© 2011 Autodesk How to Excel at Data Extraction Martin Duke CADD Manager – Aurecon - Queensland

© 2011 Autodesk Class Summary  Data extraction is a powerful feature of AutoCAD that allows the user to liberate their drawing data for reuse. Using the Data Extraction tools data from one drawing can be exported to a number of formats such as Microsoft Excel and Access, and then linked back into AutoCAD. Or, it can be directly linked to a table in the drawing. Data extraction tools offer the serious power user an incredibly powerful suite of tools for exchanging data, eliminating data entry errors, and for increasing efficiency and effectiveness.  This class will explain the workings of data extraction with real world examples of how it can be applied in a production environment. The course will cover the full range of capabilities of the system include Extracting, linking and advanced table formatting topics.

© 2011 Autodesk Learning Objectives At the end of this class, you will be able to:  Understand the importance of reusing data  Improve reliability of data by minimising the potential for human error  Extract data from drawings for reuse in tables or other drawings  Link your drawings to Excel spread sheets  Create tables from extracted data And along the way we’ll have a little fun.

© 2011 Autodesk Key Concepts  Blocks  Attributes  Tables  Data Links  Data Extraction

© 2011 Autodesk The Importance of Reusing Data  Manual data entry is prone to errors and extremely inefficient  Single point of truth for data on drawings  Ease to maintenance  Change management

© 2011 Autodesk Blocks  Blocks are a collection of objects such as lines and arcs that are joined into one named object.  Blocks should be used wherever you need to show the same object more than once or you need to group the data for clarity and consistency  Blocks have the following properties  Insertion point (X, Y, Z)  Scales (X, Y, Z)  Rotation angle  Blocks can be nested within other blocks.  Model space and paper space are just special blocks.

© 2011 Autodesk Block - Commands  BLOCK – Creates a block  INSERT – Inserts a block into drawing  EXPLODE – converts a block into it’s component parts.  BEDIT – Allows in place editing of blocks.

© 2011 Autodesk Attributes  Attributes are used to attach variable data to a block.  Attributes are similar to text, they can be annotative.  Attributes should be used where you need to attach data to a block, the drawing title block is a common example of a block with attributes.

© 2011 Autodesk Attribute - Commands  ATTDEF– Create a new attribute definition  INSERT – Inserts a block  ATTEDIT – Edit block attribute values  EATTEDIT – Enhanced attribute editor  BATTMAN – Block attribute manager  ATTDISP – Globally controls visibility of block attributes in a drawing.

© 2011 Autodesk Attribute - Variables  ATTREQ– Controls whether to use defaults or prompt for values  ATTDIA – Controls whether to display a dialog box for values.

© 2011 Autodesk Data Links  A Data Link is a reference to an external Excel File  Created with  the DATALINK command  Copy from Excel and Paste Special into AutoCAD  Data Links show up in the External Reference Palette

© 2011 Autodesk Tables  A table is an object that contains data in rows and columns.  A table object can be created.  As an empty table  From a data link  From data extracted from a drawing(s)  Contains much of the functionality that Excel users will be familiar with.  A table can be linked to data in a Microsoft Excel spread sheet and update automatically whenever the source data changes.

© 2011 Autodesk Tables - Commands  TABLE – Creates an empty table object  TABLEDIT - Edit text in a table cell  TABLEEXPORT - Exports data from a table object in CSV file format.  TABLESTYLE - Creates, modifies, or specifies table styles.

© 2011 Autodesk Tables - Variables  FIELDEVAL - Controls how fields are updated  FIELDDISPLAY - Controls whether fields are displayed with a grey background  TABLETOOLBAR - Controls the display of the Table toolbar  CTABLESTYLE - Sets the name of the current table style

© 2011 Autodesk Data Extraction – More than just Attributes  Enables the extraction of data from a drawing or drawings for documentation such as a parts list, or Bill of Materials or setting out data.  Eliminates mistakes caused by transposing the data manually.  Can be used to populate tables in the drawing or output to a spread sheet.  Can be linked to external data  Multiple Categories

© 2011 Autodesk Attribute Extraction Commands  ATTEXT - old school command used to create ASCII files.  DATAEXTRACTION - more advanced and can be used to link data to tables  DATALINK – Displays the Data Link Manager  DATALINKUPDATE - Updates data to or from an established external data link  DATALINKUPDATE_W – Updates the data source with data from the drawing

© 2011 Autodesk Data Extraction  The Data extract command DATAEXTRACTION starts the data extraction wizard which take you through eight steps: Download the latest data and update the table Upload the data from the table to the source document Extract data from the drawing Create a data link in the drawing

© 2011 Autodesk Attribute Extraction Variables  DXEVAL - Controls when data extraction tables are compared against the data source, and if the data is not current, displays an update notification

© 2011 Autodesk Data Linking and Matching  Data linking is the process of selecting a Microsoft Excel spread sheet with the purpose of merging all or some of its contents with extracted drawing data.  Data matching creates a relationship between two sets of data;  the data in a column from the extracted drawing data  the data in a column from an Excel spread sheet.

© 2011 Autodesk Data Extraction options  The user can extract the data to a XLS/XLSX/MDB/CSV file for reuse somewhere else  The user can extract the data and place it on the current drawing as a table  The user can extract the data and place it on a different drawings

© 2011 Autodesk Data Extraction  The Data extract command DATAEXTRACTION starts the data extraction wizard which take you through eight steps:

© 2011 Autodesk Worked Through Scenarios  Extract data from this drawing onto this drawing  Extract data from another drawing onto this drawing  Extract data and merge with external data  Extract data from multiple drawings  Extract data for quantities

© 2011 Autodesk Questions…

© 2011 Autodesk Autodesk, AutoCAD* [*if/when mentioned in the pertinent material, followed by an alphabetical list of all other trademarks mentioned in the material] are registered trademarks or trademarks of Autodesk, Inc., and/or its subsidiaries and/or affiliates in the USA and/or other countries. All other brand names, product names, or trademarks belong to their respective holders. Autodesk reserves the right to alter product and services offerings, and specifications and pricing at any time without notice, and is not responsible for typographical or graphical errors that may appear in this document. © 2011 Autodesk, Inc. All rights reserved.