General thoughts about V16 update

Sascha Boskovski

We (an architecture office with 10 CAD workplaces) use Bricscad in a very minimal way. We have the "basic" licence and make technical and design drawings in 2D.
As I have been working with AutoCad LT before I think there are a lot of not solved bugs within the 2D-drawing sector of the program.
Quite a few things that don´t work properly. Examples? Layerstates, toolpalettes, layerfilter, fields
In our office I have been setting up a drawing structure so that everybody is able to produce drawings of the same quality.
Some things only work with huge workarounds (e.g. keeping toolpalettes updated, or working with layerstates with vpcolorsettings included).
A lot of support requests I placed pointing out problems in 2D drawing are "under investigation" or "in development", so Bricsys knows about it.

From my work with AutoCad LT I remember always looking forward to the day the update comes as there always was some really cool new stuff included
that made life easier.
Now I downloaded the V16 update. And guess what: NOTHING, it really seems there is nothing really exciting new for people that draw in 2D.
I´m very disappointed, even more because of the huge amount of not solved problems I already mentioned in the last couple of months.
The only change for me with the update is that we don´t have a tool for german architectual dimension any more because the guy who sold us "iXDim" doesn´t update anymore because he doesn´t feel well supported from Bricsys.

And then I´m following the discussion about bim and sheetmetal.
It seems to me that Bricsys spends its efford to these modules to make more profit rather then fixing problems within the base of the program.

I kept hoping that some of the things we are missing will really be in development and will be added or fixed in the near future. But now I´m disillusioned.

Or am I completly wrong and Bricsys puts its entire power into the development of "Creating Dynamic Blocks" to be released next year?
(would be cool though...)

Hans De Backer

To make it easier for readers (including myself) to verify whether there is "NOTHING, really nothing..." for 2D users in V16, I took the V16.1.01 release notes and stripped out all entries related to 3D modeling, BIM, Sheet Metal and Mechanical development, resulting in an overview of the work we performed for 2D related stuff.

Please keep in mind that besides this overview, as we always do, during the life cycle of a major version like V16 a substantial amount of new stuff and enhancements is going to be added, the overview added below concerns ONLY those things added since V15.3.05 was released a few months ago in July. 

Kind regards,
Hans De Backer
Head of Development - Bricsys

** Version 16.1.01
------------------------------------------------------------


** 26/10/2015
------------------------------------------------------------


** New
------------------------------------------------------------
* ANTI-ALIASED DISPLAY: previously, only 3D rendered display modes obeyed the ANTIALIASSCREEN setting, now the 2D wireframe display also applies the anti-alias display setting.
* ASSOCIATIVE ARRAYS:
An array is a pattern of copied items, each item consisting of a selection of entities. The associativity between the items allows to propagate changes throughout the array by maintaining relationships between the items. Each item is contained in a block-like structure. For existing associative arrays it remains possible to edit e.g. the spacing between items, the position of each item, the number of items, or the pattern properties. The properties of each item can be individually overridden and the content of an item can be modified. To select an item of an array, hold the Ctrl key pressed while selecting or hovering with the Quad. The Quad menu offers a range of powerful editing commands, both for the entire array and for array items. Users are encouraged to try out the Quad to Space and Resize array items, and experience the amazing power, flexibility and ease of use.
+ ARRAYPATH: command to distribute entity copies evenly along a (portion of) a path. The path can be a line, polyline, arc, circle, ellipse, spline, helix or 3D polyline. The Method option allows to distribute items along the path by a measure (distance) or by dividing the path in a number of divisions.
+ ARRAYPOLAR: command to distribute entity copies evenly in a circular pattern about a center point or axis of rotation.
+ ARRAYRECT: command to distribute entity copies into any number of rows, columns, and levels.
+ ARRAYASSOCIATIVITY: system variable that sets whether new arrays are associative or not.
+ ARRAYEDIT: command that allows to edit associative arrays and their source objects.
+ ARRAYEDITEXT: command to edit the properties of an array item.
+ ARRAYCLOSE: command to save or discard changes made by the ARRAYEDIT command.
+ ARRAYEDITSTATE: read-only system variable that indicates whether or not the drawing is in array-editing state.
* DATAEXTRACTION:
SR19745, SR19942, SR23272, SR23278, SR25741, SR25783, SR27413, SR37168, SR38323, SR39282, SR39380, SR44792, SR61863, SR64368
+ wizard that allows to export mostly any property of the entities contained in a dwg file.
+ export configuration is saved in a .dxd Data Extraction Definition file.
+ exported file format is .csv (Comma Separated Values) and can be imported as a Table entity.
* DRAWING LOCK FILE SYSTEM:
SR44935, SR62484, SR64752
+ when a drawing is loaded, .dwl and .dwl2 'lock' files are temporarily created.
+ The content of the lock files allows to inform other users trying to open that drawing, that it is in use, since when, and by whom.
+ WHOHAS: command to display ownership information for a selected drawing file.
* EXPORTLAYOUT:
SR43274, SR63778
command to export all visible objects from the current layout to the model space of a new drawing.
* GCE SNAP: the new Geometric CEnter snap allows to snap to the centroid of any closed polylines and splines, planar 3d polylines, regions and planar faces of 3d solids. OSMODE flag 1024 is used for GCE, it replaces the obsolete and no longer used Quick snap.
* GEOGRAPHIC COORDINATE REFERENCE SYSTEMS: added support for projections and coordinate reference systems for New Zealand, North America, Canada, Russia and the Russian Commonwealth of Independent States.
* LICENSE MANAGER DIALOG: added a License Manager dialog, summarizing your available licenses (BricsCAD/Communicator/Sheet Metal).
It is accessible in the menu option Help > License Manager... or by the LICENSEMANAGER command.
* SR21295, SR25127, SR28038, SR31477, SR31708, SR31844, SR38278, SR38673, SR39360, SR39549, SR39895, SR41307, SR41706, SR43783, SR43922, SR45849
* MTEXT: added support for creating and editing multiple columns.
* SHEETSETS:
+ Added new system variables:
o SSMAUTOOPEN: controls whether the Sheet Set Manager is opened automatically when a drawing associated with a sheet is opened.
o SSMPOLLTIME: controls the refresh time interval for the status data in a sheet set.
o SSMSHEETSTATUS: controls how the status data (e.g. 'locked') in a sheet set is refreshed.
+ Added 'Sheet Set' tab to the Drawing Properties dialog to display sheetset data if the drawing is associated with a sheetset. Association can be removed with 'Remove Association' button.
+ Added the possibility to select Viewlabel and Callout blocks, and place them associated to the selected sheet view.
+ Sheet list table can be placed on any sheet of the sheetset. In the current implementation the table content is not associative.
* TRANSPARENCY:
SR27377, SR30661, SR32857, SR35430, SR35907, SR37904, SR37939, SR38220, SR38281, SR39234, SR39662, SR40941, SR41449, SR42336, SR42579, SR42930, SR44410, SR44621, SR44928, SR45974, SR46848, SR47188, SR47227, SR47801, SR48028, SR48309, SR48699, SR48845, SR48858, SR48883, SR49570, SR51259, SR51486, SR51570, SR61046, SR61332, SR63093, SR63191, SR64097
+ Transparency property can be set directly or by layer.
+ CETRANSPARENCY controls the transparency value applied for new entities.
+ HPTRANSPARENCY allows to set the transparency for new hatch entities separately.
+ GDIPLUS is now the default graphics device on the Windows platform. It replaces the GDI device which had no support for transparency.
+ Transparency when plotting is controlled by the Plot Transparencies option in the Page Setup and Print dialog. Note: it is disabled by default for performance reasons.
* USABILITY: added the commands SUPPORTFOLDER and TEMPLATEFOLDER, which open the corresponding folder in the File Explorer.


