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FIELDEVAL keeps resetting to 4 (bug?)

19 REPLIES 19
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Message 1 of 20
erik.abrahamsson
2111 Views, 19 Replies

FIELDEVAL keeps resetting to 4 (bug?)

I have a really disturbing problem that also was present in AutoCAD Mechanical 2014.

We use quite a lot of fields that need to be updated at regeneration and so on, and therefore we have FIELDEVAL set to 31 in templates. The problem is it keeps resetting to 4. All it takes is to run PUBLISH. Doesn't even matter if OK or CANCEL is pressed in the publish dialog, all open drawings get FIELDEVAL set to 4 after that.

 

I found something about this bug being fixed in AutoCAD 2015 but maybe it was forgotten i Mechanical?

19 REPLIES 19
Message 2 of 20
Hotter_R
in reply to: erik.abrahamsson

Hi @erik.abrahamsson,

 

can you please tell us about what Version you are talking/using? 

 

 



Rainer Hotter

Technical Support Specialist - Installation & Licensing
Message 3 of 20

Hi, we are running AutoCAD Mechanical 2019.

Message 4 of 20
Hotter_R
in reply to: erik.abrahamsson

Hi @erik.abrahamsson,

 

for the moment this issue is not fixed and as it is used rarely there is not time frame for the fix at this time.

 

Please use following workaround:

Please execute the operation of changing the value of the system variable FIELDEVAL again after executing the PUBLISH  command.

 



Rainer Hotter

Technical Support Specialist - Installation & Licensing
Message 5 of 20
erik.abrahamsson
in reply to: Hotter_R

Sorry I don't understand. What function is rarely used?

Fields are used all the time. We have them in all drawings. Publish too because that's the only way to print multiple drawings.

It's quite annoying to have fields in the drawing not update after it's been printed. I think you should reconsider.

Message 6 of 20
Hotter_R
in reply to: erik.abrahamsson

Hi @erik.abrahamsson,

 

rarely means that one of a small minority using this feature. 

 

And there is a workaround:

Executing the operation of changing the value of the system variable FIELDEVAL again after executing the PUBLISH command. Then the fields are updated.

 

 



Rainer Hotter

Technical Support Specialist - Installation & Licensing
Message 7 of 20
erik.abrahamsson
in reply to: Hotter_R

I know what rarely means, but I don't know why you think that? Which function is rarely used?

 

Sorry but the "workaround" is not acceptable. PUBLISH changes FIELDEVAL on ALL open drawings which means if we have say 8 drawings open, which is not uncommon, then we have to go through all of them and change FIELDEVAL to 31 again.

Message 8 of 20
pendean
in reply to: erik.abrahamsson

It is the year 2019... MECH2014-2015 are not new: did you all only recently start using FIELDEVAL?
Change your workflows all of a sudden?
Purchase or include an add-on or can't-live-without new lisp that is making these changes for you?

No one is going to fix 2014-2015 versions of the software: they are retired. And they have been for a few years. That's no one. Ever. For eternity. Bug or not.

You can check to see if you have an add-on doing this for you.
You can add a reactor to fix the setting back if you want.
You can build this simple code into all of your buttons if needed (setvar "fieldeval" 31)

You can also download the MECH2020 version to see if the problem persists or not, that maybe your solution (aka a new subscription) if you do not wish to use the other workarounds offered by others here.

Good luck.

Message 9 of 20
erik.abrahamsson
in reply to: pendean

What are you even talking about? We are using 2019 as I wrote. We have had the same problem since 2014 but I didn't work here then.

Message 10 of 20
Hotter_R
in reply to: erik.abrahamsson

Hi @erik.abrahamsson,

 

we saw 2 customers (incl. your Company) having this issue since version 2016. Not so much - or? 

And there is a workaround for that.

 

 



Rainer Hotter

Technical Support Specialist - Installation & Licensing
Message 11 of 20
erik.abrahamsson
in reply to: Hotter_R

Sure, we can keep on resetting them like we always have done. You call it a "workaround" and I call it just really annoying. Because we are a company with 10+ CAD users and not everybody will remember to set FIELDEVAL for every publish. 
We pay tens of thousands of dollars every year but you can't get a programmer to check how it was fixed in regular AutoCAD and do the same to Mechanical?

 

Thanks for your help anyway.

