Overview

ExpertCAD 2015 is major release that includes enhancements as well as customer requested software modifications and corrections. This release summary briefly describes the software changes for this release to ExpertCAD, ExpertCAM and ExpertView.

Update 1 Release
The Update 1 release includes these modifications and corrections:
    SRX00185 - Block references with a null layer causes the AutoCAD translator to crash.
    SRX00186 - The FLEXnet Client tab in License Manager incorrectly enables the Use Three Server switch.
    SRX00187 - Upgrade the About box to offer information about the computer system and licensing information.
    SRX00188 - Icon tracking with the right mouse button is not working properly on PCoIP & RDP clients.
    SRX00189 - AutoCAD translators do not recognize a valid floating license.
    SRX00191 - The check for expiring license will check only for the licensed product being run.
    SRX00195 - The copy-file command does revised to work if the destination is a directory.
    SRX00196 - The /v command line is used to start ExpertCAD, only an ExpertCAD View license will be acquired.
    SRX00197 - Floating license for ExpertCAD View is listed as such in the License Manager application.
    SRX00198 - ExpertCAD allowed to run even if there is no license available. I/O is disabled.
    SRX00203 - AutoCAD to ExpertCAD updated to translate region entities correctly.

Update 2 Release
The Update 2 includes these corrections for the AutoCAD to ExpertCAD translator:     SRX00211 - DWG file written from Autodesk Inventor does not import correctly into ExpertCAD.
    SRX00212 - The \T formatting for text notes is not being handled properly.
    SRX00213 - Crosshatch entity in this DWG file is causing the translator to crash.
    SRX00238 - DWG file written from Autodesk Inventor does not import correctly into ExpertCAD.

The update releases are cumulative meaning that Update 2 includes all items from Update 1 in addition to those addressed in Update 2.

Click here for a printable version of this document in Adobe PDF format.

Distribution of New Releases

AMT Software is switching from physical shipment of software releases and updates to electronic distribution for all of our customers with software maintenance contracts. On our web site you will find a exclusive customer portal for supported customers. Inside the customer portal, you will be able to download the most recent software releases. You will also find information about your account, license information and confidential information about new developments we are working on. By now, you will have received your login and password for the portal. To access the Customer Portal, go to amt-software.com and click on Customer Portal in the navigation menu. If you have any problems or questions, please contact AMT Software customer support.

Platform Support

The table below lists the certified and supported operating systems for ExpertCAD 2015. The full regimen of quality assurance testing has been performed on these platforms and any problems or defects with AMT software related to the operating system will be repaired:

Operating System	32-bit	64-bit	Minimum Revision Level
Windows 10			All
Windows 8.1**			8.1 and 8.1 Update
Windows 8**			All
Windows Server 2012	N.A.		R1 and R1
Windows 7			Service Pack 1
Windows Server 2008 R2			All
Windows XP*			Service Pack 3
Windows Server 2003*			Service Pack 2
Windows Vista			None
Windows 2000			None

*Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 are no longer supported. This means that the quality assurance testing was not performed for these operating systems. While no longer supported, there is nothing to prevent you from continuing to install and run the software on these operating systems. Any problems with the installation or execution of the software on these platforms will not be addressed in an update or future release.

**If you are running Windows 8 and/or Window 8.1, we strongly encourage you to upgrade to Windows 10. The vast majority of the customer base did not opt to upgrade to either of these operating systems. Therefore, we may choose to drop formal support prior to the next release.

About Windows 10

Windows 10 is a new supported platform for the 2015 release. The 2015 release has been put through the full regimen of QA testing. This testing always done prior to a release on all supported platforms to ensure compatibility.

The previous release – 2014 – appears to function properly on Windows 10. This is because Windows 10 is largely a cosmetic change to Windows 8.x to correct deficiencies in that operating system that prevented it from being widely adopted. Internally the Windows 10 presents itself to the application software as being the Windows 8.1 operating system. Therefore, the 2014 releases are “fooled” into thinking they are running on Windows 8.1. If you experience any problems with the 2014 (and of course 2015) release with installing or running on Windows 10, please contact AMT Software customer support to report the issue(s).

