ilogic external rules location

[Anonymous]

Hi,

I have a dedicated folder for external rules on a network. In the Advanced ilogic configuration interface on my machine I added the path to this folder in the External rule directories.

That seemed to work fine. I opened the ilogic tree activated the external tab and the external rules were available for selection.

Today I tried to do the same process however no rules were visible under the external tab. I had to select "add external rule" and navigate to the folder.

I do not want my users to have to manually navigate to the folder. Is there a step i have missed in this process?

I am using Inventor/ilogic 2009

Any advice would be appreciated

[Anonymous]

I've noticed the same behavior in Vault Basic 2014.  It appears that while a "repository"  has been created to store iLogic rules, the assignment of a particular iLogic rule(s) acts on a file by file basis.

I too would have expected that once a rule has been selected based on a particular event, that it would remain in effect (persistent) for all files.  That doesn't seem to be the case.

[jdkriek]

I developed a way to deploy this to all my users, see this post:

http://forums.autodesk.com/t5/Autodesk-Inventor-Customization/iLogic-Configuration-Where-Stored/m-p/...

[Anonymous]

I find the "behavior" baffling to say the least!

In my case the external rules are not event driven. The user will select when and if they want to run a particular rule.

I just want to have it so that the use "sees" the available rules in the network folder when they open the external tab of the ilogic tree editor. Not once but EVERY time

[Anonymous]

Thanks Jonathan, I will have a read of this

[jdkriek]

You're welcome. Let me know if you have any questions.

[Anonymous]

That is a nice piece of code!

It is invaluable for deploying rules to a large number of users. I however have only 5 so I will go the manual route for now.

The problem i have seen and for some reason it is intermittent is that after setting the External rule Directory it does not always stick.

By that i mean i add the path on my machine via the Advanced ilogic configuration interface.............and all works perfectly.

Couple of days later i open a file go to my External rules tab and nothing!

I check in the configuration tab and the path to the folder is there. I am forced to navigate manually to the folder to access the rule

[jdkriek]

---

@Anonymous wrote:

That is a nice piece of code!

It is invaluable for deploying rules to a large number of users. I however have only 5 so I will go the manual route for now.

The problem i have seen and for some reason it is intermittent is that after setting the External rule Directory it does not always stick.

By that i mean i add the path on my machine via the Advanced ilogic configuration interface.............and all works perfectly.

Couple of days later i open a file go to my External rules tab and nothing!

I check in the configuration tab and the path to the folder is there. I am forced to navigate manually to the folder to access the rule

---

Perhaps a problem specifically with older versions of Inventor? I have't seen this behavior 2011-2013

[Anonymous]

Yes could be. For now i am going to monitor this, see if any of my users report similar behaviour

thanks

[Anonymous]

Earlier I had stated that I noticed this behavior with Vault Basic 2014.  I meant to say Inventor 2014.  I also mis-identified the mis-behaving nature of the iLogic files.  So far, it appears that my external files are not getting lost but they do loose their event-driven persistence.

I'm finding that I have to re-assign event behavior for my external rules on a file by file basis.  Each time I create a new file, I have to re-assign the event that drives the rule.  I can't write a rule, set it to run when saving the file, create a new inventor file and expect that same rule to run during say run before save on the second, third or as many files as I wish.

Sorry for the confusion. 

[jdkriek]

Jim, I think you are talking about something diffrent than the OP. It's intended behavior to have to set the external rules per file - that's how it works. The OP is saying that once he sets his path for external rules, it doesn't stay set.

[Ktomberlin]

I've seen the object browser forget all the external rules on Inventor 2013 as well.  Usually its tied to a crash, but not always. 

[jdkriek]

I wonder then if it's deleting the user.config file where the iLogic configuration is stored.

[Anonymous]

Keep me posted on this. A mention was made that the rules went away after a crash. We are having this problem. Not only are the rules not showing but the paths in the configurator are gone and the browser is turned off. We are running Inventor 2013.

Thanks

[Aubrey_Campbell]

A few of our users are seeing this problem; the path for external rules is being dropped.  Different users are seeing different "External Rule Directories" disappear form their settings.  Was a solution to this ever identified? 

Thanks

[WCrihfield]

Hi @Aubrey_Campbell.  What year/version of Inventor do you have?  And are you using any form of Vault?

One thing I would check is if you are still set to the same Project file as you usually are.  That is one indicator that your settings have been reset, usually due to some unforeseen glitch/crash.  If you had previously saved/exported your iLogic configuration settings, you may have to import that settings file, once you ensure that your usual Project file is 'active'.  There is also actually a fairly simple bit of iLogic code that you could be used to set up those directories, and some (but not all) of the other settings within the iLogic configuration settings.

[Aubrey_Campbell]

Hello @WCrihfield ,

Thank you for getting back to me! 

We are using Inventor 2022 with Vault Pro 2022.  I have a user that says this happens to him every time he starts work for the day.  Seems to be a daily event not tied to a crash.  He has told me he never has to change the IPJ file, (it is always on our Vault IPJ file; the correct project file).  He also says nothing else is being reset or changed in his settings, as far as he can tell.  

[WCrihfield]

OK, @Aubrey_Campbell.  I am not familiar enough with Vault, because I have not been using it, so I would not know how to advise about any Vault related settings.  However, here is some of that iLogic code I mentioned, that can be modified to suit your needs, then ran on the PC needing its settings set back up.  As far as I know, not every setting you see within the Advanced iLogic Configuration settings dialog is exposed to the API, but this code will cover most of them...if needed.  Of course, simply manually importing the exported settings file may be best, and not require any code.  But I am still puzzled about what may be causing the problem to happen.

iLogicVb.Automation.FileOptions.AddinDirectory = "C:\Temp\Addins"
Dim ExtRuleDirs As New List(Of String)
ExtRuleDirs.Add("C:\Temp\Rules Dir 1")
ExtRuleDirs.Add("C:\Temp\Rules Dir 2")
ExtRuleDirs.Add("C:\Temp\Rules Dir 3")
iLogicVb.Automation.FileOptions.ExternalRuleDirectories = ExtRuleDirs.ToArray
iLogicVb.Automation.ExcelEngine = ExcelEngine.COM
iLogicVb.Automation.RulesEnabled = True
iLogicVb.Automation.RulesOnEventsEnabled = True
Dim oLogControl As LogControl = iLogicVb.Automation.LogControl
oLogControl.Level = LogLevel.Trace
oLogControl.RuleEntryExitMessageLevel = LogLevel.None