Contents

• A note on customizing blocks
• Properties that can be changed
• How these blocks are used
• Changing the way patio doors appear

A note on customizing blocks

It is highly recommended that when you want to customize a block that you make a copy of the original block and put the copy in the "Custom" folder. Edit the copy in the "Custom" folder leaving the original file intact. We also recommend that you place any new blocks you create in the "Custom" folder as well.

Put all new and customized blocks here so they will go with you when you upgrade.

When any of the APS-2008 commands look for a block they look in the custom folder first and then in either the Planblks or Elevblks folders. By doing this you keep a copy of the original file (just in case something should go wrong or you want to go back to the original) and you keep all of your customizations centrally located which makes it easier to take your customizations with you should you move to a new computer. Also, future version upgrades to the APS-2008 software will copy any customizations in the "Custom" folder and use them with the new software saving you the hassle of setting it up again.

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Properties that can be changed

Attribute	Default value	Comments
Layer	0	We don't recommend changing this
Color	BYBLOCK	We don't recommend changing this
Linetype	BYBLOCK	We don't recommend changing this
Lineweight	n/a (all blocks are saved in R13 format)	Can be made byblock in AutoCAD release 2000+
Geometry		See below for how to change the blocks that the C-PATDOOR and O-PATDOOR commands insert.

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How these blocks are used

The blocks that are used for this command are scaled with different X and Y values when inserted. The X value is always 1.0 and the Y value is the width of the door. By inserting the blocks this way they are automatically "stretched" (scaled) to fit the door opening. The blocks that you need to modify do not look like the blocks shown above until the patio door commands scale them. The blocks actually look like this in their raw format:

While this allows us to use only one block for each door swing it does introduce some inaccuracy when the door size is very large or very small. These blocks were drawn using 5'-0" as the size that proportions are accurate. To illustrate this, first a 5'-0" door is shown here:

Now if the door is much wider the proportions are stretched (note the door swing).

For a narrow window the reverse is true.

We feel that this is an acceptable practice because doors drawn in a floor plan are symbolic in nature and therefore do not need to be dimensionally perfect.

If you feel strongly that this practice is NOT acceptable please let us know and we will take it in to consideration for future releases.

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Changing the way the patio doors appear

The patio door commands use 8 different door blocks. The first four door blocks are the four possible door swings with a 90° door, the second four blocks are the four possible door swings with a  45° door.  They are as follows:

aps-pat1.dwg	aps-pat2.dwg	aps-pat3.dwg	aps-pat4.dwg
aps-pat5.dwg	aps-pat6.dwg	aps-pat7.dwg	aps-pat8.dwg

The example below shows the procedure for editing the properties of the "aps-pat1.dwg" block. The other seven blocks may be edited in a similar fashion.

Open a drawing and use one of the patio door commands to insert a 5'-0" door in a wall as shown. The orientation is important so make sure the wall is vertical and the swing of the door is to the right as shown here. When editing these blocks it is also important to insert the correct door swing for the block that you want to edit. Block names and door swings are shown above. The door block shown at right is the "aps-pat1.dwg" block.
Either move the door away from the walls or erase the walls.
Draw a line from the insertion point of the door block to an arbitrary point away from the block. This line is simply to help you locate the insertion point again once the block has been exploded and modified.
Explode the block.  The funny blob that appears in the middle of the block is the height attribute definition. Do NOT erase it!
This is the point at which you may modify the block as needed. Change the way the window or door looks, or whatever other changes you would like to make.
Now make sure that all the lines (and any other objects) are all on layer "0" and the color, linetype, and lineweight for all of the objects are "BYBLOCK". The CHLAYR, CCOLOR, LTYPE, and LNWEIGHT commands can help with this.

We will now create a temporary block. Type in "BLOCK" at the command line and when asked for a block name type in "PATTEMP". When asked for an insertion point select the endpoint of our "insertion point placeholder line" as shown here:

Then when asked to select objects, select all the window objects. (all the objects that are shown white here) Don't select our "placeholder line". (the orange one) 

Now we will insert the block that we have just created, but instead of inserting it normally, we will shrink the Y scale factor so that our block will be only 1 unit tall.

 In this case since our block was 5'-0" (60") tall so we will insert our block with a Y scale factor of 1/60. Our insertion point will be the endpoint of our trusty "placeholder line"

Once the block is inserted we will explode it.

We will now make a  Write-Block.

Type WBLOCK at the command prompt. You will see one of the following:

Release 2000 and later

Release 14 Release 13

Release 13    Locate the "...\APS-2008\Custom" folder for the "Location:", enter the block name and press "OK". (block name is "aps-pat1.dwg" for our example above, enter the appropriate block name for the door swing and type that you have created. See above.) Press <Enter> when prompted for a block name.

Release 14    Locate the "...\APS-2008\Custom" folder for the "Save in:" box, enter the block name and press "Save". (block name is "aps-pat1.dwg" for our example above, enter the appropriate block name for the door swing and type that you have created. See above.) Press <Enter> when prompted for a block name.

Release 2000 and later    Enter the block name (block name is "aps-pat1.dwg" for our example above, enter the appropriate block name for the door swing and type that you have created. See above.) and the location should be set to the "...\APS-2008\Custom" folder. Verify that the source is set to "Objects".

Release 13/14 When asked for an insertion point use the endpoint of our trusty "placeholder line" again. As before, the objects to be selected are all the door objects. (the ones shown here in white.)

Release 2000 and later    In the "Base point" box select the "Pick point" button and select the endpoint of our "placeholder line" again. Next press the "Select objects" button in the "Objects" box and select all of the door objects (the ones shown here in white). Finally press "OK".

We have now created a new patio door block that will be used every time we insert a patio door. Don't forget that there are 7 more blocks that should probably get whatever changes you have made to this block.

Note: All the APS-2008 commands will look in the Custom folder first when searching for a block. This means that you can leave the old "aps-pat1.dwg" block (or whichever block you were working on) in the "Planblks" folder as a backup. 

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