Common Group Codes for Entities
 
 
 

The following table shows group codes that apply to virtually all graphical objects. Some of the group codes shown here are included with an entity definition only if the entity has nondefault values for the property. When you refer to the group codes by entity type, the lists of codes associated with specific entities, keep in mind that the codes shown here are also present.

NoteDo not write programs that rely on the order shown in these DXF code tables. Although these tables show the order of group codes as they usually appear, the order can change under certain conditions or may be changed in a future AutoCAD. release. The code that controls an entity should be driven by a case (switch) or a table so that it can process each group correctly even if the order is unexpected.

When a group is omitted, its default value upon input (when using OPEN) is indicated in the third column. If the value of a group code is equal to the default, it is omitted upon output (when using SAVEAS). For information about abbreviations and formatting used in this table, see Formatting Conventions in This Reference.

Group codes that apply to all graphical objects

Group code

Description

If omitted,

defaults to…

-1

APP: entity name (changes each time a drawing is opened)

not omitted

0

Entity type

not omitted

5

Handle

not omitted

102

Start of application-defined group

“{application_name” (optional)

no default

application-defined codes

Codes and values within the 102 groups are application-defined (optional)

no default

102

End of group, “}” (optional)

no default

102

“{ACAD_REACTORS” indicates the start of the AutoCAD persistent reactors group. This group exists only if persistent reactors have been attached to this object (optional)

no default

330

Soft-pointer ID/handle to owner dictionary (optional)

no default

102

End of group, “}” (optional)

no default

102

“{ACAD_XDICTIONARY” indicates the start of an extension dictionary group. This group exists only if an extension dictionary has been attached to the object (optional)

no default

360

Hard-owner ID/handle to owner dictionary (optional)

no default

102

End of group, “}” (optional)

no default

330

Soft-pointer ID/handle to owner BLOCK_RECORD object

not omitted

100

Subclass marker (AcDbEntity)

not omitted

67

Absent or zero indicates entity is in model space. 1 indicates entity is in paper space (optional).

0

410

APP: layout tab name

not omitted

8

Layer name

not omitted

6

Linetype name (present if not BYLAYER). The special name BYBLOCK indicates a floating linetype (optional)

BYLAYER

347

Hard-pointer ID/handle to material object (present if not BYLAYER)

BYLAYER

62

Color number (present if not BYLAYER); zero indicates the BYBLOCK (floating) color; 256 indicates BYLAYER; a negative value indicates that the layer is turned off (optional)

BYLAYER

370

Lineweight enum value. Stored and moved around as a 16-bit integer.

not omitted

48

Linetype scale (optional)

1.0

60

Object visibility (optional): 0 = Visible; 1 = Invisible

0

92

Number of bytes in the proxy entity graphics represented in the subsequent 310 groups, which are binary chunk records (optional)

no default

310

Proxy entity graphics data (multiple lines; 256 characters max. per line) (optional)

no default

420

A 24-bit color value that should be dealt with in terms of bytes with values of 0 to 255. The lowest byte is the blue value, the middle byte is the green value, and the third byte is the red value. The top byte is always 0. The group code cannot be used by custom entities for their own data because the group code is reserved for AcDbEntity, class-level color data and AcDbEntity, class-level transparency data

no default

430

Color name. The group code cannot be used by custom entities for their own data because the group code is reserved for AcDbEntity, class-level color data and AcDbEntity, class-level transparency data

no default

440

Transparency value. The group code cannot be used by custom entities for their own data because the group code is reserved for AcDbEntity, class-level color data and AcDbEntity, class-level transparency data

no default

390

Hard-pointer ID/handle to the plot style object

no default

284

Shadow mode

0 = Casts and receives shadows

1 = Casts shadows

2 = Receives shadows

3 = Ignores shadows

no default