Data Shortcuts by Name Instead of Handle

So data shortcuts in the default manner that Civil 3D creates them uses the name and handle to find the object in the source drawing. If some one deletes the source object, the handle is deleted, so even if you rename the alignment the reference file can't find the source file. To change this and recreate the link you can get it to come back. The steps to do this are as follows:

1. Open the xml file with notepad or some other editing program.

2. Find the useHandle="-1"

3. Change the useHandle to "0"

4. Open the file with the reference and open the Data Shortcut Vista and delete the data shortcut for the object you want to fix.

5. Import the data shortcut file that you edited in step 1.

6. Validate the data shortcuts and the missing reference should reappear in the drawing.

I haven't fully tested this and plan on checking this out on Monday when I get back in the office. I did do a small test and the changes to labels did stick, even when switching between alignment objects.

Added 6-21-07
I did some more testing and it doesn't seem to want to keep the change after save, close and reopen. This still would be handy if the data shortcuts are lost and you need to keep all of the label work you have done. Just recover the data shortcut then promote it. You now have to worry about keeping both objects in sinc, but at least you have saved some work with not having to recreate labels.