A dimension feature gets most of its properties from its style. However, you can override some aspects of a dimension feature's style. The following are the properties that can differ between a dimension feature and its style:
- Dimension line display
- Dimension line arrow symbol display
- Extension line display
In addition to overriding these style properties, you can also change a dimension feature's style, specify a custom value to use for the dimension text instead of the length of the dimension feature, and change the extension line angle.
Dimension features can be modified using the Attributes window. Dimension features have a special Attributes window to allow you to easily modify their various properties. You can also use the standard attributes list to modify the properties of a dimension feature or modify the values of fields you have added to your dimension feature class. You might need to resize the window to see all the items.
Each property of a dimension feature that you can change in the dimensioning Attributes window can also be changed by altering the values of some of its fields. A list of the fields you can modify for a dimension feature and how they correspond to its properties is below:
Field | Property |
STYLEID | ID of the dimension style. |
USECUSTOMLENGTH | A value of 0 indicates that the feature's length is used for the dimension text; 1 indicates that a custom value is used for the dimension text. |
CUSTOMLENGTH | Value used for the dimension text if USECUSTOMLENGTH is 1. |
DIMDISPLAY | Null indicates that both dimension lines are displayed, 1 indicates that only the start dimension line is displayed, 2 indicates that only the end dimension line is displayed, and 3 indicates that none of the dimension lines are displayed. |
EXTDISPLAY | Null indicates that both extension lines are displayed, 1 indicates that only the start extension line is displayed, 2 indicates that only the end extension line is displayed, and 3 indicates that none of the extension lines are displayed. |
MARKERDISPLAY | Null indicates that both dimension line end arrow markers are displayed, 1 indicates that only the start dimension line end arrow marker is displayed, 2 indicates that only the end dimension line end arrow marker is displayed, and 3 indicates that none of the dimension line end arrow markers s are displayed. |
TEXTANGLE | Rotation angle of the text specified in radians. You can rotate the text separately only if you have defined a dimension style that does not have the text set to be parallel with the dimension line. |