** Improvements
------------------------------------------------------------
* SR62744 - CONTEXT MENU: added "Xref Overlay" as Drag & Drop menu option for .dwg, .dwt and .dxf files.
* SR63824 - DIMENSION STYLE: using the Drawing Explorer Folders tab, it is now possible to copy dimension styles between unopened/opened drawings by drag & drop.
* SR61908 - DYNAMIC DIMENSIONS: switched the default focus from the "height" to the "width" field in the RECTANGLE command with dynamic input.
* ENTITY SELECTION: significantly improved the performance of selecting entities by mouse with PICKSTYLE set to 1 or 3 (group selection enabled).
* SR62376 - GEOGRAPHIC LOCATION DIALOG: the search field now lists all entries that contain the search string, instead of only those entries that start with the search string.
* SR50423, SR51993 - GRIP: midpoint grip markers for polylines now have the same triangular shape as the midpoint snap marker, thus avoiding confusion with endpoint grip markers.
* SR63441 - HATCH: performance improvements for recalculating associative hatches.
* SR61679 - LAYISO: command now supports selection of multiple entities.
* SR49812, SR65033 - LAYERP: the LAYERP command now also restores the previous active layer.
* SR36670 - LIST: improved the LIST output for surface entities.
* MAPCONNECT DIALOG:
+ redesigned to reduce complexity and size.
+ added 'Use Current View Extents' and 'Use Layer Extents' buttons to specify the desired area.
+ acceptable range for values is shown in tooltips and out-of-range values are marked.
+ added button to clear the current selection.
+ most recently selected layer(s) are reselected in the next session.
+ most recently used ground resolution value is reused in the next session (if acceptable).
* SR50342 - MLEADER: added support for auto switching the mtext justification when the mleader is moved.
* MTEXT:
+ If stacked text had text at the left or right without any whitespace inbetween, then the stacked text dialog might not open on double clicking.
+ When word selection was triggered when the caret was between a word and white space, the white space would be selected instead.
* SR45219 - PDF EXPORT: added support for JPEG image compression, resulting in reduced size of the generated pdf file.
* PROPERTIES BAR: added possibility to modify component definition file path.
* SR33968 - PROPERTIES BAR: changing the style of a Table entity in the Properties Panel (re-)applies the FlowDirection to the Table.
* QUAD: reorganized tool groups and significantly extended the number of available tools.
* QUAD customization: The "Workspaces" tab in the Customize dialog now allows to manage the contents of both user defined and builtin Quad Groups in a workspace. Supported actions are:
+ Switch a Quad Item on or off.
+ Drag a Quad Item from one Quad Group to another.
+ Drag a Quad Item within a group, changing the order in which the Quad Items will appear in that group.
+ Rename a Quad Group.
* TABLES
+ added the option in the TABLE dialog to specify the separator character when importing CSV files.
+ formula evaluation now gracefully handles empty or invalid cells.
* TRIM/EXTEND: added support for trimming and extending Multilines.
* UCS: the option "entity" and the hidden option "object" now also accept Multilines.
* UCS ICON: added X,Y and Z characters to make axes easier to distinguish.
* SR61903 - VIEWPORT: viewport related layer properties now are displayed in the Properties panel and the Entity Properties toolbar.
* SR63256 - XREFS: added a warning message dialog regarding missing xrefs when opening file by double clicking.


