2004

746 | Chapter 26 Access External Databases
Find and Correct Link Errors
It is recommended that you periodically check the links in your drawings to
update or delete broken links. AutoCAD provides a Synchronize option to
analyze the links in a drawing that are based on a particular link template.
After you run the Synchronize option, AutoCAD provides a list of detected
errors in the Synchronize dialog box. Certain errors (such as a resized column
in the source database table) can be fixed directly from the Synchronize
dialog box. Other errors (such as links that point to non-existent records)
must be fixed in the source database table.
To synchronize the links in a drawing
1 In the dbConnect Manager, right-click a link template.
2 On the shortcut menu, click Synchronize.
If no errors are detected, AutoCAD displays a message. If there are errors,
they are summarized in the Synchronize dialog box.
3 In the Synchronize dialog box, select an error and do one or more of the
following:
■ Choose Indicate Drawing Objects to highlight the linked graphical
objects.
■ Choose Fix to fix the broken link.
■ Choose Delete to delete the broken link.
4 Repeat step 3 for any additional errors.
5 Choose Close.
Export Link Information
You can use AutoCAD to export links contained in a drawing. This is useful
when you have multiple graphical objects linked to a single database row.
Suppose, for example, that you want to prepare a bill of materials that
summarizes the number of different light fixtures in an AutoCAD drawing.
The external database that your drawing is linked to does not contain this
information. All the database provides is a list of the various light fixtures
that make up its record set. The table has no knowledge of the number of
instances of individual light fixtures in your AutoCAD drawing. If you want
to prepare a summary report containing this information, you have to export
the links in your drawing.