AutoCAD chokes on script file

[michael.12445]

We're using AutoCAD 2002, but some of our consultants are using R14. Therefore, when we issue DWG files that they have to use, we have to save them as R14 format. Typically, the drawings we need to issue have lots of xrefs, so we are using the PackNGo express tool from R2000. (We find that the ETRANSMIT command built in to R2002 is ridiculously slow and crash-prone.) Although there is a "save as R14" option in the PackNGo utility, we've found that this invariably produces one or more files (out of a total of, say, 50 or 100) that R14 cannot open.

Usually, as noted above, there are at least 50 to 100 files - sometimes as many as 400 - that have to be converted from R2000 format to R14 format, once PackNGo has been run on all the DWG files involved in a given issuance. I've been using a script file to convert them, something like

OPEN
C:\FOLDER\DRAWING1.DWG
SAVEAS
R14

Y
CLOSE
OPEN
C:\FOLDER\DRAWING2.DWG
SAVEAS
R14

Y
CLOSE
OPEN
...

and so on. (I create this with DIR C:\FOLDER\*.DWG > SCRIPT.TXT, and then adding the commands in MS Word using its Edit > Replace and SaveAs Text Only features.)

Unlike the PackNGo tool, SAVEAS in R2002, using the R14 option, always produces files that R14 can open. However, a script like the one shown typically will run for about 20 or 30 files, and then AutoCAD will crash. The file that was being opened when AutoCAD crashes has no errors, and AutoCAD will open it outside the script with no difficulty. In fact, I can even delete the portion of the script above the offending file, restart AutoCAD, and then run the script again, and it will run fine - for another 20 or 30 files, when it crashes again.

Can anything be done to prevent AutoCAD from choking on a script like this?

Thanks

Michael Evans

[Glenn Pope]

May I suggest using the Autodesk Batch Drawing Converter (http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/item?siteID=123112&id=4091676&linkID=2475161) to save all your drawing files to R14.

[Mike.Perry]

May I suggest using the Autodesk Batch Drawing Converter (http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/item?siteID=123112&id=4091676&linkID=2475161) to save all your drawing files to R14.
Hi

Unfortunately you must have an AutoCAD 2004 or 2005 based product installed to run the above, below comes from the Autodesk web site -

<snip>
Reminder, the Autodesk Batch Drawing Converter:

Can only be used with AutoCAD 2004-based products, AutoCAD 2005-based products, AutoCAD LT 2004, or AutoCAD LT 2005
Converts any AutoCAD or AutoCAD-based drawing file to AutoCAD Release 14, AutoCAD 2000, AutoCAD 2000i, AutoCAD 2002, AutoCAD 2004, and AutoCAD 2005 file formats
</snip>


If you have ScriptPro, a free download from the Autodesk web site "AutoCAD Migration Assistance for 2000, 2000i & 2002 (http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/ps/dl/item?siteID=123112&id=2525863&linkID=2475161)" take a look at the sample script file "sample-saveas-r14.scr"

Have a good one, Mike

[Glenn Pope]

Unfortunately you must have an AutoCAD 2004 or 2005 based product installed to run the above, below comes from the Autodesk web site -

Well, thats no good. Never saw that little requirement. It must be in the pdf file that the link for doesn't seem to work.

[BrenBren]

I, too, am curious where that information came from Mike. When I look at the batch drawing converter (http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/item?siteID=123112&id=4091676&linkID=2475161), I don't see that, I see

Autodesk Batch Drawing Converter

Autodesk® Batch Drawing Converter converts any AutoCAD or AutoCAD-based drawing file to AutoCAD Release 14, AutoCAD 2000, AutoCAD 2000i, AutoCAD 2002, AutoCAD 2004, and AutoCAD 2005 file formats. Autodesk Batch Drawing Converter allows conversion of pen widths to lineweights and the addition of page setups.


