CUSTOMTOOLS 2016 SP4.0
Automate your daily routines
Designed by Jomet Oy
What Is New?
.
Copyright © 2016 ATR Soft Ltd. All rights reserved
Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................... 4
About this Document..................................................................................................4
Intended Audience
....................................................................................................................4
Using this Document ..................................................................................................5
Conventions used in this document .......................................................................................5
USER INTERFACE............................................................................................ 6
SOLIDWORKS add-in uses command manager ....................................................................6
CUSTOMTOOLS menu commands in SOLIDWORKS ............................................................6
INSTALLATION................................................................................................. 7
CUSTOMTOOLS installation package .......................................................................7
Microsoft SQL Server Express Edition .....................................................................7
Supported SOLIDWORKS Versions ...........................................................................7
SOLIDWORKS eDrawings ...........................................................................................7
Supported eDrawings Versions ...............................................................................................8
Supported Operating Systems ..................................................................................8
NEW FEATURES .............................................................................................. 9
Compatible with SOLIDWORKS 2016 ......................................................................9
SERVICE PACKS............................................................................................ 10
Service Pack 0.0 ...................................................................................................... 10
Standalone Import Tool
.........................................................................................................
10
Service Pack 1.0 ...................................................................................................... 11
SOLIDWORKS Version Selection in Standalone Import .................................................... 11
Changing Component Quantities in Batch Operations ..................................................... 12
WHAT IS NEW
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Service Pack 2.0 ...................................................................................................... 14
CUSTOMTOOLS Customer Experience Feedback .............................................................. 14
Simplified Import Command in Command Manager......................................................... 15
Updated PDF Library in PDF File Conversion ..................................................................... 16
ToolWorks Profile Migration.................................................................................................. 16
Migrate with Help of the CUSTOMTOOLS Profile Converter....................................................................... 17
Migrate with Help of the CUSTOMTOOLS Administration Tool .................................................................. 19
Vertex Flow 2016 Support in CUSTOMFLOW ..................................................................... 20
Service Pack 3.0 ...................................................................................................... 20
Part and Assembly Scope Properties in Model Combination Editor ............................... 20
Journal Log File
......................................................................................................................
21
Service Pack 4.0 ...................................................................................................... 22
Support for The SOLIDWORKS 2017 Files ......................................................................... 22
Enhancements in the Copy Feature .................................................................................... 22
Last Action and The Configuration Selection Are Remembered ............................................................... 22
Dynamic Property Combinations Are Always Regenerated........................................................................ 23
Possibility to Choose Whether or Not to Write the new Combination Property Values............................ 23
WHAT IS NEW
CUSTOMTOOLS 2016 SP4.0
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Introduction
About this Document
This document highlights and helps you to learn the new functionalities introduced in the
CUSTOMTOOLS 2016 for SOLIDWORKS product family. This document also introduces concepts
and provides use case examples for many of the new functions.
Intended Audience
This document is for experienced users of CUSTOMTOOLS software and assumes that you have a
good working
knowledge of an earlier release. If you are
new with the software, please begin by
reading the CUSTOMTOOLS Getting Started Guide.
To learn CUSTOMTOOLS usage
by an example based way, you
may want to take a look
to the
CUSTOMTOOLS tutorials. You can also watch CUSTOMTOOLS introduction videos from the
CUSTOMTOOLS YouTube channel.
WHAT IS NEW
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Using this Document
The following conventions are used in this document to refer different kind of things.
Conventions used in this document
Convention
Meaning
Bold
Any CUSTOMTOOLS command, menu item or,
an example file
Italic
Refers to other documents or emphasizes text
Tip or Note. You can find useful tips and/or
important notes by the Tip and Notes included
in the text.
References CUSTOMTOOLS help
Blue Underlined
Hyperlinks to CUSTOMTOOLS help or a Hands-
on example
A link to a video available online at the
CUSTOMTOOLS YouTube channel. The video
links you can find from the document are in
relation to a topic the video link is associated
to.
WHAT IS NEW
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User Interface
SOLIDWORKS add-in uses command manager
CUSTOMTOOLS 2016 is integrated into the SOLIDWORKS command manager. You can
customize the CUSTOMTOOLS command manager by managing the available commands based
on the document type which is open.
