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No respect from SolidWorks.

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EdDanzer

Mechanical
Oct 30, 2002
1,028
Today I recieved a note that my problem with the SolidWorks drafting standard is not designed to work with files from 2009 and eariler. This appears to have effected about 30,000 of my files and several thousand of a customers files.

It seams I should do a convoluted work around, submit another bug to fix an API problem that might automate fixing my templates. I estimate it could cost $60,000.00 to fix the mess.

How many companies have file corruption probelms like this?

This is the third and most expensive time since 1995 that they have damaged my files with poor quality software.

Why did I pay for maintenance? I thought it was to fix problems not cause them.

Ed Danzer
 
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Call your maintenance provider and ask when the Certified SW Professional is going to show up to clean up the mess.

Yeah, I think we know the answer, but yelling at them might make you feel better.


Mike Halloran
Pembroke Pines, FL, USA
 
What exactly is going on? An automated solution may be creatable for much less than $60k

-handleman, CSWP (The new, easy test)
 
Did the corruption occur when running the Task Scheduler > Convert Files utility?

Do you not have a backup of the files?
 
I am with CBL on this, what happened that ended up causing this to occur? Did you or someone there do some sort of Batch template replacement on all the files? Do you have some sort of PLM system in place as well?

Anytime major changes are to occur espeically to files, its always best practice to make a backup of your files. So when problems like this does occur, you at least have a way of returning to beginning. One would hope that your IT should have a backup of the server files some where... if not you need to get a new IT manager IMO.

Sorry to hear about this... Regards,

Scott Baugh, CSWP [pc2]
Berry Plastics
Cad Admin\Design Engineer
GEASWUG Greater Evansville Area SWUG Leader
"If it's not broke, Don't fix it!"
faq731-376
 
I’m one of the first few hundred people to adopt SolidWorks in 1995. Early on I realized that a good parts library and design standards were required. This was before PDM or PLM so I tried to have each SolidWorks file contain as much information as possible and make family parts to be mate interchangeable. Initially there were no drawing standards that were separate from the file so when you built a part or drawing template it was the standard you used. Danzco, Inc was formed in 2001 to service products built by my sole proprietorship so I could do my DEHydS project. In 2007 I began working full time for Danzco, Inc to try to move it forward because one of the early investors wanted out. In April I decided to ramp up my sole proprietorship and take over what Danzco, Inc was doing with my earlier intellectual property but was not able to pay for.

In 2013 SP 2 or 3 they have forced the use of a separate standard file (.sldstd) as the default not what is in your template. This requires changing all the drawing pages, checking and updating every file as a product is built. This is when I found the problem with the .sldstd problem that did warrant a couple of SPR’s.

Shortly after the SPR’s were one was canceled because the developer did not think spending a few minutes per file was acceptable and it should not matter that I cannot tell what standard is in the file should not matter.

Every SolidWorks file that does not use the default 2013 SolidWorks drawing standard will have problems!

If the file ever needs a minor change or if you work with other companies drawing standards there could be problems that will burn time to fix. If you are getting paid to do the labor it is not so bad but if you are behind on production and are paying to fix something that was correct the week before it is a problem. In my case I would have to bring a person in to do the work at a cost for no value to me or my customers.

When I upgraded to 2013 it took over 60 hours to open and close all the files. Part of SolidWorks recommendations for file compatibility for older files.

Ed Danzer
 
I'm not disputing you have a problem, but still do not understand what that problem is.

You stated...
EdDanzer said:
Every SolidWorks file that does not use the default 2013 SolidWorks drawing standard will have problems!
... but I use SW13-SP3 and a customized (ANSI-MODIFIED) standard and have seen no problems, nor heard of anyone else having problems of this nature.

The .sldstd format has been around for a number of years.
 
I am also one of the few that have been using SW since 1995, so I know you understand the software very well.

We have not made it over to 2013 yet and we have a ton of old files, some have the new the Drawing Standard file built into the Template, others do not. We might run into this as we proceed forward, but I don't plan to upgrade all of our files to 2013 per SW recommendations. Until a file needs to be opened, changed, and saved to 2013 is when it gets upgraded to the latest version, not until then. Of course it will take longer to open the file if its not already saved in the new release, but to me that is a small price to per part\assembly\drawing.

I have seen many people (when I worked in Support) do full file upgrades from one release to the next and have numerous issues with the latest release. Unfortunately they did not have a backup of their files and there was nothing I or Solidworks could do to help them... they offered to fix each file or files as the problem occured, but not all the files at once.

Which it sounds like because you upgraded all the files your SOL and stuck kind of like the example I have seen in the past... is that about right?

Kind Regards,

Scott Baugh, CSWP [pc2]
Berry Plastics
Cad Admin\Design Engineer
GEASWUG Greater Evansville Area SWUG Leader
"If it's not broke, Don't fix it!"
faq731-376
 
I just spent an hour+ on a conference call with the VAR and SolidWorks about the problem and there appears to be some issues to be further defined about the problem with the objective to have a short term fix/workaround and a long term fix. There is at least two know bugs one possibly going back to 2009 so it will take sometime to sort out.

The short term fix is to not change any drafting standards. The old files work fine otherwise.

Ed Danzer
 
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