Search found 655 matches

by JSculley
Wed Feb 05, 2025 7:57 am
Forum: CAD Admin (Install, PDM, etc)
Topic: Admin Image, only allow install on listed machines
Replies: 9
Views: 16198

Re: Admin Image, only allow install on listed machines

Hello, Is there a way to prevent an admin image from running if the machine it's installing on is not listed in any of the groups? I would like to prevent people installing SW or PDM on machines that are not assigned to a specific group. Thank you. You can put the admin image in a location they don...
by JSculley
Thu Jan 09, 2025 4:18 pm
Forum: SW General
Topic: SolidProfessor Skills Analyzer Contest Nonsense
Replies: 30
Views: 3170

Re: SolidProfessor Skills Analyzer Contest Nonsense

jcapriotti wrote: Thu Jan 09, 2025 3:48 pm I think an update to the picture to show sketch relations would address the issue.
Indeed. Especially since that is what is shown by default in SW which is what a novice user would see.
by JSculley
Thu Jan 09, 2025 2:30 pm
Forum: SW General
Topic: SolidProfessor Skills Analyzer Contest Nonsense
Replies: 30
Views: 3170

Re: SolidProfessor Skills Analyzer Contest Nonsense

There are times to be absolutely precise and times to be pedantic. For purposes of posturing and pedantry, you are correct. For the purposes of a "basic" assessment of SW knowledge and skill, the "construction line" answer is best. Not when one of the other offered multiple choi...
by JSculley
Thu Jan 09, 2025 12:16 pm
Forum: SW General
Topic: SolidProfessor Skills Analyzer Contest Nonsense
Replies: 30
Views: 3170

Re: SolidProfessor Skills Analyzer Contest Nonsense

josh wrote: Thu Jan 09, 2025 11:45 am What kind of hidden constraint can make those lines fully defined but not collinear? I suppose "fixed"?
Yep. One 'Fixed' constraint and chaos ensues:
image.png
by JSculley
Thu Jan 09, 2025 12:05 pm
Forum: SW General
Topic: SolidProfessor Skills Analyzer Contest Nonsense
Replies: 30
Views: 3170

Re: SolidProfessor Skills Analyzer Contest Nonsense

Assuming it was a multiple choice question I'd be curious to see the offered answers. I'd agree you can't know but it would be an extremely safe assumption that in the absence of any other dimensions or geometry to the contrary, the construction line is coincident and parallel, and the dimensions a...
by JSculley
Thu Jan 09, 2025 9:51 am
Forum: SW General
Topic: SolidProfessor Skills Analyzer Contest Nonsense
Replies: 30
Views: 3170

SolidProfessor Skills Analyzer Contest Nonsense

So, our reseller is pushing a SolidProfessor Skills Analyzer contest. There are 3 levels (basic, advanced and expert). For giggles I took the Basic exam and was shocked to see that I supposedly missed question 1 in the sketching section: image.png My answer is 100% correct. You cannot know that X an...
by JSculley
Mon Jan 06, 2025 2:11 pm
Forum: How To Questions
Topic: Fully Define Sketch Text
Replies: 17
Views: 2083

Re: Fully Define Sketch Text

This isn't great advice. If you constrain the point to the origin, and then later delete the curve that the text is attached to, you will have a Sketch error (this is normal, anytime you delete the line). However, if you edit the sketch text to eliminate the rebuild error and don't choose a new line...
by JSculley
Wed Nov 27, 2024 7:18 pm
Forum: 2D Drawings
Topic: SW 2025 SP0 Automatic Border Issue
Replies: 1
Views: 633

Re: SW 2025 SP0 Automatic Border Issue

Quick update: I've found that the problem only occurs when editing the sheet format of the template. If I create an actual drawing from the template, the zone labels appear as expected, so it's more of an annoyance than a problem at this point.
by JSculley
Wed Nov 27, 2024 8:18 am
Forum: API
Topic: Why is SW API so inconsistent and weird?
Replies: 4
Views: 1132

Re: Why is SW API so inconsistent and weird?

Well, I had similar ideas, but: Even VBA supports strong typing, early binding and SW API objects, so I'm not sure what limitations it could be imposing. Perhaps you are right, there are some COM related limitations, although other APIs (for example Excel API) happily return specific objects instea...
by JSculley
Tue Nov 26, 2024 2:31 pm
Forum: API
Topic: Why is SW API so inconsistent and weird?
Replies: 4
Views: 1132

Re: Why is SW API so inconsistent and weird?