** Fixes
------------------------------------------------------------
* SR61101, SR63878, SR63956 - BLOCK: invisible entities were created in a block table record during the in-place editing of a block.
* SR64111 - BLOCK: the BLOCK dialog allowed the creation of invalid blocks with trailing spaces in their name.
* SR64233 - BLOCK: changing one of the X/Y/Z scales with "Uniform Scale" enabled didn't trigger an update of the other scales. Regression since V15.3.
* SR63270 - BREAK: the entity selected to break was not highlighted.
* SR63906 - CHAPOO: checking if a user was still logged on did not work properly when the user didn't have a Chapoo Free folder.
* COMMAND HISTORY: the command history text could incorrectly get modified by using drag & drop.
* SR64536 - COPYCLIP/PASTECLIP: in a user provided drawing, entity groups which were added by application code during CopyClip, were not maintaned in PasteClip.
* SR62432 - CRASH: BricsCAD crashed when opening a user provided drawing containing Cyrilic references in block table records.
* SR64434, SR64766 - CRASH: the Qualcomm Atheros Bluetooth Suite installed on recent hardware incorrectly accessed the BricsCAD utils.dll module. This caused BricsCAD to crash when opening file dialogs.
* CRASH: calling the select file dialog from a modal dialog could cause a hangup or crash.
* SR33967 - CTABLESTYLE:
+ -TABLE: the -TABLE command did not use the style set by the CTABLESTYLE system variable.
+ TABLE: the TABLE dialog did not preset the CTABLESTYLE in the style list.
* SR63626 - CURSOR: the cursor did not revert back to pickbox after using any of the window/crossing/fence and related options during entity selection.
* SR42478 - DIMENSIONS: the creation of paperspace dimensions, associative to modelspace entities, was incorrect when snapping to center- or insertion points.
* SR44724 - DISPLAY: wrong position of display of missing xref path. When drawing this text, the origin of OdDbBlockTableRecord should be ignored.
* DOCKING: docking a toolbar with combo controls vertically could cause BricsCAD to hang.
* SR61603 - DRAWING EXPLORER: an uncaught exception got thrown when a name with spaces was entered in the Multiline Styles panel of the Drawing Explorer.
* SR61438 - DRAWORDER: the relative order between selected entities was not preserved.
* SR64018 - DXF: in a user provided drawing, a HATCH was put on an incorrect layer when loading a DXF file.
* DXFOUT: the DXFOUT command did not copy the visual style of the active viewport when it was ran from model layout with an entity selection set.
* SR49554 - DYNAMIC BLOCKS: Dynamic Block parameters related to the Block Properties table were not displayed.
* SR64226 - DYNAMIC BLOCKS: rotating a dynamic block caused BricsCAD to crash with a user provided drawing.
* SR61275 - DYNAMIC BLOCKS: adjusted the behaviour of Angle and Distance for Polar dynamic properties:
+ the angle will be normalised to the range 0...2PI, to allow negative angles.
+ a negative distance will invert the direction, and use the positive distance.
* SR45225 - DYNAMIC DIMENSIONS: the value of dynamic dimensions could get stuck at 0,0 when snapping Perpendicular with ORTHO on, in case the snap track line was almost identical to the ortho line and the track line intersected the ortho line in LASTPOINT.
* SR49500 - DYNAMIC DIMENSIONS: when dynamic dimensions were active and the command line was hidden, it was not possible to enter point coordinates.
* SR64302 - EATTEDIT/ DDEDIT: copying & pasting text into an attribute did not work if the destination attribute text contained a FIELD.
* SR49323 - ESNAP: the location of the esnap marker was incorrect during the ARC/CENTER command, when the specified center had a Z coordinate not equal to 0.
* SR63770 - FIELD DIALOG: field format specifiers were reverted to default after editing the prefix/suffix.
* SR47512 - FIELDS: a Field that refers to an Object was not updated when the object was deleted.
* SR50160 - FIELDS: values of FIELDs used in table cells were not updated upon drawing regeneration.
* SR63773 - FIELDS: a crash could occur when invalid field strings were used.
* FILE DIALOG: on Windows 10 the file dialog could not be resized to a smaller size.
* SR48065 - FLYOUT: when hovering over a flyout, the icon of the hovered flyout tool was no longer updated to the "selected" status. Regression since V14.
* SR63885 - FRAME: individual settings for IMAGEFRAME did not set FRAME to 3.
* SR45622 - FROM: it was not possible to use the FROM snap when launching a command with options from the menu (e.g. Circle,Center,Diameter, … ).
* GRIPEDIT: fixed a crash that occurred when repeatedly pressing the spacebar or Enter key during grip-edit.
* SR19971, SR32148, SR63014 - HATCH: the LINES pattern got interpreted as a User pattern, rather than a Predefined pattern.
* SR63702 - IMAGEATTACH/PDFATTACH: the "Uniform Scale" checkbox is now disabled when the "Specify On Screen" checkbox is on.
* SR64084 - INPUT VALIDATION: some text controls were being marked as invalid even when their value had not been modified (e.g. EATTEDIT dialog).
* SR64232 - INSERT: using the "Multiple Blocks" option of the -INSERT command with a block containing an attribute, caused the attribute to be duplicated and added to the next insert(s).
* SR63732 - INSTALLATION: existing customizable files got overwritten, and the confirmation dialog was no longer displayed.
* SR48893 - LAYISO: the LAYISO command now ignores system layers with names beginning with an asterisk.
* SR44365 - LAYOUT: there was a problem with creating a default modeslpace viewport during a layout switch when there was no valid paper format available.
* SR64706 - LINETYPES: Linetype definitions that did not have a comma in the first line could be loaded via the GUI.
* SR63638, SR63651 - LOCALIZATION: some English prompt strings could not be localized.
* SR64104 - LOCALIZATION: the English string "Proxy" has multiple translations. In some contexts the incorrect translation got used (e.g. Properties bar, Quickselect, … ).
* SR65106 - LOOKFROM: the visibility of the LookFrom widget was incorrect when BricsCAD was started as an invisible application (via COM).
* SR63594 - MAPCONNECT: there was an image cache problem when running MAPCONNECT multiple times.
* SR63497 - MLEADER: there was a problem with grip-stretching of the landing length of annotative multileaders in a viewport.
* SR64890 - MLEADER: horizontal landing line of mleader in user-provide drawing was not displayed after transforming (moving) the mleader.
* SR46923, SR46927 - MLEADEREDIT: did not work properly for MLEADERS having a Multileader Style with Content-Type "None".
