DimStyle object

A group of dimension settings that determines the appearance of a dimension.

The active dimension style determines the appearance of new dimensions that are created in the drawing. To change the style of an existing dimension, use the StyleName property found on the dimension.

To control the settings of the current document overrides, use the dimensioning system variables. See "System Variables" in the AutoCAD Command Reference for a list of dimensioning system variables.

When you change a dimensioning system variable, you are actually setting a document override for the active dimension style; you are not changing the active dimension style itself. This means that all newly created dimensions will still be created with the active dimension style only and will not reflect the overrides from the system variables. The overrides from the system variables will not be recognized on new dimensions until the active dimension style is updated. To change the settings of any dimension style, use the CopyFrom method. This method copies a dimension style configuration, including overrides, from a document, dimension, or other dimension style.

Dimensions created via the AutoCAD user interface are created with the active dimension style plus all document overrides. Dimensions created via ActiveX are created with the active dimension style only. To have the dimensions created via ActiveX take on the document overrides, use the CopyFrom method to copy the dimension style from the document to the active dimension style. This process will copy all existing overrides into the active dimension style.