The API is nearly 30 years old. You cannot have backwards compatibility for 30 years without making a mess. Some of the problems are limitations of COM itself (primarily array/variant related weirdness). Some of the problems are due to trying to support 3 (now 4) different programming languages and ...
by JSculley
Mon Nov 25, 2024 11:57 am
Forum: 2D Drawings
Topic: SW 2025 SP0 Automatic Border Issue
Replies: 1
Views: 633

SW 2025 SP0 Automatic Border Issue

Testing SW2025 SP0 and I'm seeing something strange with Automatic Borders. I always recreate my drawing templates from scratch with each new release using the default SW generated templates as a starting point. The first step is to create the automatic border. I'm testing in a virtual machine, so t...
by JSculley
Mon Nov 25, 2024 9:58 am
Forum: SolidWorks PDM
Topic: PDM Template Editor Missing
Replies: 3
Views: 988

Re: PDM Template Editor Missing

FYI: This problem disappeared in the SP0 release.
by JSculley
Fri Nov 15, 2024 11:32 am
Forum: SW General
Topic: Equation function "INT" doesn't seem to work
Replies: 16
Views: 3020

Re: Equation function "INT" doesn't seem to work

As for setting the page numbers, I now do it TWO ways. On Checkin, PDM will run a refresh on the page numbers. I also added a macro to do it, whenever someone adds a DCN to the drawing. So, I did it both ways, neither using custom property equations. The Dispatch is shown above, the VBA code is bel...
by JSculley
Fri Nov 15, 2024 7:58 am
Forum: SolidWorks PDM
Topic: PDM - Tool to bulk update variables in datacard
Replies: 6
Views: 1510

Re: PDM - Tool to bulk update variables in datacard

If it is PDM Pro, you can use the built in Import/Export Rule functionality. See the Chapter named 'Importing and Exporting Data' in the Administration Guide (accessible from the PDM Administration tool).
by JSculley
Wed Nov 13, 2024 9:50 am
Forum: SW General
Topic: Where are file search paths stored
Replies: 2
Views: 771

Re: Where are file search paths stored

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\SolidWorks\SOLIDWORKS 20XX\ExtReferences
by JSculley
Tue Nov 12, 2024 8:05 am
Forum: SolidWorks PDM
Topic: PDM Template Editor Missing
Replies: 3
Views: 988

PDM Template Editor Missing

I've installed PDM 2025 PR1 on my development server and the Edit Template dialog has gone missing. If I double click on an existing template in the admin tool, the template editor dialog does not appear. The clicked template will appear in the 'Recently Used' list but that's it. I can create a new ...
by JSculley
Mon Nov 11, 2024 8:14 am
Forum: How To Questions
Topic: Hole Callout - C'Sink angle precision
Replies: 7
Views: 1420

Re: Hole Callout - C'Sink angle precision

This is broken as far back as SW2017.

BR10000387407 - Unable to control Hole callout angle precision using document settings. It follows the length dimension precision instead of angle precision
by JSculley
Fri Nov 08, 2024 1:20 pm
Forum: SW General
Topic: Equation function "INT" doesn't seem to work
Replies: 16
Views: 3020

Re: Equation function "INT" doesn't seem to work

Yeah, the INT function is borked. You wouldn't be bothering with this at all if this SPR were addressed:

SPR769752 - Ability to set certain drawing sheets to be ignored from total sheet count
by JSculley
Fri Nov 08, 2024 10:18 am
Forum: SW General
Topic: Best Practices
Replies: 22
Views: 3925

Re: Best Practices

To answer my own question, the technical sites believe display states are lighter than configurations: https://help.solidworks.com/2019/english/SolidWorks/sldworks/c_display_states_configurations_assemblies.htm "Switching from one configuration to another can slow performance, especially in la...
by JSculley
Thu Nov 07, 2024 3:00 pm
Forum: How To Questions
Topic: Old "Text" BOM to Excel
Replies: 5
Views: 1397

