SYMBOLS - VARIABLE TEXT?

David,

Here is what ProHelp 2001 has to say about user-defined symbols: To Define a Symbol

1. Choose Symbol... from the DFT CREATE menu. The DRAFT SYMS menu displays.

1. Choose User Symbol. The SYMBOL TYPE menu displays the following options:

- Definition?Defines/redefines a symbol.

- Instance?Creates an instance.

1. Choose Definition. The DWG SYMBOL menu displays the following options:

- Define?Defines a new symbol.

- Redefine?Redefines an existing symbol.

- Delete?Deletes a symbol definition from the drawing.

- Write?Stores a symbol to disk.

- Symbol Dir?Changes a symbol directory.

- Show Name?Shows the name and directory path of a symbol whose instance you picked on a drawing.

1. Choose Define; then specify the name of the symbol.

1. Specify geometry to be included in the symbol.

2. For generic symbols, create a tree definition structure.

1. Define symbol attributes.

2. Specify the origin or leader attachment point.

1. If variable text is present, enter the default text.

2. Store the symbol to disk.

If you search for all entries containing 'symbol' in ProHelp, you'll find all you need to create one with variable text. Or, if you want, I can email you a revision symbol I have made (variable text, just as you want it).

Thanks. I figured it out with help from prouser.org. Apparently you have to surround the variable text with backslashes. No mention of this in the help files tho!

Dave, redefine the symbol. Insert a note, probably centered, in the symbol that looks like this with any text between:

\num\

The back slashes mark the text as variable so that when you go to the 'Variable text' page, it will show your current content, 'num'. Replace this with the number or letter you want. Don't forget to 'write' the symbol to store it for later use.

I'm really surprised, though, that the config.pro options PRO_SYMBOL_DIR doesn't already point to a directory where you could find such a symbol. The systems come with a fairly extensive library of bom, weld, surface finish, electrical symbols, etc. I'd try a system search, see if I could find them and see if any in the list looked like what I needed before monkeying around, creating and editing symbols.

David Janes