Hanover, 4 December 2013
Dear ELCAD Users,
the present Readme File contains update information on ELCAD / AUCOPLAN version 7.9.0
1. Installation ELCAD / AUCOPLAN 7.9.0
2. New Features and Extension
3. Fixed Bugs
4. Network Performance Optimization
5. Note on the parallel operation of ELCAD and EB during the adoption of existing data
6. Felics license server with 64-bit operating systems
1. Installation of ELCAD / AUCOPLAN 7.9.0
1.1 Definition of the installation directory
The entry of the installation directory should start with a drive letter.
You should avoid server notations such as \\pcwinnt01\cae for the path definition.
1.2 Multiple Use of the Setup Procedure
You can carry out the ELCAD / AUCOPLAN 7 setup several times and thus install different languages and products in parallel on one and the same computer. Under System Settings / Software you will find an entry for each installation, and there the installation folder is displayed under Details, so that you can remove the installations selectively.
2. New Features and Extension
In addition to the documentation "New Features in 7.9.0" you will here find the descriptions of new functions that were not dealt with in the online help and the manuals.
At the beginning of some of the events listed, an identification number (ID) is mentioned under which the corresponding event is kept in our database. Please refer to the above ID if you have any advices or remarks on the events listed herein.
EL-050518-7631
Starting with version 7.9 you can define individual editing masks via EXTRAS / REPRESENTATION / MASKS also when editing I/O components.
EL-110315-003
The symbol selection for editing device master data was optimized. If a substring (e.g. LA_ ) is entered for the symbol name, a corresponding filter is set in the symbol selection dialog (called via [...]).
EL-130115-001
The output of drawings to the DWG format now also supports output to the formats AutoCAD 2010-2012 and AutoCAD 2013.
EL-121217-003
The mask for the input of texts was revised in symbol design. The line "Composed Text" was extended to 160 characters and the width of the mask was increased. In addition, a help button was added.
EL-090227-001
During the definition of cable runs on the graphic the destinations are now also determined via connector symbols and potentials.
EL-121120-002
The context menus in drawing editing were optimised. Menu items that cannot be used in specific situations are now switched to inactive.
EL-130118-001
By code number 1009, data can now be transferred to window symbols of type 10 and 11. In order to activate this function set the following switch in the project.ini or aucotec.ini:
[Automatic]
Code1009ToWindows=1
EL-130313-001
During the selection of forms (e.g. function "Sheet change"), no preset filter value (e.g. CD_A3*) was taken into consideration.
EL-130517-001
Permanent test commands are now switched off during a change between drawing and symbol editing.
EL-130902-001
Four connections could be skipped during the automatic connection of symbols (Autowire) so far. Now up to eight connections can be skipped.
EL-060309-8583
During the project conversion there was no message indicating a possible erroneous configuration of the symbol libraries and/or translate files (e.g. that they cannot be accessed). Now a message is displayed for each project that indicates if the configurations of the symbol libraries and translate files are correct.
EL-100820-002
The status box for the display of the current working status (e.g. for the output of drawings in the batch) now also supports the Unicode format. So far special characters (e.g. Russian characters) were not displayed properly. The function can be deactivated by means of the following switch in the aucotec.ini:
[System]
DontShowUnicodeInStatusBox=1.
EL-110922-001
The configurations of the symbol libraries and translate files have been checked so far when a project was opened and messages have been issued, if required.
The check of the configuration of the device master data was added now.
When the cable functionality for the project to be opened is activated, the configuration of the cable master database is also checked.
If a message is displayed about one or several erroneous configurations the options can be modified directly from the message.
EL-130531-001 / EL-130531-002
The rules of operation and result are valid for all lists of the same type within the project. The specifications for operation and result are executed in list editing if the records are manipulated (e.g. inputs, changes, ASCII import) within list editing.
Starting with version 7.9 the rules are also considered when lists are automatically generated.
