Open Live Writer (aka Windows Live Writer)

This is the first post I’ve done using Open Live Writer (OLW). With the release 0.5.1.2 there is support for Blogger after Google updated their API to use OAuth 2 and thus breaking the functionality in the old Windows Live Writer and the initial release of OLW. The error was: Blogger returned the following error: NotFound: Not Found.

A known issue with this release is that labels/categories can’t be set when posting to Blogger.

For some background on how Microsoft’s WLW became Open Source OLW see the Announcing Open Live Writer - An Open Source Fork of Windows Live Writer post by Hanselman.

Text Bubble 2.6 for AutoCAD now also as Trial

JTB World’s Text Bubble app for AutoCAD has been updated to version 2.6 and is now also available as a trial.

With our Text Bubble app you can easily create and renumber text bubbles in AutoCAD as well as convert existing text into text bubbles.

See also our JTB Text Bubble Plus app with more functionalities.

How to save layouts to separate drawings

If you want to save all your layouts to separate drawings our free LayoutsToDwgs.lsp can do the trick. It has just been updated to both solve an issue related to a dialog box showing “Include AutoCAD Map information in the export?” as well as to work fine with the most recent versions of AutoCAD. Direct download of this AutoLISP app is here.

SSMPropEditor 6.0 available - Sheet Set Manager Editor

SSMPropEditor 6.0 is now available. This Sheet Set Manager Editor can save hours of work if your company uses AutoCAD’s Sheet Set Manager. Use Find and Replace of text among all properties and all sheets or change properties on multiple sheets at the same time. If you want to make changes in Excel, that can be done too. Copy custom properties that are defined in one Sheet Set into another Sheet Set. All you need to speed up your work with the Sheet Set Manager.

For details on this release see the revision history.

The installer for SSMPropEditor as an app within AutoCAD will be available later this month.

Download is available here and works in trial mode for 30 days. Existing customers can upgrade for free.

More from JTB World: Create new Sheet Sets including drawings based on an Excel template with out JTB Sheet Set Creator.

AutoCAD 2016 for Mac and AutoCAD LT 2016 for Mac

AutoCAD 2016 for Mac and AutoCAD LT 2016 for Mac were released November 21, 2015 and here are the news:

• Xref path management – You can now map Xref file paths from your Mac to Windows machines, including networked servers, so sharing drawings back-and-forth between project team members is now easier.
• Express Tools – We’ve brought over several of the popular Express Tools from Windows to Mac, so you get the efficiency gains from Express Tools on your Mac and experience less friction when switching between platforms.
• Features from the Windows version of AutoCAD 2016 – This release includes many of the newest features from the Windows version. You can now use Revision Clouds, DIM Command Enhancements, Command Preview, and Selection Effects on the Mac platform.
• Properties Palette – You can now display the Properties you use most often without having to scroll through the entire properties list.
• Multi-Lingual User Interface (MUI) – Set your language (French or English) in the Mac System Preferences and AutoCAD will follow. There’s now no need for a separate install.
• Update Notification – Updates are now delivered as small packages that don’t require lengthy downloads or install times.
• Smaller PDFs with select-and-search capability – PDF output file-size is now greatly reduced, making it easier to share and open. Text in your PDFs is now selectable and searchable.
• Pan and Zoom – Navigating your drawings is now easier because we’ve sped up and smoothed out panning and zooming.
• TrueType font enhancements – All TrueType font text is retained in the drawing, so panning and zooming performance is considerably improved.

More about AutoCAD for Mac.

jtbworld.com is now mobile-friendly

After some work on our main website jtbworld.com it is now mobile-friendly as well having a responsive design that is adapting to the size of the web browser you use.

If you still find any issues on the site please let us know.

ACA_db 4.1 released - for AutoCAD Architecture and MEP

With ACA_db you can use AutoCAD Architecture or AutoCAD MEP even more as part of your BIM process. Property Set values can automatically be updated back and forth to one or many external databases. If you make changes to the Extended Data values within a Property Set they can be synchronized back to the external database. Any Property in a Property Set Definition can be exported and all editable Properties can be imported.

This release adds support for AutoCAD Architecture 2016 or AutoCAD MEP 2016 as well as some bug fixes.

Contact us to get a time limited license file for free.

DWG Columns for Explorer 2.2 released

JTB Word's DWG Columns for Explorer has been updated. We've fixed an issue with cleaning up column information when uninstalling. It has also been tested with Windows 10.

If you want to see the DWG and DXF properties and metadata in Explorer columns please give the trial a try. No need to have AutoCAD or other CAD programs installed for this to work. After the trial has expired you can still use it to show the DWG version information as long as you like.

ArcGIS License Server and lmutil.exe problem

A couple of customers of JTB FlexReport reported about an issue with the the usage monitoring of Esri ArcGIS licenses (like ARC/INFO, Grid, Tin, Viewer). The number of issued licenses and the number of licenses in use were 2-5 times higher than what the ArcGIS License Server Administrator showed.

We found that it was the FlexNet tool lmutil.exe that caused this problem. lmutil.exe v11.12.1.4 and v11.12.1.2 did not work but v11.11.1.2 and v11.11.1.0 did work.

