Thursday, October 28, 2021

Autodesk Network License Manager update needed for Autodesk 2020 and 2021

Autodesk Customers with Multi-user subscription or Token-flex implementation using Autodesk Network License Manager (NLM) are required to upgrade the Network License Manager to the latest version v11.18.x to support Autodesk 2020 and newer version products on and after April 1st, 2022. ref

To report on Autodesk Network License Manager, Named User or Autodesk Flex usage try our JTB FlexReport.

Tuesday, October 26, 2021

JTB Excel2TextField links Excel cell to AutoCAD field

JTB Excel2TextField lets you connect fields in AutoCAD to Excel cell values. You can have Excel as the main source and when it is updated your drawings will be updated too. You can place fields in texts, mtexts, tables and/or block attributes.

Have your Excel updates to reflect in the drawing.

Animation of usage below by coding on the image.

Free trial at JTB Excel2TextField.

Thursday, October 21, 2021

JTB FlexReport 2021.10.0 released - monitor expensive license usage

JTB FlexReport 2021.10.0 is now ready.

We have added and fixed a lot of things in this release. New monitoring options and new reports. Better performance. Works with Windows 11 and Windows Server 2022.

See the version history for all details.

Trial is available if you want to give it a try.

If your maintenance has expired you can try the new version for a few weeks, if you want to keep using it contact us to renew the maintenance. The upgrade is free of charge for customers with active maintenance.

What is JTB FlexReport? JTB FlexReport is a license usage report tool for applications licensed using network license systems like FlexNet (FlexNet), IBM LUM, DSLS, SPLM, Sentinel, LM-X, RLM, EPLAN (ELM), HASP, DPT, Tebis, CodeMeter among others. Track usage over time, hours used and much more. With JTB Process Monitor much more can be monitored like Bentley MicroStation, Autodesk Named User licenses and Autodesk Flex.

If you have FlexNet licenses check out our JTB FlexReport LT freeware. App for AutoCAD available.

Autodesk user? See these posts:

You may still find use for JTB FlexReport together with JTB Process Monitor. We can help analyze your historic usage so you can prepare for the switch.

Wednesday, October 6, 2021

Change attribute order of block in many CAD drawings

To change attribute tag order in one drawing use BATTORDER (AutoCAD) or BATTMAN (AutoCAD and BricsCAD). With it you can update the block definition of the block.

battman

 

Then wblock out the block to a separate DWG file. In the example below it us C:\temp\TITLEBLOCK.dwg

In below example the block is named TITLEBLOCK so you will need to modify the name and path (separate folders with double backslashes). Save the AutoLISP code to an LSP file.

; redefine block with or without attributes from an external DWG block

(setq blockname " TITLEBLOCK")

(setq fullpath "C:\\temp\\TITLEBLOCK.dwg")

(if (tblsearch "block" blockname)

  (progn

    (command "_.-insert" (strcat blockname "=" fullpath) "_Y")

    (command)

    (command "_.attsync" "_N" blockname)

  )

)

Then you can use JTB SmartBatch to update all drawings with this LSP. Specify the use of the LSP in JTB SmartBatch Settings > Script/lisp file. Now add all drawings to be updated and you’ll have all title blocks or other blocks of your choice updated.

Monday, October 4, 2021

JTB FlexReport can monitor Autodesk Flex

Autodesk Flex is a new option to pay as you go for occasional product use. While you can get some usage reports from Autodesk they are limited.

image

When a user opens and signs into an Autodesk product included with Flex, they will be charged a daily rate per product once every 24 hours.

For example, a user opens and signs into AutoCAD from 8am-9am will be charged 7 tokens, same as a user using it the whole day. Even just starting and closing AutoCAD will cause a charge if 7 tokens (around $21). Revit will take 10 tokens.

With JTB FlexReport and JTB Process Monitor you can get additional valuable reports to identify users that just use a product a short time per day. You can get the total time the product has been running as well as the active time the user used the product. With this users using the products just a short time can be identified.

Contact us for a free trial or if you have any questions.

Monday, September 13, 2021

JTB BatchAttEdit 4.5.0 - Batch edit block attributes in BricsCAD or AutoCAD

JTB BatchAttEdit 4.5.0 has been released.

