Discussion Topic:- Error messages....

[Merlin]

OK,
another discussion topic for all to comment on.....REVIT's error messages!
How does everyone feel about them?
My personal thoughts:

1.) I LIKE that you get the division of error messages (i.e. those that give the warnings
and allow your current command sequence and those that just tell you it's
not working).
2.) I LIKE explanations as to why things aren'y working

3.) I HATE cryptic explanations!....Some/most? error messages come up with a cryptic
explanation e.g. some code number that means nothing unless you are the
programmer or part-time code breaker. OR a message that rather exasperatingly lets
you know the very informative explanation that it "doesn't work"...(well, duh!)

4.) I LIKE that REVIT shows where the error occurs...that option to toggle through the
views is a nice touch.

comments?

John Mc

[Wes Macaulay]

OK,
another discussion topic for all to comment on.....REVIT's error messages!
How does everyone feel about them?
My personal thoughts:

1.) I LIKE that you get the division of error messages (i.e. those that give the warnings
and allow your current command sequence and those that just tell you it's
not working).
2.) I LIKE explanations as to why things aren'y working

3.) I HATE cryptic explanations!....Some/most? error messages come up with a cryptic
explanation e.g. some code number that means nothing unless you are the
programmer or part-time code breaker. OR a message that rather exasperatingly lets
you know the very informative explanation that it "doesn't work"...(well, duh!)

4.) I LIKE that REVIT shows where the error occurs...that option to toggle through the
views is a nice touch.

comments?

John McRevit generally makes the complicated world of 3D CAD fairly simple. The problem is... what happens when a particular building object is not behaving right? How do you identify it? AutoCAD uses a hexadecimal code, which they call a handle. Programmers know what that's about, but those of use who get to go outside once in a while usually blink twice in confusion.

Handle? 1FE23CA583? Huh?

So the Factory decides to give each object a straight-up base-10 number and call it an ID. That's as easy as it's going to get.

Let's not forget that Revit is resolving objects coming together from all three dimensions and sometimes dealing with that is going to require new expertise. Sometimes figuring out WHY something won't work (like changing the width of a wall assembly) is doing the detective work of seeing how objects being changed interact with other objects. Most times the ID numbers of the objects in the error messages are a good start. Write down the ID numbers from the error dialog and then start looking at them individually, selecting by ID and viewing them in 3D, possibly isolating them if they're buried in the model. Eventually you'll learn to figure out what the problem is.

There are error messages that could be humanised or replaced with more decipherable terms - agreed. Can't think of an example right now. Oh, and I have to teach a whole firm how to use ADT next week, so Revit's complications are seeming rather trivial at present :shock:

[Merlin]

There are error messages that could be humanised or replaced with more decipherable terms - agreed. Can't think of an example right now. Oh, and I have to teach a whole firm how to use ADT next week, so Revit's complications are seeming rather trivial at present :shock:


Oh, don't get me wrong on this point....I think that REVIT's error messages are far better than most things I've seen to date.....I do however see room for improvement in some of those explanations being put in "layman's" terms...admittedly it would be an rather large database for just the error messages alone but if they have a handle ID then one would think it might be a short step up to giving a "human" name to it as well.

I'm all for discussing these things in here so that maybe it could give some helpful feedback to the programmers/designers.....(but then again, my comments could be highly trivial in the total scheme of things too!)

PS.....anyone know how I can change my logon name?...I'm damned if I know how I ended up with "mail.68744"!

[beegee]

You can't change your user name - just yet.

You should be able to soon.

Will keep you .... posted. :mrgreen:

[tatlin]

There are error messages that could be humanised or replaced with more decipherable terms - agreed. Can't think of an example right now. We are all for the humanization of error messages here at the factory. We try our best to make them human intelligible. If you come aross certain errors that cause undue head-scratching , please copy-paste and then post them here. We'll see what we can do about them.

[Wes Macaulay]

Got one!


"An attempt has been made to read a file past its end".

What does that mean? (We do in a way... it means it's time time to go dig up the daily backups!)

[tatlin]

This means you should call revit support

[papurajx]

Got one!


"An attempt has been made to read a file past its end".

What does that mean? (We do in a way... it means it's time time to go dig up the daily backups!)


I take it as a warning that I have to open my latest backup and save it on to the working file, eventually loosing an hours work sometimes. You cannot solve it because it keeps coming every now and then.