Thus the solution was to take an older version of lmutil.exe and use it. Put the version of lmutil.exe from the Esri license server in a separate folder (for example: C:\lmutil Esri\) on the machine where JTB FlexReport is installed and point to that location in JTB FlexReport Config on the FlexNet tab. This ensures that lmutil.exe is not updated when upgrading JTB FlexReport next time.

JTB FlexReport - Supervision et optimisation des licences

If you speak French better than English or just prefer French head over to our reseller RasterTech's new webpage http://www.rastertech.fr/flexreport "JTB FlexReport est une solution économique mais complète pour un suivi des actifs logiciels et des licences, fournissant des statistiques enrichies." JTB FlexReport is not localized to other languages (yet) but our French reseller RasterTech has done product documentation in French and can also provide product support in French.

HVACPAC for AutoCAD 2016

HVACPAC for AutoCAD is now available with support for AutoCAD 2016. Are you still doing HVAC and Piping work more or less manually in AutoCAD HVACPAC is the plug-in for you that will automate your work and save valuable time. Visit HVACPAC for AutoCAD for a 30-day trial.

AutoCAD 2016 Service Pack 1

AutoCAD 2016 has got its first service pack and there are quite a lot of fixes so I suggest you install it.

AutoCAD service packs are now separate and independent of the specific service packs for AutoCAD-based vertical products.

• In the past, AutoCAD-specific fixes were included in the verticals service packs and you only needed to install the appropriate verticals service pack.
• From now on, you will need to install the AutoCAD service pack in addition to any applicable service pack for your vertical products.

Read more on the Autodesk's Knowledge Network page or get SP1 from Autodesk Application Manager:

Direct links to the installers:

• AutoCAD 2016 Service Pack 1 32 bit
• AutoCAD 2016 Service Pack 1 64 bit

According to the readme:

The following operating systems are officially supported for 32-bit and 64-bit AutoCAD 2016 with Service Pack 1.

• Windows 10 Enterprise edition
• Windows 10 Professional edition

Problems Reported with the Customer Error Reporting Utility

As a result of the detailed information that we received from customers who used the Customer Error Reporting Utility, we were able to identify and fix a number of problems. Updates were made to the following commands and features:

Dimensions

• Occasional crashes when adding dimension, mtext, or mleader objects in layout viewports.

Images

• Occasional crashes when working in a drawing containing a large image file.
• Occasional crashes when working in a geolocation drawing with an attached image.
• Occasional crashes when using the mouse wheel to zoom out in certain drawings with attached images.

Point Cloud

• Occasional crashes when docking or closing the Point Cloud Manager palette in Windows 10.

Publish

• Occasional crashes when publishing multiple layouts to single-sheet PDFs.

Selection

• Occasional crashes after object selection in a drawing with many xref layers.

General

• Crashes on startup when using certain AMD display cards with a recent driver.
• Occasional crashes when working with customized object snaps.
• Occasional crashes when there are a large number of polylines with assigned lineweights.
• Occasional crashes when opening certain drawings.
• Occasional crashes when attaching a PDF file.
• Occasional crashes when closing the program when there are a large number of layers in the drawing.
• Occasional crashes when moving objects using object snaps in 3D to a block or a reference in a layout.
• Occasional crashes when opening drawings from network folder shortcuts in Windows 10.
• Occasional crashes when selecting and deleting a subobject in a 3D solid.
• Occasional crashes when repeatedly opening and closing AutoCAD, and using the Refedit command along with Undo and Redo operations.

General Service Pack Updates

The following defects have been fixed:

3D Modeling

• Applying a Curve Surface Intersection between a plane and a line gives an incorrect result in some cases.

Block

• A nested block moves in some cases after it is fully exploded.

Cursor Badge

• The Zoom cursor badge does not turn off for the Zoom Window command even when the CURSORBADGE system variable is set to 1.

Dimensions

• Associative dimension values change when you change their dimension style in some cases.

Display

• Part of the complex DGN linetype in a curve is missing when High Quality Geometry is turned on.
• The wrong linetype displays when opening a drawing with complex DGN linetypes that are assigned to pline arcs.
• Concentric arcs with a small opening angle may not be displayed as concentric at some zoom levels.
• Ellipses and elliptical arcs on a layer with VP Freeze turned on display outside the layout viewport.
• Some object colors change when using ZOOM together with 3D Visual Styles with faces displayed.

Hatches

• The associativity of gradient fills turns off when you create them by clicking inside boundaries.
• Cannot set the hatch origin when using the ribbon when the COMMANDPREVIEW system variable is turned on.
• The hatch pattern definition is limited to 80 characters.
• The intersection osnap doesn't work for hatch patterns.
• The hatch pattern doesn't change in some cases when choosing a different hatch pattern from the ribbon during hatch creation.

Layers

• There is double space between each layer when the Layer Properties Manager is first opened.

Object Snap

• The intersection osnap does not work inside hatch patterns.

