2011

Use Fields in Text
A field is updatable text that is set up to display data that may change during
the life cycle of the drawing. When the field is updated, the latest value of the
field is displayed.
Insert Fields
A field is text that contains instructions to display data that you expect to
change during the life cycle of the drawing.
When a field is updated, the latest data is displayed. For example, the value
of the FileName field is the name of the file. If the file name changes, the new
file name is displayed when the field is updated.
Fields can be inserted in any kind of text (except tolerances), including text
in table cells, attributes, and attribute definitions. When any text command
is active, Insert Field is available on the shortcut menu.
Block placeholder fields can be used in block attribute definitions while you're
working in the Block Editor.
Change the Appearance of a Field
The field text uses the same text style as the text object in which it is inserted.
By default, fields are displayed with a light gray background that is not plotted
(FIELDDISPLAY system variable).
Formatting options in the Field dialog box control the appearance of the text
that is displayed. The options that are available depend on the type of field.
For example, the format for date fields includes options for displaying the day
of the week and the time, and the format for named object fields includes
capitalization options.
Edit a Field
A field is part of a text object and it can be edited from a text editor. The easiest
way to edit a field is to double click the text object that contains the field and
then, to display the Field dialog box, double click the field. These operations
are available on the shortcut menus as well.
If you no longer want to update a field, you can preserve the value that is
currently displayed by converting the field to text.
The field expression, consisting of escape characters and a field code, is shown
in the Field dialog box but cannot be edited.
892 | Chapter 25 Notes and Labels