SolidWorks Hot Air Vent...

For some reason I am really annoyed today and I feel the need to share
some frustrations. So.... here goes!
expect many issues with spelling and grammer!

We recently did the move to SW 2008 and so far we haven't had any
major show stopping events (This is great).
After using it for more than a week I've grown to really like it and
find that we are finally getting close to a version
that is getting rid of a lot of the daily annoyances while using the
software from early versions.

Examples of areas that have really improved\new since SW 97:

- Multi-body parts
- Mirrored parts
- ability to change the plane of a hole-wizard hole
- actually undoing stuff
- Saying "Don't show this dialog box again" options for advanced users
- SW Bill of Materials
- ability to select circular face or edge for a circular pattern (wow,
this is small but great!)
- ability to open parts and actually update custom properties from the
bill of materials.
- screen capture button (that I can't use and I'll explain why below)

So, this is all great stuff to finally see and I was thinking to
myself.... WOW, SW has come a long way in getting rid of the
annoyances in my daily routine.....

UNTIL YESTERDAY AND THIS MORNING....... reality hit me and I realized
that it still has a LONG WAY to go I guess.

I was finishing up a job and finalizing drawings when it came time to
create the bill of materials. No big deal, we have a standard
template we use
and create it with the new SW b.o.m. option. So I inserted a bill and
all was fine.... and then I went to auto-size a column a-la excel
style and..... IT CRASHES!
ok, no big deal again... I'm already in the habit of saving after
about every 3 or 4 things I do so I didn't loose much work. (Do I have
to mention again that I've used SW for
a long time?)

So, anyways, to make a long vent even longer.... I normally go and
start doing some investigative work myself to find the root of the
problem..... or hopefully anyways.
And if there is a work around (like NEVER AUTO-SIZING AGAIN) just
ignore the issue and continue trying to get my daily work done. This
is what I would normally do.
But yesterday I thought I would turn a new leaf, be proactive, and try
the SW RX problem capture tool. Without any further ado, I made the
video capture and everything
of the AUTO-SIZING column problem( repeated steps included) and sent
it in to my var tech support (I even included the "template" bill file
that it was created from).
There.... my job is done.... I did my part in trying to improve the
product one step at a time.

Then this morning I get a response back saying that they can't
recreate the problem on their end. He said that he was able to insert
and create the bill just fine.
ok..... that's great.....so can I. THE PROBLEM IS THE AUTO-SIZE OF
THE COLUMN! I've included the steps to recreate the issue in the rx
file. So is the file
not read by tech support? what's the deal? I did my part I thought.

So.... I went back after that response and did what I would have
normally done. Do the investigative work myself. I tried a few
things and then I thought to NOT use
our template that we've been using, but the standard template out of
the box install. Ok, this one doesn't crash when I auto-size
columns. So I guessed that
out template somehow became corrupt going to the new version. So I
recreated it from scratch and resaved a new template.
What do you know... it works now! Problem solved! but is it? My
problem is solved for now. But what about root cause?? Why did our
template become corrupt?
If I don't send in the issue won't others have it as well?? Well it
would seem by sending in the rx file would help to solve issues but in
this specific case I guess
it didn't help. Since I now found a workaround for my problem I'm
sure the issue on tech-supports end stops right there as well.

TIP: if you have BOM crashing issues in 2008 - recreate your
templates from scratch I guess and hope that solves it for you as
well.


Now, back to the origin of what I started talking about as far as
ridding of annoyances. OR SO I THOUGHT

I got a request for some jpg's of a huge machine job we did recently.
Now I thought to myself again, this assembly is a HUGE assembly and
takes almost
20 minutes to open fully resolved on a newer dell-490 workstation. No
big deal again I thought, I'll just open it in view only mode and take
some screen shots
of what I need pics of.

Well guess what! I can't take screen shots because the background was
saved in some funky new background and I need the "plain white"
background for the customer so information is clear.
SW won't even let me change the background color in "view only" mode
to plain white. GREAT!!! ok, no big deal again, I'll just open in
lightweight mode to open it faster. NOPE! Once it came up
it needed to be resolved because lightweight mode screwed up the way
certain sub-assembly configs were displayed. Once again, now I have
no choice but to open it up fully resolved just to change the
background color and get some pictures with screenshots.

So I guess I take it back.... I guess we do have a LONG way to go
before a lot of daily annoyances are gone.
And I have no idea what all this means... I'm just annoyed right now
and I guess I'll get back to work.

