Inventor 2016 - Hole feature bug

[marcusfriesl]

I have started using Invnetor 2016, and have found that the Hole feature brings up error windows.  I have checked to insure that both the thread.xls and clearance.xls are in the correct directory, and that inventor is pointing to the correct directory.

When I switch to anything other than a simple hole, I get two error windows, attached as images.  After those error windows, it looks like the options are just peaking up at the bottom of the dialogue box, but the box can not be expanded and I can't get to these options.  This is only a problem with the Hole feature.

The error messages are CLSIDFromProfID() failed and NULL IDispatch passed to AutoWrapper()

I have no Idea how to fix this, and any help would be greatly appreciated.

[Anonymous]

Do you have Excel installed?

[marcusfriesl]

John,

No, I don't have excel installed, we use google apps.  This hasn't been a problem in 2015 or 2014.

[Anonymous]

Not sure what the problem might be here.

Have you run the application you are using instead of excel since you installed Inventor 2016?

[mdavis22569]

Have you tried a factory Ipart something with an excel table driven set up?

I'm betting it's the Google app ..and not "clicking/syn'g" or something with the new Inventor

They are clearly defining which versions of Office Excel


Microsoft® Excel 2007, 2010 or 2013 for iFeatures, iParts, iAssemblies, thread customization, Global BOM, Parts Lists, Revision Tables, and spreadsheet-driven designs.

http://knowledge.autodesk.com/support/inventor-products/troubleshooting/caas/sfdcarticles/sfdcarticl...

[marcusfriesl]

Michael,

I have never had excel installed, and this has never been an issue with any other version.  I can use the hole feature in 2015 right now without issue (Inventor 2015 has similiar requirements).  I have tried installing the excel viewer and running it to see if that would work, which it doesn't.  It looks as though after the error windows come up, there is text but the window can not be resized to see what it says.

[mdavis22569]

Yes ...but 2015 isn't 2016... They may have not added the Add-in to the plans yet for 2016.

I'm wondering if it's an Excel issue. Quite a few versions of 16 are out there and working ..but how many of the people don't have Excel. Maybe you're one of the first and we're seeing that it won't work without the Excel.

Maybe one of the Admins on the board can help here?

Have you put in a support ticket for this problem?

Mike

[marcusfriesl]

Michael,

I'll buy excel, and see if that solves the issue, if it doesn't I will put in a support ticket.

Thanks.

[mdavis22569]

Keep us posted, this will help others who might run into this problem too.

Mike

[marcusfriesl]

So the solution is to buy microsoft excel.  I'd be curious to know why this worked for every release until 2016.

Thanks.

[blair]

Some people managed to get previous versions to work with OpenOffice while others had problems with OpenOffice. Who knows, they might have fixed other issues in dealing with Copy/Paste of Excel and this is the result.

[mdavis22569]

If wait to see what the admins say. And I would put a ticket in. Maybe it's something quick they could tell you for a fix

[blair]

Since Microsoft Excel is a requirement for Inventor, I wouldn't hold my breath for anything.

[ChrisMitchell01 · Accepted solution]

Marcus,

Some code consolidation was done in Inventor 2016 to remove some legacy 3rd party components, so you now need to have Excel installed locally for some operations which previously didn't require it:

1. Hole creation (clearance & threaded),

2. BOM Table export,

3. Drawing Table export.

The error messaging does need improving though.

Thanks,
Chris

[mcgyvr · Accepted solution]

---

@ChrisMitchell01 wrote:

Marcus,

Some code consolidation was done in Inventor 2016 to remove some legacy 3rd party components, so you now need to have Excel installed locally for some operations which previously didn't require it:

1. Hole creation (clearance & threaded),

2. BOM Table export,

3. Drawing Table export.

The error messaging does need improving though.

Thanks,
Chris

---

Too bad Autodesk didn't just fix it right and 100% remove the dependency for Excel all together instead of ingraining it deeper. 

[ChrisMitchell01]

Agreed - the work done in 2016 is only a partial step toward that end goal. We are now consistently "only" dependent on Excel as opposed to several different (now unsupported) technologies.

-Chris

[ChrisMitchell01 · Accepted solution]

I've been doing some more investigations around this & there may be an unsupported workaround for those of you who don't have full install of Excel.

If you go to Control Panel, System, System Properties & then Advanced, you will be able to set an Environment variable. Create a new one called UseLibXL with a variable value of 1

Then retry your clearance/threaded hole creation in Inventor.

This will attempt to use a 3rd party component instead of Excel.

It doesn't support all aspects of what Excel provides but it should certainly work for holes.

Hope this helps,

Chris

[alexsanchiz]

I got same errors when trying to create a nut. Enviorment variable solved the issue, thanks.

I'm using OpenOffice and Inventor 2016 RTM Update 1 , build:138

[aidankim1]

Thanks, worked great!

[info]

Worked Great for mee too! thanks a lot