Esri Mapping File Specification for CAD (MSD) Writer Parameters

Specifies the AutoCAD release the output file will be compatible with.

Specifies the name of the existing AutoCAD DXF or DWG file that contains linetype, layer, shape header, block definitions, and a codepage to be copied to the destination AutoCAD file. Any MSD feature classes in the template file will not be copied.

Note: Many AutoCAD users refer to the template files as prototype files.

The application name that is used when writing extended entity data.

When this parameter is set to Yes (default), only those attributes defined as part of the layer definition will be stored. See the DEF directive for more details.

If this parameter is set to No, most feature attributes (except those that start with autocad) are stored.

Specifies the folder in which to look for shape files (*.shp) from which information about SHAPE entities will be extracted for writing. For more information, see Shapes.

The names of blocks created by the writer during automatic block creation.

This parameter may be used to specify a prefix for block names that are created by the writer during automatic block generation. Automatic block generation occurs for features written with aggregate and other geometries which are best represented by block entities.

This parameter is only used when Use the Block Name to Create Blocks parameter is set to No, and is not used for features that already have an autocad_block_name attribute specified.

The names of created blocks will take the form:

<Block Name Prefix>_<blocknumber>

Note: This parameter is not supported by the RealDWG writer.

Use this parameter to turn on/off internal auditing before the final drawing file is written out.

By default it is set to Yes, so auditing will be performed and any errors found will be fixed. It is recommended that you leave the auditing set to Yes. If you set it to No, it is possible that the output file may not be as per the AutoCAD file specification.

How Auditing Fixes Errors: As an example, if there is a layer name with a space or any other invalid characters, then that layer name will be changed to something like $DDT_AUDIT_GENERATED_(3B). If auditing is turned off, then the layer name will not be changed and when it is audited in AutoCAD, it will return errors such as invalid layer names.

The names of blocks created by the writer during automatic block creation will use the value of the autocad_block_name attribute if the attribute is present and this parameter is specified.

If a template file is used during writing, the block name will be used to try to match an existing block definition in the template file. This is similar to the behavior for insert entity writing. This parameter does not affect the use of the block name for insert entity writing.

If the intention is that only insert entities should be used to try to match block names with block definitions, set this parameter to No.

If not specified, the syntax may be the following, but may also be modified by the usage of the Created Block Name Prefix parameter:

<filename>_<writerkeyword>_FME_BLOCK_<blocknumber>