Plot and Publish

• Wipeout and masked text prints black when using the DWG to PDF PC3 file under Printer/Plotter.
• A hatch set to the color white is printed as black in a PDF in some cases.
• Hyperlinks attached to certain blocks causes the plotted PDF files to inflate in size.
• The text formatted for reading right-to-left is printed upside down.
• A high resolution image in a drawing might have an unexpected result when exported as a DWF file in some cases.
• A mismatched plot page size results in an error report and halts the print job in some cases.
• The default PDF file name discards all characters that follow a period.
• In some Truetype fonts, characters with diacritical marks that are underlined in a text object do not plot.
• When plotting PDF files, SHX text in PDF comments can be turned off by setting EPDFSHX=0 (the default is 1). In addition, some PDF viewers display text that uses SHX fonts as comments and this system variable addresses this issue as well. In a future release, we plan to rename this system variable to begin with the letters PDF.

Performance

• Performance slows down for the OPEN and REGEN commands in drawings that contain many dynamic block with fields.
• Performance slows down with the PUBLISH command in some cases.
• Performance is affected when opening drawings containing references to unresolved data extraction (DXE) files.

Quick Properties Palette

• The Quick Properties palette is not displayed anymore after closing the Block Editor when the Ribbon is closed.
• The Quick Properties palette displays unexpectedly when editing a Hatch object.

Security

• Includes a security patch to address a vulnerability where a specially crafted raster image in a drawing can trigger unauthorized code execution.

User Interface

• With right-click set to operate as an Enter at the Command prompt, a menu appears instead.

General

• The 3DCLIP and DVIEW options, CLip and Camera, doesn't clip circles, arcs, ellipses and elliptical arcs when High Quality Geometry is turned on.
• Lines are not clipped by the edges of layout viewports if the drawing contains a clipped PDF, DWF, or DWFx underlay.
• The ALIGN command doesn't work correctly for an object that is slightly rotated.
• Signed VLX files containing DCL dialogs boxes fail to display.
• Using eTransmit includes xrefs despite the Bind External References option being checked.
• The Start tab, Design Feed palette, and Help window do not display correctly with higher DPI settings.
• Customized Table Data in Table Style Settings fail to display.
• The tooltip from the Start tab remains displayed when Design Feed palette is open.

Solution for when KB3074683 fails to install problem

If you have Windows 10 installed and also have an NVIDIA graphic card you might run into a problem installing KB3074683 where the computer restarts several times and fails to install the "Security Update for Windows 10 for x64-based Systems (KB3074683)".

Have you been trapped in a reboot loop? The update reaches a certain percentage of installation before failing and rolling back.

This might be a solution to the endless reboot cycle. It worked for me.

Run regedit in Windows. Hold down the Windows button on the keyboard and press R and enter regedit and click on OK. (As always with regedit, be careful and if needed make a backup of the registry first)

Then locate this key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\ProfileList

Now right click on ProfileList and select Find and enter UpdatusUser and click Find Next.

On the key where you find UpdatusUser in the ProfileImagePath, right click and click on Delete.

Now let Windows 10 make the update and hopefully it works for you too.

I found the solution that worked for me here. And if you want to know What is NVIDIA ’UpdatusUser’?

AutoCAD 2016 Hotfixes

Since AutoCAD 2016 was released there have been some hotfixes with the latest just a few days ago.

Autodesk® AutoCAD® 2016 VLX Hotfix

This Hotfix addresses a compatibility problem with signed VLX files containing DCL dialogs.

Autodesk® AutoCAD® 2016 Hotfix 1

The following issues are addressed by this Hotfix:
- A display issue with the design feed palette, Geographic Location dialog, Help window browser, and Start page for Windows 8.1 operating systems at high DPI settings;
- A performance issue with the Publish command;
- A plotting issue where text formatted right-to-left plots upside down.

Autodesk® AutoCAD® 2016 Hotfix 2

The following issues are addressed by this Hotfix:
- Miscellaneous crash issues in DWG™ files containing attached images;
- Miscellaneous issues with DGN Export functionality.

There are also these hotfixes:

Localization Hotfix: AutoCAD 2016 Learn Tab (Brazilian Portuguese Only)

Localization Hotfix: AutoCAD 2016 OSNAP Options (Polish Only)

Localization Hotfix: AutoCAD 2016 Attach Navisworks Files (French Only)

If you’re looking for other downloads here are AutoCAD 2016 Language Packs, AutoCAD Civil 3D 2016 Object enabler and Open Light 2016 Object Enabler (32-bit and 64-bit) as well as if you want to Download & Install AutoCAD 2016 Product Help.

For up to date access to downloads visit this Autodesk page.

If you want any small or large app created for AutoCAD or other Autodesk products please feel free to contact us at JTB World with your inquiries.

Autodesk Exchange Apps Store 1 Million Download Milestone

As you might know JTB World has several of the apps on Autodesk Exchange Apps Store and now this store has reached the 1 million download milestone! This has been posted about on Autodesk’s In the Fold blog.

“We’re celebrating the one-millionth app download on the Autodesk Exchange Apps, a web-based design and engineering app store created for the Autodesk community.”

JTB World is also mentioned: “One person operations such as SoftDraft, LLC, RedTransit Consultants, LLC and JTB World have also participated in Exchange Apps, contributing anywhere from 15-50 apps – with JTB World emerging as an early adopter of new store features like the BlueSnap payment gateway.”