The following standard lists are supported
DirectoryCfg (contents)
TerminalListCfg (terminal lists)
PartListCfg (parts lists)
WiringListCfg (wiring lists)
UserListCfg (user lists)
DataBaseDeviceCfg (master data devices)
DataBaseCableCfg (master data cable)
DataBaseCoreCfg (master data cores)
DataBaseTerminalStripCfg (master data strips/blocks)
DataBaseTerminalCfg (master data terminals)
In addition, the data of cable planning, of ELCAD Studio, AUCOPLAN and AUCOPLAN Studio can be manipulated by operation and result. In these sections the set of rules is fulfilled during all manipulations without exception.
3. Fixed Bugs
At the beginning of some of the events listed, an identification number (ID) is mentioned under which the corresponding event is kept in our database. Please refer to the above ID if you have any advices or remarks on the events listed herein.
Drawing Editing
EL-130122-002
If working with ELCAD was switched from a two screen mode to a one screen mode message windows could possibly be located outside of the visible area. Therefore the management and the representation of windows for the operation with several windows were revised.
New switches were integrated:
[Debug]
ShowMonitorInfoEx=1
The current configuration of the screens can be checked when the program is started.
[System]
UseOldWinSizePos=1
The management used so far is used again.
You can use the command "TEST(MONITOR)" in drawing editing to display the current configuration of the screens. A display of the position of the screens is created in the output window.
EL-121121-004
The automatic jumping of the mouse pointer to the default button in the dialog (e.g. to the [OK] button) can be hierarchically switched off in three different ways:
Case 1:
The Registry key HEKY_CURRENT_USER\\Control Panel\\Mouse\\SnapToDefaultButton is set to "0". This switch can be changed on the user interface via the control panel/mouse/pointers. The switch "Automatically move pointer to the default button in a dialog box" has to be switched off.
Result: The mouse pointer does not automatically jump to the default button in the operating system and in ELCAD anymore.
Case 2:
The above-mentioned Registry switch of case 1 is set to "1". In addition, the aucotec.ini has the entry
[Symbol]
DontSnapToDefaultButton=1
Result: The mouse pointer jumps to the default button in the operating system but not to default buttons which are only specified in ELCAD.
Case 3:
The above-mentioned Registry switch of case 1 is set to "1". In addition, the aucotec.ini has the entry
[Symbol]
DontSnapToDefaultButton=0
Maske_DontSnapToDefaultButton=1
Result: The mouse pointer jumps to all default buttons in the operating system and in ELCAD with the exception of the editing mask of the symbols.
EL-130611-001
When one navigated from a contents list to a circuit diagram, the menu item PLACE was deactivated in the symbol tree.
EL-060901-8872
If markings were set for drawings within a project and the drawing management was checked via the project check, the marking information was lost.
EL-070910-9528
If the automatic creation of terminals was used, the assigned terminal/connector diagrams were not automatically adapted when the strip was renamed. Consequently, the terminal/connector diagrams could not be opened anymore. If strips are renamed now the related terminal/connector diagrams are automatically adapted. This is also valid for Studio projects when a location or a function is changed.
EL-110401-003
If drawing numbers contained special characters, the name of the drawings was not shown correctly in the drawing editing tab.
EL-110404-001
If connections ran via connector symbols to other sheets in cable run planning, filtering for the corresponding cable did not work.
Now the destination information of the represented cable run via connector symbols and potentials is taken into consideration when the matching cables are filtered.
EL-120307-001
If a new external document is to be selected in the tab "External Documents", the path of the last document selection is now entered as default value.
EL-120911-002
When during the creation of a wiring the error message that the node was too ambiguous occurred, only the sheet on which the error was found was shown. These messages now also contain the item of the device and its co-ordinates.
EL-120920-001
The drawing tree was not completely generated during the output as compact PDF file if there was a sheet number with the same name as a folder designator in the same level.
EL-121210-001
During drawing connections with activated function "Catch Connections" the cursor jumped out of the set grid if the found connector was located outside of the grid (e.g. in case of terminals).
This behaviour can now be switched off in the user settings "User/Automatic/Connections" via the option "Do not drag the crosshairs to the first connector".
EL-130208-002
If a macro was stored into a project which was not the working project, then the drawing tree was closed.
EL-130312-002
If terminal diagrams for which a revision had already been created were deleted and created again, an error message was displayed.
EL-130322-001
When cables were assigned to a cable run, the button [Select] was not active although there were cable available for selection.
