Free Label

What

Draws an AutoCAD leader reporting as a label the value contained in an attribute of the indicated part defined by the user when the command is launched.

Why

To display up to three attributes associated with the part's metadata in the drawing, through a new configuration panel.

How

By pressing the command, the following configuration panel is displayed, allowing you to define the three lines of attributes to be shown in the drawing.

NOTE: Multiple attributes can be placed on the same line by using the composition mask.

With the Free Labeling command, as soon as a part is selected, a non-modal dialog is displayed showing:

  • the name of the selected part,
  • the attributes (up to a maximum of three) used to compose the labeling mask,
  • a preview of the resulting label text.


The dialog does not block the normal execution of the command and therefore introduces no slowdown. At the same time, it provides the ability to enter or modify the attribute values required to generate the label. Any changes made are applied to the part attributes only when the label is inserted into the drawing.

Selecting the "Edit Label" option allows the user to enter custom label text, effectively decoupling it from the part attributes. This override disables automatic updates for the inserted label.

This requirement also originates from the P&ID environment, where annotation of drawing symbols must be performed as quickly as possible. This new functionality provides several additional workflows:

  1. Use of library parts with incomplete metadata
    Example: a valve symbol with no predefined attribute values. The required data can be assigned during the labeling process.
  2. Recovery of existing drawings
    A new part can be created by grouping the symbol and then launching the labeling command. The values entered during labeling automatically populate the part metadata.
  3. Use with "Initialize Part"
    A clean symbol is loaded from the library. Standard attributes are assigned using Initialize Part, while context-specific attributes (for example, a TAG) are completed using Free Labeling.

A new labeling-related variable has been added to the Options dialog. This setting allows automatic updating of labels whenever part attributes are modified. By default, this option is disabled.