AutoPlant Error messages

[Aplant Monkey]

Had a user call me to tell me that he had lost pretty much ALL functional commands within Autoplant. He could not CATT on anything. It would return with unknown command and this important error message.....

("Chgdictforreducer")

When you see this message or a user can no longer use simple commands this is what you need to do:

If you browse to the following location: C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Bentley\Plant 2004\P&ID\removetempdirs.exe and double click on the .exe this will clear the Temp folder and also clear the reasons for the error message. This .exe can also have a shortcut created to your Startup folder. Once this is done the problem should be resolved.

This will resolve the problem. :shock:

[dave]

nice one Aplant Monkey. I did not know there was an executable for doing that. I just (used to) do it manually. Thanks!

[Colby]

What you could do is set this up as a Windows task that runs when the user log's in that way clears everytime they log in.....

[dave]

We'd love to know how to set that up Colby. Any ideas?

[Aplant Monkey]

Try putting a shortcut in your startup menu

[dave]

Updating external references...268 ; error: An error
has occurred inside the *error* functionbad function: ""

Here's a new one...3 drawings now that I cannot regen all data without it giving me this error message and killing the drawing (losing all functional commands). The temp fix is to set link and regen options to "standard" instead of "all". I emailed Bentley support and am awaiting thier response.

[dave]

well I created a dummy project based on the same standards, made an exchange drawing of the bad drawing, and imported it into my new project. As it was running through the data, it lost functionality on an arrow. I am going to try to delete the arrows off the sheet and save. Hopefully that will allow me to regen all the data.

[Aplant Monkey]

when you say arrow are you talking about off page connector arrows?

[dave]

yep, the TO-FROM Arrows

[Aplant Monkey]

you will remember a while ago we had the discussion about why I don't use the connected arrows, now you are living it :lol:

[dave]

haha, yeah I remember :grumble:

I like that idea and if I set the standards for P&IDs that would be one of the first things I changed. :evil:

[Aplant Monkey]

sometimes it is better to beg for forgiveness that ask for permission :D

[dave]

I like the way you think.

[dave]

I agree linking arrows sometimes causes more problems than it's worth HOWEVER, that is not the culprit in this case. Something to do with how I added some feilds to the tables...stay tuned :oops:

[dave]

Well it turns out to be a "Update the project config DB's in the middle of the project error"

First, I updated the the project.mdb and schema.mdb files from those of a 8.5 project to 8.6.

Next, I updated the standards, changed the tag types via the change tag type utility found in the downloads section, and added fields that needed to be added to various tables to match the schema.mdb file.

The one thing I didn't do was change the custom directory to reflect our new standards and tag types. I did this with the "change custom directory" utility found in the downloads section. Worked like a champ. I have since updated quite a few of our older projects with no problems or user complaints.

[PeterJ]

that's what I allways do when I install the software at a client's site. Best to take the 'all users', so it runs for everyone

I saw that this was already advisesd by plantworker (one of my clients..) in the General Questions -section ...

[PeterJ]

Updating external references...268 ; error: An error
has occurred inside the *error* functionbad function: ""

Here's a new one...3 drawings now that I cannot regen all data without it giving me this error message and killing the drawing (losing all functional commands). The temp fix is to set link and regen options to "standard" instead of "all". I emailed Bentley support and am awaiting thier response.

here's a tip that helps track down such errors :
change following line in on pid-sup.lsp
(prins (strcat prmpt (itoa (sslength ss)) " " ))
into
(prins (strcat prmpt " " (itoa (sslength ss)) " " (ASSVAL ENT 5) " " ))

then the 'asiregenall' (regen all data) will show the handle code of the linkpoint that is being updated. If one of them reports an error (or stops the regen), you can track that wth the QH-command, that will ask you to enter the handle and shows the object info in the text window. You can detect the (10. ********) group to find the location.
It will be usefull to start the SLP command to show the linkpoints.
You can catt the linkpoint to detect the error.

