JTB FlexReport database compression tip

Here is a JTB FlexReport database compression tip.

This example is for the JTBFlexReport.NET.mdb database with real data.

If you compress/compact the database it will probably go down a bit in size.

I used Microsoft Access for this (this step is not needed though). Make a backup first and don’t delete it until you are sure the reports and everything works with the compacted one.

Stop also the Windows Service for JTB FlexReport before you compact the database and start it again when you are ready.

If I use JTB FlexReport database administration and compact it and if I also select to delete 0 license usage. If you use this application there is no need to compress the database with Access.

The reason for this is that 2,892,386 rows in the “log” table has 0 used licenses. In a coming version there will be support for the option to not save these rows in the first place.

Another thing that only can be done manually at this point. The table tblDeniedUserLog can after a while contain many rows and after deleting them and compacting the database the size can goes down a lot. This table is populated with data from the FLEXnet debug logs so you would also need to start with empty debug logs at the same time. It can be a good idea to backup the debug logs and start with new ones as it can affect the snapshot time quite a lot if they are too big in size.

Consider also if there are features that you find no reason to log to the database at all and set them to not be logged in JTB FlexReport Config.

PS. Further work to support SQL Server is going on but will still take several weeks until it is ready because of all the work included. .NET Framework 3.5 will also be required at this point meaning that Windows 2000 will not be supported (at least not fully).

AutoCAD Xclip xrefs in 3D tips and tricks

Xref clipping has been around since AutoCAD R14 and is really useful. It has been improved upon last time in AutoCAD 2009 with ability to more easily edit the boundary as seen in this previous post that also shows the invert x-clip boundary that was introduced in AutoCAD 2008.

JTB World's XClipClean can help with the work to clean up the blocks or xrefs that has been clipped by automate the tedious work deleting and trimming geometry that is outside the xclip boundary. This can be useful for as build drawing production if you need to bind the xrefs and want to minimize the size of the drawings. Think of it as an clipped xref purger removing what anyway is not seen.

Did you know that you can clip a 3D model also in Z direction? Here is one solution.

I use the sample 3D House as an example here. I attach it to Drawing1.

Then I clip it from the top view like this.

In this step I have attached Drawing1 into a new drawing and change the view to a front view and clip it again.

And here is the result.

If you just want to clip the already clipped xref or blog parallel to the clipping boundary regardless of current UCS you can use the Clipdepth option that sets the front and back clipping planes on an xref or block. Easiest is if you are in a front, back, left or right view when you do this.

Imagine you work with a large project with multiple disciplines and maybe just want to use a small part of the building as underlay to keep good performance on the computer. This is just one practical usage.

Clipping a 2D xref also works with nested xrefs and can be really useful too.

If you work with clipped external references consider how to use INDEXCTL. Using INDEXCTL set to 3 can improve the performance up to 10 times I have seen, especially in combination with xrefs, xclip and viewports.

Feel free to share your tips in the comments or add a link to your blog post on the topic.

upFront.eZine NEWS Q&A With Jim Quanci of Autodesk

upFront.eZine NEWS #586 has an interesting Q&A with Jim Quanci, director at ADN (Autodesk Developer Network).

upFront.eZine: Some third-party developers tell me they could no longer compete against Autodesk's overwhelming marketing and sales team. As well, they could no longer be members of ADN, I am guessing?

Read the Q&A for the reply.

upFront.eZine: I recall seeing Mechanical demo'ed at AU a number of years ago, and was very impressed what AutoCAD could be made to do through ARX.

Jim Quanci: I suggest you take a look at what AutoCAD has been made to do today with AutoCAD Mechanical, AutoCAD Electrical, AutoCAD Civil 3D, AutoCAD Architecture, AutoCAD Electrical, AutoCAD P&ID and so on.

Notice also that AutoCAD Plant 3D that is expected this year is based on AutoCAD. AutoCAD will be around for many years ahead.

FLEXnet options file adskflex.opt location

In the Autodesk discussion group there was a question how to specify the options file in the license file.

