SOLIDWORKS support Monthly News – January 2017

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Hello to all,

Welcome to this new edition of the SOLIDWORKS Support Monthly News, coauthored by members of the SOLIDWORKS Technical Support teams worldwide.

Vote to promote the best ideas to the Top Ten List

There isn’t much time left to vote for your favorite ideas to the SOLIDWORKS World Top Ten List. You have until January 20, 2017. With more than 600 ideas posted by the community, you have plenty to choose from. So vote HERE.

The SOLIDWORKS World Top Ten List is YOUR wish list: More than 90% of the enhancements in SOLIDWORKS are directly requested by customers. This is your chance to have your voice heard. You are likely to see your idea or one you voted for in a future release of SOLIDWORKS, as that was the case for the vast majority of ideas on the Top Ten List in past years.

Let the ideas… Begin! Submit them HERE.
Summary:

  • December 15, 2016 is the end for new idea submissions.
  • December 16, 2016 voting on all ideas begins.
  • January 20, 2017 voting ends.
 Defining-New-Products

 

Enhancements to the Fixed SPRs list on the Customer Portal

By Julian Galgoczy and Julien Boissat

We recently made some improvements to the way you can list the Software Performance Reports (SPRs) on the SOLIDWORKS Customer Portal.

You now have more controls to search, filter and sort them.

improved-list-of-fixed-sprs

See for yourself here.

Slow network with high latency can affect SOLIDWORKS 2017 and SOLIDWORKS PDM 2017 clients

By Tor Iveroth and Julien Boissat

When you use the SOLIDWORKS® 2017 software on a workstation that has a slow network connection to the SolidNetWork License (SNL) server, the error ‘Could not obtain a license for SOLIDWORKS’ may appear although you have the appropriate license.

This error occurs when the network connection from a workstation to the SolidNetWork License (SNL) server has a response time that is higher than 100 milliseconds (ms). The default timeout for the SOLIDWORKS® 2017 software to communicate with the SNL server is 100ms. If the workstation cannot communicate with the license server within 100ms, the license check out will fail with one of the following errors:

  • Starting the SOLIDWORKS software displays the error ‘Could not obtain a license for SOLIDWORKS. Server node is down or not responding.’
  • Adding the SNL server address to the ‘Add Server’ dialog box in the SolidNetWork License Manager tool displays the error ‘The license server is not reachable. Either the computer name and/or port number are incorrect or the server is not running or is not on the network.’
  • Viewing the server licenses in the ‘License Usage’ tab of the SolidNetWork License Manager tool displays the error ‘Could not get information from this server.’

 

This behavior applies to all SOLIDWORKS 2017 applications, including the SOLIDWORKS PDM products, which use SNL licensing.

To determine the response time (latency) between an SNL server and a client workstation, follow these steps:

  1. At a Windows® command prompt,  type the following command and then press Enter: PING SNL_SERVER_NAME
  2. View the response time in the PING result. If the ‘time’ value exceeds 100ms, you will encounter one of the licensing errors.

 

To avoid these errors on workstations with SOLIDWORKS 2017 installations, follow these steps:

  1.  Open the Registry Editor.
  2. Browse to ‘HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software’.
  3. Right-click on ‘Software,’ then click ‘New’ > ‘Key.’
  4. Name the key ‘FLEXlm License Manager’. If the key already exists, step into the key.
  5. Right-click on ‘FLEXlm License Manager’ > ‘New’ > ‘String Value’.
  6. Name the value ‘FLEXLM_TIMEOUT’.
  7. Double-click the ‘FLEXLM_TIMEOUT’ value and set the value data to ‘1000000’.
  8. You can also extract the attached file ‘FLEXLM_TIMEOUT Registry Workaround.zip’ and double-click the registry file to import the registry value.

For more information, please refer to:

  • Knowledge Base Solution Id: S-072437 for the general SOLIDWORKS issues
  • Knowledge Base Solution Id: S-072431 for the SOLIDWORKS PDM specific issues

 

Simulation Step-Up Series

Last month, Yannick discussed the topic of Material properties. This month, Reza will talk about Fixtures and Loads.

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Next month, Reza will move on to the topic of Meshing.

