Layer key editing

By Simon Jones, Autodesk Ltd, June 2009

During the set-up and implementation of AutoCAD Architecture or AutoCAD MEP it may be necessary to make wholesale changes to the layer key styles to conform to office standards. The principle method of editing the layer key styles is through the Style Manager. To do this, select the ‘Layer Key Styles’ option from the layer panel on the Home ribbon tab:

With in the Style Manager, it is then possible to edit the layer key information, such as the key name, it’s description, associated layer name, colour, linetype, etc.:

Alternatively, this information can also be edited using Microsoft Excel. There are a couple of additional (previously undocumented) commands available if you install the AutoCAD Architecture UK Content Tools:

Running the commands

Type the AdtContent_LayerKeyExport command to extract the current layer key information to a txt file. On running the command, select the appropriate layer key style in the dialog:

Then specify a location for the resulting txt file:

Next open up the txt file using Microsoft Excel, by setting the ‘Files of types’ to .txt:

Within Excel select Next in the ‘Text Import Wizard’ dialog box:

Then check the Delimiter is set to Tab:

The select Finish to complete the import into Microsoft Excel:

It is now possible to edit the file in Excel with all the advantages that is offers, such as copy & paste, sorting, search & replace, etc.. Take care though to preserve the column arrangement.

Once the changes have been made, save the changes (as a txt file) and back in AutoCAD, use the AdtContent_LayerKeyImport command to import the changes back into the Layer Key Style.

Please be aware, there is minimal error checking on the imported file. Also, these commands are also available in earlier versions of the AutoCAD Architecture UK Content Tools. The AutoCAD Architecture UK Content Tools for AutoCAD Architecture 2010 and AutoCAD MEP 2010, can be downloaded from: www.aec-area.co.uk/ACA-Utilities.htm