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ACADE 2011 Catalog lookup slow or not responding; MISC_CAT not accessible.

22 REPLIES 22
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Message 1 of 23
bludwitzke
1165 Views, 22 Replies

ACADE 2011 Catalog lookup slow or not responding; MISC_CAT not accessible.

Not sure what is going on here but yesterday opening the new dialog for looking up a catalog part was slow, today it is not responding. I am using a custom catalog database which is shared on a network drive. Also the MISC_CAT check box is grayed out and not accessible. The table exists so why can't I access it. I've switched back to ACADE 2010 to see if the network was causing the issue but it seems to be working normally. I'm not sure I'm liking the new catalog lookup feature in 2011. What are you're experiences with the new catalog lookup?
22 REPLIES 22
Message 2 of 23
david_brude
in reply to: bludwitzke

I've noticed that the 2011 catalog lookup is slower. But we've also increased our catalog size drastically, from 3.5mb to ~150mb. Your viewing of the Misc_Cat I believe, is controlled by your properties of the project. {color:#ff9900}See attached{color}. I've noticed that the Misc_Cat checkbox setting in the catalog lookup dialog box was grayed out too. When I changed the project setting to look in Misc_Cat then the choice was available in the catalog lookup. Try it and see.

Regards,
David Brude McKee Foods
Message 3 of 23
Brian.Li
in reply to: bludwitzke

Hi bludwitzke@precolaser.com,

Thanks for your posting. Could you please provide more information about the catalog lookup slow or not responding issue?
1) What OS you are using?
2) How did you define the network catalog database?
3) Did you define the secondary catalog lookup file?
4) Provide your catalog database would be helpful to reproduce your issue, you can mail to me at Brian.Li@autodesk.com if you like.

As for MISC_CAT not accessible issue, the MISC_CAT checkbox is controlled by the options in project properties just like David shown.

Thanks,
Brian
Autodesk QA Engineer.
Message 4 of 23
bludwitzke
in reply to: bludwitzke

Hi Brian,

I was able to get the MISC_CAT working as explained, but I still had issues of it locking up on me. So I ended up uninstalling, cleaning up my hard drive and defragging it. It seems to work better, but I still wouldn't say it is great. The part that is slow loading is the actual Catalog Lookup dialog box. ACADE 2010 by comparison is much faster in that regard. Can you explain why that might be the case? It took about 15 seconds for it to load the first time after I started ACADE and then about 10 seconds each time after that. Locating parts in the data base is a breeze once I got use to the new interface. Having to clear the filter when inserting a new symbol on the drawing is a little annoying and threw me for a bit till I figured out I had to do this to get a list.

I'm running ACADE 2011 on Widows XP Pro Service Pack 3. My PC has a P4 running at 3.2GHz with 2GB of memory.

This is how the catalog is defined in the wd.env file.
WD_CAT,X:\Engineering\Electrical\E-CAD\E-CAD\AeData\Catalogs\Preco Catalog\default_cat.mdb

We are not using a secondary catalog database file, none is specified.

I'm sending you the database in an email.
Message 5 of 23
Brian.Li
in reply to: bludwitzke

Hi bludwitzke,

You can do other operations except for changing tables while the progress bar in the dialog is still running. Your 10 seconds mean the duration that from clicking Lookup button to progress bar is finished, right? Can you check the duration that from clicking Lookup button to dialog just appearing (with all controls appears and you can operate on it, don’t care the running progress bar)? This duration should not be much longer that AutoCAD Electrical 2010.

BTW, I didn't receive your database maybe due to my email account only accept attachment smaller than 10MB.

Thanks,
Brian
Autodesk QA Engineer Edited by: Brian.Li@autodesk.com on Apr 14, 2010 4:36 AM
Message 6 of 23
bludwitzke
in reply to: bludwitzke

Brian,

The 10 seconds is the duration from clicking the Lookup button till the dialog box fully appears functional. I never see a progress bar. Once loaded the catalog list is empty except for one part until I clear the filters, the window populates virtually instantly.

If you still want to try my catalog database file I have a dropbox account we could use for you to obtain the file.
Message 7 of 23
Brian.Li
in reply to: bludwitzke

OK,please email me how to obtain your database.

Thanks,
Brian
Message 8 of 23
bludwitzke
in reply to: bludwitzke

You can download my catalog from here:

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/854055/ACADE/default_cat.mdb

Please let me know when you have downloaded it. I will pull the file down from dropbox after that.
Message 9 of 23
bludwitzke
in reply to: bludwitzke

Updated information:

As of this afternoon, we discovered what was causing the slow access to the database. Since I'm not a IT professional I can't explain it any further than this. We shorted the path structure to the default_cat.mdb file it increased the load time to 1 to 2 seconds. Even moving the file up one folder in the path increased the loading time significantly. It has been tested on two PC's here at work with the same results This is really good news for us.

Thank you Brian for looking into this issue for us. ACADE is a great product. I believe most of our problems stem from our network infrastructure so I will be talking with our IT manager about this issue.
Message 10 of 23
Brian.Li
in reply to: bludwitzke

Glad to hear that! Thanks for your updated information.

Thanks,
Brian
Autodesk QA Engineer.
Message 11 of 23
bludwitzke
in reply to: bludwitzke

Updated information regarding slow data base access.

