Want to extract geometry and attributes from AutoCAD blocks

stalknecht wrote:

Hello @michaellampi,

Here are some useful links:

https://knowledge.safe.com/articles/27244/viewing-and-inspecting-autocad-dwg-data-handling-b.html

https://knowledge.safe.com/articles/18737/tutorial-getting-started-with-autocad-and-fme.html

https://knowledge.safe.com/articles/27245/basic-dwg-block-handling-example-exploding-block-e.html

Thank you.

 

I read the docs, tried a number of things, thought I had it but the results are generally empty.

 

 

The empty fields are all the "fme_attrib_info..." fields.

 

 

Here are some of the empty fields I'm trying to export:

 

fme_attrib_info_0_.style

 

fme_attrib_info_0_.field_value

 

fme_attrib_info_1_.field_value

 

fme_attrib_info_2_.field_value

 

 

The fields that *aren't* "fme_attrib..." are appearing.

 

 

michaellampi wrote:

Thank you.

 

I read the docs, tried a number of things, thought I had it but the results are generally empty.

 

 

The empty fields are all the "fme_attrib_info..." fields.

 

 

Here are some of the empty fields I'm trying to export:

 

fme_attrib_info_0_.style

 

fme_attrib_info_0_.field_value

 

fme_attrib_info_1_.field_value

 

fme_attrib_info_2_.field_value

 

 

The fields that *aren't* "fme_attrib..." are appearing.

 

 

Please share your workspace and some test data.

 

 

jneujens wrote:

Without exploding the blocks, use an attributeexposer to expose your attributes (like 'DECK', 'FIRE_ZONE', etc.). If that does not work, something else is going wrong and we can have a look at your data?

Thank you! Your suggestion plus some help from Safe Software support got me to where I needed to go.

 

 

Here is what the support team said:

 

You can expose the block attributes when you add the AutoCAD reader by clicking the Parameters button for the reader, and selecting 'Attribute Schema' for the Group Entities setting. This will cause FME to scan the DWG file for all the block attributes, and make then available in Workbench.

 

 

By default, FME will explode the blocks into their source components. This will create multiple copies of some blocks, so I recommend disabling this in the Reader Parameters, by unchecking the Explode Blocks into Entities box. With this disabled, a single point will be read for each block, with the block attributes attached.

 

 

michaellampi wrote:

Thank you! Your suggestion plus some help from Safe Software support got me to where I needed to go.

 

 

Here is what the support team said:

 

You can expose the block attributes when you add the AutoCAD reader by clicking the Parameters button for the reader, and selecting 'Attribute Schema' for the Group Entities setting. This will cause FME to scan the DWG file for all the block attributes, and make then available in Workbench.

 

 

By default, FME will explode the blocks into their source components. This will create multiple copies of some blocks, so I recommend disabling this in the Reader Parameters, by unchecking the Explode Blocks into Entities box. With this disabled, a single point will be read for each block, with the block attributes attached.

 

 

Indeed! Glad you resolved your issues!