Take a look at our apps here and you might find a productivity favorite among them making your AutoCAD work easier or quicker.

Windows Live Writer and Blogger NotFound: Not Found error

Yesterday a problem started with Windows Live Writer and Blogger making it impossible to post blog posts or open published posts on Google's Blogger. I use the latest build of Microsoft's Windows Live Writer 2012. (Build 16.4.3528.331)
The first error showing says "Blogger returned the following error: NotFound: Not Found

 

Then the Sign in dialog box shows and clicking on OK shows the above message again.

The WLW log file shows the following:
WindowsLiveWriter,1.27804,None,00031,27-May-2015 09:52:23.884,"WindowsLive.Writer.Extensibility.BlogClient.BlogClientAuthenticationException: Account Login Failed - Please check your user name and password.
NotFound - Not Found
   at WindowsLive.Writer.BlogClient.Clients.GDataCredentials.EnsureLoggedIn(String username, String password, String service, Boolean showUi, String uri)",""

Not sure yet if this is an intentional change of the Blogger API or not. Hopefully Microsoft or Google fixes this issue soon.

Apparently this issue happens with other apps that are using the Blogger API too. Even Word 2016 Preview for Windows is not working with Blogger.

In the meantime a workaround that can be used is to create the post in Windows Live Writer and copy and paste to the Compose mode in Blogger, alternatively and sometimes the best option is to switch to Source in Windows Live Writer, select all, copy and paste to the HTML mode in Blogger. Note that this will not work if you normally upload images through Windows Live Writer. In this case you need to re-insert the images in Blogger. But if you have the images already online it is a decent workaround.

---

Update: Hopefully a solution is coming soon. This is a comment on the Blogger forum:
Hi everyone,
Thank you all for reporting this issue. The Blogger team is now working to fix it as soon as possible.
We will post an update here, once everything is back to normal.
Thanks and sorry for any inconvenience caused.
Blogger Team
---

New update that does not sounds promising: We appreciate you coming here and letting us know about this issue. It looks like this error is a result of an authentication problem between Google and Live Writer. A long time ago, we announced we were deprecating our old authentication system and we encouraged developers to move to the new one (OAuth 2.0). It seems that Live Writer is still using our old system, which is causing the issue. We are currently looking into it, but we suggest that users also reach out to Microsoft to report the issue.

Thanks,

Blogger Suport Team

p.s. please disconsider the previous official announcement.
---
Latest update from Google:

Hello again everyone,

We just want to let you know that we are working in partnership with Microsoft to come up with a quick resolution for the issue with Windows Live Writer and Blogger. We will provide you with more information as soon as we have it.

Thanks,

Blogger Support Team

---

Update June 2: Today it works again to post blogs from Windows Live Writer to Blogger. Thanks Google and Microsoft for working together on this.

JTB Steel 1.2.1 released

JTB Steel is an AutoCAD add-in that helps with drafting of steel frames and steel detailing. Version 1.2.1 is now available.

A free trial is also available.

FlexNet feature codes for Autodesk 2016 products

The list with FlexNet feature codes has been updated with Autodesk 2016 products.

In JTB FlexReport Config>Features and our freeware JTB FlexReport LT you can use the “Get Feature Descriptions” button to get the descriptions for codes like 86445ACD_2016_0F and more so the feature description is used in reports instead of the feature code.

Autodesk 2016 Product Keys

When you’re going to install different Autodesk 2016 products like AutoCAD 2016 you need to use the correct product key or you will get into problems to activate the products.

You can now find a complete list of Autodesk 2016 Product Keys here among product keys dating back to Autodesk 2010 products.

JTB Batch Change 1.0 for AutoCAD released

JTB Batch Change 1.0 is now released.

JTB Batch Change brings the AutoCAD ActiveX Object Model to your command via Excel design spreadsheets. Some examples of feature commands are:

With Batch Rename Objects you can rename layers in hundreds of drawing by substituting text "Concrete" with "CONC", or add a prefix of "AC " to each layer's name

With Batch Find and Replace you can find and replace text on multiple drawings.

You can import and update all blocks from a standard drawing to hundreds of other drawings.

You can replace all inserted blocks "DOOR-BD3" in layer "Archs" with block "DOOR-AC1", and move them to layer "ARCH-FURN"

You can change all texts whose styles are not prefixed with "ELEC" to "ELEC Standard" style, then change all block's attributes whose tag is "DATE" to current date.

You can convert all your inserted blocks from dynamic to static, or to anonymous blocks.

You can flatten all your drawing objects by setting all Z coordinates to 0.

Batch change drawing properties

Additionally, you can perform Batch Audit and Purge as well as much more.

When done with a batch processing you can see what has been processed in the log.

This is a great tool in the hands of AutoCAD users or CAD managers.

JTB Batch Change is available as a trial.

Spiro 1.2 - Freeware app for AutoCAD released

Spiro is a add-in can be used with AutoCAD to create Spirograph (TM)- like patterns. Turn AutoCAD into an educational toy that will provide hours of fun for the whole family! Spiro creates a hypotrochoid pattern based on the specified outer circle, inner circle and pen distance. A variety of polylines created with the Spiro plugin in AutoCAD and its verticals.