Installation

As always, a new release of ExpertCAD is installed as though it is a new application. It is not necessary to remove any older version of ExpertCAD from your computer. The installation program will not overwrite any applications programs from previous installation(s) of ExpertCAD. A separate program group – ExpertCAD 2015 – is created and shown in the Windows start menu:

This Windows 7 computer has older versions of ExpertCAD and ExpertCAM installed side-by-side with the ExpertCAD 2015 release.

During installation, a log file is generated in the user’s temp directory. For example, if you are logged in as Administrator, the file:
C:\Users\Administrator\AppData\Local\Temp\ExpertCAD_FinishInstallLog.txt
is created to record the finishing steps unique to installing AMT software. If you encounter any problems with installation, please forward this file along with a description of the nature of the problem to amt-support@amt-software.com.

If you choose to uninstall ExpertCAD 2015, supporting data files under the folder:
C:\ProgramData\AMT Software\ExpertCAD
are no longer removed. Previous versions of the software may still be installed on the computer. These older version(s) rely on these data files to be present. Earlier releases of the software would remove many (if not all) of these data files when an uninstall was performed. This resulted in impaired functionality of older version(s) of the software still installed on the computer.

USB Key Licensing

If you are using a USB key for license enforcement, an updated license is required to run the 2015 release.

As part of the installation process, the install program will read the ID of your USB key and automatically update it with the necessary licensing information. Therefore, it is important to make sure the USB key is plugged into one of the ports when you install the software.

If your USB key is not in the database, you will receive this informational warning at the conclusion of the installation:

If you receive this message, contact AMT Software for assistance in updating your USB key.

If your license did not update and you did not receive the warning message box shown above, use the License Manager application installed with the 2015 release to attempt to update the key using the licensing file:
C:\ProgramData\AMT Software\ExpertCAD\LicenseUpdate2015.txt

Note: The license update applies only to USB keys. If you use floating licenses, a parallel port key or an internet license, a license update is not required.

Generating PDF Files

Password Protection

In the Acrobat/Settings dialog, a new section for Document security has been added. If you want to password protect the document, you can choose to do so here:

Options include the ability to prevent others from printing and/or changing the document when opened in Adobe Acrobat.

It is also possible to set a separate password that would allow the user to change the document permissions once a protected document is opened in Acrobat.

When you write a PDF, you will enter the password for the document at that time:

If the switch for confirmation was set, you will get a 2nd prompt to confirm the password.

If the switch for requiring a password to change the document permissions in Acrobat is set, you will be prompted for that password:

This new PDF feature is available in ExpertCAD, ExpertCAD 3D and ExpertView.

Batch Conversion to PDF

A new option has been added to the Acrobat menu to allow multiple files to be converted to Adobe PDF format:

Convert files to Adobe PDF presents a File/Open dialog that allows multiple files to be chosen for conversion. If password protection has been setup, you will be prompted for password(s) which will be applied to all the files selected for conversion.

AutoCAD Interface

An option has been added to the Tools-Settings-Import/Export property sheet to allow the export of calls to symbols to be published as line and text entities instead of block references and block definitions:

By default, calls to symbols are output as block references. If this switch is disabled, blocks and block references will not be created and instead the calls will be output as simple lines and text.

ExpertCAD data files that have a call to a symbol where the symbol definition has other nested calls to symbols would not necessarily translate properly to AutoCAD block references and block definitions. The translator ddd2acad has been revised to first translate all symbol definitions in the fine to block definitions prior to converting calls to symbols. This ensures that when a call to a symbol is encountered in a symbol definition, the symbol will have been defined and proper output can be generated.

AutoCAD 2016 Support

AutoCAD 2016 support has been added for this release for both import and export of AutoCAD format files.

Maintenance

Block references in AutoCAD files that are not associated with a layer will now translate correctly to ExpertCAD format.

AutoCAD region entities are correctly translated to ExpertCAD. In previous versions, these entities were ignored during translation.

