Blocks with a * in front

I have some blocks with a * in the front of the name (*U14)

How can I change the name with VBA

Thanks

Carsten

 

You shouldn't or else you stand to loose any internal interaction with
those blocks. For example, *U?? represent hatch patterns and if you rename
them, the hatch patterns will loose their associativity. Same goes for *D??
which are dimensions. If you are building some sort of app and don't want
to see them, just filter your app to ignore any blocks that start with an
asterisk [*]

-- Mike
___________________________
Mike Tuersley
CADalyst's CAD Clinic
Rand IMAGINiT Technologies
___________________________
the trick is to realize that there is no spoon...

 

In my (hobbyist) experience it's impossible.
*Ublocks are anonymous, i.e. not referenced;
the *U_code is assigned automatically by AutoCAD every time you enter the drawing; so *U243 may became *U987 next time; apparently it's not possible to write *Ublock on hard disk too : the Wblock dialog box prevents you from choosing anonymous blocks. You ought to write a sub that reads the *Ublock subentities (lisp language, sorry) and draws them again, building a new *referenced* block with the name you want

 

since I'm on holiday, I took a look to sutphin's book (sorry for my benigni-like language; besides, I don't like benigni)
---
I'd suggest the following:
a) explode the *U block via .explode method, which returns a variant array of a *copy* of all the entities of the original *Ublock
aa) delete the original *Ublock if you like
b) create a new empty referenced block with the name you like
c) populate your new_referenced_block with the .CopyObjects method, which expects a variant array (!) of entities

 

Thanks for your help.

benigni-like language; besides, I don't like benigni)of a *copy* of all the entities of the original *Ublock

expects a variant array (!) of entities

 

hi!
I tried your problem the other day, just out of curiosity;
(maybe you have already solved it);
this sub makes a new block
from the original [scaled][rotated][mirrored] blockreference,
*not* from the original block; then it substitutes
the old blockreference for the new

Sub k()
Dim n As Double
Dim BkR As AcadBlockReference
Dim pk As Variant
Dim lst As Variant
Dim NewName As String
Dim NewBk As AcadBlock

On Error GoTo EXIT1
ThisDrawing.Utility.GetEntity BkR, pk, vbCrLf & "Pick a BlockReference..."

'here i look for a blockname not used yet;
'(it's a rough control, but working)
Do
Err.Clear
n = n + 1
NewName = "User" & Format(n, "00#")
'you can easily change the code above to check a generic name, got via dialogbox
On Error Resume Next
ThisDrawing.Blocks.Item NewName
Loop Until Err <> 0

Err.Clear
On Error GoTo EXIT1
pk = BkR.InsertionPoint
'here I copy the inner objects of the original block
lst = BkR.Explode

Set NewBk = ThisDrawing.Blocks.Add(pk, NewName)
ThisDrawing.CopyObjects lst, NewBk
If (ThisDrawing.ActiveSpace = acModelSpace) Then
ThisDrawing.ModelSpace.InsertBlock pk, NewName, 1, 1, 1, 0
Else
ThisDrawing.PaperSpace.InsertBlock pk, NewName, 1, 1, 1, 0
End If

'eventually i delete the original copied objects and block
For n = 0 To UBound(lst)
lst(n).Delete
Next
BkR.Delete
Exit Sub
EXIT1:
MsgBox Err.Description
End Sub