Some of my "Must Haves for SW 2009" list.
STABILITY
CHANGE BACKGROUND COLOR WHEN JUST VIEWING
DEFAULT BACKGROUND OPTIONS FOR SCREEN SNAPSHOT (PLAIN WHITE)

oh, and while we are at it....... these too!
dual unit display when in the measuring tool (Most would upgrade to SW
2009 just for this)
Slot command controlled by hole wizard.
Utilize multiple processors when ever possible.

Finally done,
Don

 

There was a Beta issue that I ran into whereby double-clicking in the top
cell of a SW BOM would crash out SW. But only if I had my 3D controller
active. Maybe a clue?

WT

 

OK, here comes my dumb question.

What is a "3D controller"?

Thanks - Bo

 

We don't use space balls if that's what you are referring to. No,
this seems to be from the .sldbomtbt
template we were always using. As soon as I made it from scratch in
2008 and then resaved to a new
..sldbomtbt template, everything seemed to work fine. No more
repeatable crashes.

But thanks for your input
Don

 

Don, a DQH <Dumb Question Here>

Given the problems that can occur when a template or SWks internal
file gets corrupted or the wrong version or goes missing, why can't
there be an application that just goes and checks to see if every
single damn one of those files is there, any "extras", the right
version, and not "MALFORMED"?

We are 6 decades into the "computer" and there is tons of unused
horsepower at the disposal of users who have the right utility program
to query our applications and data files to see if they are "correct".

Why should users be forced to use manual techniques of elimination to
attempt to debug our applications? We pay through the nose for a
highly technical application with maybe thousands of files, but we do
not have a user's version of a debugging tool (which I am dead certain
SolidWorks uses internally).

We users deserve to have some elemental debugging tools to prevent us
spending countless hours trying to find out what is wrong that a
simple tool could tell after a few minutes of scanning files.

1. Am I totally flat ass wrong on this?

2. Am I stupidly naive in thinking error detection tools would save
time?

3. Is it asking too much to have a tool that tells us if every
SolidWorks file is there and where it should be (& where it is if it
is wrongly placed)?

4. Given that corrupted or missing files can cause SolidWorks to
crash, it would seem probable that a utility could read a set of files
and tell whether any common errors exist that might or would cause a
crash or failure to open, or again am I off in left field again?

It would seem like such a SWks Debug Utility could be in the update
list with every SolidWorks Service Pack release. Gut feel tells me it
would save users & VARs a bunch of time.

Bo

 

Don,

Thanks for taking the time to submit your bug. I'm sure that there is
a problem there with the BOM, your VAR just wasn't able to re-produce.
Don't feel bad, I'm in the same building with Development and I get
the same response all the time or the big NR, but we eventually get it
captured, so don't give up. If you want you can send it to me at
can I'll submit it.

As for your plain white background, It's t there, it you're just not
aware of where it is. There is a little transparent floating view/
display toolbar
at the top of your sceen. If you click on the 2nd icon from the right
that looks like a gold ball with a checker floor and pull down, you
will see a choice "Plain White" as the second choice from the top of
the list. This will give you want you want I believe.

Kind Regards

Mark Biasotti
Product Management
SolidWorks Corporation

 

Oh, and BTW, I hope when you're doing screen shots, you're not doing
"Print screen" key on your keyboard but using View>Screen
capture>image capture. Just mention it because a lot of users are not
aware of it. Once you use it, you'll see the benefit of it over Print
Screen.

Mark

 

Okay, after a re-read of your post, I see that you are aware of it,
but its worth mentioning for others that might not be aware of it.

I'll give you guys a little inside on it. Ron Bates, our Manager of
Graphics team wrote it out of personal frustration because he does so
much of this kind of stuff with his involvement with PW, RealView and
appearances in general, he was tired of post-processing the image in
PhotoShop or Corral just to get rid of the SW interface. So, I guess
it was a late night more than a year ago that he just implemented it.
It wasn't a planned project, but we all like it so much that it was a
no-brainer and went with it. I use it constantly in the work that I do
and it is a real time saver.

Mark

 

Thanks Mark for that bit of insider info. That's the kind of stuff that
makes some of this make a bit more sense. I always enjoy hearing the "why"
of a feature.

WT

 

Hey Mark,

Always good to see you read and respond to some of the posts here.
And yes, I am aware of the new screen shot tool but there's a catch
with it (unless I just can't figure it out). If I open a very large
assembly in "view only" or newly called "quick view" mode in 2008, the
file uses the last saved background and the icon is greyed out in the
floating toolbar to change it back to plain white. This was the
annoying thing. I needed to fully open the large assembly just to
take screen shots....? Was I missing something or is this still the
case? Oh well. But thanks again for your response nontheless.