ExpertCAD data files that have a call to a symbol where the symbol definition has other nested calls to symbols would not necessarily translate properly to AutoCAD block references and block definitions. The translator ddd2acad has been revised to first translate all symbol definitions in the fine to block definitions prior to converting calls to symbols. This ensures that when a call to a symbol is encountered in a symbol definition, the symbol will have been defined and proper output can be generated.

Setting a Default Printer

Prior versions set the default printer at startup by asking the operating system what default printer was setup by the user. This default printer could not be changed without editing the registry to delete the printer key. In 2015 you can change your default printer:

Choose File-Print. In the Print dialog, choose the printer you wish to be the default for ExpertCAD. Click on the Apply button (nothing will happen) then click the Cancel button (the dialog will be dismissed). This will establish the printer you chose as the new default for ExpertCAD. This printer definition is saved to the registry and will be the default for future sessions of ExpertCAD.

ExpertView

The status bar has been updated to allow the current line color as well as line style to be changed by clicking on the corresponding cell.

Keyboard short commands have been added to make it more convenient to use ExpertView in the same manner as ExpertCAD. All keystrokes definitions from ExpertCAD that are germane to a view-only application have been implemented.

The dialog for selecting a font for markup notes has been updated to allow the user to choose any native font in addition to TrueType fonts.

ExpertView Windows Tablet Edition

ExpertView Windows Tablet Edition is a free lightweight viewer for ExpertCAD drawings. Created specifically for tablet computers, it is perfect for sales representatives on the go or on the factory floor to pull up assembly drawings. Download it from the AMT Software website.

Floating License Server Setup

A dramatically revised and simpler method for setting up a floating license server is included as part of your software. After installation, a new program group – AMT Floating License Server – is installed on the server computer. The application, “AMT Floating License Server”, is the primary tool to use to configure the computer as a server.

For more information about setting up a floating license server and clients, refer to the documentation in the Help menu from any of the applications:

Maintenance

At startup, applications will look for their configuration files and if they exist are imported. The default for the location of these files is the application data path. By default this is typically:  C:\Users\<user>\AppData\Roaming\AMT Software\ExpertCAD
where <user> is your login name on the computer. This default location can now be changed using an environment variable. If the Windows environment variable AMT_APPDATA_PATH is set to a valid folder (exists and is writeable by the user), the software will look for configuration files in this directory. If this is the first time an application is run since this environment variable was set or changed, it will first copy all configuration files to the new location prior to importing the files.

At program start, most AMT applications will make the current directory the Personal Folder for the user’s login. Typically this directory is:
C:\Users\<user login>\Documents
Previous releases would force the applications to start in the user’s home directory if the operating system was Windows 7 or later.

The set-bitmap-linewidth command has been corrected to allow customization of discrete line widths when generating a bitmap for output to a file.

The animation feature in the parametrics library for ExpertCAD could cause the system to become unresponsive. This problem affected computers running the Windows 8 or later operating system. The code has been revised to use poll the Windows message queue for input to prevent a freeze.

Plotting (File/Plot) would fail to create the temporary plot file for processing in the case where the user had used one or more space characters for the path name to their temporary directory. This problem has been corrected to allow any valid path to be used for a temporary directory.

The use of very long font names (> 32 characters) is allowed. Previous versions would allow this but crash when a file with an entity that used a long font name was opened.

The ScriptLink command password-prompt has been corrected to disable the OK button until 1 or more characters has been entered for a password. This prevents a null password from being accepted as a valid password.

The md5 ScriptLink command for generating a hash code has been corrected to output the proper output (32 hexadecimal characters) instead of truncating the result to just 17 characters.

A discrete case where a malformed dimension definition was saved to a file caused ExpertCAD to stop drawing when the file was opened. The malformed entities are now ignored on input.

In certain cases, depending on the definition line, an angular dimension of 180 degrees would not draw properly when the drafting standard was set to ISO.

Path names (folders) that can be configured in the Tools-Option-File Locations property sheet will no longer allow a path that references the root level of a drive (e.g. H:\). Paths to the root directory of a drive cannot be saved to the ExpertCAD-Setup.cfg file and are therefore no longer allowed.

The analysis function of the parametrics feature of ExpertCAD has been modified to prevent the possibility of a crash in the event a geometric entity has many (> 128) relationships to other entities on the drawing. An unlimited number of relationships is now allowed.

