What's with Propa-Gator

Hello All,

Well with all the ranting I've seen on another NG about highjacking, I
thought instead of replying to John (sleepy) Layne (if you don't get it
that's OK) in the "Help file coverage..." thread, I would start a new
thread.

I purchased Propa-Gator 2 or so years ago and I haven't seen any
development on it at all. Is it dead or is Brenda just very busy with
other stuff. I've been using V3 beta for pretty much all that time.
Please don't get me wrong, I love Propa-Gator and use it enough to have
already justified the meager cost. But when John brought up the help
thing not working in for ever.

I guess the point of this tome is that although I purchased Propa-Gator,
I never really used it because I couldn't figure it out completely until
I saw Ben Eadie do a pod cast on it.

Boy, was that helpful! I guess if a picture is worth thousand words then
a video is worth million.
Let me finish by saying that the is NOT A BASH of Propa-Gator, but it is
a perfect example of how a "little" thing like a help file can make or
break your app.

Muggs

 

I run across Brenda every now and then (that sounds like I step on her).
She's recently switched her employment venue (I think she's doing custom
stuff on a contract basis). She's still very dedicated to the SolidWorks
environment, demonstrated by the advents she attends and everywhere I see
and discuss new Solidworks features and Propa-Gator's marketing potentials
with her (I'm still trying to get my company to see it's benefits and
purchase the full version [yep, they are cheap]).



I don't know what new features could be added to Propa-Gator for version 3,
but maybe if some of you were to make some constructive suggestions, she may
have something to help her to direct her efforts to enhance Propa-Gator
version 3 in her spare time.



OK, now for the geeky engineering type guy, she's a blonde and cute, so give
her a break, we all have a life and I'm sure she does also! If she had some
direct input from users, I know she'd make those changes.



Keith

 

Wow, Keith, I thought that made it really clear that I was NOT bashing
anyone or even Propa-Gator for that matter. I was just trying to make a
point that the help file is a very important piece of the software puzzle.

I hope I didn't offend Brenda at all!

Muggs

 

Not offended, but duly prompted.

In the mean time, I am most grateful to Ben Eadie for his innovative
and well-executed podcast demo!

Brenda

 

Thanks Brenda,

I'm glad you were not offended; that certainly was not my intension.
As far as constructive crits goes, I was wondering if it were possible
to add being able to copy the document properties (part, assembly, and
drawing) including lighting, from one file and populate (Propa-Gate)
those to a group of files.
Here's what I'm faced with a lot. I get some "half baked" assembly of
"half baked" parts and I'm asked to "finish this". But I can't stand the
way some of the lighting arrangements or document properties that some
peeps have come up with, and I wind up drawing it all from scratch.

I know this my sound petty (and probably is) but it's annoying enough to me.

BTW, I know that there's the excel thing from the German dude, but that
only does one file at a time. Although it does it VERY well.

Thanks,
Muggs

 

Hmm...My last post does not seem to be showing up here...
The gist of it was: Thanks for the good ideas, Muggs. I may come back
to you for more specifics on how the Lighting thing should work.

--Brenda, CustomSolids

 

You're welcome,

You can contact me directly if you like.
Leave the numbers but take out "the trash" in my email to respond.

Muggs

 

Constructive? Boy do I have one.

I have had to write my own code to do this but I could conceivably be
written into PG. How about the ability to make an ODBC connection
(Access for those in Rio Linda) and pull or push data to custom props
from a database?

In other words:

Capability #1
IF Field in Record = Something THEN
WRITE another Field to Custom Properties.


Capability #2
IF Config Specific Custom Property = Something THEN
WRITE Custom Property to Database Record

 

A great enhancement would be to save the settings to a template so that when
moving to a new machine. it's all there. Unless there is a way and I haven't
seen it yet.

 

Yes, that is something I had thought of doing but was not sure if
others would find it useful. Actually, I had been thinking of allowing
any input set to be saved off in a named file that could be opened and
re-used later (rather than just storing the last-run values). The
input files could also be copied from one computer to another or stored
on a network location. It's helpful to know that you think something
along these lines would be useful. Currently there is no function for
doing this directly, but a work-around could be to "propagate" the
current settings into a dummy SW part and then have the other user read
in the properties from that part (Click on "Replicate properties from
sample file").

I may not be adding a lot of additional functions into Version 3 before
release since it has become a (very) well tested Beta. I'll be adding
in a help file and doing mostly "cosmetic" clean-up on it to get it
ready for prime time. (If anyone is aware of other performance issues
with Ver. 3 that haven't been addressed yet, please let me know... ) I
can be reached off-NG at the e-mail listed in Contact Us on the
customsolids.com website.

Your suggestion may be simple enough to incorporate into V3 at this
point, but many of the more extensive suggestions will become part of a
"New and Improved" Propa-Gator which I hope to start in on as soon as
V3 is fully hatched. I really do appreciate all the constructive
ideas. It's good to know people are really using the program!

Thanks!
Brenda
CustomSolids

 

I really do appreciate all the constructive

Your program is a MAJOR part of my business, you alone have saved me
from literally thousands of hours of frustration!

THANK YOU

Ben