Pro Batch Utility

[ttx]

Hi,
Does anyone have any experience using the Pro Batch utility
with Windows 2000? Or, the Batch utility period?
I have looked in the Pro help files - not a lot of info there.

thx

JW

 

[Hayden]

I have experience using it in NT4. What are you trying to do, it's riddled with traps.

 

[ttx]

Hayden,
I was hoping to use the batch utility to print out large quantities of drawings.
At present, we have a custom print option that outputs .plt files which we then turn to PDF's.
The reason that we do this is because we don't have a Pro/E supported printer.
Our system works well however, when it comes to printing a lot of drawings it becomes somewhat tedius and time consuming.
I have read that the batch utility does not have a "print to file" option, that you can only send the files directly to a printer. However, it seems that there are always people around with tricks and "work-arounds" for Pro/E.
Any thoughts?
Bye the way, thanks for the warning about the "traps" with the batch utlilty - when it comes to Pro/E.....that speaks volumes.

thx

JW

 

[ttx]

Hayden,
In case you are interested......
I did manage to get the batch utility working for printing quantities of files.
It is one of those Pro/E things - not very intuitive the first few tries, but after that - no problem.

JW

 

[Hayden]

ttx,

I'm glad to hear that, one of the biggest problems I find with it is if you have a file in your batch that doesn't regenetrate properly, the whole thing just stops, it wont tell you that it has stopped or why it has stopped either.

By the way did you manage to create pdf files or paper plots. I have been trying to no avail for some time to get pdf's out.

Hayden

 

[ttx]

Hayden,
I just finished my first trial running the batch utility over the weekend. All of the drawings regenerated properly.
What we do typically, is to create .plt files and then drag and drop the lot into Acrobat Distiller. We do use a custom .pcf file that we obtained from a Pro/E guru on the Internet.
As far as I know, this file just creates the proper line styles and thickness for Adobe.
I should also mention (I dont' know if this has to do with your regen problem) that I preset the display mode for all of my drawing views, hidden, disp. tangent....etc. so that the drawings will be created properly regardless of the default config. settings.

cheers,

JW

 

[Hayden]

I know only too well about the drawing view settings, many of the people I work with don't set their views either.

Would be able to send me the custom.pcf file you use please, as well as how to use it properly.

Thanks

Hayden

 

[ttx]

Ok Hayden,
I will send you the pcf file and config. settings as soon as I can.
Send me your e-mail address via my e-mail, if you don't want to publish it on the Web.

jim@tactex.com

cheers,

JW