Free books for VB developers

Here you can find 2 free books in PDF format.
Free Book - Introducing Visual Basic 2005 for Developers
and
Free Book - Upgrading Microsoft Visual Basic 6.0 to Microsoft Visual Basic .NET

AutoCAD 2006 and the inluded ADT OE

This is a great tips (Use AutoCAD 2006 to to flatten ADT drawings) by Shaan Hurley for those having AutoCAD 2006 and that receives or uses ADT drawings. Learn how to use the command -ExportToAutoCAD (remember to include the hyphen character) and how to load the AEC OE toolbar. The included Autodesk Architectural Desktop Object Enabler also includes commands to change display configuration using AecDisplayManagerConfigsSelection and AecSetXrefConfig to change it on an xref. AecFileOpenMessage is to enable or disable a dialogbox warning about opening drawings from older ADT versions. AecFileSaveMessage is to enable or disable a courtesy message when saving to a previous version file. AecObjectCopyMessage is to enable or disable a courtesy message when copying AEC objects into a newer version drawing. ObjRelUpdate is almost like the AutoCAD command Regen. AecVersion gives you the file versions of the Object Enabler files. -DwgUnits allows you to specify the drawing units that will be used with the current file. As seen below the command below is only command line based so it's easy to use in script files. This command is also available in ADT.

Command: -EXPORTTOAUTOCAD File format: 2004 Bind xrefs: Yes Bind type: Insert Filename prefix: ACAD- Filename suffix: Export options [Format/Bind/bind Type/Prefix/Suffix/?] <>:

The ADT OE enables some basic AutoCAD commands to work on ADT objects. If you erase a door the hole in the wall heals. You can explode ADT objects into basic AutoCAD objects. Automatic cleanup is done using commands like Move, Copy, Rotate, Trim, Extend and Array. Node osnap points on ADT objects are also available.

AutoCAD network license and 'heartbeat'

If you want to know the meaning of the term "heartbeat", the below comes from the AutoCAD Knowledge Base. I was notified about it by the new RSS feeds.

Meaning of term "heartbeat" Published date: 2005-07-12 ID: TS66065 Applies to: AutoCAD® 2006 AutoCAD® 2005 AutoCAD® 2004 AutoCAD® 2002 Issue The term "heartbeat" is used in reference to a network license. You would like to know what this term means. Solution When AutoCAD is running, it communicates with the license server at one-minute intervals using a communication method known as the "heartbeat." If the heartbeat connection is missed, the server tries to reconnect. If it cannot, it sends a message to the user indicating a license error. Once the user acknowledges the message, AutoCAD starts a 6 minute countdown to give the user time to save his or her work. When AutoCAD stops working because it lost a connection to the server, you must shut down AutoCAD and restart the program. If the problem causing the original loss of the heartbeat signal is resolved, and there are available licenses on the server, the program starts working again. Note: If you are using the redundant server model, this server model also passes heartbeats between redundant servers.

Shareware Starter Kit for VB or C#

The Shareware Starter Kit is a sample application of the common features in all shareware applications. I got to give this a try...free from Microsoft

VB 2005 and code snippets

For those starting trying out VB 2005. Here is from Visual Basic IDE Team Blog Visual Basic IDE Tips & Tricks... Cool Ways to Insert a Snippet into Your Code

Finally 250 MB for my hotmail account

Finally I've too got 250 MB for my hotmail account (jtbworldA!ThotmailD0Tcom). I know many of you already have got it but here in Sweden it's now the space has been increased.

Autodesk Batch DWG Converter Beta / SP1 for AutoCAD 2006

Shaan Hurley at Autodesk talks about a new Batch Drawing Converter that doesn't need AutoCAD. There is also an upcoming SP1 for AutoCAD 2006. If you have problems in AutoCAD 2006 and want to influence Autodesk sign up for the beta at http://myfeedback.autodesk.com/

Microsoft's Windows Marketplace has my applications

I just found that a couple of my applications, SmartPurger and JTB FlexReport has been added to Microsoft's Windows Marketplace.

New ADT blogger

I've just added a new (for me at least) ADT blogger to my blogroll. Vision 1 Architects by Craig Stack. There seems to be some good content about ADT 2006 in this blog. I like these kind of blogs.