Also, when I look at the Batch Drawing Converter that I downloaded, it says it will convert between 14, 2000 and 2004 (see attached file for a screen capture)


I am not criticizing, or even saying that you are wrong, just curious where you got that information, since what I see is definately different (picture smilie face here)

[Mike.Perry]

Well, thats no good. Never saw that little requirement. It must be in the pdf file that the link for doesn't seem to work.
Hi

I sent Autodesk a message a while back (7th May 2004) about the broken PDF link....

************


I, too, am curious where that information came from Mike. When I look at the batch drawing converter (http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/item?siteID=123112&id=4091676&linkID=2475161), I don't see that, I see

Also, when I look at the Batch Drawing Converter that I downloaded, it says it will convert between 14, 2000 and 2004 (see attached file for a screen capture)

I am not criticizing, or even saying that you are wrong, just curious where you got that information, since what I see is definately different (picture smilie face here)
Hi

Once you complete Autodesk Batch Drawing Converter (http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/item?siteID=123112&id=4091676&linkID=2475161) and proceed to the next page you will see the info I posted.

Have you tried to use the Batch Drawing Converter without an AutoCAD 2004 or 2005 based product installed?

Have a good one, Mike

[richard.binning]

Hi

I sent Autodesk a message a while back (7th May 2004) about the broken PDF link....

************


Hi

Once you complete Autodesk Batch Drawing Converter (http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/item?siteID=123112&id=4091676&linkID=2475161) and proceed to the next page you will see the info I posted.

Have you tried to use the Batch Drawing Converter without an AutoCAD 2004 or 2005 based product installed?

Have a good one, Mike
What you need to do is to install the migration tools from your 2002 product. We have been using the Batch Drawing Converter for a couple of releases now. Just don't install the wrong one!... It will work much faster than trying to run a script on all those files, although you will lose all dwg preview bitmaps when using the converter.

P.S. You could use VBA and ObjectDBX to blaze through these files doing the save as dance too...depending on your programming skills.

[Mike.Perry]

What you need to do is to install the migration tools from your 2002 product. We have been using the Batch Drawing Converter for a couple of releases now. Just don't install the wrong one!... It will work much faster than trying to run a script on all those files, although you will lose all dwg preview bitmaps when using the converter.
Hi

Richard you're correct as usual BUT in my defence I was commenting on the "Autodesk Batch Drawing Converter (http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/item?siteID=123112&id=4091676&linkID=2475161)" that Michael was pointed to in the first instance + I did also suggest "AutoCAD Migration Assistance for 2000, 2000i & 2002 (http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/ps/dl/item?siteID=123112&id=2525863&linkID=2475161)", just not the Batch Drawing Converter part of it :oops:

Have a good one, Mike

[richard.binning]

No harm no foul, I thought your post was very informative and correct as usual!

RLB

[michael.12445]

Thanks for all the suggestions!

I did manage to find and download the Migration Assistance tool for AutoCAD 2002, which includes a batch drawing converter and does not require AutoCAD 2004 or 2005. However, this batch drawing converter appears to use the same mechanism for converting drawings as is built in to PackNGo (and ETRANSMIT). For a given set of R2000 format drawing files, the output when converting to R14 always seems to include at least one file that will crash R14 if you try to open it in that release.

The Migration Assistance tools also includes Script Pro, a tool to run a script on a number of drawings. There is even a sample script to SAVEAS R14 format. Unfortunately, there is a delay of at least 20 seconds built in between closing one drawing and opening the next. You can adjust this to more than 20 seconds but not less. So let's see, 400 drawing files x 20 seconds = 8000 seconds, or 133 minutes, that is, over 2 hours of built-in delays, not including the time spent opening, saving, and closing each drawing.

So I'm back to generating my own scripts using the method previously described, waving garlic cloves, lighting candles and uttering magic incantations in an attempt to persuade AutoCAD not to choke.

// comment - All these shenanigans on the part of Autodesk, dorking around with file formats and making us struggle with compatibility issues, is losing them customers. Of all the consultants and clients with whom I exchange drawings, NONE is using the R2004 format, and several are using R14 format. Who wants to upgrade when it results in these kinds of compatibility headaches, especially when all the available mechanisms for converting from one format to another are so half-assed? - end comment //

Michael Evans