The recommended thing is to name the options file as the vendor daemon and place it in the same folder as the license file.
adskflex.exe is the Autodesk daemon so name the options file adskflex.opt and in this case you don't need to specify it in the license file.

If you really want to use another location and name for the opt file here is how:

Add the path to the options file in the license file on the VENDOR line for the application’s vendor daemon. This example enables the vendor daemon to look at the specified options file:
VENDOR adskflex options=”c:\path\options.opt”

Something you definitely should add in the options file is TIMEOUTALL.

Phillips, JIS, Pozidriv, SupaDriv and other screw drive types

When a Phillips is not a Phillips! was an interesting reading. Find out the pros and cons and history about some of the shapes and screw drive type. What makes Robertson square screws better than other square screws and so on.

So, why all the confusion? Why all the damaged screw heads and drivers? Why is this screw and driver thing so awkward? Read on and be amazed while I unravel the mystery of screw drives and present some you may have never seen.

Advantages and Disadvantages of Pozidriv

The largest advantage it offers is that, when used with the correct tooling in good condition, it does not cam out, allowing great torque to be applied. The chief disadvantage of Pozidriv screws is that they are visually quite similar to Phillips, thus many people are unaware of the difference or do not own the correct drivers for them, and use incorrect screwdrivers. This results in difficulty in unscrewing the screw and in damage to the slot, rendering any subsequent use of a correct screwdriver unsatisfactory.

Here are a few more bits that I found on the Swedish Clas Ohlson site.

There is also a Screws category on Wikipedia with a lot of different screws.

Different types of screw drives: Square, Hex, Pentagon, Thumbscrew, Slot, Cross, Cruciform types, Phillips, Frearson (Reed and Prince), French recess (BNAE NFL22-070), JIS B 1012, Mortorq, Pozidriv, Supadriv, Robertson, Hex socket (Allen key, hex key or inbus), Hexalobular socket (Torx), TTAP (improved hexalobular), Phillips/square (Quadrex), Breakaway head, Bristol, Clutch, Double hex, Line, One-way, Pentalobe, Polydrive, Proprietary head, Spanner, Spline, Torq-set, TP3, Tri-wing (triangular slotted), Triple square (XZN), Protruding obstacle

2008

315,858 visits came from 204 countries/territories to this blog.

Top browsers:

1. Internet Explorer  200,344  63.43% 
2. Firefox  99,106  31.38%

A couple of the top 10 blog post: Network license news in AutoCAD 2009 and Kill a process in VB.NET

189,203 visits came from 203 countries/territories to www.jtbworld.com.

Top browsers:

1. Internet Explorer / Windows  128,693  68.02% 
2. Firefox / Windows  48,813  25.80%

A couple of the top 10 web pages: the AutoLISP page and the AutoCAD 2009 page

Thanks for visiting in 2008 and welcome back!

Compare PDF, DWF, DWFx, DOC, DOCx files

Further on the topic of the previous post but more on to manual compare. DWF Version Compare was introduced in Autodesk Design Review 2008. You find it on the Tools menu. This can be useful when comparing two DWF files. But be aware that it has its limitations like it cannot find differences on raster objects and the DWF files must be the same sheet size and use the same units.

If you want to compare PDF files Adobe Acrobat Professional have that functionality and works great with large multipage documents. Found on the Advanced menu. It’s a real time saver when you get PDF files like specifications from a customer, client or colleague and don’t want to read through everything a second time just to find the changes. Below you can see some of the result from Acrobat compare.

Microsoft Word also have this functionality to compare two versions of a document. I have found not many are aware of it. In Word 2007 it is on the Review tab.

Automate testing and examination of PDF generation

This can also be applied to other formats like DWF (DWFx). Think about the costs if the PDF or DWF is incorrect, missing some important text for example. Say you have automated plotting and even if you make spot checks of the resulting files there is a chance you miss something. We all know that the PDF creation for example is tricky and because of bugs in the software the result might not always be what you expect.