1.
CustomTools command manager in SOLIDWORKS 2016.
CUSTOMTOOLS menu commands in SOLIDWORKS
The most of the
CUSTOMTOOLS commands are available only if
there is at least one document
open in SOLIDWORKS. The Copy, Print and Convert, Import, Options and the DataServer
commands are always available in the CustomTools menu even if you do not have any
documents open in SOLIDWORKS.
NOTE: The Import feature is launched in the Import SOLIDWORKS Files mode when there
are no documents open in SOLIDWORKS while the Import command is clicked.
In the CUSTOMTOOLS toolbar, all the icons are visible whether or not a file is open in
SOLIDWORKS but only the ones which could be performed without open document are enabled.
WHAT IS NEW
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Installation
CUSTOMTOOLS installation package
CUSTOMTOOLS installation packages are available in the CUSTOMTOOLS website.
CUSTOMTOOLS installation packages have installers for 32-bit (x86) and 64-bit (x64)
platforms included. 64-bit installer includes all CUSTOMTOOLS products whereas 32-bit
installer only includes 32-bit version of Microsoft SQL Server.
NOTE: CUSTOMTOOLS Installers are platform specific for 32- and 64-bit operating
systems. This means that you cannot run 32-bit CUSTOMTOOLS installer on a workstation
that have 64-bit operating system and vice versa.
Microsoft SQL Server Express Edition
CUSTOMTOOLS works in association with a Microsoft SQL Server database. If your environment
does not already have the SQL Server installed, you can install it from the CUSTOMTOOLS
package. The
CUSTOMTOOLS 2016 package
have a Microsoft
SQL Server 2014 Express SP1
included that you can use for the CUSTOMTOOLS database purposes.
Supported SOLIDWORKS Versions
CUSTOMTOOLS 2016 supports the 64-bit editions of the following SOLIDWORKS versions:
SOLIDWORKS 2013
SOLIDWORKS 2014
SOLIDWORKS 2015
SOLIDWORKS 2016
SOLIDWORKS eDrawings
CUSTOMTOOLS Viewer require that you have SOLIDWORKS eDrawings installed. CUSTOMTOOLS
2016
installation
package have the SOLIDWORKS eDrawings
2016 included. When you install
CUSTOMTOOLS Viewer to a workstation which does not have SOLIDWORKS eDrawings installed,
the SOLIDWORKS eDrawings will be installed into your workstation with CUSTOMTOOLS Viewer.
WHAT IS NEW
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Supported eDrawings Versions
Please refer to the Supported SOLIDWORKS Versions list above for the SOLIDWORKS eDrawings
version support in CUSTOMTOOLS.
Supported Operating Systems
CUSTOMTOOLS 2016 is
supported on the 64-bit editions
of the following Microsoft Windows
operating systems:
Workstation Operation Systems
Operating System
SOLIDWORKS Version
2013
Microsoft Windows Vista SP2
Microsoft Windows 7 SP1
Microsoft Windows 8
2013 - 2016
2013 - 2015
Microsoft Windows 8.1
Microsoft Windows 10
2014 SP1 - 2016
2015 SP5 - 2016
Server Operating Systems
SQL Server for CUSTOMTOOLS and CUSTOMTOOLS License Manager can be installed in following
Microsoft server operating systems.
Microsoft Windows Server 2008
Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2
Microsoft Windows Server 2012
Microsoft Windows Server 2012 R2
NOTE: CUSTOMTOOLS 2016 is the last major version of CUSTOMTOOLS with 32-bit
installation package available. CUSTOMTOOLS major releases beginning from the
CUSTOMTOOLS 2017 version are available for 64-bit (x64) operating systems only.
WHAT IS NEW
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New Features
The new
features section is used to describe
the completely new features that have not existed
in any of the older releases of CUSTOMTOOLS.
Compatible with SOLIDWORKS 2016
CUSTOMTOOLS 2016
brings compatibility for the
SOLIDWORKS 2016. CUSTOMTOOLS 2016 is
still compatible also with older versions of SOLIDWORKS back to the SOLIDWORKS 2013 version
but CUSTOMTOOLS 2016 will not support SOLIDWORKS 2017 version.