Message 12 of 20
Hotter_R
in reply to: erik.abrahamsson

Hi @erik.abrahamsson,

 

the FIEDEVAL only exists in AutoCAD Mechanical. 

 

I'm sorry for the inconvenience that your company is having using that feature frequently, but the most AutoCAD Mechanical users seem not to use it or found the workaround and did not report the issue to Autodesk. 

 

 

 

 

 



Rainer Hotter

Technical Support Specialist - Installation & Licensing
Message 13 of 20
erik.abrahamsson
in reply to: Hotter_R

Strange, it says on Autodesk website that it exists in all AutoCAD versions.
https://knowledge.autodesk.com/support/autocad/learn-explore/caas/CloudHelp/cloudhelp/2019/ENU/AutoC...

I'm starting to question if you actually ever used AutoCAD because auto-updating fields are very common not only in Mechanical. I found evidence on google that the bug was actually fixed in regular AutoCAD 2007 with one of the service packs. But I'm giving up now. I reported the bug and if you don't want to fix it there's nothing more I can do.

Message 14 of 20
m_latz
in reply to: erik.abrahamsson

Just followed the discussion.

 

And if I understand right, as workaround you just need a small arx app, that monitors in the background the variable FIELDEVAL and if switched, put it back to value 31 ?

 

Would that help ?

 

regards

 

Markus

Message 15 of 20
rclark
in reply to: erik.abrahamsson

I share your frustration with this bug.

I use Vault Professional which drives various attributes and fields such as drawing revision, and this issue has resurfaced following several ACAD releases without the problem.

 

Not sure if you ever found a resolution, but...

I believe the fix is to locate your 'ACADDOC.LSP' file (should be in C:\PROGRAM FILES\AUTODESK\AUTOCAD ####\ACADM\), open it up in Notepad, and about mid-way down add the (setvar "FIELDEVAL" 31) line immediately after the 'AcadMDocStart' line, i.e.

 

(AcadMDocStart)
(setvar "FIELDEVAL" 31)
)
)

 

 

;;;-----BEGIN-SIGNATURE-----

 

 

I would recommend that you save a copy of the ACADDOC.LSP prior to making any changes.

 

This mod would of course have to be implemented on each user's CAD, but should only need to be done once (until the next update that AutoDesk releases that overwrites this file).

 

This mod worked for me back in ADADM 2014 / 2015, and seems to be working for 2020 so far.

Why the experts helping you on here couldn't advise this change seemingly favouring you having to reset the Fieldeval variable each and every time I have no idea...

 

Message 16 of 20
rclark
in reply to: Hotter_R

I'd like to report it as an issue with ACADM2020
It's what ACAD uses to update attributes driven by our Vault. I too don't understand your comments regarding 'most ACADM users seem not to use it'.
More likely, the majority are unaware of it, rather than don't use it.
Message 17 of 20

I also have same issue. not often or every time but quite annoying.

I am using 2021 AutoCAD

somehow, my fieldeval value go back to "0" and my auto-field table and text are not updated.

when it happen I have to change "31" or other number every single time.

 

it cause not serious problem but sometime my customer confused with some auto-field text that I believed and supposed to be updated when i save or regen.

of course, I have to check before I release but as human make mistakes, I sometimes forget to check and send without updated version.

I dont think it is good answer, it happens only few times or few people. it is bug or something anyway.

 

Message 18 of 20

I have no way to modify files in my "C" drive, they are protected by out IT department.

However, I discovered this workaround, that doesn't require changing a drawing variable every time you publish.

 

Change both the publish commands in the CUI to the following,

 

^C^C_publish \_fieldeval_31

 

Sorry I didn't discover it sooner.

Message 19 of 20
rclark
in reply to: John.SargentRTTUA

Hi,

I had restricted 'Admin-only' access to saving or modifying a file in this location too, but what I was able to do was save the modified ACADDOC.lsp file onto my desktop, and then drag it into the C:\Program files..... location, overwriting the existing version.

Not sure if you have another level of security on your PC set by your IT dept, but this worked for me.

 

Definitely make a copy of your ACADDOC.LSP file first though!!

 

Hope you got it working either way.

 

Message 20 of 20

This is still a problem in 2024 Mechanical... Disgusting showing by Autodesk to actively ignore fundamental bugs for 10+ years after having them reported constantly year after year. What does that company even do with all our money???

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