The problem came back even after we moved the data base and shorted the directory path. It seems the problem is related to sharing the database and not so much the length of the directory path. I was able to test this theory by moving the file after we noticed it was loading slow; this time moving it back down a directory level. The result was a fast load time. As soon as we changed the catalog lookup path in the wd.env file and my fellow ACADE user started using ACADE again the catalog load time went back to its oh so long load time. As long as only one user is using the catalog database file there is no problem. I should note that this problem doesn't exist in ACADE 2010. I'm guessing the way 2011 handles opening the database has changed from 2010 based on the new interface, so maybe Autodesk can tweak their code and fix this.
Message 12 of 23
Brian.Li
in reply to: bludwitzke

Hi,
We are unable to reproduce the issue at our side and can you please give more information about the network you are working on? Also your working project and database would be helpful to reproduce it.

Thanks,
Brian
Autodesk QA Engineer
Message 13 of 23
bludwitzke
in reply to: bludwitzke

We are currently running on Widows Server 2003.

I noticed a .ldb file that may be corrupted, for what ever reason, could this have and impact on the accessing speed? Even with all ACADE users shut down this file can't be deleted form the server. The network administrator told be he has to wait till after hours to delete it.

Who can I email the project and database to? I believe I already emailed a zip file to Pat Murnen.
Message 14 of 23
Anonymous
in reply to: bludwitzke

I will forward the files you sent to me on to Brian.

Pat Murnen

wrote in message
news:6381990@discussion.autodesk.com...
We are currently running on Widows Server 2003.

I noticed a .ldb file that may be corrupted, for what ever reason, could
this have and impact on the accessing speed? Even with all ACADE users shut
down this file can't be deleted form the server. The network administrator
told be he has to wait till after hours to delete it.

Who can I email the project and database to? I believe I already emailed a
zip file to Pat Murnen.
Message 15 of 23
Brian.Li
in reply to: bludwitzke

Hi,
Sorry for the late reply as I just come back from vacation.
I am using the data got from Pat but still can't reproduce it, I will continue to research this but maybe need more time, will update if get some clues.

Thanks,
Brian
Message 16 of 23
bludwitzke
in reply to: bludwitzke

Brian,

I don't know if you saw my other post on this subject, but we have determined the slow responding database has something to do with sharing the file. The access time was very quick when I first moved the database file to a new folder and then as soon as it was shared for the first time the access time increased 10 fold. We have a .ldb file that we can't delete and is presumably supposed to automatically be deleted when the database is closed. Could this file be at fault? I talked to our network administrator to see if we had full access for read, write, and modify and everything checked out. Our network administrator couldn't delete this file either during normal work hours because he would have to reboot the server to do so. He was supposed to delete it after hours but it never happened, so I will have to remind him again. I know there is some explanation for what is causing this slow access time but that is yet to be determined.

Bruce
Message 17 of 23
Brian.Li
in reply to: bludwitzke

Hi Bruce,

The .ldb file only appears when I click on Lookup button; It will disappear automatically/immediately after the "Parts Catalog" dialog is fully launched. Do you have the specific method to let it retain there?

Thanks,
Brian
Message 18 of 23
bludwitzke
in reply to: bludwitzke

Brian,

No we do not have any specific method for retaining the .ldb file that I know of anyway. As far as I know it may have not been automatically deleted while ACADE crashed while accessing the catalog database. Then it was forever stuck there.

I made a new discovery today by running a test with a coworker. Right now where we have database file located the .ldb file comes and goes as it is supposed to. Accessing catalog data is fast when one person at a time is accessing the data base, but once one person open the Lookup dialog box then the second person will encounter a slow opening when the .ldb file exist. We repeated the a couple of time. So long as one person is using the catalog access time is very fast. If the network chokes for some reason and the .ldb file isn't deleted then it gets stuck permanently until we can have the network administrator delete it. Interesting enough we have the same problem with .dwg file creating a a .dwl file. Sometime while loading a .dwg file from the network ACADE will lock up (could just be the network and not ACADE) and the lock file becomes a permanent addition to the file folder.

It should be noted that ACADE 2010 behavior is different under these same circumstances. Even when the .ldb file exists access time doesn't seem to slow down with multiple users. Although we only tested this with two users. ACADE 2011 however suffers the slow access.

I hope you can make good use of the new information. I'm going to be talking to our network administrator to see if he can shed some light on what might cause a file to freeze up while loading..

Bruce
Message 19 of 23
1metadata
in reply to: bludwitzke

how to make by default the lookup will refer to my desired location/folder?

Message 20 of 23

If the .ldb file cannot be deleted it usually means that someone is accessing the database.  Are you unable to delete it even with all AutoCAD Electrical PCs turned off.  That will be a sure way to determine whether it is a network issue or AutoCAD Electrical, or simply another user accessing the file  In fact, I find that with version 2011 the .ldb file appears only temporarily after I click Lookup.



Doug McAlexander


Design Engineer/Consultant/Instructor/Mentor specializing in AutoCAD Electrical training and implementation support

Phone and Web-based Support Plans Available

Phone: (770) 841-8009

www.linkedin.com/in/doug-mcalexander-1a77623




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