In this version we added a "Clone selected blocks" command and other improvements.

This batch attribute editor app for BricsCAD and AutoCAD gathers attributes in all blocks of specified name patterns in multiple drawings and display in a spreadsheet. You can edit attribute texts just like in Excel. When ready, click "Apply Attribute Changes" to update values to drawings.

JTB BatchAttEdit

This is a great app to edit title block attributes across many drawings instead of having to do it one drawing at a time. How do you edit all title block data?

Dynamic block properties can be edited too.

If you want to export the attributes to Excel use the "Export - Import" button. Optionally you can make modifications in Excel for example with help of functions and formulas and then import back.

Try it for free by downloading from JTB BatchAttEdit.

For more of JTB World’s software that you might find useful visit our software list and our apps available on Autodesk App Store. We also offer custom programming services and can help you with both small and large projects where we specialize on the AutoCAD, AutoCAD Architecture, Revit, BricsCAD, ZWCAD and other CAD platforms.

Thursday, September 9, 2021

Redefine blocks across many drawings with JTB Batch Change

JTB Batch Change can simplify AutoCAD work like redefining blocks across many drawings.

On the Drawing List tab in the Excel file that comes with JTB Batch Change add all drawings you want to have updated.

image

This is the drawing I want to update.

image

On the Import tab select Block Definition as a command to use and select source drawing where the new block definition exists.

image

This is the updated block I want to apply to my drawings.

image

Select the row with the Import command and click on Run and select the drawings to update.

image

Here is the result.

image

There is much more JTB Batch Change can do. Take a look at the webpage and try it yourself.

Tuesday, August 10, 2021

Example of usage of JTB FlexReport and JTB Process Monitor

JTB FlexReport and JTB Process Monitor have an open database making it possible for customers to create their own reports of app usage.

Jess Purcell at Shepley Bulfinch kindly shared her custom reports based on usage data tracked with JTB FlexReport and JTB Process Monitor:

“We’ve done a couple significant things. For one, we’re using it to track app usage on people local laptops versus on our virtual desktops to understand who is using things locally instead of virtually, and what apps are getting more use in each location.”

JTB FlexReport 1

“And I’m going to start using it for our Affinity Suite rollout to track adoption and usage of Affinity over Adobe CS6. I’m able to see specific app usage times, and identify people who haven’t tried it, or are using it a lot and could share their experiences. I’m also able to compare directly between the relating Apps (Photo and Photoshop, Designer and Illustrator, etc)”

JTB FlexReport 2

“I built those dashboards in PowerBI, and I’m pulled some Deltek info in as well for department and if they are an active employee.”

JTB FlexReport 3

Free trial of JTB FlexReport and JTB Process Monitor is available.

Thursday, July 29, 2021

JTB Sheet Set Renumber for AutoCAD

JTB Sheet Set Renumber is a new app from JTB World to make life easier using AutoCAD’s Sheet Set Manager. Quickly renumber and insert total number to sheet set to show them up in fields [Sheet number]/[Total Number]

In many cases, we want to show up in our title block two fields Sheet Number / Total Number.

There is Sheet Number property in each sheet, but we have to manually edit it.

There is no Total Number property in the sheet set. We can create it as custom property, but again, we have to manually edit it.

So, this app is made to help. It assumes that sheet numbering is based on the same order of the sheets listed in your sheet set, and no sheet is excluded from the total number. Then, every time you reorder the sheets in sheet set, insert or delete sheets, run the app command "SheetSetRenumber" and all the Sheet Number, Total Number fields will be updated.

See video of usage here.

Example of before

and after deleting 1 sheet.

Free trial available at JTB Sheet Set Renumber.

Tuesday, July 27, 2021

JTB XClipClean 4.0.0 released

JTB XClipClean 4.0.0 has been released.

  • Upgrade from VBA to .NET improving performance and stability.
  • Remove messages about uninstallation in very-silent installation mode.

If you are using clipped xrefs or blocks you may find this app useful.

Kitchen with the xclip boundary visible

JTB XClipClean is an Xclip-cutter app for AutoCAD to clean up xrefs or blocks that been clipped so that the information that is outside the clip is removed. This is useful when you need to remove hidden geometry and minimize DWG file size.