EL-130423-006
When the transfer of cable data via connector symbols/potentials was active, the core information on the revision sheet was deleted during the creation of a revision.
EL-130507-001
After renaming a drawing in the drawing tree the focus was on the command line. Starting with version 7.9 the focus will be in the drawing tree when a drawing is renamed.
This behaviour can be switched off by the following INI switch:
[System]
IgnoreFocusToTreeAfterRename=1
EL-130529-001
If a drawing was opened from list editing (function (Navigate Drawing") and the form symbol was edited, the system crashed. The menu item FORM / EDIT SYMBOL is not available anymore, if the drawing is called from List editing.
EL-130711-001
If the command "EOA" was executed on a drawing with individual representations of I/O components, the system crashed.
EL-130814-003
When terminals and slave symbols were frozen and unfrozen the indications for the system activities were missing.
EL-130902-003
When changing drawings via PageUp/PageDown to a sheet which was being edited by another user, the wrong user was indicated in the message.
EL-130913-001
If a symbol text was set to invisible in drawing editing, the text was visible again if the symbol was edited and the text had been overwritten by the database.
Project Editing
EL-100803-001
When archiving projects including the cable master data the default structure of the cable master database was used. Thus the additionally configured cable master data were missing in the archived project. Starting with Version 7.9.0, the structure of the configured cable master database is also adopted to the archived project if "Archive Cable Master Data" is activated.
EL-120829-001
If the target path was changed in the dialog offered for sending a project an error message was displayed and an empty zip file was created.
EL-120912-001
The dialog for the selection of a project (e.g. to open a project) now keeps the size and position which were used last.
EL-120919-003
In messages which only have an [OK] button the mouse pointer is now focussed directly to the [OK] button.
EL-130212-001
Printing with ELCAD via a print server did not work under Windows 7 if there was a difference in the use of upper and lower cases in the printer names of print server and ELCAD PC.
List Editing
EL-130909-001
If a comment text was set to invisible on a drawing and this comment was then changed in the parts list and then transferred back to the drawing, the comment was visible again.
EL-050103-739
In ELCAD Studio projects devices are now also adopted to the total parts lists which were only entered in the device table and which therefore were not represented graphically.
For these devices the INI switch [Ignore#] Delete#OnCreateList=1 did not work. This bug was fixed for the creation of total parts lists for cables and devices.
The external script „appendDeviceData.prg“ (if a parts list is created via the command language, additional information is added via this script) was also enhanced by this function.
EL-100526-007
If filters were used for a terminal list or total parts list also terminals were adopted to the list which did not match the filter. These were terminals graphically not represented which were created in the Terminal Block Designer or which were part of a standard strip.
EL-130319-002
If lists were exported to files via protocols, entered hash(#) characters were removed. Now you can specify in the protocol definition if the hash characters are to be kept. For this purpose, the option "Do not remove the hash (#) during the export" has to be activated.
EL-130328-001
The generation of a compressed terminal list (combination of the levels to a block by setting the INI switch NoCompress= to 0 of if it is not available) resulted in wrong results unless the same designator storage structure was used continuously.
This bug was fixed by a modified mode of combination for the terminal information. If you want to use the previous mode of combination for the terminal information, you can activate it by the following switch.
[System] UseOldTerminalCompress=1
EL-130425-001
The generation of a parts list resulted in a system crash if a part number had been assigned to a strip via the terminal block designer or the terminal editor and the parts list contained the code number 5007 (symbol type).
EL-130514-001
The fields for the current record and the total number of records were too narrow in the status line of list editing. Their size is adapted now.
Symbol Design
EL-121204-005
Scales defined in the options were missing in the dialog of the "Digitizing Parameters" in Symbol Design.
EL-130620-002
In dialog editing, translate pointers are not inadvertently translated anymore if one changes from the view "Translate On" and "Translate Off".
Import, Export and Interfaces
EL-130109-002
The export of drawings via DXF, DWG, TIFF and PDF resulted in a system crash if the destination path did not exist, could not be created of was read-only. Now an error message is issued and the function is aborted.
