Problems with getting DXF into Grass

[DJ Medyckyj_scott]

I have a problem here that I hope SOMEONE can assist me with.

Context of Problem.

We have been building up a database on a GIS called ATLAS-GIS. New
analysis needs mean that we want to import this data into Grass.
ATLAS provide a number of output formats. We have tried exporting in 
their ASCII format but it is not compatible with Grass. We are now using
DXF output but there is a problem and I quote

"Due to the nature of geographic files (such as islands and lakes), and
to keep ATLAS attributes tied to DXF entities, ATLAS Import/Export uses
blocks to export everything.  A DXF attribute is a graphical object or
entity that is part of a block and may or may not have attributes.  A
DXF attribute tag string is a text value assigned to a block that
uniquely identifies it."

The Problem.

We have produced DXf files using ATLAS Import/Export but when we read
them into GRASS using v.in.dxf no files are produced even though Grass
reports that it has converted the DXF file to a DIG file or to
dig_ascii (and yes we are looking in the right directories).  We
assumed that this was due to the DXF file having no entities.  So...

We read the exported ATLAS DXf file into AutoCad and used the explode
command to generate Entities from the Block.  The resulting file we have
managed to read into GRASS using v.in.DXF and created a DIG file BUT
NOT dig_ascii or dig_att files. This route is not satisfactory.

1) Each block has to be exploded one at a time - we have some layers
with over 1000 polygons and from our short attempt at doing it, found it
very easy to explode an object too far.

2) We believe the attribute information is being lost, either when we
explode the block or when we use v.in.dxf. We must take the
attribute information into Grass.

Does anyone have a solution?  Can we reformat the ATLAS exported DXF
file in any way since, and I quote from the AutoCAD manual, "The format
of entities in the block section is identical to those in the entities
section". Is it possible to copy and change the v.in.dxf command code?
Why and where are we losing the attribute information? 

NB We are not AutoCAD experts and reasonably new to Grass4.0.

Thanks



+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
+  Dr David Medyckyj-Scott					+
+  USIS and GENIE Project
+								+ 
+  Midlands Regional Research Laboratory			+
+  c/o Department of Computer Studies				+
+  Loughborough University of Technology			+
+  Leicestershire LE11 3TU  UK					+
+ 								+
+  Tel: +44 (0)509 222799  Fax: +44 (0)509 211586		+	
+  email: D.J.Medyckyj-Scott at lut.ac.uk				+
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++