Expert: Bill DeShawn - 1/25/2005

Question
Land Desktop 2005
I just want it to retain layer states after closing the program. They work until I close the drawing and re-open it.

I am working in a drawing and I can setup layer manager in model space or I can do it in paper space by freezing things within a view port, but when I close the drawing all of the layer manager things go away. Upon re-opening all the names still exist, but the error tells me that every layer is not defined in that setting.

Is there a setting someplace that changes this? I do have an Engineers drawing referenced into it? But, I do that all the time and have never had this problem?  

Answer
Layer States are only for the here and now.  Here's why:  Anytime a layer is created or purged, any layer state saved is null and void.  So, if you purge your drawing when you close it, you ruin your layer states.  If you create a layer (even if via a lisp routine you run), you ruin your layer states.  Layer states are very volatile.  One way you can cheat AutoCAD is to save your drawing with the SAVE command give it a name like "LAYERSTATE1", and THEN you can purge your drawing.  When you get back into the drawing, the layer state that was there won't work until you INSERT the drawing you saved away.  But still if you add a layer at anytime, you have to save the Layer State again and SAVE a copy of the drawing to the hard drive.  So, if it doesn't work, it means that the layer state doesn't match the layer state you saved.  You may think you didn't change anything, but you did and that is why it doesn't work.  Somehow, by some means, the layers changed.  The properties of the layers don't matter, but the layer names do.  If you xref another drawing into your drawing, the xref adds all of its layers to the pool - even if the layers have the same names.  You have probably seen already that the xref layer names look like this:  referencedwg|layername.  If the XREF is in there before you save the state - no problem.  But as soon as you insert a block with new layers or attach an XREF, or run a LISP routine that does anything to layer names, your layer state is history.  The best way to manage layers that I have seen up to this point, is to freeze and thaw with LISP routines or script files (or a combination of the two).  It helps to have a good set of rules with regards to making layers.  Such as all the same layer names from one workstation to the other.  For example.  Don't have one guy use a DIM layer and another guy use a DIMENSION layer.  That's totally unproductive and any routine or script you write will have to include ALL everybody's layer names in order to work.  Not very practical.  

I'm a CAD system manager for an architectrual company and the go-to guy for layer management.  We have all floors of a floor plan in one drawing, and manage them with scripts and LISP.  XREF layers, too. It's a little bit of writing, but after that, it's "forever".  Kind of like that guy that sells cookware on TV: "Set it and forget it".

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Bill DeShawn
http://my.sterling.net/~bdeshawn