
	Applies To

	Product(s):	gINT Logs, gINT Professional, gINT Professional Plus
	Version(s):	N/A
	Environment:	N/A
	Area:	Report-Multiple General
	Subarea:
	Original Author:	Kathleen Holcomb, Bentley Technical Support Group

Background

A block is a named group of entities. When you change a drawing library block or internal block, all the drawings in the library that refer to the block are automatically updated. They make creating reports easier, give them consistency, and make them easier to maintain.

Working With Blocks Part 1: Introduction

There are two kinds of blocks that located in the library but are external to the report and included in it by reference—these are drawing library blocks and internal blocks. These two kinds of blocks allow you to re-use entities.

The distinction between drawing library and internal blocks is that drawing library blocks can be used in any reporting or drawing application, whereas internal blocks are specific to a particular reporting application such as logs, fences, or graphs (that is, “internal” to the application). A log block can be used in any log report in the library, but not in a fence, and so on. A drawing library block does not have this restriction. Also, drawing library and internal blocks are accessed using separate parts of the giNT interface. In all other regards, drawing library and internal blocks operate identically.

Drawing library and internal blocks can be included (or nested) within other drawing library and internal blocks (subject to certain restrictions).

There is a third kind of block which is merely a grouping mechanism within a report. These are called private blocks. A private block does not include anything by reference into a report from outside the report, and doesn’t exist separately from the report. Rather, the entities in the private block are part of the report, but are grouped together in a way that enables you to hide, reveal, or move them together in response to data conditions.

These three kinds of blocks, and how they can be used, are illustrated below:

As you can see from the illustration, a drawing library block (“Dwg Lib Block 1”) has been included by reference in two log reports and one fence report. Similarly, a log (internal) block named “Log Block 1” is in use in both log reports, but cannot be used in fences. A fence (internal) block named “Fence Block 1” is in use in both of the fences, but cannot be used in the logs. Finally, a private block has been created in Log Report 2, but it bears no relationship to anything else in the library—it is just a group of some of Log Report 2’s entities.

Working With Blocks Part 1: Introduction

Background

Working With Blocks Part 1: Introduction

See Also