This new version has some bugs fixed and adds support for AutoCAD 2016.

Available for free on Autodesk Exchange Apps here.

JTB Steel 1.2 app for AutoCAD released

JTB Steel 1.2 has been released with added support for all Windows Region and Language settings. Thus it works fine with languages like Chinese or Japanese.

Quickly insert sections and frames in AutoCAD and much more with JTB Steel.

A free trial is available here.

SmartPurger with AutoCAD 2016 support

JTB World’s SmartPurger has been updated to support AutoCAD 2016. SmartPurger is a batch and script utility for processing multiple AutoCAD drawings with full control. Execute LSP or SCR files on multiple drawings. SmartPurger handles crashes so the AutoCAD batch processing continues to the end and leaves bad drawings to be corrected manually. Many purge and cleanup settings are available. Useful before backups and distribution of drawings. The file's modified time stamp can be restored. What do you want to automate?

A free trial is available for here as well as on Autodesk Exchange Apps.

JTB CAD Automation Tools 4.2 released

JTB CAD Automation Tools 4.2 has been released. New in version 4.2 is AutoCAD 2016 support and that AutoUpd can import block and attribute data from drawings.

With the Import from drawings button you can get block and attribute information from one or many drawings.

What is JTB CAD Automation Tools?

Multiple drawings can be automatically created from a typical drawing or updated based on a control file that can be created with an Excel template. Make the changes in Excel and let the program do all the work for you. This is a real time saver if you need to make adjustments on hundreds or thousands of drawings.

Optionally an AutoLISP file (*.lsp;*.vlx;*.fas) can be loaded for each drawing. Each drawing can use a separate AutoLISP file if needed. This gives you almost unlimited flexibility when it comes to what task you want to automate.

Example of usages: Add a stamp block; insert a title block; update text or attributes in the title block; insert text, block or xref; change text or attribute values and more. Change all external references (xrefs) from absolute paths to relative paths for archive purpose. Find and replace attribute or text values.

Bulk updating AutoCAD or BricsCAD drawings in most any way that you would like.

Visit JTB CAD Automation Tools and read more and why not give the free trial a go.

JTB Text Bubble Plus 2.1 released

JTB Text Bubble Plus 2.1 has been released.

• Compatible with Autodesk® AutoCAD® 2016
• Upgrade error handle functions
• Fix bug when working in layout's viewport
• Upgrade to 3D working space.
• Add leader landing length setting
• Add additional attribute tags used as mark
• Fix slide image error cause true type font not plot

With Text Bubble Plus you can insert text bubbles to lines, curves, or draw leaders with it, or quickly make a schedule from text bubbles and/or other blocks. Incrementing of numbers or letters is done automatically. To learn about all features visit JTB Text Bubble Plus.

JTB Text Bubble Plus Trial can be downloaded here.

JTB FlexReport 9.2 released

JTB FlexReport 9.2 has been released. Chart Service and Client are the only affected parts. Here are the fixes.

• Changed to smaller width of current day lines.
• Preset values reverted to 6 months bug fixed.
• Fixed a regression problem where the current day did not show in some charts.
• Fixed some regression problems with charts not being created.
• Fixed a regression problem where some automatic reports did not work.
• Fixed a regression problem where denials did not show up in charts.
• Some other minor bugs fixed.

Here’s a chart showing usage as well as the number of times users have been denied license requests as well as how many different users have got denials.

JTB FlexReport LT 1.2 has also been released. This app is a freeware that shows current FlexNet usage in a nice HTML report.

JTB Align Plus 3.5 released

JTB Align Plus 3.5 has been released. If you want to align objects quickly in AutoCAD this app is for you. Here are the news:

• Added support for AutoCAD® 2016
• Fix slide image side-effect bug
• Fix bug when working in paper space's viewport
• Upgrade error handler functions
• Added digital signing of MSI file

The JTB_Align_Any and JTB_Align_Objects commands will copy and align your text, block or selection of objects at picked point of selected line or curve. Curve can be Arc, Circle, Polyline, Leader or 3D Polyline, in current space as well as nested inside Blocks or Xrefs. For more features visit JTB Align Plus.

A free trial is also available on Autodesk Exchange Apps.

Solution for Installation Incomplete on Windows Server 2003

I recently released a new version of JTB FlexReport and soon heard from users that they were unable to install it on Windows Server 2003.

Installation Incomplete: The installer was interrupted before JTB FlexReport Core could be installed. You need to restart the installer to try again. Click “Close” to exit.

