Smart Leader

Win32 and 64, English

A>V>C>

MLeaders look for an object under the arrow and fill the text for itself.

Version History

General Usage Instructions

To create a smart leader you need use standard Autodesk® AutoCAD® command MLeader (MLD), specify the insertion point and leave the text empty. This will signal the program that you need to mark the leader as "smart" and start finding objects under the arrow. As the same signal you can enter the text ‘?’ or letter ‘n’ (from ‘name’ word) or any text with one of the substitutions, enclosed in percent symbols ’%’. After that the leader will always be considered "smart" and will be updated on command LeaderUpdate.

Note that the intelligence of leaders is not like yours. The leader may find nothing or find not what you expected. If the leader has not found the object, the text will be replaced with the template. To avoid errors the found object is highlighted.

Please be aware

Use only one of the topmost object. Hidden under it are not taken into account. But you can turn on the search option "Many objects"
In the usual mode, you can (and need to) put the leader in the center of the surfaces of solids, where there are no edges. Even if AutoCAD does not display the surface (the wireframe mode), the program will still find a solid.
If program configured to find inside blocks, but the inner object has no name (or other specified parameter), then the leader will display the block name.
Measurement of the solid follows the same rules as the program Sawing Table: measured dimensions of the smallest box which will fit it solid. You can mark the solid as the sweep (Plugin Names required).
When you change the drawing, the content of the leader itself will not change. Use the LeaderUpdate or AVCUpdate command to update smart leaders.
A multileader can have a few arrows, but for finding objects use only first one. If you are adding arrows to the leader, the object will be searched under the first (oldest) arrow. When you delete the first arrow the program will look for the object under the remaining arrow..
Nothing is impossible to find on the view made by the ViewBase command. The fact is that such views do not reflect your details, but a special hidden block. Therefore, for using Smart Leaders use viewports on layouts, but not ViewBase.
Special leaders of AutoCAD Mechanical add-on do not grow wiser either. I strongly do not recommend using my plug-in in conjunction with AutoCAD Mechanical.

The program can display many properties of objects found under the arrow of the leader. To select the properties you need, use substitutions. Standard substitutions are described here. If the program does not find the standard substitution, it will look for a block attribute with that name or dynamic block parameter. All substitutions are written only in small letters. And attributes of blocks should be written in the same register as they are written in the block.

Follow the messages on the console. There may be program messages.

Screenshots

Commands

Ribbon/Toolbar Icon	Command	Command Description
	AVCUpdate	Auxiliary command for setting output messages about the progress of the program . In the trial mode it shows the activation window.
	ALD	Abbreviation for AvcLeaDer. Dialog for setting of Smart Leader and then quickly placing leaders in 2 clicks
	-ALD	Minus version of the settings. Works in the AutoCAD console. When smart leader are enabled, you can quickly place leaders

Installation/Uninstallation

The installer that ran when you downloaded this app/plug-in from Autodesk App Store will start installing the app/plug-in. OR, simply double-click the downloaded installer to install the app/plugin. You may need to restart the Autodesk product to activate the app/plug-in. To uninstall this plug-in, exit the Autodesk product if you are currently running it, simply rerun the installer, and select the "Uninstall" button. OR, click Control Panel > Programs > Programs and Features (Windows 7/8.1/10) and uninstall as you would any other application from your system.

Please read FAQ if any problem

Uninstallation

To uninstall this plug-in just delete folder AVC_Leader.bundle. After uninstalling you can delete Windows registry key «CU\Software\AVC\AVC_Leader»

Additional Information

Native search method

There is a built-in search function for drawing objects below the point that the user clicked in AutoCAD. Emulating clicks is very strange and so I wrote my own version of the object search. But I'm not sure about its stable operation, so I left AutoCAD users with the option to switch to the native search mode.

Native search has a number of features:

Always ignores annotations, but not annotative blocks.
Finds only 1 topmost object and can not find all objects below the point.
It is impossible to select surfaces of solids.
In the 2D Wareframe mode (visual style) it is obligatory to indicate part contour lines. In the center of the circle will fail. Use EndPoint snap. But it mode you can make a leader from internal (unseen) parts.
In the shadow modes (any except 2D Wareframe) you can find solid, poking it in the midst of the faces. But it is impossible to find the invisible objects and will not work for any 2D objects.
Emulating a click requires switching the sheet and displaying all the objects on the screen, so updating all leaders will switch all the sheets and will overwhelm the current view.
Switch to the native search globally for all leader styles. You can not set one style to normal search, and another to native.

Use the native search only if the main method causes problems.

Known Issues

If you copy smart leader by _Copy command then automatically update only the first copy. Other copies can be updated by the command LeaderUpdate
I recommend disabling the AutoCAD option "Make new dimensions associative" (system variable DIMASSOC should put 1 instead of 2) because when it is enabled, leaders behave unpredictably. It has nothing to do with the work of my plugin.
When you display the sizes of objects inside the blocks, the block scale is NOT taken into account. Those if you call _Scale for a block, or change the ScaleX property of the block, all the dimensions of the parts inside the block will remain old! Unit Factor is also not taken into account.
There are features and limitations on the use of fields in leadres.
Notes and symbols AutoCAD Mechanical't know how to disable their visibility and therefore tightly close the objects. (The problem occurs when using the native search method).
One user encountered damage to DWG files by using Smart Leaders in Mechanical 2017. I strongly do not recommend using my plug-in with the AutoCAD Mechanical add-in.

Contact

Company Name: A>V>C>

Company URL: https://sites.google.com/site/avcplugins/

Support Contact: avc.programming@gmail.com

Author/Company Information

A>V>C>

Support Information

Please write your questions and concerns in comments to the program on this site. I will reply as soon as possible.

I'll be glad to hear from you any suggestions and comments to further improve program.

avc.programming@gmail.com

Version History

Version Number	Version Description
2022.03.01	AutoCAD 2023 support. The first version of the new licensing system. Communication with the A>V>C> database server. New A>V>C Options Palette instead of the settings dialog.
2020.2	Added 2022 support (No change in version number).
2019.3.4	Compatible with AutoCAD 2020 New activation system
2018.9.1	New substitution %id% A new method for finding objects under the arrow of the leader: independence from the display mode, ignoring the back objects, searching for subobjects New options Not Annotations, Surface of solid, Many objects Quick leaders placement Updated setup dialog and configuration command
2018.3	Compatible with AutoCAD 2019 Individual settings for each leader style The leader with the block content (on the end) grew smarter - now you can put the part numbers in circles. There was an opportunity to set a lot of attributes in the block at the end of the leader and fill them with different properties for different templates New way to highlight objects - Blinking selection Settings Dialog on command ALD Switch leader styles in the settings dialog Drop-down lists with substitutions for easy template customization A separate template for "other objects" New command -ALD for console configuration Now, instead of the values of the properties of objects, substitutions can be replaced with AutoCAD Fields New option in Common Options: Use fields
2017.3	• Compatible with Autodesk® AutoCAD® 2019 • New version numbering • New substitution - %asymv%, %tech%, %thickness% • New activation window • Fixed: Error “accore.dll” on AutoCAD 2017 and 2018 x32
2.1	Fractional length formats Correct name for dynamic block Show any dynamic block parameter AutoCAD 2017 compatibility Demo version Support Texture solid property (from Names 2.0 plugin)
1.6	A new algorithm of search of objects Search under annotations Saving the settings in the leader Fixed crashes on Autodesk® AutoCAD® Mechanical annotations The avcpdate command enable to select leader
1.5	First public version