AutoCAD allows blocks and xrefs to be clipped using the XCLIP command. Sometimes for different reasons you have to clean up the blocks or xrefs that have been clipped. JTB XClipClean can help you with that by deleting and trimming geometry that is outside the xclip boundary.

Revit does not handle xclipped blocks and xrefs so XClipClean can be useful to run on drawings before taking them into Revit.

Thursday, May 13, 2021

JTB Batch Publish 3.0.2 released AutoCAD 2022 supported

JTB Batch Publish 3.0.2 has been released and now works with AutoCAD 2022.

JTB Batch Publish is an app for AutoCAD and BricsCAD that publishes sheets in Sheet Sets, layouts in other drawings, folders or drawings in DSD files to files like PDF and DWF or images like PNG. The files created are named as you want based on a naming formula that you specify. Use date fields and/or sheet properties of your choice to build up the output filename.

Download is here as well as trial.

Monday, May 10, 2021

JTB Sheet Set Creator 2.8.2 released

JTB Sheet Set Creator 2.8.2 got a bug fixed and in previous version, AutoCAD 2022 was added support for.

JTB Sheet Set Creator is an app for AutoCAD that creates new Sheet Sets and Sheets with all properties based on an Excel template.

Download the upgrade or try it. JTB Sheet Set Creator

If you are using Sheet Sets you can make batch edits of properties with JTB SMPropEditor or make merge, purge and convert with JTB DST Tool or publish with JTB Batch Publish.

Sunday, May 9, 2021

Batch scripting for DraftSight with JTB SmartBatch

JTB SmartBatch 5.5.0 is released made it compatible with DraftSight and before that with AutoCAD 2022.

Download here. Purchase a new license or upgrade here.

JTB SmartBatch is a batch and script utility for processing multiple DWG drawings with full control with AutoCAD, BricsCAD, ZWCAD, DraftSight or GstarCAD.

JTB SmartBatch closes dialog boxes that might otherwise stop batch processing like for example dialog box showing missing fonts. Execute LSP or SCR files on multiple drawings. JTB SmartBatch handles crashes so the CAD batch processing continues to the end and leaves bad drawings to be corrected manually. Many purge and cleanup settings available. Useful before backups and distribution of drawings. The file's modified time stamp can be restored.

ZWCAD batch scripting

The free trial without license file is fully functional except that you can only batch process 10 drawings per session to give you the chance to confirm that the program works as expected. When you purchase you can use JTB SmartBatch with no limitations.

Solution for ; error: bad argument type: VLA-OBJECT nil

I run into a problem in AutoCAD trying to get a VLA-OBJECT property like this with AutoLISP/ActiveX:

(vla-get-linetypes (vla-get-activedocument (vlax-get-acad-object)))

The error:

; error: bad argument type: VLA-OBJECT nil

Accessing other properties also failed.

Reinstall of AutoCAD was needed to solve the problem. Repair did not help.

Monday, March 1, 2021

Multi-User to Named User Autodesk licenses update

If you have not yet traded your Multi-User to named user cloud-based licensing, see this updated post by Autodesk.

“Starting February 25, 2021, we will provide customers the option to take advantage of the multi-user trade-in offer at their first and all future renewals between August 7, 2020 and until August 7, 2023.”

You might have used JTB FlexReport for network license monitoring and with JTB Process Monitor you can keep monitoring the usage of named user licenses. If you for example had 50 Multi-user licenses and traded them for 100 named user licenses you might not want to keep paying for 100 licenses if you only have 75 licenses used on a regular basis. You probably don’t want to pay for users that rarely use the software.

Take a look at Autodesk Named User usage reporting, Autodesk Network Licenses RIP, New Named User Plans and Prepare for the switch to Autodesk Named User Licenses.

A useful article Autodesk Delays Implementation of Named-User Licensing Approach by Robert Green here

Thursday, February 11, 2021

JTB FlexReport 2021.2.0 - New Feature Group report

JTB FlexReport 2021.2.0 is now ready.

We have added and fixed few things in this release.

  • JTB FlexReport Service/Client
    • New list report with Feature Group aggregation. "Server - Feature Group - User - Host".
    • Bug fixed that caused erroneous number of licenses issued and licenses in use in some rare cases.