If nothiing turns op at the error-location, you might have an empty text-block (f.e. from an instrument , they don't have a separate linkpoint, but the xd* block itself has the link). If you add following text to your pid-sup.lsp or user-lisp-file , you can run the command DELH to delete the object with the handle you enter. Be catefull not the enter handles you want to keep ...


(defun c:delh ()
(if (setq delent(entget (handent (getstring "Handle: "))))
(entdel (cdr (car delent)))
(print "doesn't exist")
)
(princ)
)


Do you all know how the link between dwg and database is configured ? I can post some info on that.

[dave]

OK, I got it to work. Couple questions:

When you say this: "You can detect the (10. ********) group to find the location" do you mean the keytag?

What does the BFA mean on this line "updating external references... 43 BFA" ? Its the components handle

I deleted the tag via the delh command but the slp point didn't go away. Is that normal?

I am trying to delete another slp point keytag with the delh command and it gives me the following error:

Command: delh
Handle: 0000000349
ERROR bad argument type: lentityp nil

Apparently you can't delete slp points using this method?


What are the benefits of using the qh and delh commands?

[PeterJ]

-the 10-group will show you the insertion point of the selected object.
f.e. (10 183.0 576.0 0.0)
-BFA is the handle code (the unique id of an object within an AutoCAD dwg file) of the linkpoint of the object that is being updated, the 43 is just a counter.
-the value you enter after executing QH or DELH shout be the handle code, not the keytag ...
-QH is the same command as Q, but allows to enter the handle code in stead of selecting. These commands are similar to the LIST command, but show the entity information in a 'raw' format, and include the 'extended entity data'.

I have a good document that decribes those linkpoints, but still need to translate it into English, unless you all can read Flemish (=Belgian Dutch)

[dave]

One of our designers had this error happen to him this morning. He's been working on the drawing for a couple days.


Updating external references...Done
Value must be positive and nonzero.

Requires numeric distance, two points, or option keyword.
; error: An error has occurred inside the *error* functionFunction cancelled

After that, you can't CATT on anything. Other drawings in the project open OK. I made an exchange drawing and opened it in a test project. Same result. Thanks.

[PeterJ]

some object must cause the error when being regenerated.
Open a functioning drawing and set the 'link and regen options' (p&id menu / preferences) to 'manual' and 'off'.
( Or set UPDATE_MODE=0 in the [AT_ASI] of AT.INI)
This will allow you to open drawings without updating.
Also add the 2 like in following example to the asiregen command in pid-sup.lsp (after the line I asked you to add earlier)

(prins (strcat prmpt " " (itoa (sslength ss)) " " (ASSVAL ENT 5) " " ))
(setq uip (assval ent 10))
(command "_.zoom" "c" uip 50) ; modif the 50 to smaller value if you work in imperial size ...

if you open the drawing (it should be possible now ..), run the ASIREGENALL command ('regen all data' from the menu). It now zooms in on each item that is being refreshed, that might help identifying the object that causes the error.

[dave]

Peter, thank you for the reply. Even when I set regen to off, I get the same error. Is the drawing corrupted?

[dave]

The initial error was: "Error #135 - please reset values as best you can" After closing and re-opening the drawing, we received the first error message I posted.

[PeterJ]

If you can't open the drawing in plain AutoCAD, the first thing would be to try a recover .... (and start looking for your backups ...)

[dave]

Yep, already looked into that and sadly the last backup was run on the 12th. :( The drawing will open in Autocad though. It just give me the error message in Autoplant. Looks like it's a wash. :mad: Thanks for your help though Peter

[dave]

(prins (strcat prmpt " " (itoa (sslength ss)) " " (ASSVAL ENT 5) " " ))
(setq uip (assval ent 10))
(command "_.zoom" "c" uip 50) ; modif the 50 to smaller value if you work in imperial size ...

if you open the drawing (it should be possible now ..), run the ASIREGENALL command ('regen all data' from the menu). It now zooms in on each item that is being refreshed, that might help identifying the object that causes the error.

Cool, that works. Though there is no handle trail in the command window anymore. Looks like this:

Command: asiregenall
Updating external references...Done

is that normal? How do I make it show me what it's regen-ing?