Noteworthy Solutions from the SOLIDWORKS Knowledge Base

icon - SW Where can I find additional information about the SOLIDWORKS® Visualize 2017 SP0.0 and SOLIDWORKS Visualize Boost 2017 SP0.0 software?
The documentation attached to Solution Id: S-071802 contains more information about the SOLIDWORKS® Visualize 2017 SP0.0 software and the SOLIDWORKS Visualize Boost 2017 SP0.0 software.
This article provides information on new features and capabilities of SOLIDWORKS Visualize included with SOLIDWORKS 2017 SP0. It describes changes to licensing, prerequisites and system requirements, and how to install Visualize with the SOLIDWORKS Installation Manager (SLDIM). It also discusses how to install, configure and use Visualize Boost, a service that allows you to distribute rendering across a cluster of computers on your network. It then presents the new features in more detail.
This information became available in the SOLIDWORKS Help effective with the SP1.0 release.

icon - SW What file formats and versions does 3D Interconnect support?
3D Interconnect supports the following file formats and versions:
CATIA® V5*
– .CATPart
– .CATProduct for V5R8 – 5–6R2016
Note: CATIA support is only available with SOLIDWORKS® Premium starting with SOLIDWORKS 2017 SP0.

Autodesk® Inventor®:
– .ipt for V6 – V2016
– .iam for V11 – V2016 (you do not need Autodesk Inventor View to import Inventor files)

PTC®:
– .prt
– .prt.*
– .asm
– .asm.* for Pro/ENGINEER® 16 – Creo® 3.0

Solid Edge®:
– .par
– .asm
– .psm for V18 – ST8

NX™ software:
– .prt for UG 11 – NX 10

NOTES:
– In the SOLIDWORKS 2017 PR1 release, you must already own a legacy CATIA V5-SOLIDWORKS Translator license to import CATIA V5 files.
– In the SOLIDWORKS 2017 release, 3D Interconnect does not support neutral formats such as STEP and IGES files.
From Solution Id: S-071895.

icon - SW Why can I not activate the SOLIDWORKS® Visualize 2016 software with my SOLIDWORKS SolidNetWork License (SNL) serial number?
You can activate the SOLIDWORKS® Visualize 2016 software with a qualifying SolidNetWork License (SNL) serial number. However, in some situations you might see an error advising that you have exceeded the activation count available for your serial number. You may also see the error ‘An error occurred validating the SOLIDWORKS Serial Number. Please contact support’.
To resolve this issue, see Solution Id: S-071848.

Icon - EPDM Does the SOLIDWORKS® PDM Standard software support custom API add-ins, standalone API applications or any of the SOLIDWORKS® PDM migration and upgrade tools?
The SOLIDWORKS® PDM Standard software does not have any API customization support. This includes any form of API code, both when using an add-in and a standalone application. Any API application that tries to access a SOLIDWORKS PDM Standard file vault using API methods will fail to log in. The log in attempt may result in the error ‘E_EDM_STANDARD_APINOTSUPPORTED’. This indicates that there is not support for the API.
For more information, read Solution Id: S-072007.

Icon - EPDM How can I improve the performance of a SOLIDWORKS® PDM Standard computer that hosts multiple vaults?
Performance of the SOLIDWORKS® PDM Standard software depends on the performance of the Microsoft® SQL Server Express database software. If you have multiple vaults and experience sluggish performance, try separating the vaults into multiple SQL Server Express instances.
For more information, read Solution Id: S-072148.

icon - Simulation Is there a sample model that shows “gas assist” injection in a second or different gate location in the SOLIDWORKS® Plastics software??
Yes. You can find an example of a gas assist injection-molded part attached to Solution ID: S-072222. The part has one gate location for the injection of a plastic material and a second gate location for the injection of the gas.

– – – = = = o o O o o = = = – – –

That’s it for this month. Thanks for reading this edition of SOLIDWORKS Support News. If you need additional help with these issues or any others, please contact your SOLIDWORKS Value Added Reseller.

Also, comments and suggestions are welcome. You can enter them below.

 

Julien Boissat

Julien Boissat

Sr. Technical Customer Support Engineer, SolidWorks, EMEA at DS SolidWorks Corp.
I have been a Tech Support engineer for Simulation products since 2002. I was previously a product manager at SRAC, the original makers of COSMOS for those who remember that time! ;-). I am currently in charge of the content of the certification exams for simulation products. I also initiated and still author the Simulation Knowledge Base and participate as much as possible in the expansion and evolution of the SolidWorks Knowledge Base. Finally, I handle the SolidWorks Support Monthly News blog.