Feature Group list report

See the version history for all details.

Trial is available if you want to give it a try.

If your maintenance has expired you can try the new version for a few weeks, if you want to keep using it contact us to renew the maintenance. The upgrade is free of charge for customers with active maintenance.

What is JTB FlexReport? JTB FlexReport is a license usage report tool for applications licensed using network license systems like FlexNet (FlexNet), IBM LUM, DSLS, SPLM, Sentinel, LM-X, RLM, EPLAN (ELM), HASP, DPT, Tebis, CodeMeter among others. Track usage over time, hours used and much more.

If you have FlexNet licenses check out our JTB FlexReport LT freeware. App for AutoCAD available.

Autodesk user? Take a look at Autodesk Network Licenses RIP, New Named User Plans and Prepare for the switch to Autodesk Named User Licenses. You may still find use for JTB FlexReport together with JTB Process Monitor. We can help analyze your historic usage so you can prepare for the switch.

Monday, February 8, 2021

DST merging with JTB DST Tool 2.1.0

JTB DST Tool can merge Sheet Sets containing Sheet Views and their fields in the drawings. For this specific functionality full AutoCAD is needed. Otherwise the app works without the need of any CAD installed.

You can also purge, convert and fix paths for Sheet Set DST files for AutoCAD, BricsCAD, GstarCAD, NanoCAD Plus/Pro, Graebert's ARES Commander 2022 and newer, and any other CAD software using Sheet Set DST files.

When ready a detailed status log is showed for all processed sheets.

Fields get updated so they point to the merged Sheet Set DST file.

More about the app at JTB DST Tool.

JTB Batch Publish 3.0.0 released now with PDF merging

JTB Batch Publish 3.0.0 has been released.

  • Renamed the app from JTB Sheet Set Publish to JTB Batch Publish
  • Added option "Plot to multi-sheet PDF files"
  • Upgraded the publishing log window

JTB Batch Publish is an app for AutoCAD and BricsCAD that publishes sheets in Sheet Sets, layouts in other drawings, folders or drawings in DSD files to files like PDF and DWF or images like PNG. The files created are named as you want based on a naming formula that you specify. Use date fields and/or sheet properties of your choice to build up the output filename.

Download is here as well as trial.

Thursday, January 28, 2021

Batch scripting for ZWCAD with JTB SmartBatch

JTB SmartBatch 5.3 is released.

Download the update either as a customer or if you want a trial. Purchase a new license or upgrade here if previous purchase was before 2019.

JTB SmartBatch is a batch and script utility for processing multiple DWG drawings with full control with AutoCAD, BricsCAD, ZWCAD or GstarCAD.

JTB SmartBatch closes dialog boxes that might otherwise stop batch processing like for example dialog box showing missing fonts. Execute LSP or SCR files on multiple drawings. JTB SmartBatch handles crashes so the CAD batch processing continues to the end and leaves bad drawings to be corrected manually. Many purge and cleanup settings available. Useful before backups and distribution of drawings. The file's modified time stamp can be restored.

ZWCAD batch scripting

The free trial without license file is fully functional except that you can only batch process 10 drawings per session to give you the chance to confirm that the program works as expected. When you purchase you can use JTB SmartBatch with no limitations.

Tuesday, January 26, 2021

JTB BatchAttEdit 3.4.0 - Batch edit block attributes in AutoCAD or BricsCAD

JTB BatchAttEdit 3.4.0 has been released.

This batch attribute editor app for AutoCAD and BricsCAD collects attributes in all blocks of specified name patterns in multiple drawings and display in a wide spreadsheet. Then you can edit attribute texts as easy as working with Excel. Once done, click "Apply Attribute Changes" to update values to drawings.

JTB BatchAttEdit

This makes it a great app to for example edit title block attributes across many drawings instead of having to do it one drawing at a time. How do you edit all title block data?

If you want to export the attributes to Excel use the "Export - Import" button. Optionally you can make modifications in Excel for example with help of functions and formulas and then import back.

Try it for free by downloading from JTB BatchAttEdit.

