AutoCAD 2008 User's
Guide > Create and Modify
Objects > Control the
Properties of Objects > Work with
Layers >
Use New Layer Notification
You can be notified when new layers are added to the drawing before certain tasks, such as plotting, saving, or restoring a layer state.
It is important to be aware of new layers that have been added to a drawing or to an attached xref without your knowledge. You can avoid potential problems, such as plotting objects that were added to the drawing by the addition of a new layer.
You can control when to evaluate a drawing for new layers. You can specify which commands, such as SAVE or PLOT, trigger the program to check the layer list and alert you of new layers. This can include new layers that have been added to attached xrefs.
The LAYEREVAL and LAYERNOTIFY system variables work together to control whether the layer list is evaluated and when notification occurs. Both system variables are saved in the drawing so you have control over which drawings are checked for new layers. When a project is started, it may not be necessary to know when new layers have been created. For drawings that are nearing completion, it may be important to be aware if new information has been introduced into the drawing from the addition of new layers.
By default, LAYEREVAL is set to detect any new layers that have been added to attached xrefs but not in the drawing. LAYERNOTIFY is set to notify you of new layers when opening the drawing, when loading, reloading, or attaching xrefs, or when restoring a layer state. To make changes to these settings, you can either use the system variables or the Layer Settings dialog box.
When layer notification is turned on, an Unreconciled New Layers icon displays on the status bar.
At that time, you can choose to view the new layers by right-clicking the icon and clicking the View Unreconciled New Layers link from the menu. When you click the link, the Layer Properties Manager opens, and the Unreconciled New Layers filter is automatically selected. All new layers that have been added to the drawing or attached xrefs are displayed in the list view.
The new layers are unreconciled because they have not yet been reviewed. The process of manually marking them as reconciled removes them from the Unreconciled New Layers list. (See Reconcile New Layers for more information.) Until you reconcile the layers, the notification bubble will display each time the command that triggered the notification is used.
By using the LAYERNOTIFY system variable or the Layer Settings dialog box, you can turn off layer notifcation but still have the layer list evaluated for new layers. Although the notification bubble does not display, you can still check for new layers by right-clicking the alert icon on the status bar. From the shortcut menu, click the View Unreconciled New Layers option.
New Layer Notification for Plotting
When the PLOT command is set to display new layer notification in the Layer Settings dialog box, a dialog box is displayed instead of an icon on the status bar. A message informs you that there are new layers in the drawing since the layer list was last checked for new layers. Click Yes in the dialog box to view the new layer list in the Layer Properties Manager before plotting.
When saving a drawing as a template (dwt) file, you can choose to save the layers in the drawing as unreconciled or reconciled in the Template Options dialog box. By default, all layers are saved as unreconciled, so that when a new drawing is started using the template, a layer baseline is not yet created until the drawing is first saved as a .dwg file.
If the template file is saved with all layers as reconciled, a layer baseline is created. That means when new layers are added to the drawing that is created from the template file, any new layers that are created are unreconciled and a new layer notification will display when the drawing is first saved or plotted.
When opening multiple drawings at the same time, an alert displays for each drawing that contains new layers. This behavior occurs if layer notification is turned on and the OPEN command is specified in the LAYERNOTIFY system variable for each drawing.
Unreconciled layers are new layers that have been added to the drawing and have not yet been acknowledged by the user and manually marked as reconciled.