The solution is to create a test automation. Say you produce the files from AutoCAD or Revit. What you could do it to produce two different outputs like plotting to both PDF and to TIFF and then automatically compare the result by first rasterizing the PDF file.

A software that can be automated to compare images is ImageMagick.

Another usage for this is version compare. You can automate a compare of two versions and have that available to the reviewer.

Via Adobe Reader Blog with more to read about this topic.

Videos introducing AutoCAD Subscription Bonus Packs

Via BIM & BEAM I learned that there are three videos available describing the AutoCAD Subscription Bonus Packs that have been released for AutoCAD 2009.

• Subscription Bonus Packs – An Overview with Lynn Allen and Eric Stover
• Subscription Bonus Pack 2: PDF Enhancements with Kathy O’Connell and Eric Stover
• Subscription Bonus Pack 3: 3D Printing with Kathy O’Connell and Eric Stover

On the subscription topic I suggest you also check out this post on Stoeckel on Subs (subscription needed) that includes the AutoLISP routine ssinside.lsp with three new commands―ssincp, ssinwp, and ssinf―that allow you to create an inside selection using Crossing Polygon, Window Polygon, or Fence, respectively.

Illusion science

Don’t always believe what your eyes see. Below shows the Illusion of shifted gradations.

The gray line is horizontal but appears to tilt down to the left.

Much more at the Akiyoshi Kitaoka’s illusion pages where some of the hundred illusions are explained in a scientific way like the Explanation (the peripheral drift illusion) (PDF file) for the Rotating Snakes.

DWG TrueView object snaps available on the command line

Autodesk’s DWG TrueView have some inquiry object snaps available with you want to measure a distance or area. TT (Temporary Track Point), FROM, M2P (Mid Between 2 Points), EXT (Extension),  and point filters .X, .Y, .Z, .XY, .XZ, .YZ are only available on the command line and not so obvious unless you know about them.

Image below is from DWG TrueView 2009 with the object snaps available on the Ribbon.

Microsoft Softwear

Want a MS DOS t-shirt or some other “softwear”?

Softwear by Microsoft

Disable the AutoCAD InfoCenter

You might want to disable AutoCAD’s InfoCenter with its Help and documentation Search, Communication Center, Autodesk Channels, Balloon Notifications, RSS Feeds and Favorites. One reason is that it can speed up the AutoCAD startup or you just want to hide it. Otherwise it can be quite useful to have there. Here is the solution.

Before

and after

One way is using the CAD Manager Control Utility to control it to some extent or you can use Regedit.exe (or VBScript or a BAT or CMD file) and disable it completely. Just set the LoadCtrls key to 0 in the registry at:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Autodesk\AutoCAD\R17.2\ACAD-7001:409\Applications\InfoCenterAcConn

(default value for LoadCtrls is 4c as Hexadecimal or 76 as Decimal value in case you want to enable it again)

R17.2\ACAD-7001:409 is for AutoCAD 2009 English version and needs to be changed depending on what AutoCAD product you use. It works with AutoCAD LT as well but then the registry location will start with: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Autodesk\AutoCAD LT.
For more about the productID and locateID.

Using Visual LISP here is how:

(vl-registry-write (strcat "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\\" (vlax-product-key) "\\Applications\\InfoCenterAcConn" ) "LOADCTRLS" 0)

AutoCAD needs to be restarted to see the effect.

Tekla Structures 14 review

Tekla Structures, one of the best BIM products for structural engineering and steel fabrication got a new release some time ago. Read the review at AECbytes. The new release should be easier to learn and use and if you’re evaluating structural application you should definitely consider Tekla Structures as it is covering everything from design to detailing, fabrication and construction using any material like concrete, steel, precast concrete, and timber.

JTB FlexReport can be used to make assessments of license usage of Tekla Structures 14 (or newer when available) as FLEXnet is now used for the network licenses.

Related post on a lmutil.exe problem and Tekla Structures.