For more of JTB World’s software that you might find useful visit our software list and our apps available on Autodesk App Store. We also offer custom programming services and can help you with both small and large projects where we specialize on the AutoCAD, AutoCAD Architecture, Revit, BricsCAD, ZWCAD and other CAD platforms.

Monday, January 25, 2021

Find DWGs with Student plot watermarks with JTB EduFinder

An education watermark is added to the drawing for AutoCAD and AutoCAD vertical products licensed by student and educators through the Autodesk Education Community.

Now you might have a commercial license and for one or another reason got one or many drawings infected by non-commercial usage. To quickly find drawings with the watermark use our app EduFinder. It has just been updated to version 2.1.0.

When plotting or doing a plot preview of a drawing created with a product licensed by students or educators, users will see this watermark PRODUCED BY AN AUTODESK STUDENT VERSION or PRODUCED BY AN AUTODESK EDUCATIONAL PRODUCT.

When using a commercial license of AutoCAD to open a drawing with the education watermark, the following task dialog is displayed “This drawing was saved with a Student Version of the product and marked with a plot stamp.”.

See also the post with more details here.

Monday, January 18, 2021

JTB FlexReport 2021.1.0 - monitor ZWCAD, ZW3D license usage and more

JTB FlexReport 2021.1.0 is now ready.

We have fixed and improved a few things in this release.

  • JTB FlexReport Core
    • Fixed problem that could cause logging to stop if the c:\Windows\Temp folder was filled with tmp files.
    • Fixed another problem where the FlexNet debug log import could fail to work.
    • Removed saving current usage from FlexNet debug log because it can be incorrect if the imported log is older than a few hours. And if weeks or months old log it can result in very long incorrect usage.
    • Various minor fixes.
  • JTB FlexReport Service/Client
    • Fixed problems when multiple servers or features could not be selected and reported on.
    • Fixed another bug caused by ' character in user and host names.
    • Fixed a problem where dates in exported Excel files could fail to be correct in some countries date formats.
    • Various minor fixes.
  • JTB Process Monitor Service/Client
    • Performance improvements for the Client causing less CPU strain.
    • Various minor fixes.

See the version history for all details.

ZWCAD and ZW3D are among the many products JTB FlexReport can monitor usage of.

Trial is available if you want to give it a try.

If your maintenance has expired you can try the new version for a few weeks, if you want to keep using it contact us to renew the maintenance. The upgrade is free of charge for customers with active maintenance.

What is JTB FlexReport? JTB FlexReport is a license usage report tool for applications licensed using network license systems like FlexNet (FlexNet), IBM LUM, DSLS, SPLM, Sentinel, LM-X, RLM, EPLAN (ELM), HASP, DPT, Tebis, CodeMeter among others. Track usage over time, hours used and much more.

If you have FlexNet licenses check out our JTB FlexReport LT freeware. App for AutoCAD available.

Autodesk user? Take a look at Autodesk Network Licenses RIP, New Named User Plans and Prepare for the switch to Autodesk Named User Licenses. You may still find use for JTB FlexReport together with JTB Process Monitor.

Thursday, January 14, 2021

What is Line Space Style in mtext in CAD?

Some users have run into some odd behavior with multiline text (mtext) in DWG editors like AutoCAD, BricsCAD, GstarCAD and ZWCAD. What helped in these cases was to change the Line Space Style.

What is mtext Line Space Style?

There are two styles:

  • At Least. Adjusts lines of text automatically based on the height of the largest character in the line. More space is added between lines of text with taller characters. This is the default setting.
  • Exactly. Forces the line spacing to be the same size for all lines of text regardless of format differences such as font or text height Useful to line up text in tables.

To ensure that line spacing is identical in multiple multiline text objects, use Exactly and set the Line Space Factor to the same value in each multiline text object.

Note: Using Exactly can cause text in lines located above or below lines with large font characters (commonly used in Asian languages) to overlap the larger characters.

I run into this several times being Swedish and having accented letters like Å, Ä and Ö that are higher than most characters.

If you use Justify like Middle center you can see how the insertion point is at different heights related to the text and also affects the Background mask and Text frame. The cyan line shows the insertion point.

Multiline text placement on a leader can also be affected as seen below.

Multiline text with 4 columns below.

Sample DWG to download.

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