MSN Search Toolbar support tabs

Have you started using MSN Search Toolbar and the latest support for tabbed browsing? I was a bit late because I just got back from some weeks of vacation and it takes some days to recover from a full email box as well as everything else that has a tendency to make a large pile. I can recommend it after using it for some time now besides using Maxthon. There are some things that I dislike though. There are some flickering when changing tab and when using full screen mode. Give it a try. If you don't want to use the tabs the Search functionality is great in it self. I've indexed all emails, files on the server as well as local files so finding information is as quick as searching on the internet. Blog post: Tabbed browsing is here! Get it here More about it here.

Property Data Location on Spaces in ADT

Here is a tips if you have added a Property Set to a space so that a Property Data Location is added and later on makes changes to the space the Property Data Location might end up at a non intended location. It can happen if you use any of the AEC Modify Tools like divide. If you for example have a door that inherits part of it door tag number from the room space it can be problem as seen on the image. Remember then to relocate the Property Data Location.

Autodesk adds RSS feeds for product knowledge base

Back from vacation I thought about making a new wish for adding RSS feed support for the Autodesk product knowledge bases. To my suprise I read Shaan's blog entry that this has now been added.
This is great news!
AutoCAD: http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/syn/rss?siteID=123112&id=2334144&linkID=2475323
AutoCAD LT: http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/syn/rss?siteID=123112&id=2334144&linkID=2475874
Autodesk Inventor Series: http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/syn/rss?siteID=123112&id=2334144&linkID=4183228
Autodesk Inventor Pro: http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/syn/rss?siteID=123112&id=2334144&linkID=4189372
Autodesk Vault: http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/syn/rss?siteID=123112&id=2334144&linkID=4517338
Autodesk Architectural Desktop:http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/syn/rss?siteID=123112&id=2334144&linkID=2476059
Autodesk Building Systems: http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/syn/rss?siteID=123112&id=2334144&linkID=2476435
Autodesk Civil 3D: http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/syn/rss?siteID=123112&id=2334144&linkID=3549480
Autodesk Map 3D: http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/syn/rss?siteID=123112&id=2334144&linkID=2786831
Autodesk Revit Building: http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/syn/rss?siteID=123112&id=2334144&linkID=3770375
AutoCAD Mechanical: http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/syn/rss?siteID=123112&id=2334144&linkID=4198944

Acrobat 7.0 crash and solution

I have been trying to identify and solve a problem with Adobe Acrobat 7.0.
Here's the story...
When starting Acrobat several dialog boxes comes up saying:
'There was an error while loading the plug-in ‘Accessibility.api’. The plug-in failed to initialize.'
Then it follows with these api files same message:
Annots.api
DigSig.api
HTML2PDF.api
Multimedia.api
PKKLite.api

After that Acrobat crashes and says:
'Adobe Acrobat 7.0 has encountered a problem and needs to close. We are sorry for the inconvenience. '

The contents of the error report is:
AppName: acrobat.exe
ModVer: 7.10.3052.4
AppVer: 7.0.0.1333
ModName: msvcr71.dll
Offset: 000017e1

I tried to reinstall and repair Acrobat. Manually deleting files and registry entries. I even reinstalled Windows XP. It worked for a while but at some point Acrobat got this problem. I tried to make a system restore but that didn't help.
I also searched the web for tips but found none that worked.
I called the Adobe technical support and they had no idea. They recommended to install the product with a local administrator user without being in the network domain. I tried that as well.

Finally I found that one in-house installation put AcroForm.api (5.0.0.327) into the system32 folder. When I deleted that file Acrobat started to work as it should.

So if you too run into this make a search for misplaced acrobat files like the one I found. Adobe Reader 7.0 also got some problems because of this file.

Bengt Dahlgren AB among others selects JTB FlexReport

Bengt Dahlgren AB in Sweden, Renishaw Group in UK and Multiconsult in Norway has selected JTB FlexReport as their solution to have better control on their network licenses based on the FLEXlm or FLEXnet technology. E.g. details on what users are using the product most or less can be reported on as well as graphical reports as seen below. This is done for applications like ADT, AutoCAD, MagiCAD, MAP, Novapoint, Unigraphics, Matlab and others.