* SR61704 - MLINE:
+ the "MLine Justification" in the Properties Bar could not be changed.
+ adjusting the Multiline Style does no longer damage the Multiline.
* SR36616 - MSLIDE: in a user provided drawing, when the "end-point" of a linear segment matched the last-drawn point of the previous segment, the linear segment was not drawn into the slide.
* MTEXT EDITOR: several fixes for caret placement and multi-column handling were applied.
* SR63621 - MTEXT: the mtext caret position was not updated accordingly with mouse clicks.
* SR65092 - MULTIPLE SESSIONS: If one or multiple BricsCAD session(s) were started via COM (using the /Automation flag) normal BricsCAD instances were waiting for the BricsCAD instance(s) started via COM to be finished.
* SR48532, SR64263 - OFFSET/LAYER: the options "Current" and "Source" for OFFSET/LAYER were not persistent between calls of the command within the same BricsCAD session.
* SR63825 - OLE: the drawing title displayed in Excel was incorrect when editing a BricsCAD OLE item.
* SR41424 - OOPS: the OOPS command did not restore an erased layout viewport after ERASE, BLOCK, WBLOCK.
* SR64840 - OPEN: a user-provided drawing could not be opened/recovered because the same extension dictionary was referenced by more than one layout.
* PARAMETRIC COMPONENTS: fixed several cases of incorrect accommodation of changes in defining files for nested parametric components.
* SR64087 - PDFADJUST: corrected the command prompt for the FADE and CONTRAST options.
* SR61072 - PEDIT: the "Insert vertex" option of the PEDIT command did not support ORTHO.
* SR38555 - PICKSTYLE: corrected several commands (e.g. COPY, ARRAY, MIRROR, … ) that can create entity copies. PICKSTYLE is now taken into account to maintain or ignore the creation of associated groups.
* SR63538 - POLYLINE: in a user provided drawing, when a polyline had an elevation and both arc and line segments, some segment(s) could get a Z value of 0.0.
* SR51928, SR63460, SR63662 - PRINT: printing failed to start, prompting an "Invalid index" message, if the previously used pc3 file referred to an unavailable printer. The printer setting is now switched to "None" if the printer is unavailable.
* SR62930 - PRINT: the closing vertex of a closed polyline with lineweight got printed with an incorrect line-join style.
* SR41521 - PROMPTMENU: the prompt menu could contain duplicate entries.
* PROPERTIES PANEL: a simultaneous change of a parameter for several components was not undone in a single step.
* SR34567 - PROPERTIES PANEL: a polyline's global/constant width was incorrectly displayed as 0.0 when the polyline did not use a global/constant width. Rather than 0.0, an empty field is displayed now.
* SR64089 - PROPERTIES PANEL: after editing point/vector coordinates in the Properties Bar, the property item showed a concatenated string of all coordinates, rather than only an X/Y/Z coordinate.
* SR64922 - PROPERTIES PANEL: when pressing a letter key in a drop-down list in the Properties panel, the first found item was selected, and the drop-down list was closed immediately. Regression since V16 Beta.
* SR65200 - PUBLISH to PDF: entities could incorrectly get clipped when exporting to PDF.
* QUAD: in some circumstances it was not possible to reach the Quad because it moved away with the same speed as the cursor approached it.
* SR64238 - QUICKSELECT: quickselect should select all instances of a dynamic block when the dynamic block definition name is chosen as filter.
* SR50654 - REFEDIT: a REFEDIT session could not be closed when entities were erased in the edited block table record during the session.
* SR64083, SR64126 - REFEDIT: fixed crash during REFCLOSE/SAVE when a block contained associative hatches.
* RTROTATE: sometimes it was not possible to get rid of the special RTROTATE cursor after using Shift+MiddleButton (regression since V16)
* SR51373 - RSCRIPT: the RSCRIPT command did not repeat a script when issued after the script had completed.
* SR63795 - SAVE: drawings created from DXF import could not be saved when they contained an empty OLE entity.
* SR45265 - SHX: the diameter symbol and latin capital letter Ø codes were switched.
* SR42850 - SNAP: snapping to a PDF underlay, placed on a layer that is turned off, is no longer possible.
* SR64223 - STATUSBAR: the statusbar display did not update immediately when SNAP was changed from the Settings dialog.
* TABLE: it was not possible to delete or replace fields (e.g. formulas).
* SR48091, SR63421 - TABLE: fields and formulas stored in tables were lost when saving as .DWG.
* SR63239 - TK: temporary tracking points could not accept a distance input when dynamic dimensions were active.
* TOOLPALETTES: fixed problem with importing AutoCAD xtp files.
* SR63842 - TOOLPALETTES: a new palette was incorrectly added to the Tool Pallettes on first run or when the TOOLPALETTEPATH sysvar was changed.
* SR40866 - TOOLPALETTES: relative image paths of new tools could not be found, causing the default icon to be displayed.
* SR62635 - TOOLPALETTES:
+ external bitmaps from .dlls were not displayed properly for custom tools.
+ the preview icon is now scaled to 64 pixels instead of 32.
* SR63044 - TOOLPALETTES: inserting blocks from an imported toolpalettes file (.xtp) did not work properly in case the source file was saved in a general purpose folder (e.g. the C:\Users folder).
* SR64483 - TRIM: the TRIM command produced inaccurate results for large coordinates.
* SR42307 - TRUETYPEFONT: the diameter symbol was displayed as a slashed '0' (zero) instead of a slashed 'o' or 'O'.
* SR64534 - UNICODE: Unicode characters specified as \U+NNNN were not processed correctly.
* SR63259 - VIEWPORT: when activating a newly created modelspace viewport it did not get fully initialized under particular conditions. This caused the cursor to be locked inside the new viewport.
* SR41726 - XREF: detach, bind and unload of Xrefs failed when the name contained special characters, used for wildcard pattern matching.
* SR49177 - -XREF: the -XREF command now always suppresses the file selection dialog, and instead prompts for the filename on the command line.
* SR62503 - XREF: under specific circumstances, nested XRefs were not correctly detached.
* SR63457 - XREFS: the following commands incorrectly listed and allowed to use xref-dependent blocks: INSERT, -INSERT, BLOCK, -BLOCK, WBLOCK, -WBLOCK, BATTMAN, MEASURE.
* SR63800 - XREF: .DXF formatted drawings can no longer be attached as XREFs.
* ZOOM: zooming in- and out with the mouse wheel subsequently and equally, did not result in the original zoom factor.