The message is not much help. The next step was to look at the setup log files. Here are some of the rows that eventually helped me to find the solution:

MSI (c) (D8:34) [07:33:25:065]: Connected to service for CA interface.
Action ended 7:33:25: DIRCA_CheckFX. Return value 3.
MSI (c) (D8:CC) [07:33:25:127]: Doing action: FatalErrorForm
Action 7:33:25: FatalErrorForm.
Action start 7:33:25: FatalErrorForm.
MSI (c) (D8:CC) [07:33:25:127]: Note: 1: 2235 2:  3: ExtendedType 4: SELECT `Action`,`Type`,`Source`,`Target`, NULL, `ExtendedType` FROM `CustomAction` WHERE `Action` = 'FatalErrorForm'
Info 2898. For VSI_MS_Sans_Serif13.0_0_0 textstyle, the system created a 'MS Sans Serif' font, in 0 character set, of 13 pixels height.
Info 2898. For VSI_MS_Sans_Serif16.0_1_0 textstyle, the system created a 'MS Sans Serif' font, in 0 character set, of 20 pixels height.
DEBUG: Error 2826:  Control BannerBmp on dialog FatalErrorForm extends beyond the boundaries of the dialog to the right by 3 pixels
The installer has encountered an unexpected error installing this package. This may indicate a problem with this package. The error code is 2826. The arguments are: FatalErrorForm, BannerBmp, to the right
Info 2898. For VsdDefaultUIFont.524F4245_5254_5341_4C45_534153783400 textstyle, the system created a 'MS Sans Serif' font, in 0 character set, of 13 pixels height.
DEBUG: Error 2826:  Control Line1 on dialog FatalErrorForm extends beyond the boundaries of the dialog to the right by 3 pixels
The installer has encountered an unexpected error installing this package. This may indicate a problem with this package. The error code is 2826. The arguments are: FatalErrorForm, Line1, to the right
DEBUG: Error 2826:  Control Line2 on dialog FatalErrorForm extends beyond the boundaries of the dialog to the right by 3 pixels
The installer has encountered an unexpected error installing this package. This may indicate a problem with this package. The error code is 2826. The arguments are: FatalErrorForm, Line2, to the right
Action 7:33:25: FatalErrorForm. Dialog created
MSI (c) (D8:E0) [07:33:25:143]: Note: 1: 2731 2: 0
Action ended 7:33:27: FatalErrorForm. Return value 1.
Action ended 7:33:27: INSTALL. Return value 3.
=== Logging stopped: 4/2/2015  7:33:27 ===
MSI (c) (D8:CC) [07:33:27:268]: Note: 1: 1708
MSI (c) (D8:CC) [07:33:27:268]: Product: JTB FlexReport Core -- Installation failed.

MSI (c) (D8:CC) [07:33:27:268]: Windows Installer installed the product. Product Name: JTB FlexReport Core. Product Version: 9.0.0. Product Language: 0. Installation success or error status: 1603.

MSI (c) (D8:CC) [07:33:27:283]: Grabbed execution mutex.
MSI (c) (D8:CC) [07:33:27:283]: Cleaning up uninstalled install packages, if any exist
MSI (c) (D8:CC) [07:33:27:283]: MainEngineThread is returning 1603
=== Verbose logging stopped: 4/2/2015  7:33:27 ===

In previous versions I had used Visual Studio 2010 and now I was using Visual Studio 2013 together with Visual Studio Installer Projects Extension v1.0.0.0. On this post I found the solution in the comments. There were several different ones but the one I found was easiest was this one that requires that you have VS 2010 available.

SOLUTION: Copy dcpa.dll from “C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 10.0\Common7\Tools\Deployment” to “C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 12.0\Common7\IDE\CommonExtensions\Microsoft\VSI\bin”, start VS 2013 and rebuild the setup project.

Now I will rebuild all setups and make release them so it works for those still using Windows Server 2003 even though Microsoft has put it on end of life as of July 14, 2015.

Workaround for An INSERT INTO query cannot contain a multi-valued field

Access multi-valued fields can be useful but sometimes they can cause problems working with the database. If you eventually would want to move the database to SQL Server you will need to redo certain things so related tables are used instead. This article describes how to solve certain things of this Access-only feature.

The article says: In Office Access 2007 (same with newer versions like Access 2010 and Access 2013), you cannot use an append query that references a table that contains a multivalued field. For example, the following query is not valid:

INSERT INTO NewIssues ( ID, Title, AssignedTo )
SELECT Issues.ID, Issues.Title, Issues.AssignedTo
FROM Issues;

An INSERT INTO query cannot contain a multi-valued field.

Here’s the Issues table:

Depending on what you want to achieve this two step workaround could be an option. First use an append query like this that does not reference any multi-valued field:

INSERT INTO NewIssues ( ID, Title )
SELECT Issues.ID, Issues.Title
FROM Issues;

Resulting in:

Followed by an update query like this that does contain the multi-valued field AssignedTo:

INSERT INTO NewIssues ( AssignedTo.Value )
VALUES ("Lisa")
WHERE NewIssues.Title In
(SELECT NewIssues.Title
FROM Issues INNER JOIN NewIssues
ON Issues.Title = NewIssues.Title);

Final result:

JTB FlexReport 9.0 released

JTB FlexReport 9.0 is now released and available. JTB FlexReport is a solution for monitoring network license usage and software usage in general. With its reports you are in a better position to know the actual usage of often expensive licenses. You will easier predict when and how to handle the need of increases or decreases of your licenses.

JTB FlexReport Core, JTB Process Monitor service and client, and JTB SPLM service and client are updated. JTB FlexReport Chart Service and Client will be updated soon but we wanted to get out what’s ready first.

