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Every CAD user uses text labels in their drawing to count or sequentially number drawing objects. There is no direct command to do this in CAD. The 'GT_TC - Text Counter' command in GeoTools is designed for this purpose.
Most of you are aware of the fact that the GT_TC command is used to create simple incrementing text objects. There are many more options and variations this command offers, if you would take a moment and explore the 'Settings' dialog (see below).
When you start the GT_TC command for the first time, you get a command-line prompt which looks like this:
Next String Value = 1
Settings/Layer: <Pick counter location>:
If you pick points one after the other on the screen, the command will place text objects numbered 1, 2, 3, 4 and so on until you press ENTER. This is the simplest and direct way of creating incrementing labels.
To delve a little deeper into this command, start the GT_TC command again and type "S" for Settings. The Settings dialog box opens up and is shown on the right here --->
You can see that there are some basic text settings like height, rotation angle etc and some advanced options as well.
First, let us see what the 'Increment Type' radio button does. You can see that there are two choices - 'Numeric' and 'Character'. You can choose between having a numeric increment like 100, 101, 102, 103...... or character increments like A, B, C, D..... When you get past Z, it becomes AA, AB, AC..... So, you can have true alphabetic series or sequential numbering as required. Now, isn't that useful in every day CAD?
The 'Prefix' / 'Suffix' option helps create more complex strings. For example, if I set Lot # as the Prefix and (East) as the Suffix, I can easily create incrementing numbering which looks like this: Lot # 1 (East), Lot # 2 (East), Lot # 3 (East).....and so on. Here, the only part of text that increments is the number embedded between the Prefix and Suffix.
Let us do something more with this command now. Imagine that you want the incrementing text to be block attributes instead of text objects. That is easy too. Simply select 'Block Attribute' as the 'Counter object to create' in the dialog box and you are done. You will now be prompted to select a Block Name and an Counter Attribute and the selected block will be inserted at each picked point with its attributes incrementing with each insertion.
It does not end here. There is more you can do (or Redo) with this command. Let us assume you made a mistake in the text numbering. You do not need to create them all over again. Just set the new counter values and check the option which says "Update underlying object, if present" and the command will automatically look for the text (or attribute) at the picked point and update it with the new counter values. A new counter object is not created. Isn't that what you wanted?
The screenshot above shows the results of an incrementing text and block attribute sequence.
Finally, some really advanced series editing, thanks to a German client of ours who is a professional landscape designer and a power user of GT_TC command - he asked us to provide an option to update the numbering (add into an existing series) without having to redo everything i.e add into and update an existing series automatically. That is what the Insert in existing series does. It can be used to introduce a new numbering in a series of 'already-numbered' text.
As you can see in the screen-shot above, one of the lots was split into two and an additional label created for the new lot. The other labels automatically adjusted themselves. Similarly, there is a 'Delete from existing series' option to complement it. I think I need not explain what it does. You can check it out yourself. Click here to download sample DWG shown above.
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