WHAT IS NEW
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Service Packs
This section describes new features and changed functionality
introduced in CUSTOMTOOLS
2016
service packs.
Service Pack 0.0
Standalone Import Tool
A shortcut icon for the CUSTOMTOOLS Standalone Import Tool is automatically added to Windows
Start menu when
installed. The Standalone Import
Tool could be used to import SOLIDWORKS
files and their reference data into the CUSTOMTOOLS database.
Tool requires a
SOLIDWORKS installation but is run
outside SOLIDWORKS process. Tool is used
for instance
in association with bi-directional
Excel link which allows
batch modifying custom
properties of SOLIDWORKS models in Excel without SOLIDWORKS installation.
WHAT IS NEW
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Service Pack 1.0
SOLIDWORKS Version Selection in Standalone Import
A new option
to select the SOLIDWORKS version to use
is now available in the CUSTOMTOOLS
Standalone Import tool. The new option is called SOLIDWORKS version to use and it is located in
the CUSTOMTOOLS Import dialog box.
2.
The
new SOLIDWORKS version
to use option in the
Import dialog box. This option
is enabled only in the Import
Standalone tool.
The SOLIDWORKS version selected is used to determine the SOLIDWORKS version to use to run
the import
process. To use the
SOLIDWORKS version assigned as
the default application for
opening the SOLIDWORKS files in Windows, use the <Use default> option as shown in the picture
2
above.
WHAT IS NEW
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Changing Component Quantities in Batch Operations
When the
user manually make changes to
the components’ quantities
on the CUSTOMTOOLS
batch operations,
the user get prompted to
choose whether to apply
the changed quantities
automatically to all
selected batch operations (batch
printing profiles and the file
conversion
rules) selected.
A prompt shown in the following picture 3 appear when the user accept changes on the
component quantities.
3.
A prompt to choose whether or not to apply the quantity changes to all selected batch operations.
Selecting Yes in
the prompt, the quantity changes are applied
to all selected batch printing
profiles and to
the file conversion rules. Selecting No
applies the changes only to
the selected
batch printing profile or file conversion rule.
No matter what choice was made in the prompt shown in the picture 3, the Add quantity option in
the Additional
Options tab (picture 4) is
automatically selected so you do not have
to select the
option manually to print the quantity values to the output documents of the CUSTOMTOOLS batch
operation.
WHAT IS NEW
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4.
The
Add quantity option in the Additional
Options tab is automatically selected
when the quantities are manually
changed by the user.
License Level Requirement
CUSTOMTOOLS Basic license is required.
WHAT IS NEW
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Service Pack 2.0
CUSTOMTOOLS Customer Experience Feedback
The CUSTOMTOOLS crash reporting feature used by the CustomTools Customer Experience
Feedback dialog box, is enhanced in the CUSTOMTOOLS 2016 SP2 version.
The CustomTools Customer Experience
Feedback dialog box now have a new textbox called
Describe what you were doing when the error occurred. Using the Describe what you were doing
when the error occurred box you can provide more detailed information about the crash
occurred.
Anohter new
option in the CustomTools Customer Experience
Feedback dialog box, is the I have
seen the same
error before option. Select the I have seen
the same error before option to
indicate to the CUSTOMTOOLS developers that you did not encounter the same crash for the first
time.
5.
The new
options in the CustomTools Customer
Experience Feedback dialog box for providing
additional information
about a CUSTOMTOOLS crash occurred.
License Level Requirement
No requirements related to the CUSTOMTOOLS license level.
WHAT IS NEW
CUSTOMTOOLS 2016 SP4.0
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Simplified Import Command in Command Manager
The Import command in the CUSTOMTOOLS command manager in SOLIDWORKS have now a new
working principle.
In the CUSTOMTOOLS 2016 SP2 version, the Import command in the CUSTOMTOOLS command
manager in
SOLIDWORKS opens a menu from
where you can choose
whether to import the
SOLIDWORKS files
into the CUSTOMTOOLS database or, to
convert the Solid Edge files
to the
SOLIDWORKS file format.
6.