Here are some of the main news:

• DSLS support added including import of historic logs and denials.
• The SLM tab is renamed to SLM/RMS and adds improved functionality for Sentinel RMS. AVEVA Licensing System fully supported.
• SPLM 2012 support added.
• Altium license monitoring support added.
• JTB Process Monitor updated to handle idling of processes with detection of usage of an application if mouse movement or keyboard usage is detected for the application or if the CPU usage for the application exceeds a specified level.
  This way you will get a better picture of how much the applications really are being used as sometimes an application can be running the whole day but only being used an hour or so. If monitoring network licenses both with JTB FlexReport Core and JTB Process Monitor you will now see that they match better, especially if you’re making use of TIMEOUTALL or TIMEOUT on the FlexNet license server.
• JTB Process Monitor can now detect if different AutoCAD verticals are running even though they use the same acad.exe by the added title filter. Thus you get a report on AutoCAD 2016 as well as AutoCAD Architecture 2016 separately.
• Added automatic reading of user and host names from AVEVA’s ALS XML.
• Several improvements and bug fixes related to 12D usage monitoring.
• Added support for showing user group information on the HTML report grouped on servers. User groups are first taken from the FlexNet options file if it’s been specified on the FlexNet tab, otherwise from user groups defined in the Group Administrator.
• Added support for SLM based licenses to show up in the HTML reports and also log feature usage to the ‘log’ table.

For more details see the revision history and download here. Trial is also available.

DimensionPatrol 1.3 for AutoCAD released

JTB World’s DimensionPatrol for AutoCAD has been updated with bug fixes and support for AutoCAD 2016. DimensionPatrol is also available to try or purchase at Autodesk Exchange Apps.

This plug-in highlights dimensions in a drawing for which the user has customized or edited the dimension text and helps to ensure the quality of the drawings.

Manually overridden dimension are highlighted in red by the DimensionPatrol plugin.

DigSigStamp 1.3 with support for AutoCAD 2016

JTB World’s DigSigStamp for AutoCAD has been updated with bug fixes and support for AutoCAD 2016.

• This plug-in allows you to specify a block that will change its display when plotted to indicate whether the drawing had a valid digital signature at the time of plotting.
• The DigSigStamp plugin helps you identify visually when drawings have valid digital signatures. You use one of the plugin's commands to specify blocks to display when a drawing has a valid digital signature and when it does not. You then assign a particular block reference - which usually exists in the title block of your drawing - that will change its display to one of these two block definitions depending on the state of the drawing. The application even works when plotting, an operation that typically invalidates a drawing's digital signature.
• Available as AutoCAD App (Plug-in) on Autodesk Exchange Apps to purchase or to try.

The following is an example of how the block can look like. The design of them is completely up to you. This drawing has a valid digital certificate.

JTB Change Title for AutoCAD freeware released

JTB Change Title for AutoCAD is a freeware from JTB World that just been released.

Sometimes there can be a reason why you want to change the application title in AutoCAD. It can be that you need to take nice screenshots for documentation for example. In my case I could not right now register the new AutoCAD 2016 as it’s just been released an Autodesk is probably not yet ready with the registration part of it. Instead of showing "Autodesk AutoCAD 2016 - UNREGISTERED VERSION" or "Autodesk AutoCAD 2016 - NOT FOR RESALE" you want it to show "Autodesk AutoCAD 2016" or something else. With JTB Change Title this can be done.

Before

After

AutoCAD 2016 released, what’s new?

Autodesk AutoCAD 2016 is now released. You might already be able to download it from your Autodesk Account. This is the 30th version of AutoCAD.

There are a few nice news added that you might find useful. Revision Clouds are easier to create and modify. Using the REVCLOUD command the new Modify options makes it possible to draw new revision cloud segments as well as erase selected portions of existing revision clouds.

I will keep updating the AutoCAD 2016 page with more about this new version as well as make some blog posts about specific new or updated features.

A good thing is that the file format is still the same old DWG 2013.

Most custom programs that work for AutoCAD 2015 will also work in AutoCAD 2016. In near future all JTB World apps will be updated to fully work with AutoCAD 2016. Several apps on Autodesk Exchange Apps are already updated for AutoCAD 2016.

FlexNet version to be used for network licenses is 11.12.1.4. JTB FlexReport works fine with it but you might need to copy the new lmutil.exe to the JTB FlexReport folder.

JTB FlexReport and ANSYS 16.0

Here’s a support email we got from a JTB FlexReport customer that can be useful for others that might run into this problem and want a solution to it.

We updated the ANSYS-License manager last month to the latest version, included in ANSYS 16.0. The latest ANSYS-License manager uses lmgrd.exe 11.12.1.1 and lmutil.exe 11.12.1.1

After this update, JTB FlexReport didn’t show data about ANSYS licenses.

After updating lmutil.exe from 11.11.1.0 to 11.12.1.0 in the JTB FlexReport folder everything works fine.

In the next upcoming JTB FlexReport version lmutil.exe version 11.12.1.4 will be included to make license usage reporting work for both ANSYS 16.0 as well as upcoming Autodesk 2016 products. In the meantime if needed you can manually copy over the lmutil.exe file.

JTB Current Folder 1.2 for AutoCAD released

JTB Current Folder version 1.2 for AutoCAD has been released by JTB World. Speed up navigation among your drawings and files you want to open, attach or insert with the dynamic shortcut to the current drawings folder within the places area in AutoCAD’s file selection dialog boxes.

