Month: May 2008

SolidWorks Functionality that we take for granted…

Some of the students here at my school recently attended the Minnesota PTC user group.  Here they unveiled the Wildfire 4.0 release.  Many were very impressed by some of the new functionality Pro-E had to offer.  Let me give you a couple of items to ponder.  I will add more later this week:

New functionality in Pro-E Wildfire 4.0 –

1. They can now import Word and Excel into their files.

2. Their sketchers automatically selects your reference geometry for you in an attempt to reduce the number of clicks you use to define your sketch.  (Wait a second, no I have to delete that reference geometry and add the correct geometry.)

3. One of my students asked, why can’t I add more than 1 hole in the hole command?  Response :was that would be very complicated programming as it would be a feature in a feature.  The student replied he can do it in the SolidWorks Hole Wizard!” (These statements were not exact quotations but what the attendees had told me.

Anyhow, these are functionalities whether you like them or not that have been available in the software for many years.  Do not take these for granted.

Workaround to edit Macros that are locked on network drive

Question:  I have macros on a network drive and need to edit them.  Unfortunately, someone has them locked (open).  How do I unlock them without going to that computer to manually unload the macros?

Answer: There is a live workaround.  While you cannot edit the files while locked, you can change their folder name! This allows for a sneaky little trick that doesn’t require going to the offending computer.

Simply rename the folder on the network drive where the macros are located. Then copy that folder (files and all) to the same drive. Rename the new folder to be the same name as before the original folder was renamed.

The macros in the old folder with the changed name will still be locked out, but the macros in the new folder with the original name will be free to edit!

In a day or so, the files in the old folder will be unlocked again.  Simply delete the old folder at that time.

Addendum: It should be noted that this method will not always work.  However, it is worth a try before taking any other action.

That Kindling in my Heart

I must confess.  Up until just very recently, I considered Amazon’s Kindle to be a bit of a joke.  Think about it. Who wants to get a device whose only purpose is to read books?!  Well, I may have been wrong about this little gadget.

This is a feature packed tool that looks to be a serious attempt at moving books into the electronic realm without strapping the reader in front of a computer screen.  That said, I’ll reserve further comment about this gadget until I’ve actually tried one  Of course, this is where the first problem arises.  It’s a $400 gadget.  So the decision to buy it may be delayed by my willingness to pay that kind of price for a book reader.  However, even at that price, I am now tempted.

Why am I talking about the Kindle on a SolidWorks related blog?  Well, I recently came up with the idea (jokingly) to put the SolidWorks manual on the Kindle device in a sarcastic comment criticizing SolidWorks’ lack of printed manuals.  However, after looking into the gadget, and reading Matt Lombard’s insightful insider comments regarding this matter, I’m changing my consideration.  I seriously think it is a good idea, at least in principle.

If I do get this device, I will post a review.

Survey on new Customer Portal for SolidWorks

In an effort for continuous improvement, SolidWorks is conducting two surveys regarding the Customer Portal, and unification of such areas as 3D ContentCenter, Knowledge Base, etc.

The survey is like 10 minutes long, so it goes by quick. 😉  There will be a second survey in a couple of weeks.

http://www.solidworks.com/swx050608_cust_commsurvey

(Originally posted by Richard Doyle here.)