Syncing Block references with Deleted Attributes

Allright, here's one for ya: Let's say we have a block that's defined with
some attributes. Let's say someone goes in and deletes the attribute
definitions from the block. The trouble becomes that the block references in
the drawing still display the attribute information, and you can't launch
battman to sync all the references because the block definition no longer
contains any attributes? How can you sync all the references to the
un-attributed version?

-Chris

 

Chris,
Which version are you on?
I tried to duplicate your scenario in 2k2 and had difficulty.
I created a simple block (a circle with one attribute).
I then copied the block
I then refedited the original block to delete the attribute.
After that, acad acted a little weird (graphically), but i was allowed to use BATTMAN...

What am I missing?
How are your users modifying the block(s)?

 

Here's a quickie Sub that takes a block name as an argument. The sole
purpose is to remove any Attdefs from inserted blocks that are no longer in
the the block definition.

Code:

Sub TestAttSync(blkName As String)
'Requires the MS Scripting Runtime to be referenced
Dim oBlk As AcadBlock
Dim oblkRef As AcadBlockReference
Dim oEnt As AcadEntity
Dim oAttDef As AcadAttribute
Dim oAttRef As AcadAttributeReference
Dim vAtts As Variant
Dim oSS As AcadSelectionSet
Dim iCode(1) As Integer
Dim vVal(1) As Variant
Dim I As Integer

iCode(0) = 0: vVal(0) = "INSERT"
iCode(1) = 2: vVal(1) = blkName
Set oSS = ThisDrawing.PickfirstSelectionSet
oSS.Select acSelectionSetAll, , , iCode, vVal
If oSS.Count > 0 Then
Set oBlk = ThisDrawing.Blocks.Item(blkName)
Dim colAtts As New Dictionary
For Each oEnt In oBlk
If TypeOf oEnt Is AcadAttribute Then
Set oAttDef = oEnt
colAtts.Add oAttDef.TagString, I
I = I + 1
End If
Next oEnt
For Each oEnt In oSS
Set oblkRef = oEnt
If oblkRef.HasAttributes Then
vAtts = oblkRef.GetAttributes
For I = 0 To UBound(vAtts)
Set oAttRef = vAtts(I)
If Not colAtts.Exists(oAttRef.TagString) Then
oAttRef.Delete
End If
Next I
End If
Next oEnt
End If
End Sub

 

This is in Acad2005, using the "edit-in-place" option, and I think it
behaved the same way in 2004. For me anyway I know we'll get drawings in
here that have it done and i've been looking for a way to easily clean them
up.

-Chris