Bill of Materials description column

[Anonymous]

Hey guys, I'm new here so this may have been discussed already and I just missed it.  The issue I'm having is when I go to reports and generate a Bill of Materials, the description column comes out blank.  If I shut autocad down of restart it, my Bill of Material for that job with then bring in the description column just fine.  we are using a catalog file made in Access.  I'm the only one in the office having this issue.  Anyone have any ideas what the problem could be?

[TRLitsey]

Hi there,

Do you run the rebuild project database tool before you run the report tool?  If the menu bar is not open type MENUBAR on the command line, set the value = 1.

Please mark as a solution if this works for you, kudos are always welcome  -  thank you

Good luck

[Anonymous]

Thank you for responding.  I tried what you suggested but it doesn't fix the problem.  Again, I had to shut down autocad and restart it for the report to include the description.  The column is there but it is blank until I reboot autocad and run it again.

[TRLitsey]

Hi again,

That is odd.  What version of ACE are you running?  Can you post a screen shot of your report config?  Some thing like this ....

[Anonymous]

We are running AutoCAD Electrical 2017.

[Anonymous]

And this is after I restart autocad

[TRLitsey]

Hi again,

I am running on ACE 2014 but you might try this setup.  It seems to me I had to fiddle with Lines for DESCRIPTION options to get the data displayed the way I wanted.  Uncheck some of those  boxes on the right and give it another try.

Good luck

[Anonymous]

That didn't work. I am at my wits end with this problem.

[TRLitsey]

OK, I understand, I have resembled that on many occasions.

I would suggest this.  You say when you first start ACE the BOM report works correctly.  At some point the BOM starts working incorrectly.  So try to keep track of you activities and periodically run the BOM just to display it.  With any luck you will track it down to the use of one tool or activity that is causing the problem.  I hope this is not a 2017 bug.  I just had it installed on my machine two days ago.  Will not have a chance to play with it for a week or two.  Finishing my last project with ACE 2014.

Just out of curiosity, where is the default_cat.mdb that you are using for parts?  Is it local to your workstation or are you running across a network?

Good luck

[Anonymous]

If I open a project, from the onset, the BOM will not display correctly.  I have to close it and open it back up every time I switch projects for the report to print properly. 

We have the database on a server.  I thought this may be a problem so I stored it locally on my PC and pointed to it there and still the same results.

I really appreciate your efforts in trying to help me with this issue. I have a call in to the Tech Support line.  Waiting to hear back from them now.

[TRLitsey]

I would ask what you mean by "switch projects to print properly" but your already calling in the Cavalry.  I would be interested in hearing the solution.

That switching project though .... I have never found a way to for ACE to print any kind of report on any project except the single active project.  Can that really be done?  Or maybe I don't understand exactly what you are telling me.

Good luck

[Anonymous]

Sorry for the confusion.  When I finish one job and do a report, when I start another project, or make another project active, I have to restart before the report will print properly and the newly started project.

I will let you know what solution they come up with.

[dougmcalexander]

When you say you are storing the default_cat.mdb file on the network, is our so located under the AeData parh? I wrote about this on my tips and tricks page under the subject of sharing data over a network.

Click on: www.ecadconsultant.com

The method I outline on my Web site is tried and true. I travel the world assisting new users with implementation and training and that is the method I use.

You mentioned that you use an Access database. Did you make one yourself or are you using the default_cat.mdb supplied by Autodesk? The reason I ask is because the database must adhere to a specific format or all bets are off. Fields must not be altered or deleted. The format of the fields must be left alone. The software has a built-in utility to add a new table with the proper fields and formatting, if necessary.

Usually when the description field is blank it indicates that the manufacture and catalog assignment doesn't match an existing entry in the database. This usually happens because someone typed in the data and missed a character or number. Spaces count too. Using Lookup to assign the part number avoids this error. If you used Lookup to assign the part number and the description is still blank, that means that can indicate that the software cannot locate the database. It resorts to just reporting the MFG and CAT data that is stored in the symbol attributes. This can be caused by a temporary loss of the network connection, or an incorrect entry in the support file search path.

I suggest that you follow my instructions for networking, exactly as written. That method works.

[Anonymous]

It does it on the demos as well.  I tried your suggestions and nothing.  you guys have better suggestions than the help desk so far.

[dougmcalexander]

If it happens with the Demo project as well you can most likely rule out the projects themselves being at the heart of the issue. This sounds more and more like an issue with the software accessing the default_cat.mdb file. Was it acting this way before you moved folders to your network? I mean was it doing this after the initial installation? Have you made any changes to the structure of the default_cat.mdb database? Sometimes people damage the database by "tweaking" it directly with MS Access.

[Anonymous]

It hasn't worked properly since I went to 2017 version.  I'm going to try and re-install it to see if this clears the issue up.

[dougmcalexander]

What version did you upgrade from? If it was 2014 or previous, you might need to modify your existing report.set files or create fresh and new report.set files in order to make use of the new table selection. This applies to reports that are placed on the drawing. When I do on site upgrade assistance this is one of the issues we must resolve, along with ensuring that the older databases are healthy enough for the required migration to the newer database format.

[Anonymous]

2016. My co-worker is running 2017 as well and it works perfectly fine for him.  That's why I have to assume its something with my specific install or a setting somewhere.

[jseefdrumr]

As a suggestion, have IT make sure that your machine has the proper permissions/privileges. It could be that something is preventing ACADE from getting to the folder where these things are kept, or that there is a permission issue with Access itself that is completely outside of ACADE. aCADE can't get the information if some other process keeps Access from functioning properly.

[dougmcalexander]

Yes, it seems that your installation is flawed somehow. After you install again, operate local to see if everything works right, before you start changing to network paths.