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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.