This month’s edition of SolidWorks Support Monthly FAQ covers a few of the most common questions and issues handled by the support team over the past month, as well as recent updates to the SolidWorks Knowledge Base.
Top questions and issues
1. Is it possible to use the out-of-the-box Enterprise PDM SolidWorks task add-in to convert or print non-SolidWorks file types?
No. The SolidWorks task add-in (SWTaskAddIn) is specifically written to open files in SolidWorks and then perform a “save as” or print operation on the files. It will only process SolidWorks file types (slddrw, sldasm, sldprt).
The Enterprise PDM API, however, gives access to the full task add-in framework. Using VB .Net or C++ programming, it is fully possible to create a custom task add-in that opens and processes other file types in the appropriate application. For example, you can use MS Office to create PDFs from Office files.
Read more about the Enterprise API in the API help. This can be found in the Administration tool by expanding the vault node, then right clicking “Add-ins” and selecting “Programmer’s reference guide.” You can also find task API examples in the SolidWorks forum under SolidWorks Forums –> SolidWorks –> API –> Documents.
2. Bend lines in lofted bends part are incorrectly displayed in some sheet metal parts. They are either not displayed, or displayed all together.
A general issue with bend lines in lofted bend has been fixed in SolidWorks 2011 SP3. In most cases, unsuppressing the flat pattern will correct the problem. In a small number of cases, the lofted bend must be recreated.
3. Creating a sheet metal base flange with three or more bends displays a warning message stating “Cannot display bend line for this bend.”
This issue has also been corrected in SolidWorks 2011 SP3.
4. SPR 578349: The performance of SolidWorks 2011 x64 slows down after right-clicking files in the Open or Save dialog, then canceling the dialog.
If you are using Windows XP x64 or Windows 7 x64 and SolidWorks 2011 x64 appears to be running slowly from time to time (regardless of session length) for no apparent reason or cause, then you may be experiencing the problem described with SPR 578349. This SPR will be addressed in SolidWorks 2011 x64 SP3.
The Early Visibility release of SP3 has been available for download on the SolidWorks Customer Portal as of Monday, March 7th, with the final release of SP3 following two weeks later.
To find out more about the Early Visibility program, please go to http://www.solidworks.com/sw/communities/customer-feedback-programs.htm.
New Knowledge Base articles
1. S-054123: Why isn’t RealView available with my brand new Dell, HP or IBM workstation with a new Quadro graphics card?
If you are using a version of SolidWorks prior to 2010 SP4 with one of the new Quadro 600, 2000, 4000, or 6000 graphics cards, a patch is required to allow SolidWorks to take advantage of RealView and the new graphics coding languages required for the new Quadro graphics cards.
The patch can be found athttp://www.solidworks.com/downloads/videocarddriver/patches/sw2010/sw2010Quadro.msi.
To find out more, please click here.
2. S-054357: What could cause Windows Explorer to crash when right-clicking files or folders on a client running Enterprise PDM 2011 SP0-SP2?
Crashes when right-clicking files or folders in an Enterprise PDM 2011 vault view are likely caused by a conflict with an installed third party application adding an Explorer integrated context menu option on the right mouse button menu. When Enterprise PDM builds up the right mouse button (RMB) menu, it can sometimes crash when integrating the third-party context menu entry.
These problems will be addressed in Enterprise PDM 2011 SP3. If you are experiencing similar crashes in 2011 SP0, SP1 or SP2 when right-clicking objects in the vault, you can read more about how to work around the issue in solution S-054357.
3. S-053648: Since upgrading to eDrawings 2011, why do I now get a warning when opening drawings that “The SolidWorks Document Manager is not installed on your system….?”
The SolidWorks Document Manager is an additional tool that allows non-SolidWorks applications, like eDrawings, to look at the data in a SolidWorks file. For drawings, the Document Manager will allow eDrawings to review custom properties and automatically update annotations.
To find out more, please go to S-053648.
4. S-054335: What would be the most likely reason I see a “File already exists” warning when trying to add a file to an Enterprise PDM folder where the file in question is seemingly not present?
The most likely reason the warning “File already exists” would show when adding a file to a vault folder is that a file with the same name already exists in that folder, but the logged-in user does not have sufficient permission to see the file. It is not possible to have two files with same name in same folder. The following solution explains the most common reasons for the warning: S-05335
Thanks for reading this month’s SolidWorks Support Monthly FAQ. If you need additional help with these issues or any others, please contact your SolidWorks Value Added Reseller. You can also visit the SolidWorks website to learn more about SolidWorks Subscription Service.
By Matthew West of DS SolidWorks Corp.
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