Re: Old "Text" BOM to Excel

MJuric wrote: Thu Nov 07, 2024 2:10 pm I saw I could do that in AutoCAD...unfortunately I don't have an AutoCAD license at the moment. This is actually in Draftsight.
Draftsight has an API
by JSculley
Tue Nov 05, 2024 6:32 pm
Forum: SW General
Topic: assigning pressure to pneumatic cylinder
Replies: 1
Views: 641

Re: assigning pressure to pneumatic cylinder

P = F/A, so just multiply your pressure by the piston area and apply the force.
by JSculley
Tue Oct 08, 2024 8:38 am
Forum: How To Questions
Topic: Strange Weldment Cut List Problem
Replies: 1
Views: 664

Strange Weldment Cut List Problem

I have a multibody part file named 437514.SLDPRT. When I right click any cut list item in the feature tree and select 'Properties', in the Cut list summary, the Value/Text Expression for most of the properties are wrong. It looks like this: image.png If I click on any other cut list item in the list...
by JSculley
Fri Oct 04, 2024 7:33 pm
Forum: subD and Mesh
Topic: [Geomagic Design X] Workflow for jigs and fixures
Replies: 6
Views: 19420

Re: [Geomagic Design X] Workflow for jigs and fixures

Use 'Cut with Surface'.

1. Transfer the surface created in DesignX to SOLIDWORKS
2. Create a solid block in SOLIDWORKS positioned where you want relative to the surface
3. Cut with Surface.
by JSculley
Thu Sep 12, 2024 5:29 pm
Forum: SW General
Topic: SOLIDWORKS pet peeves
Replies: 311
Views: 539629

Re: SOLIDWORKS pet peeves

This is very minor, but.... The symbol to rotate a drawing view points clockwise. image.png The number entered in the dialog rotates the view counter clockwise. I am a GIF. rotate.gif Easy fix. NEVER ROTATE DRAWING VIEWS. I've been using SW since 1997 and have never needed to rotate a drawing view....
by JSculley
Thu Sep 05, 2024 8:23 am
Forum: SW General
Topic: Changing document settings unit precision in working environment
Replies: 13
Views: 2487

Re: Changing document settings unit precision in working environment

There's a bug report in the Knowledge Base describing something like what you are seeing: ======================================================== BR10000348532 -- SOLIDWORKS Document Properties - unit precision changes to 6 decimals when sketch is moved 1. Create a part in SOLIDWORKS 2. Go to Optio...
by JSculley
Thu Sep 05, 2024 7:30 am
Forum: SW General
Topic: Changing document settings unit precision in working environment
Replies: 13
Views: 2487

Re: Changing document settings unit precision in working environment

What SOLIDWORKS version and SP are you running?
by JSculley
Tue Aug 20, 2024 11:57 am
Forum: SW General
Topic: Fortran ?!?
Replies: 14
Views: 3683

Re: Fortran ?!?

Frederick_Law wrote: Fri Aug 16, 2024 10:46 am https://hackaday.com/2024/08/16/a-moder ... -language/
Wow, that was fun to read.
We've come full circle:

https://www.emojicode.org/
by JSculley
Fri Aug 16, 2024 1:17 pm
Forum: How To Questions
Topic: Getting geo tolerance symbols into a block
Replies: 6
Views: 1350

Re: Getting geo tolerance symbols into a block

Unfortunately, these are the only things that you can include inside a block. image.png There's an open SPR requesting the ability to add other annotation types. SPR147307 -- Allow surface finish, geometric tolerance (GTOL), datum and weld symbol annotations to be selectable entities for making blo...
by JSculley
Wed Aug 14, 2024 4:08 pm
Forum: SW Simulation
Topic: Solidworks Simulation and PDM
Replies: 14
Views: 3792

Re: Solidworks Simulation and PDM

So, I had a simulation to run so I thought I would play around with this. My simulations did not generate a .CFG file, but apparently, that file is only generated if you use the FFEPlus solver. I switched to that solver and still didn't see a .cfg file. However, all the other files that were generat...
by JSculley
Wed Aug 14, 2024 10:19 am
Forum: SW Simulation
Topic: Solidworks Simulation and PDM
Replies: 14
Views: 3792

Re: Solidworks Simulation and PDM

If the file is checked out, the read-only flag should not be checked. I would uncheck it and see if the problem goes away.
by JSculley
Wed Aug 14, 2024 9:59 am
Forum: SW Simulation
Topic: Solidworks Simulation and PDM
Replies: 14
Views: 3792