** Applications
------------------------------------------------------------
* SR47626 - APIs: there was a performance problem with Ac/DbDbBlockTableRecord::getGeomExtents(). Invisible entities were not ignored.
* SR63620 - APIs: interface objects of BricsCAD's IAcadApplication root interface were not properly registered. This caused a problem with instantiating such interfaces by IAcadApplication::GetInterfaceObject.
* SR64648 - APIs: the "Int64" enum definition was missing from Teigha.DatabaseServices.DxfCode.
* SR65262 - APIs: when a new layout was added via API calls (Lisp,SDS,BRX,COM) the drawing statusbar did not show the newly added layout, unless other (user or program) operations triggered an update of the drawing statusbar. Regression since V15.2.05.
* SR41237 - BRX: AcDb::kDragAbort did not get sent to AcDbEntity::dragStatus() when dragging was finished by keyboard input of "X".
* SR41613 - BRX: sendStringToExecute() didn't work properly when using a target document other than the current document.
* SR41613 - BRX/SDS: there was a problem with function and command registration by sds_defun()/acedDefun() when the active drawing was not yet the current drawing.
* SR51424 - BRX/TX: the gripStatus() overridable of custom entities was not called when grips were released.
* SR62350 - BRX: AcDbMText entities were using the wrong background fill color when using custom AcGi streaming.
* SR63482 - BRX: a drawing created by WBLOCK, using an existing BLOCK, incorrectly used the INSBASE value of the source drawing, instead of 0,0,0.
* SR63628 - BRX: added support for AcEditorReactor::veto() during the beginSave() callback.
* COM: errors could occur with the OLE item handler when rendering in a thread other than the one in which the OLE item had been created or loaded.
* SR37847 - COM: there was a problem with COM instances triggering a "pure virtual function call ..." error, when a drawing or BricsCAD was closed after COM-based application code (Lisp,VB/VBA etc.) had run.
* SR63620, SR65058 - COM: fixed incorrect registration for BricscadApp.AcadApplication
* SR63697 - COM: there was a problem using Delphi to access the COM interface in "Late-Binding" mode. The BricsCAD COM interface was not aware of the special array wrapping using the VT_VARIANT|VT_BYREF mode as used by Delphi.
* SR64288 - COM: IAcadDocument::WBlock() now respects the SaveFormat setting to create a dwg or dxf file with an intended version, to be consistent with the WBLOCK command.
* SR65079 - COM: the COM interface for IAcadSection::GenerateSectionGeometry() always failed.
* SR65263 - COM: IAcadTable::put_Rows() added columns to the table, instead of rows.
* SR65269 - COM: there was an access fault in IAcadTable::GetCellExtents() which caused the function to fail, and to report a COM exception error.
* SR65272 - COM: the SetBitmaps() function only respected the "small icon" bitmaps. GetBitMaps() did not always return the changed bitmaps after SetBitmaps() was called.
* SR40363 - DCL: ESCAPE did no longer cancel a dialog when the default button was disabled before the dialog opened.
* SR46045 - DCL LIST_BOX: get_tile called on a list_box returned an unsorted list.
* SR64050 - DCL: when the set_tile() function was used in conjunction with disabled radio buttons there was a problem with moving the focused/selected/checked radio button.
* LISP: performance improvements for (acet-ent-geomextent), (vl-getgeomextents), (vle-getgeomextents)
* LISP EXPRESSTOOLS: the (acet-ui-getfiles) function now correctly expects 5 arguments: (acet-ui-getfile title deffile defext dlgname flags).
* LISP EXPRESSTOOLS: implemented the (acet-ui-txted [text [caption [note]]]) function.
* LISP:
+ added more (Fast-)COM functions for the following properties and methods:
o (vla-get-NumTransactions)
o (vla-StartTransaction)
o (vla-EndTransaction)
o (vla-AbortTransaction)
o (vla-AppendItems) + (vla-RemoveItems)
o (vla-Load) + (vla-Unload)
o (vla-SetBitmaps)
o (vla-InsertInMenuBar)
o (vla-get-Preferences)
o (vla-get-MenuGroups) + (vla-get-MenuBar) + (vla-get-Menus)
o (vla-get-Toolbars)
+ extended methods/properties Item, Count, Name for IAcadMenuGroups, IAcadMenuGroup, IAcadPopupMenus, IAcadPopupMenu, IAcadPopupMenuItem, IAcadToolbars, IAcadToolbar, IAcadToolbarItem, IAcadMenuBar
+ added COM interface functions :
o IAcadDocument::NumTransactions()
o IAcadDocument::StartTransaction()
o IAcadDocument::EndTransaction()
o IAcadDocument::AbortTransaction()
o IAcadUtility::SendModelessOperationStart()
o IAcadUtility::SendModelessOperationEnded()
o IAcadUtility::ObjectId32ToObjectIdString()
o IAcadUtility::GetObjectIdString()
* (acet-ent-geomextent), (vl-getgeomextents), (vle-getgeomextents) were corrected: OdGeExtents of cached GsNodes should not be used, might be out-of-sync. Regression since V16.