The Import command opens a menu for selecting the mode to open the Import feature in.
Earlier,
the Import command remembered the last
selected mode for the Import feature
but, to
improve the command manager’s reliability, the Import command does no longer remember last
mode selection so the desired mode have to be selected by the user every time while starting the
CUSTOMTOOLS Import feature.
License Level Requirement
No requirements related to the CUSTOMTOOLS license level.
WHAT IS NEW
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Updated PDF Library in PDF File Conversion
Due to
instability issues, the Debenu Quick
PDF Library used in the
CUSTOMTOOLS Print And
Convert feature to
for example merge converted SOLIDWORKS documents
into a single PDF
document have been updated to a newer version.
This
update improves stability of the Print
And Convert feature when merging or
imposing PDF
documents converted from SOLIDWORKS files.
License Level Requirement
No requirements related to the CUSTOMTOOLS license level.
ToolWorks Profile Migration
CUSTOMTOOLS 2016 SP2 version introduces a migration possibility from ToolWorks to
CUSTOMTOOLS. The new migration capability allow the users to convert the ToolWorks
Configuration Files (*.sdhini) to the CUSTOMTOOLS profiles (*.ctprof).
The ToolWorks
profile migration feature is available in
the CUSTOMTOOLS Profile Converter tool
and, in the Import Profile feature in the CUSTOMTOOLS Administration Tool.
WHAT IS NEW
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Migrate with Help of the CUSTOMTOOLS Profile Converter
You can convert your ToolWorks Configuration
File (*.sdhini) to a CUSTOMTOOLS profile file
(*.ctprof)
with help of the CUSTOMTOOLS Profile Converter tool.
7.
Select the ToolWorks option in the CUSTOMTOOLS Profile Converter tool to convert ToolWorks Configuration File into
the CUSTOMTOOLS Profile File.
The new option
called ToolWorks in the
CUSTOMTOOLS Profile Converter (Picture
7) is used to
begin migration from the ToolWorks to CUSTOMTOOLS.
WHAT IS NEW
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8.
ToolWorks Configuration
File path and, the
CUSTOMTOOLS Profile's target
path definition in the CUSTOMTOOLS
Profile Converter.
The rest of the ToolWorks migration to the
CUSTOMTOOLS using the CUSTOMTOOLS Profile
Converter works similar like the migrations from the other supported profile types.
WHAT IS NEW
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Migrate with Help of the CUSTOMTOOLS Administration Tool
The ToolWorks Configuration File (*.sdhini) could be migrated to the CUSTOMTOOLS database as
a CUSTOMTOOLS
profile also by using the
CUSTOMTOOLS Administration Tool’s Import Profile
feature.
9.
The CUSTOMTOOLS Import Profile feature now support also the ToolWorks Configuration File type as a source file for
the CUSTOMTOOLS database profile.
Select the
ToolWorks Configuration File (*.sdhini) as
the source file type in
the file type box
associated to the File name box in the Import Profile dialog box (Picture 9) to import the
ToolWorks profile into the CUSTOMTOOLS database.
The rest of the ToolWorks profile
migration in the CUSTOMTOOLS Administration Tool works
similar
like the migrations from the
other source profile types to the
CUSTOMTOOLS database
profile.
Please refer to the CUSTOMTOOLS Helps for more information about the CUSTOMTOOLS
Import Profile feature.
WHAT IS NEW
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Vertex Flow 2016 Support in CUSTOMFLOW
CUSTOMFLOW now supports Vertex Flow version 2016.
License Level Requirement
CUSTOMFLOW PDM Connector license is required.
Service Pack 3.0
Part and Assembly Scope Properties in Model Combination Editor
Earlier, the
CUSTOMTOOLS Model Combination editor
have shown only CustomProperties from
the Model scope
in the list of the available properties.
Now, the Model Combination editor also
show the CustomProperties in the list that are defined in the Part or Assembly scope.
10.
Part
and Assembly scope CustomProperties are now
available in the CustomProperties list in
the CUSTOMTOOLS
combination editor.
WHAT IS NEW
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This enhancement makes easier to create combinations used with the SOLIDWORKS models as
you can also select the part and assembly properties to the combination’s Format String from the
CustomProperties list (Picture 10).