[dave]

Turns out the problem here was that the scale factor settings got messed up. I just opened the dialog P&ID > Preferences > scale factors set the proper values and voilla!

Thanks

[PeterJ]

Dave, put enough spaces between the second and third set of ""quotes. Your forum software removes the spaces from my text

(prins (strcat prmpt " " (itoa (sslength ss)) " <8 spaces> " (ASSVAL ENT 5) " < 25 spaces > " ))

[PeterJ]

All,

Please find attached a document that explais how the link between an object in a P&ID drawing and the project database is configured. It also holds some info how to correct problems.

all feedback on this is welcome, even on grammar and spelling :) .

[Data Wrangler]

Very nice... thanks for this - it will help a lot in solving some of the riddles that show up frequently around here...


Derek

[dave]

Here's a new one. When trying to create new drawings, one of our users is experienceing these errors.

Exception in at_dlg_gen_dlg ARX command



Could not open file C:\docs and settings\all users\appd ata\bentley
---error 2

Could not open file C:\docs and settings\all users\appd ata\bentley
---error 0

[Kynon]

Hi guys,

First post is about a problem I've just encountered, when using AutoPLANT P&ID.

When I try to open an AutoPLANT P&ID via Document Manager, it seems to load fine, except for getting this error message:

"Exception in C:\Program Files\Bentley\Plant 2004\bin\r15\at_asi.arx

Unhandled Exception C0000005 (Access Violation reading 0x2ddadd4) at address 23581FAh"

Once I acknowledge this error, then most of the commands under the "P&ID" and "P&ID Tools" menus don't work - I can't CATT anything, I can't place any valves or equipment, I can't use any of the database-related functions...

I'm running AutoPLANT version 8.06.00.14, with AutoCAD 2002, on Windows XP.

We haven't been running AP here for all that long (I haven't been here that long myself), so we don't really have an "expert" in-house, and the actual Bentley Tech Support aren't being much use...anyone have any ideas? :confused:

Any help much appreciated.

[dave]

and of course you've rebooted, all of your software is patched...etc. Does it happen on all projects?

[PeterJ]

difficult, we'll need to narrow down the cause ..
Did it stop working ? or did it never work ? Any idea of new software installs ? is it in a single project or on more ? do you have the error also in a new project when creating a new drawing?
at_asi.arx loads tools for connection with database. Maybe a common file has been replaced.
Re-installing MDAC drivers is always a good thing.
You can also re-install P&ID, that will reset all support files. Make a copy first of any customized files.

[Kynon]

Morning all,

Happily, Bentley Tech Support have managed to fix the problem (although I'm still not completely sure what caused it in the first place).

Dave: As far as I know, everything is properly patched, and I rebooted my machine...which did not solve the problem.

PeterJ: For context, Bentley P&ID worked fine, until the other day, when I encountered the error message. There have been no new software installs on my workstation in the intervening time. The error was occurring on all projects, and on other machines (I tried opening P&IDs on other machines to check that it wasn't mine & mine alone). I confess we haven't tried creating a new project as yet - I don't have the access privileges to do so anyway.
I had tried reinstalling P&ID, also to no avail.

However, as mentioned above, I received an email from Bentley, with a new copy of at_asi.arx, plus two .dll files, along with instructions to replace them. To my surprise, the two .dll files didn't appear to have existed on my computer in the first place. I dropped the .dll files into the "Bentley Shared" folder on my machine, the new at_asi.arx into the appropriate folder, and lo & behold, P&ID has opened no problem.

Slightly mystified, but at least it's working now...

[Cindy]

first, thanks for Dave.
Unfortunately, I try the method mentioned by Aplant Monkey, it still doesn't work.

I repeat my probem here:

only CATT is functional in my drawing, the other P&ID tools are ineffective;

when I use process line manager:ERROR bad argument type: numberp: nil
when I use the other tools: Unknown command "FUNC"

is there anyone encounter such problem and how to solve it?

[dave]

Cindy, I know I've had that problem before but I can't remember what it was.

Does it happen in every drawing?

Does it happen on everyones computer or just yours?