Re: Solidworks Simulation and PDM

Nothing unusual about that name. Is there a Down.CFG file in the vault folder where the simulation files are being placed? If so, is it actually in the vault or is it a local file? If it's truly in the vault, is the read-only attribute set, even though the file is checked out?
by JSculley
Wed Aug 14, 2024 8:17 am
Forum: SW Simulation
Topic: Solidworks Simulation and PDM
Replies: 14
Views: 3792

Re: Solidworks Simulation and PDM

In this case it is tied to a single study. I was able to copy a similar study and it would run. If I tried to rename that study to the original problematic study, it crashed again. I usually don't do simulation work with the files still in PDM. I thought I would see if I could get away with it, but...
by JSculley
Tue Aug 13, 2024 6:35 pm
Forum: SW General
Topic: Fortran ?!?
Replies: 14
Views: 3683

Re: Fortran ?!?

Fortran is still one of the best languages for matrix operations. Dassault's high end FEA software Abaqus uses it as well. As does ANSYS, Nastran and probably most other FEA software.
by JSculley
Tue Aug 13, 2024 11:49 am
Forum: SW Simulation
Topic: Solidworks Simulation and PDM
Replies: 14
Views: 3792

Re: Solidworks Simulation and PDM

Best guess, this is some sort of file system timing problem. The Fortran runtime is creating a file in the vault. PDM sees this and then grabs control of the file to officially add it to the vault. While this is going on, Fortran tries to open or write to the file but can't because PDM still has the...
by JSculley
Fri Aug 02, 2024 8:03 am
Forum: SolidWorks PDM
Topic: Checkout triggers unrelated files to load
Replies: 3
Views: 1390

Re: Checkout triggers unrelated files to load

Check to see if any part in the assembly has an in-context feature that references the other assembly that is loaded.
by JSculley
Thu Aug 01, 2024 7:12 am
Forum: How To Questions
Topic: Align section line to an axis
Replies: 4
Views: 1540

Re: Align section line to an axis

Use View....Hide/Show...Temporary Axes to display the hole centerline and then you can do as @Jim_Elias says and edit the sketch to make it colinear with the temporary axis.
by JSculley
Mon Jul 29, 2024 9:31 am
Forum: Macro Library
Topic: VBA to add text to a specific drawing View.
Replies: 4
Views: 1546

Re: VBA to add text to a specific drawing View.

Good Morning @JSculley . I fiddled a bit with the code and it is working fine, thanks again for your help UU . It still continuously working on making it better. Is there a way I can set the "wordwrap width" with the code? Keep in mind that I don't have "SOLIDWORKS Document Manager A...
by JSculley
Fri Jul 26, 2024 9:46 am
Forum: SW General
Topic: can "On Edge" mates be repaired?
Replies: 7
Views: 1928

Re: can "On Edge" mates be repaired?

Or Filter Edges in the Selection Filter:
image.png
by JSculley
Thu Jul 25, 2024 8:40 am
Forum: Macro Library
Topic: VBA to add text to a specific drawing View.
Replies: 4
Views: 1546

Re: VBA to add text to a specific drawing View.

Just activate the view before you call CreateText2 to add the note. Here's an example: Dim swApp As SldWorks.SldWorks Const xStart = 5 * 25.4 / 1000# Const yStart = 5 * 25.4 / 1000# Const xGap = 5 * 25.4 / 1000# Const yGap = 5 * 25.4 / 1000# Const rowCount = 3 Const colCount = 5 Sub main() Dim mDoc ...
by JSculley
Wed Jul 24, 2024 7:10 pm
Forum: What's Wrong?
Topic: Server unavailable errors
Replies: 17
Views: 7456

Re: Server unavailable errors

matt wrote: Wed Jul 24, 2024 5:26 pm Ok, I didn't see the problem, but the watercooler was definitely slow. I disabled the Best Answer addin temporarily. Do you still get the error?
Error is gone for me. Both the Watercooler and Jokes Topics.
by JSculley
Wed Jul 24, 2024 12:15 pm
Forum: What's Wrong?
Topic: Server unavailable errors
Replies: 17
Views: 7456