I hope what I wrote initially wasn't taken too off base, I was just
venting some frustrations at the time. In general, I am very happy
with SW and am glad to see every release is getting better and ridding
daily annoyances.

oh, and I was serious about the dual units (english and Metric
specifically) in the measuring tool.... can you push that through in
the 2009 release! just kindding! no, seriously...... see what you
can do.

thanks again,
Don Van Zile
Norgren Automotive
(CSWP) just fyi

 

Fascinating imagery. But I think you're right: we could use this.
Unfortunately, such a tool might be perceived as an admission that files
are getting correpted. Even though such correption could be due to files
system errors as much as mishandling by the application in question. But
then, AutoCAD has had such a tool for as far back as I can remembere.

As much as I would like to have the tool to fix these problems, I think I
would prefer that the real problem be fixed. Files should not be getting
corrupted. But I just told meyself that it may not all be SW's fault.

I think I'd liek to take your idea one step further. This tool, if it
exists in an automated form, should always run when things like templates
are used. We don't always notice when a template is defective, and hours of
work can be lost before the problem is detected.

 

oh, and I was serious about the dual units (english and Metric

I'll second that. Actually, I've submitted enhancement requests for this at
least once. This would be a huge help for those of us who work in a mixed
units environment. While you're at it, go ahead and make dual units
pervasive. Put 'em in the mass properties, on the other side of the scales
that we got in 2008, etc.

And thanks for stopping by. It's always good to get the straight dope (what
a twisted idiom).

 

I needed to fully open the large assembly just to

Don, Change the background color using quick view mode does work, the
problem with your senario is that you're opening a 2007 assembly in
2008 and in order for quick view to work, it needs to be a 2008 file -
reason being is that the 2008 display state needs to be saved in order
to take advantage of this situation. If the large assembly that you're
trying to view only, is opened up in 2008 and saved (or perhaps using
the conversion wizard on it first) then opening up the 2008 version
and using the quick view works.

I don't believe that 2007 allowed you to change the background color
when "view only" is used. How would you do this in 2007? - or are you
saying that 2008 inserted a new background when the 2007 version was
saved with a white background?

regards

Mark

 

I've had problems in 2008 because existing templates had blocks in the
sheet format that were not exploded. I would not be able to save files
that had these sheet formats until I figured I needed to eliminate the
blocks by exploding them.

 

ok here's the run down.... I can see there is a bit of
miscommunication on my part.

I've always had the part loaded in the past for screen shots and
always changed the background manually to plain white so it was never
an issue.

Now, just the other day, I figured I'd save a lot time with this large
assembly by not actually opening it fully resolved but in "view only"
or now "quick view" mode. Again, I've never actually done this before
but I figured I could change the background color to plain white if it
wasn't already, even if it was in view only mode. And as it turns
out, once the quick view mode opened up, I couldn't select the scene
flyout in the floating toolbar becasue it was greyed out.

But you are right with the large assembly not being fully saved to
2008 format. However, I just tried a part file, and an assembly file
that everything was created in 2008 version. And once again, once
opened in quick view mode, the scene flyout manager from the floating
toolbar is greyed out and I can't change the background color in this
mode.

Tried it on sp0 and sp0.1 and still can't.
what is going on here?

Now correct me if I'm wrong but as I understand it, "quick-view" will
still work for just view only for 2007 files but you won't have the
capability of "selective" component loading functionaltiy unitl you
save it to 2008.
Am I understanding this correctly?

Thanks,
Don

 

"I've had problems in 2008 because existing templates had blocks in
the
sheet format that were not exploded. I would not be able to save
files
that had these sheet formats until I figured I needed to eliminate
the
blocks by exploding them."

J, I rest my case.

Bo

 

I agree that something needs to be done but feel that SW corporate
should be using these "tools" before the software even gets to the
general public. To have bugs from 2005 & 2006 still showing up in 2008
should not be an acceptable practice. When bugs get reported during beta
that were in previous releases but new to the ones reporting them, you
get no results from SW except a shame on you for reporting these in this
version because they were reported 3 versions ago but we dont want to
address them.

 

Yes, that is correct, but not fully. In order to use the full function
of quick view, it needs to be 2008, bu if it's 2008, you'll be able to
selectively open some or all in "lightweight". Added benefit is that
you can have selectively opened quick view with mates (i.e. if you
have crank shown but a shaft not loaded, it will still be
concentrically mated.) I understand it's a pain for you because it's
2007 data, but when you have 2008 data the benefits are clear.

Mark