SR33958 - LISP/SDS/BRX : sds_wcmatch() / (wcmatch) failed when using the ']' character as the first item in a [] range.

SR36740 - LISP/SDS/BRX: improved the sds_entmod() / (entmod) functions to properly reload images if the associated image definition is changed (loaded status, image filename).

SR39144 - LISP: (vla-AddMText) and other (vla-AddXxxx) functions should accept 2d/3d points and boolean arguments as plain Lisp data, rather than having to wrap them into a Variant + SafeArray.

SR41823 - LISP/SDS/BRX: the grread() function did not return events for MiddleMouseButton clicking and MouseWheel scrolling.

SR41613 - LISP/BRX: the AutoComplete panel incorrectly triggered document activation events like documentToBeActivated/documentActivated when it shouldn't.

SR42907 - LISP/SDS/BRX: entsel(), nentsel() and nentselp() did not recognise keywords correctly when those keywords were pure numbers.

SR43554 - LISP: there was a problem with complex undo handling in the Lisp startup code (under special, user provided conditions).

SR44055 - LISP/SDS/BRX: improved the entmake(), entmakex() and entmod() functions. Creating SymbolTableRecords (e.g. layers, blocks, … ) with invalid names is no longer possible.

SR61412 - LISP: improved the implementation of the DOSLib function (dos_getfilem). The filetype filter handling now provides better compatibility with the original DOSLib implementation. Switching the filetype does no longer cause invalid filename creation.

SR62804 - LISP/SDS/BRX: improved the compatibility of (grdraw)/sds_grdraw()/acedGrDraw() with color value "0". This undocumented feature allows for using the true background color.

SR63122 - LISP/SDS/BRX: improved compatibility for the ssget() function. Interactive (user-)selection options like "-M", "+M", ":S" are now tolerated for non-interactive single-point-selection.

SR63161 - LISP/SDS: input functions like (getpoint), (getangle), (getorient), (getdist) and (getangle) do no longer modify the LASTPOINT value.

SR63350, SR63356 - LISP: there was a problem with the (vla-item) function, mistakenly accessing erased objects, which caused unexpected iteration results.

SR63432 - LISP: fixed a performance bottleneck in (vla-update). Regression since V14.1.12.

SR63697 - LISP: improved the Lisp engine, to allow plain SafeArrays as arguments for several (vla-xxx) functions, when it should normally be wrapped by an extra Variant.

SR63760 - LISP/SDS/BRX : the DXF 348 code in the entget() list was missing after zoom/pan operations, if the visualstyle was set on 2dwireframe.

SR63809 - LISP EXPRESSTOOLS: implemented the following functions:
* (acet-ini-get inifile [section [key [default]]])
* (acet-ini-set inifile section [key [value]])

SR64061 - LISP/SDS/BRX: there was a performance problem with (command ...), sds_command()/sds_cmd() and acedCmd()/acedCommand(), when the Properties Bar was open.

SR64061 - LISP/SDS/BRX: significant performance improvements for (command ...) sequences executing commands which take an entity name or selection set.

SR64340 - LISP EXPRESSTOOLS: implemented the function (acet-ui-status [message [caption]]), showing a modeless & resizable dialog to show information. Supports wordwrap, \n for line-breaks and RichEdit control sequences.

SR65015 - LISP/SDS/BRX: there was a problem with the (grdraw)/grdraw() function. When the highlight flag was set, the vector was not drawn.

SR65076 - LISP: fixed a rare internal crash in LISP engine, during (vl-directory-files), when large drawings were opened.

SR65134 - LISP ExpressTools: there was an issue with (acet-ss-zoom-extents), which caused the function to fail.

SR65264 - LISP: (vle-nth4) ... (vle-nth9) functions in Lisp emulation by vle-extension.lsp failed with NIL lists.

SR65265 - LISP: implemented BricsCAD-specific COM functions for IOdaBlock:
* (vla-get-isFromOverlayReference)
* (vla-get-isResolved)
* (vla-get-isDependent)
* (vla-get-isUnloaded)

SR65266 - LISP: (vla-get-database object) could fail if "object" was added to a database without document, as created by the ObjectDbx interface.

SR65275 - Lisp/COM: there was a problem with the SetXRecord() function. Object references passed as IDispatch were not processed, triggering an error.