JTB Steel for AutoCAD

JTB Steel for AutoCAD is an Add-in running inside AutoCAD, adding powerful command features to help you draw simple and complex steelwork frames and details efficiently.

You can select and insert Steel Sections from JTB Steel library to AutoCAD® drawing just as inserting blocks. You can draw Steel Frames just as drawing lines by 2 pickpoints. All created drawing objects are either blocks or dynamic blocks. Once Steel members are inserted, you can edit these using powerful editing commands located on Tools Palette.

JTB Steel includes advanced automation techniques for modifying dynamic blocks. This means that you can easily manage your drawings and quickly finalize your details. The below example was fully created using JTB Steel (this includes any alignment, rotation etc):

JTB Steel on the AutoCAD Plug-ins menu.

Read more about JTB Steel on the product page and download the trial.

Autodesk Network License Manager v11.12.1.4

Autodesk is preparing for their 2016 products like AutoCAD 2016 and Revit 2016.

“Autodesk 2016 products can obtain license from Network License Server – v11.12 and above. However, it is strongly recommended to upgrade the license servers to the latest version – v11.12.1.4 – when using 2016 products.”

Downloads for latest version is available here. And specifically for v11.12.1.4 here:

Windows:

• Autodesk IPv4 License Manager for Windows (includes installer)
• Autodesk IPv6 License Manager for Windows (no installer but this implementation supports mixed IPv4/IPv6 and IPv6-only environments)

Mac OS X:

• Autodesk IPv4 License Manager for Mac
• Autodesk IPv6 License Manager for Mac

Linux:

• Autodesk IPv4 License Manager for Linux
• Autodesk IPv6 License Manager for Linux

adskflex.exe, lmgrd.exe, lmutil.exe and lmtools.exe are all version 11.12.1.4 now.

JTB World’s JTB FlexReport license monitoring tool has been tested with and supports this new version and is prepared to be able to get statistics of license usage and report on it for all Autodesk 2016 products.

JTB Align Plus 3.4 for AutoCAD

JTB Align Plus Version 3.4 is released and comes with a couple of bug fixes. JTB Align Plus is a great help when you want to align text or blocks to a line or curve in AutoCAD.

• Fix run-time error in 3.3 version
• Fix bug when align on scaled block

See also the post JTB Align Plus 3.3 for AutoCAD released. A free trial is also available on Autodesk Exchange Apps.

JTB Current Folder 1.1 for AutoCAD released

Have you ever been frustrated over the many steps you need to take to navigate to the same folder as where your current drawing is, in AutoCAD’s file selection dialog boxes? No need anymore.

When JTB Current Folder is installed, every time you open a drawing, or attach external references, insert drawing as block or create a block, you will have a Current Folder item on the left of your file selection dialog box (in the custom places area). The Current Folder will bring your active drawing's path just 1 click away, which otherwise is often several clicks away.

Version 1.1 has a bug fix to solve problem with multiplying folders.

Give JTB Current Folder a try. It’s free and fully functional for a limited time.

Google Earth Pro is free now

As you can see in the post on Google Maps blog, Google Earth Pro is now free. “Google Earth Pro has all the easy-to-use features and detailed imagery of Google Earth, along with advanced tools that help you measure 3D buildings, print high-resolution images for presentations or reports, and record HD movies of your virtual flights around the world.”

JTB Text Bubble Plus 1.6 for AutoCAD released

JTB Text Bubble Plus 1.6 for has been AutoCAD released. If you work with different kind of text bubbles that has numbers or letters that you want to automatically increment, JTB Text Bubble Plus can be a great productivity help.

Based on user requests, here’s the news in version 1.6:

• TBBRE now have option to renumber with/without grouping similar numbers.
• Now the increment functionality covers a wider range of pattern. If you enter 1a, 1b then it will go 1c, 1d ... If you enter AB1, AB2 then it will go AB3, AB4 ...
• Bug fixed when DimScale is set to 0.

The basic Text Bubble app has also be updated with these news.

You can read more about JTB Text Bubble Plus or purchase it from our product page.

Interview with me on Cadalyst’s blog CAD speed

Here’s an interview with me on Cadalyst’s blog CAD speed.

“Jimmy Bergmark of JTB World has decades of experience in the AutoCAD industry. That’s why he started his own business to help fellow CAD users. He agreed to share his experience in that industry with readers in this interview.” Read the rest here.

JTB Align Plus 3.3 for AutoCAD released

JTB Align Plus 3.3 for AutoCAD is now released. JTB Align Plus is a great help when you want to align text or blocks to a line or curve.

Here’s an example of aligning a block.

Or if you work with P&IDs this makes the work go quicker.

Recent improvements are:

• Esc key now just step back 1.
• The command prompt now look much better.
• There is key + and - add to enhance offset move.
• ALA command now take VIEWTWIST into account, therefore if your viewport is twisted, texts are still upward.
• Match text content added to multipleader as well.
• Fixed bugs in DimSpace, DimBreak, Align Any command.

Feel free to visit our product page JTB Align Plus for more information and if you want to get a trial of the app.