Re: Server unavailable errors

Uhhhhh, are you opening from a saved page? There was a time when there was something different in the header, but that has been a while. The addin is even gone. Happens in Chrome as well: image.png Not a saved page. I went there via Main Page......Kitty Dump....Watercooler Talk. I tried with an Inc...
by JSculley
Wed Jul 24, 2024 7:24 am
Forum: SW General
Topic: Face Curve Control
Replies: 4
Views: 1453

Re: Face Curve Control

Thank you for the feedback. I am not getting " If you then select the sketch entity again and drag the message appears again, but when you release the mouse the mouse pointer disappears and the sketch entity will follow your mouse movement. " to work for me. That behavior was only seen wh...
by JSculley
Tue Jul 23, 2024 11:22 am
Forum: SW General
Topic: Face Curve Control
Replies: 4
Views: 1453

Re: Face Curve Control

It's there in SW2017 (single click on entity to bring up Property Manager): image.png but interestingly, the Help does not mention it at all. Also, SW behaves a bit strangely. If you edit the 3D sketch and try to drag the sketch entity, SW complains "Cannot drag. The selected item is fixed.&quo...
by JSculley
Sun Jul 14, 2024 9:51 am
Forum: SolidWorks PDM
Topic: Data exchange from to PDM?
Replies: 3
Views: 1476

Re: Data exchange from to PDM?

I wrote an add-in to connect to our Oracle system for the purpose of creating part numbers so that we engineers didn't need to manually create numbers in Oracle (a very painful process) and then Save/Save As our models to those part numbers. We just do a 'Submit for Release' transition and the add-i...
by JSculley
Fri Jul 12, 2024 3:54 pm
Forum: SolidWorks PDM
Topic: Dispatch - Comment code, manage/save versions.
Replies: 5
Views: 1947

Re: Dispatch - Comment code, manage/save versions.

Hansjoerg wrote: Fri Jul 12, 2024 5:57 am Is it possible to insert comment lines in Dispatch to make the code easier to understand?
SPR573110 - Dispatch: functionality to add comments

The SPR is about 6 years old.
by JSculley
Thu Jul 11, 2024 4:26 pm
Forum: How To Questions
Topic: How to add reference document to a BOM?
Replies: 6
Views: 1984

Re: How to add reference document to a BOM?

The best way is to have the dummy part in the model. If your release process requires 'a bunch of silly actions', well, that's a problem with your process. To get a zero in your quantity column, try this: Add a custom property (Yes/No) to your reference documents. Call it something like IS_REF. Set ...
by JSculley
Thu Jul 11, 2024 3:52 pm
Forum: How To Questions
Topic: How to add reference document to a BOM?
Replies: 6
Views: 1984

Re: How to add reference document to a BOM?

DanPihlaja wrote: Thu Jul 11, 2024 2:32 pm
Also, if you can't put a 0 quantity, then what does this setting mean?

image.png
That setting only applies to multi-configuration BOMs where a part is suppressed in some configurations but not others.
by JSculley
Fri Jun 28, 2024 9:30 am
Forum: 2D Drawings
Topic: When filename is ****-GA
Replies: 6
Views: 1811

Re: When filename is ****-GA

Do you ever need to show more than two values? If not, you can use 2 properties instead of 4 and avoid the whole problem. You can use control logic to hide/show one of two overlapping static text fields on the data card so that the user thinks they are entering Art.No, but the data is actually going...
by JSculley
Wed Jun 26, 2024 3:15 pm
Forum: 2D Drawings
Topic: STEEL GAUGE
Replies: 13
Views: 2433

Re: STEEL GAUGE

New in SW 2023 : =========================== To link annotations to gauge values: In a drawing of a sheet metal part, click an annotation, such as Note . In the PropertyManager, click Link to Property . In the Link to property dialog box, in Property name, select Sheet Metal Gauge. =================...
by JSculley
Wed Jun 26, 2024 8:44 am
Forum: API
Topic: VBA to open and CLOSE windows explorer inside a vault path
Replies: 4
Views: 1760

Re: vba open windows explorer inside a vault path

I updated the OP. My real problem now is how to identify the opened explorer windows and close them. When opening a certain path inside the vault the explorer window is no more able to identify its selfpath apparently. As noted in my SWYMp reply: Use the Windows API for this. Put this at the top of...