SR63845 - .NET: when creating new drawings from templates, the GUID was taken from the template drawing, causing all new drawings to use the same GUID.

SR64315 - RIBBON: the ribbon tooltips could overlap with the drop-down list of options.

Sascha Boskovski

Hello Hans,thanks for your answer.Seems to be an impressive list.But I think you have to shorten it:“Fixes” are nothing new, but belong to stuff that was new a version before but didn´t work.“Applications” are nothing for normal users. I don´t know anything about LISP.Now the list is not as impressive anymore.And to be serious, I´m glad, that I can trim/ extend multilines now, but I would also have survived without.But where is the “next step”? I can´t really see it. I have been working with AutoCad LT for a long time and the improvements done there within the last years should show you what is necessary to get a better workflow for the user (drawing in 2D). For me it would be cool if I would see the following things work properly (would be kind of a “next step”): Toolpalettes: You can´t group palettes. You can´t change the order of tools within a palette nor the palettes in the list. Presets for new tools can´t be changed – everything is set to “current” and I have to change everything to e.g. “by layer” by hand – tool by tool. Not only that I have a lot of work but also the chance to forget one by mistake is huge. Having 10 more people working with the palettes it is really heavy to keep it under control. Drawingexplorer: quite a lot of things have to be managed within the drawingexplorer:Views, deleting multiple layouts, Layerstates with vpcoloroverwrites etc.Not being able to let the explorer stay open it is a mess to always have to open the explorer, make my settings and close it again before I can continue my work. Dimension: I know it also does not work in AutoCad LT, but we need a possibility to get german architectural dimensions. I guess, we are not the only german architectural office that works with Bricscad?! And I don´t understand, if third-party-programmers can do it, why can´t Bricsys implement such a tool? And I mentioned before: we bought a not very handy tool for a lot of money, which doesn´t work anymore under V16 because the programmer has problems with Bricsys. Dynamic Blocks: That would really be a "next step" for working in 2D! Why not working on "creating dynamic blocks".In the end I also want to mention that I always got a very good support with problems I had. Thank the support-people I was able to make our officestructure work properly. But still I see a lot of things not working or only with huge workarounds. And still I don´t see the benefit of the new version for me as a 2D draftsman. Kind regards, Sascha

Torsten Moses

Dear Sascha,

for the dimensioning utility :
"And I mentioned before: we bought a not very handy tool for a lot of money, which doesn´t work anymore under V16 because the programmer has problems with Bricsys."
He shall contact us via SupportRequest system, and it should be rather simple to get that tool working with V16, after recompilation ...

many greetings !

Joe Dunfee

I am still on v14, because none of the improvements have warranted me seeking an upgrade.  However, it is important to note that this is always a very personal decision. If you needed transparency settings, perhaps that one item is worth the upgrade.  For me, full support of dynamic blocks would be the thing that  warrants an upgrade.  Of course, the more releases I wait, the greater the cost of the upgrade. Then to warrant the expense, the improvements will have to be even better for my personal use.

Of course, sometimes outside pressures come to bear.  Mainly, the issue of needing to open a newer DWG version from a customer, than what you currently have.  So far, that has not been an issue for me.  But, it will probably be the one thing that eventually forces me to upgrade.

This is how the system works. Either the upgrade is worth its cost, or it is not.  The deciding factors are always very individual.

-Joe

Miroslav Helebrandt

 I bought Bricscad only a while before V16 was released so I had V16 for free.

I have PRO version, but use only 2D functions.

The only 1 difference i can see before V15 and V16 is new array.

Very sad...

Jason Bourhill

@Sascha Boskovski:

Toolpalettes: You can´t group palettes. You can´t change the order of tools within a palette nor the palettes in the list. Presets for new tools can´t be changed – everything is set to “current” and I have to change everything to e.g. “by layer” by hand – tool by tool. Not only that I have a lot of work but also the chance to forget one by mistake is huge. Having 10 more people working with the palettes it is really heavy to keep it under control.

BricsCAD doesn't allow provide support for grouping palettes. Grouping AKA AutoCAD is an individual user setting, so it's not something you can setup and rollout to multiple users easily. There are however some workarounds that achieve much the same in BricsCAD, and will work for multiple users.

TOOLPALETTEPATH.
Create a macro to change the TOOLPALETTEPATH. There are a number of posts on this in the forum. I see that you've commented on this previously too.

Create Toolpalette sub Folders
BricsCAD will recursively search through sub folders on the TOOLPALETTEPATH adding any palettes found. This is quite useful as you can split tool palettes up into logicial groups making them easier to manage and work with.

For example I might set TOOLPALETTEPATH to
C:\MyCADLIB\ToolPalettes\
This folder has a number of sub folders with different toolpalette collections in them
C:\MyCADLIB\ToolPalettes\General
C:\MyCADLIB\ToolPalettes\Mechanical
C:\MyCADLIB\ToolPalettes\Electrical
 
BricsCAD will search through all sub folders and combine them on the toolpalette.
 
If you take a look at my sample BricsCAD setup you’ll see an example of this
http://www.cadconcepts.co.nz/bricscad/bricscad-setup/

Regards, Jason Bourhill CAD Concepts 

Tomas Polak

Hi,
don't agree with the statement, that every year something exciting to AutoCAD LT. I'd say BricsCAD classic and LT are moving at roughly the same pace.
I haven't tried V16 yet (I am not sure if I'll be upgrading) but from the list two things would be very useful for me - parametric array and reduction of exported PDF file sizes with raster images. Usually lot of small fixes all around the program are very good too.

