You can audit a drawing file for violations of standards and then fix violations. The Batch Standards Checker audits more than one file at a time.
After you associate a standards file with a drawing, you should periodically check the drawing to make sure it conforms with its standards. This is especially important when more than one person is updating the drawing file. For example, in a project with multiple subcontractors, one subcontractor may create new layers that do not comply with the standards you have defined. In that case, you need to be able to identify the nonstandard layers and fix them.
You can use the notification feature to alert users that a standards violation has occurred while working in a drawing. This feature allows you to fix a standards violation just after it has occurred, making it easier to create and maintain drawings that comply with standards.
You can use the CHECKSTANDARDS command to view all standards violations in the current drawing. The Check Standards dialog box reports each nonstandard object, along with any suggested fixes.
You can choose to fix or ignore each reported standards violation. If you ignore a reported violation, it is flagged in the drawing. You can turn off the display of ignored problems so that they are not reported as violations the next time you audit the drawing.
If no fix is provided for the current standards violation, no item is highlighted in the Replace With list, and the Fix button is not available. If you fix a standards violation that is currently displayed in the Check Standards dialog box, the violation is not removed from the dialog box until you click the Fix or the Next button.
Once the entire drawing has been audited, the Checking Complete message is displayed. This message summarizes the standards violations that were found in the drawing. The message also shows the violations that were fixed automatically, the violations that were fixed manually, and the violations that were ignored.
You can use the Batch Standards Checker to analyze multiple drawings and summarize standards violations in an HTML report. To run a batch standards audit, you must first create a standards check (CHX) file. The CHX file is a configuration and report file; it contains a list of drawing and standards files, as well as a report on a standards check.
By default, each drawing is checked against the standards files that are associated with it. Alternatively, you can override the default and choose another set of standards files to be used.
After the batch standards audit is complete, you can view an HTML report with details of the audit. You can also create notes that are included in the HTML report. This report can be exported and printed. In a collaborative environment, you can distribute the report to drafters so that they can fix any problems with their sections.
You can set options for notification in the CAD Standards Settings dialog box and with the STANDARDSVIOLATION system variable. If you select Display Alert upon Standards Violation in the dialog box, then an alert is displayed when a violation occurs while you work. If you select Display Standards Status Bar Icon, an icon is displayed when you open a file associated with a standards file and when you create or modify nonstandard objects.
By default, if an associated standards file is missing or if a violation occurs while you work, a pop-up message appears in the lower-right corner of the application window (the status bar tray).
You should check a drawing for standards violations using the Check Standards dialog box before using the notification options. This prevents triggering a notification alert carried over from a previous session. After a drawing has been checked and fixed, the notification options trigger an alert only if a new violation occurs.
If you select Display Alert upon Standards Violation, you are notified of violations when you create or edit only named objects (linetypes, text styles, layers, and dimensions). Standards violations that do not affect named objects do not trigger a notification alert. Also, if a named object was marked as ignored in the Check Standards dialog box, that object no longer triggers a notification alert, even though the named object is nonstandard. Changing nonstandard named objects, such as setting a nonstandard layer as current, does trigger a notification alert.
After an alert is displayed, you can choose to fix or not fix the violation. Choosing to fix the violation opens the Check Standards dialog box. If it is already open, the dialog box addresses the specific violations that just occurred. You can resume your previous work in the Check Standards dialog box after you respond to the most recent standards violations. Alternatively, if you do not want to fix violations when alerted, you can click Do Not Fix to dismiss the alert.
If you open a drawing that has one or more associated standards files, an Associated Standards File(s) icon is displayed in the status bar. If an associated standards file is missing, a Missing Standards File(s) icon is displayed in the status bar. If you double-click the Missing Standards File(s) icon and then resolve or dissociate missing standards files, the Missing Standards File(s) icon is replaced by the Associated Standards File(s) icon.