Publishing DWFs with Object Properties from AutoCAD 2006

The premise of this blog is that DWF goes beyond the paper due to the extra data that the files can contain. The first thing AutoCAD users need to know is how to get this extra data into their DWF files. DWF Technical Evangelist, Brian Pene enumerated the steps. AutoCAD 2006 supports object properties when used with detail attributes (not external data or object data). To place object properties in a DWF, you must first have details with attributes inserted in your drawing (DWG).

1. From the Publish dialog, click Publish Options button. This can also be done from the sheet set publish options in the Sheet Set Manager, if you use that to publish your DWF files. The image below shows accessing via the Publish dialog.
   
2. From the Publish Options dialog, select to "Include" Block information. (In the next step, you will set up a block template file).
   
3. Create or load a Block template file to publish your Block/Symbol libraries to DWF. To create a new Block template, select "Create" from the Block template file menu option to display the Publish Block template dialog where you can save your Block template files for loading into your DWF publish option settings.
   
4. From the Publish Block Template dialog, click the "Scan for Blocks" button to display and filter blocks available in the Block source drawings fieldset. You can also add or scan from multiple "Block source drawings" and block definitions. Once you have scanned for Blocks, a list of them will display in the "Block data to Publish" field sets. You can select the blocks you wish to publish and click the "Save" button.
   
5. Back in the Publish options Dialog, with the new Block template file loaded, click OK.
6. Now from the Publish dialog, click the Publish button to publish your block library to DWF. You can also save the list of sheets (to a DSD file) by clicking the Save icon. This DSD file can then be loaded in the publish dialog, to remember your Publish settings and options for the next time you wish to update and publish your symbol libraries.

With these simple steps, you can publish DWF files with object properties. The values of these properties are viewable with the Autodesk DWF Viewer or Autodesk Design Review when the user selects an object. These extra object properties are just one of the ways that applications around DWF go beyond the paper.