EL-130205-002
If a very high resolution was set for TIFF output of a drawing, ELCAD limited the resolution to a smaller value. However, the original value was still displayed for the TIFF file under "Properties/File Info". The correct value is displayed there now.
Options / Settings
EL-060126-8484
A device master database can now be selected, even if the project is located in a path with umlauts and this path is to be selected with $propath and/or $project.
EL-061113-8987
If ELCAD was operated in a 2 screen mode and the working area was extended to two screens it was automatically reset by the operating system. This reset was always executed if a screen saver with the option "Password-protect on resume" was activated or if the PC was locked.
You can now use the menu items VIEW / WORKING AREA / RESTORE LAST SIZE to restore the working area for the 2 screen mode.
EL-130822-001
During archiving projects, the following configurable symbols were not considered:
- Marking symbols for the revision of free graphic elements
- Forms for the terminal diagram creation
Translate Editing
EL-060213-8523
In translate editing of project header texts (translate file "transpro") not all of the texts were offered for selection if the last text had been deleted or if the texts did not have any content. Now all configured project header texts are shown.
Batch Processing
EL-111001-001
If an already configured batch action was changed in batch processing (e.g. Replace symbol texts and free texts), the subsequent dialog was empty. This dialog is now filled with the values specified for this action.
EL-130925-001
During specific drawing actions, the appearance of the cursor changed rapidly and erroneously.
This behaviour can be switched off by means of the following switch in the aucotec.ini file:
[System]
DontShowCursorChanging=1
EL-121206-001
During the creation of connector diagrams a check is executed for each terminal if a matching destination symbol was defined that determines the distance of the terminals on the connector diagram. If this is not the case the system crashed in previous versions. From version 7.9 the creation of the connector diagram is aborted and a message is displayed.
EL-130905-001
If an already defined drawing filter is changed in batch processing, the old filter values are now entered as default.
4. Network Performance Optimization
In practice, there are considerable differences in performance depending on the locally used hardware.
Depending on your infrastructure and the way you operate ELCAD / AUCOPLAN, the results are quite different.
One reason for the performance loss is that with the Microsoft standard data access routines the size of the read and written data packages is by default set to 4 KB.
This results in "extra" data traffic in the network especially for actions where actually a small data amount is read or written.
Especially in heavily strained networks, this can negatively influence the overall performance.
In order for you to be able to locally optimize the performance yourself, the size of the packets can now be set via INI switches.
You can find the settings in the section [FileBufferSize].
[FileBufferSize]
UseDefault=0
Read=512
Write=256
The entry "UseDefault=0" deactivates the Microsoft default values of 4 KB for the data access. By means of the entries "Read" and "Write", you can specify other package sizes.
Values between 256 and 16384 are possible here. With the values 512 (Read) and 256 (Write), distinct improvements in performance have been attained in intensive test series with slow network environments.
Furthermore, you can individually adapt these values for your network within the range of the minimum and maximum values. Please contact your system administrator in this case.
5. Note on the Parallel Operation of ELCAD and EB During the Adoption of Existing Data
If you have started EB and several instances of ELCAD are running simultaneously in your system, an error may occur in the adoption of existing data.
Please make sure that during the adoption of existing data ELCAD is started only once on your PC.
6. Felics License Server with 64-bit Operating Systems
You can install and operate the Felics license server on 64-Bit operating systems. To do this, use the Felics version 3.6.1 used by the ELCAD installation medium. The utility also operates on 64-Bit computers.
Please note, however, that license management with the Felics tools (Rembrand/Wramon) requires a 32-Bit PC because the tools cannot be started under 64-Bit operating systems.
Therefore use any PC with a 32-Bit operating system to install the Felics tools. Thereby it becomes possible to manage the license on the 64-Bit Felics server.
When installing the utility under a 64-Bit operating system, note the following:
1. Depending on the setting, firewalls must be temporarily deactivated during the installation period to carry out the installation.
2. You must assign the administrator write access in the target folder for the installation: "Programs (x86)\Aucotec\elcad\felics".
3. Once you have carried out changes in the settings, you must manually restart the Felics utility from the Windows utility configuration. Unfortunately a restart from the Felics utility configuration does not work.