@Joe: you don't have to upgrade to open newer versions of dwg's. You can use DraftSight or Autodesk DWG viewer to convert files to older version of dwg. Both of these are free.

Joe Dunfee

Thanks for the reminder that AutoDesk's viewer can save to older versions.  Though, of course, you may end up filtering out some objects or settings that the older version does not support.  I have not seen what Draftsight has been doing lately.  But, with the most basic BricsCAD starting at $520 USD, I will need to give Draftsight a second look.  I have a new company employee that I need to get going on some very basic CAD activities.  I would much prefer to get her on to BricsCAD, but  the cost to get even the most basic BricsCAD is a problem for us right now.  And free is certainly a good price... even if the features are more limited.

With BricsCAD's rising prices, I would suggest to Bricsys, that they offer a more limited version of BricsCAD at a lower price, to stay competitive.

-Joe

Donald Broussard

I look around for alternatives to AutoCAD every other year or so. That's how I discovered BricsCAD. $520 is a bargain!

2D is not an option in our office so I haven't looked closely at options like DraftSight.

I feel like you'd eat through the $200 you might save for one person just in installation, testing, and talking about alternatives.

Knut Hohenberg

@Sascha Boskovski:
[code]I know it also does not work in AutoCad LT, but we need a possibility to get german architectural dimensions. I guess, we are not the only german architectural office that works with Bricscad?! And I don´t understand, if third-party-programmers can do it, why can´t Bricsys implement such a tool? [/code]

Of course they could, but I think they will not and IMO should not - this is a way too specific problem to be addressed by a generic CAD program.

But I had the same problem many years ago (on AutoCAD 12), and somehow found a working solution by learning a little LISP...
In case you just need the functionality shown in the attached screen capture, you might want to try the attached script - but be warned, it is old and not very elaborate code (don't expect something like reactors or annotative objects). Furthermore, I had to extract it from the broader toolset that I'm using, so there may be things I overlooked.

chain_dimension.ogvchain_dimension_2015-11-18.zip

Joe Dunfee

@Donald Broussard:

I feel like you'd eat through the $200 you might save for one person just in installation, testing, and talking about alternatives. 

True. But at the moment, my company's income is deciding factor.  The $200 + in effort is already being paid for.  It is just a matter of if I spend the time investigating CAD options, or tidying up the office.  The tiding up is actually a greater need, but playing with CAD programs is more fun.

Currently, the biggest limitation I see in the free version of Draftsight is the lack of LISP, which I don't use extensively.  But, for the tasks I do use LISP to accomplish, it is certainly a great asset. Their $300 Pro version does support LISP and other programmability like VBA.  Though, I don't know how compatible it really is.  So, when you add the $200+ of effort spent just trying out Draftsight, it would only be worth it if you had time, rather than money, to spend.

Years ago, the IntelliCAD program was being touted, and sold for around $40, if I recall correctly.  But, the reality was that it just was not reliable enough.  Perhaps the $520 is the price to pay for a relatively reliable CAD program, but I will keep my eye out for something cheaper.

-Joe

Tomas Polak

@Joe:
We are slipping off the topic but I'd like to mention this: I've been using DraftSight (free) for the last 6 years, I moved to BricsCAD year ago. DraftSight worked reliably for me, I consider it very stable CAD software. I moved to BricsCAD because of 3D. If it was only for 2D drafting, I would probably still be using DraftSight, even though BricsCAD Classic is more powerful (parametric array, better hatching, dynamic input, layer states manger just to name a few).
I would definitely advise against having two different CAD software in your office. As mentioned above - I think the cost of training, troubleshooting and moving files will easily cost more than $520 BricsCAD license - even compared to free version fo DS . And buying $300 DraftSight Pro license would be clearly unsuitable for your situation.
When I transferred some of my smaller projects from DS to BCAD, I had only small problems - I had to re-set printer setups (I had to move everything on the page a little) and also some of the text was a bit off, otherwise I was good to go working in BricsCAD. I was a bit hesitant to do the switch on some of my larger projects, so I am still using DraftSight to work on these older bigger ones.
Tom

Nathan Shan

 Dear Hans De Backer,

   SR41613 - BRX: sendStringToExecute() didn't work properly when using a target document other than the current document.

     When executing a command in another document from current document using acDocManager->SendStringToExecute(pNewDoc) the command is run.

      Then i triy to get an input from the user after the SendStringToExecute the input is failed without the user interaction also the document pNewDoc is activated as a current document.

      How to solve it? Can you Suggest me how to execute a command in target document other than Current document.

Thank You Friend.

With regards,

Nathan

Nathan Shan

@Hans De Backer:

Dear Hans De Backer, SR41613 - BRX: sendStringToExecute() didn't work properly when using a target document other than the current document. When executing a command in another document from current document using acDocManager->SendStringToExecute(pNewDoc) the command is run. Then i triy to get an input from the user after the SendStringToExecute the input is failed without the user interaction also the document pNewDoc is activated as a current document. How to solve it? Can you Suggest me how to execute a command in target document other than Current document.Thank You Friend.With regards,Nathan

Hans De Backer

Dear Nathan,

I'm sorry but I cannot suggest you how to execute a command in a target document other than the current document: it happens to be something I do not know.

This is a BricsCAD user forum, for user-to-user communication, perhaps a peer-user/developer has a hint.

If you have the impression this is caused by a bug in BricsCAD or the BRX API, please file a support request, our support analysts will do the best they can to investigate and provide a solution.

Best regards,
Hans

Nathan Shan

 Dear Hans ,

    Thank you for your help.

regards,

Nathan