License Level Requirement
No requirements related to the CUSTOMTOOLS license level.
Journal Log File
CUSTOMTOOLS now creates a Journal Log file to track the actions done during the
CUSTOMTOOLS session. Actions from the CUSTOMTOOLS Batch operations (Batch Printing, Batch
File Conversion) and from the CustomProperties writing are recorded into the journal file. Also the
start of the CUSTOMTOOLS session is recorded into the Journal Log File.
In support purposes, the CUSTOMTOOLS Journal Log file could be used to track issues related to
the actions of which actions are recorded to the Journal Log file. In case you encounter any issue
on
CUSTOMTOOLS Batch Operations or
on tasks in related to the actions
on CustomProperties
writing, you can send the CUSTOMTOOLS Journal Log file to the CUSTOMTOOLS support.
CUSTOMTOOLS
creates the Journal Log file called
CUSTOMTOOLS Journal.txt, into the following
location:
C:\Users\<WindowsUserName>\AppData\Local\ATR Soft Oy\CustomTools
The journal file
is also included in the CUSTOMTOOLS
application crash email which you
can send to the CUSTOMTOOLS Team in case of an application error.
A
CUSTOMTOOLS Journal File is created per
SOLIDWORKS process. One SOLIDWORKS process
simultaneously
is supported so if you are running more
than one SOLIDWORKS instance at the
time, the CUSTOMTOOLS Journal Log File could not be created.
License Level Requirement
No requirements related to the CUSTOMTOOLS license level.
WHAT IS NEW
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Service Pack 4.0
Support for The SOLIDWORKS 2017 Files
CUSTOMTOOLS 2016 SP4
supports SOLIDWORKS Previous Version
Interoperability. It means,
that when using SOLIDWORKS 2016 SP5 along with CUSTOMTOOLS 2016 SP4, CUSTOMTOOLS
can read files that are made with SOLIDWORKS 2017 version. For instance, you’ll see preview
images and you can search and open files. You are also able to for instance run batch conversion
for part and assembly files.
NOTE:
SOLIDWORKS Previous Version
Interoperability supports only part and
assembly
documents, not drawings.
NOTE: If you open future version file in SOLIDWORKS, all CUSTOMTOOLS commands are
disabled in menu, toolbar and command manager bar. This is because of how
SOLIDWORKS functions.
CUSTOMTOOLS 2016 SP4 Viewer fully supports SOLIDWORKS 2017 files including parts,
assemblies and drawings.
NOTE: Any service pack of the CUSTOMTOOLS 2016 SOLIDWORKS Add-In does not run on
SOLIDWORKS 2017.
License Level Requirement
No requirements related to the CUSTOMTOOLS license level.
Enhancements in the Copy Feature
The CUSTOMTOOLS
Copy feature have few
enhancements to introduce
in the CUSTOMTOOLS
2016
SP4 version.
Last Action and The Configuration Selection Are Remembered
The Copy feature in CUSTOMTOOLS
now remembers the Action and Configuration that were
selected on the previous session. So when you use the Copy feature and then restart
SOLIDWORKS, the Action and Configuration selections are retained from your previous
SOLIDWORKS session.
WHAT IS NEW
CUSTOMTOOLS 2016 SP4.0
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Dynamic Property Combinations Are Always Regenerated
Property
combinations that are not part of
the filename are now also re-generated
in the Copy.
Previously
only properties having static combination format
string defined were supported. Now
CUSTOMTOOLS also support properties whose combination format is defined by dropdown menu
(“Combobox”).
If combination format is not given
during copy operation then it’s read
from files
being copied.
Possibility to Choose Whether or Not to Write the new Combination Property Values
The
icons associated to the CUSTOMTOOLS Combination Properties are now always enabled
to let the
user to choose whether or not to
generate and write specific
combination values. To
enable updating property
value defined by combination, click the
property.
button associated with
11.
The user can
now choose whether or not to
generate and write the combination
property values while using the
Copy feature.
License Level Requirement
CUSTOMTOOLS Professional license is required in order to use the Copy feature.
WHAT IS NEW
CUSTOMTOOLS 2016 SP4.0
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