Trouble with Parameters tutorial

[jeffcarson]

I am going through the tutorial for Inventor 2014 and having trouble with the Parameters tutorial where I link an Excel file. In the "Link Your External Table" section, I select my .xls file and click "Open".  Instead of showing me a list of the data in the .xls file, I get a single line in the Paramters form that says "Embedding 1".  This line can't be expanded, so I can't see if anything was imported.

When I try to do the "Modify Your Sketch Dimensions" section and try to change d3 from 10 to base I get "The expression cannot be evaluated."

What am I doing wrong?  .xls attached.

[JDMather]

Attach your ipt file here.

Do you have MS Excel installed on this machine and have you run it at least once?

Did you have cell A1 set as the start cell?  (should have been by default - so nothing really to change)

Have you installed Update 1 & 2 for Inventor 2014?

[jeffcarson]

I just installed Inventor 2014 last week in trial mode.  Do I still need to install the updates?  I am running Build 170, Release 2014RTM - Date Thu 02/28/2013.  How do I install updates?

Yes, I am using cell A1 and have run Excel before.  .ipt attached.

- Jeff

[JDMather]

Download zip file from here

http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/ps/dl/item?siteID=123112&id=21901957&linkID=9242019#

Right click on the filename and Extract.

Double click the exe file.

This will install Updates 1 & 2.

Not sure if the problem is addressed in the Updates, but this should be working (it worked on my machine).

If it still doesn't work you should go to Control Panel and right click on Inventor and try a Repair Install.

[jeffcarson]

Thanks for the Response JDMather.  Unfortunately installing the updates and repairing the install had no effect.  I still just get an unexpandable "Embedded" line in the parameters and can't use the variables in Sketch dimensions.

😕

[JDMather · Accepted solution]

I don't know where to go from here - hopefully someone from Autodesk will respond.

I have done successfully several times using the files you attached in trying to figure out if there is something you might be doing wrong. 

I suspect it might be a bad install of Inventor, but if I you did a Clean Uninstall and then reinstall I am afraid that would automatically void your 30-day trial.

Is there anything else not working?

Does Environments>Inventor Studio work?

Did  you install with anti-virus and UAC temporarily turned off during the install?

[jeffcarson]

Ah ha, I think I know what's going on.  Am I required to have Excel installed on the same computer as AI in order to use an excel file (.xls) for Parameters?  I'm running AI on a Mac via Parallels and I don't have MS Office for Windows.  I created my .xls file using the Mac spreadsheet application "Numbers" and saving as .xls.

The clue was trying to open Studio and getting "Microsoft Excel is required to animate Positional Representations."

Didn't know I was also going to have to buy MS Office in order to use all the features of AI 😕

Thanks JDMather!!

[JDMather]

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@jeffcarson wrote:

...  I'm running AI on a Mac via Parallels and I don't have MS Office for Windows.  I created my .xls file using the Mac spreadsheet application "Numbers" and saving as .xls.

...

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Why would you leave information like this out of your original problem description?

[jeffcarson]

Yes, sorry about that.  I had no idea it was relevant.  I see now that the tutorial even says "Note: You must have Microsoft Excel installed on your computer to complete this tutorial.", but I didn't grasp that they really meant "...on the computer where you are running AI" and not simply as a source for the .xls file.

My bad.

Thanks for the help JDMather!

[jeffcarson]

Wonderful.

I just purchased and installed MS Office 2013 and now when I launch AI I get "Serious Error: VBA failed to initialize properly - please restart Inventor."  I found a solution at:

http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/ps/dl/item?siteID=123112&id=21910314&linkID=9242018

Which says:

Close Inventor session and manually install VBA7 from Inventor source media:

64-bit 

Install VBA7 from "3rdParty\x64\VBA\Vba7.MSI" .

but since I downloaded the trial of Inventor from the Autodesk website I have no media (and I can't find a Vba7.MSI anywhere on my hard disk).  I now can't open any AI files at all.

What do I do now?  If I uninstall and reinstall AI I suspect I kill my 30 day trial period, right?

[jeffcarson]

If found the VBA files in:

C:\Autodesk\WI\Autodesk Inventor 2014\3rdParty\x64\VBA

After reinstalling Vba7.MSI and Vba71033.MSI I am working again, AND the parameters work from my Excel file (the orignal point of this scavenger hunt).

Thanks also go to these guys:

http://www.cadlinecommunity.co.uk/Blogs/Blog.aspx?ScoId=5fcf4af6-c73d-49c3-b536-c16ecb22bb3e

[JDMather]

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@jeffcarson wrote:
 

but since I downloaded the trial of Inventor from the Autodesk website I have no media ...

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Just a couple of points -

Almost everyone downloads the install (no physical media).

The install files are the same regardless of Autodesk source, only the licensing is different (when activated).

So, you do have the install files on your HDD unless you erased them.  You could burn then to DVD (physical media) if desired (and recommended to create a back-up for anyone who doesn't want to have to download again if needed for some reason).

If you are a student you can get a free 3-yr license of Inventor Professional here http://www.autodesk.com/edcommunity

no need to re-install, simply click About Inventor>Product Information>Update Serial Number (actually the program will ask you to do this when the 30-day trial ends or you can do it on any start of the software to activate).