drawings that might be effected by changes to a parent drawing and for other uses.

Note    OLE objects inserted into AutoCAD drawings (for example, Excel spreadsheets) are shown by the viewer. However, references between the documents are not automatically created by the AutoCAD link. You can create references manually as described in Creating references.

Together with the basic integration provided by Application Integration, any file created or used by AutoCAD can be managed in a Meridian Enterprise vault. Conversely, AutoCAD commands that request a file can access Meridian Enterprise vaults for document selection.

Note    The functionality provided in AutoCAD by Application Integration is subject to the general limitations of Application Integration described in About Application Integration.

The commands for using the AutoCAD link features can be found in the Document group of the BlueCielo ribbon in AutoCAD.

Note    The BlueCielo ribbon in AutoCAD is disabled upon startup and must be enabled manually. For instructions on enabling ribbon pages, see the AutoCAD documentation.

The BlueCielo ribbon in AutoCAD supports two display modes.

With rows as shown in the following figure.

Or without rows as shown in the following figure.

To configure the display mode, set the UseRowRibbon value of the following DWORD registry key.

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Cyco\AutoManager Meridian\CurrentVersion\AutocadLink

To show the page with rows, set the value to 1. To show the page without rows, set the value to 0.

Note    If the menu is not visible, set the TurnOnMenuBar value of the following DWORD registry key to 1.

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Cyco\AutoManager Meridian\CurrentVersion\AutocadLink

Some commands are also available within the PowerUser application. The following topics describe each feature.