Pattern ID

Select the pattern, RMB 'Edit' to get the dimensions governing the pattern and the text that says "11 protrusions". Then do 'Info>Switch Dimensions'. This will give you the symbolic pattern ID to use in your note which is looking for pX. (You can also select the 11 and do RMB 'Properties' to show the symbolic value of the pattern.) Your drawing should reference &pX, but show up, on screen, as '11'. You must supply the narrative text: &p6 HOLES which will display as 11 HOLES.

Yup, you're absolutely right, you can't show the pattern definition of a fill pattern as you can with the dimensional one. That's because it doesn't pattern by varying placement reference dimensions by some increment. Try to convert a fill pattern to a dimension driven one. In some cases, it might be possible but it was always very awkward. The fill pattern was invented to do a type of patterning that was difficult or impossible otherwise. Take the spiral pattern, for instance. It gives you a center to center spacing, a radial increment and a starting angle. But, from this information, you couldn't convert this pattern to a dimensional one. The generation of the spiral is internal and each instance does not move by varying the original placement reference dimensions. To prove it to yourself, double click any hole in the spiral pattern to get its dimensions: they all show the original placement dims, unvaried. There is no pX to show. I think it's the sheer convenience that presents this limitation. Previously, to get a similar result, it was necessary to generate a spiral curve, pattern an axis that was placed offset from one end, then do a reference pattern of a hole. But at least there were some, albeit awkward, dimensions to 'Edit', that would show up as parameters with 'Info>Switch Dims'. None of the internal parameters of the fill pattern are accessible with 'Edit' or any way outside of the pattern Dashboard.