Trimming an xcliped block

I posted this question yesterday in the general AutoCAD 2005 section but it may be more suited to this group.

Is there any way to 'apply' an XCLIP boundary to a block or bound xref? i.e to DELETE the non selected area to result in a trimmed block or set of entities. (as with a microstation file fence command)

At the moment I get by, by subtracting entities from a block or xref using XEDIT and using EXTRIM to trim objects touching the boundary but this is a pretty long winded and clumsy way of doing it and means I still have to manually delete things that are not touching the boundary.

I am about to set about trying to write a macro that will do it in lisp/vba. Has anyone got leads or samples (or even better a complete macro)

Or does AutoCAD / ADT 2005 do this already and I am missing something?

John

 

Yes. You can xclip block references.

 

Thankyou,

I am aware of that. However when you explode the block the XCLIP is removed and the hidden elements revealed. There are occasions e.g for contractrual and in archiving where you want the non selected portion of the clip DELETED (not simply hidden as with an xclip)

John

 

If you are trying to hide privileged information, then you
need to change the block definition rather than clip the block
reference.

I am not aware of a built-in command that changes the block definition
by trimming. If you have ADT2005, there is the lineworktrim command
that works with linework but not dimensions and nested blocks.

I am sure that it is possible to write a command to do what you want.

Using refedit and trimming seems the simplest.

For limiting privileged information release, the simplest option would
be to publish your drawing set.

Regards,
Doug