If you use the color editor to change the background color of the graphics area, the color you assign will be remembered for future sessions. If you change the color to something other than black or white, the setting of the Inverted screen switch in the Tools-Options-User Preferences property sheet is ignored.

In the Tools-Options-File Locations property sheet, the button Clear/Reset has been implemented to return the file paths to their factory defaults:

All paths are returned to their original default settings.

The ScriptLink command ‘cd’ has been corrected to perform properly if a path includes a trailing ‘\’ character. A path such as c:\temp\ is technically an invalid path. When dealing with path names throughout the applications, path specifications that include a trailing ‘\’ are detected and corrected internally to form a valid path before being used by functions in the application or operating system.

ExpertCAM configurable mill post processors were failing when processing an event file with one or more comment lines that contained a comma character. This has been corrected to properly ignore all comments when processing an event file.

The ExpertCAM-Posts.cfg file has been revised to correctly refer to configurable post processors as such. A PDF document is included with much better instructions on how to edit the ExpertCAM-Posts.cfg file to convey to ExpertCAM the post processors you wish to use.

ExpertCAM has been revised to open files on file systems that have been configured to disable the creation of files with both the long format and 8.3 format file name. Previous versions of ExpertCAM would fail to open files that did not conform to the 8.3 naming specification on file systems configured in this manner. The 2015 release corrects this problem and allows for all valid file names to be specified for input or output regardless of the configuration of the disk drive.

ExpertCAM can import ExpertCAD data files directly. If you choose an ExpertCAD file for File/Open or File/Insert, the new program - ddd2cam.exe - provided in this release will convert the data to ExpertCAM format then import it into your session. Only line data from the ExpertCAD file is converted; crosshatch, dimensions and annotation are ignored. Section names are preserved if they exist in the data file otherwise section numbers are assigned automatically during translation.

ExpertCAD, ExpertCAD 3D and ExpertView can be started without a software license. This allows you to verify the correctness of a software installation without having to use a USB license key or consume a floating license. All input and output is disabled if there is not a valid software license.

Revised the check for expiring licenses at program start to check only for the product & license enforcement type currently used. Previous versions would check for all licenses and all forms of license enforcement.

The /v command line option is used with ExpertCAD means that it should acquire an ExpertCAD View license. In previous releases, it would acquire a full ExpertCAD license if an ExpertCAD View license was not available. This has been corrected such that if an ExpertCAD View license is not available, it will not attempt to acquire a full ExpertCAD license.

The About dialog has been upgraded to offer more details regarding the computer the software is running on and details about the software license acquired:

The About dialog contains basic information about your computer system and a License Information… button.	License Information shows what license was acquired, the source of the license and an expiration date. If there is a problem acquiring a license, it will be reported in this dialog.

Resolved Software Requests

When you report a problem or request an enhancement, our customer service representative will input your request into our software lifecycle management system and give you an ID number. Listed in the table below are the ID number and a synopsis of each record from our system that has been discharged for this release.

Record ID	Customer	Synopsis
SRX00091	AMT	Add “Read Release Notes” as an option to the user interface for the installation program amt.exe
SRX00092	AMT	Revise the installation process to leave behind a log file that would record the unique steps taken to install the software and also list the operating system the software is being installed on.
SRX00097	AMT	At program start, the applications should start in the users Personal Folder.
SRX00109	gromaTec	The set-bitmap-linewidth command is having no effect on line widths in the bitmap files written from ExpertCAD.
SRX00111	AMT	Plotting (File/Plot) is failing to create the temporary plot file when the name of the user’s temporary folder has a space character as part of the path name.
SRX00113	Maschinebau Scholz	Add the ability to produce password protected PDF files.
SRX00119	Maschinebau Scholz	A program termination occurs when reading a file that has one or more entities that refer to a font that has a name in excess of 32 characters.
SRX00142	AMT	The password-prompt command should not enable the OK button until 1 or more characters have been entered for a password.
SRX00143	gromaTec	Allow the conversion of multiple ExpertCAD drawings to Adobe PDF.
SRX00144	AMT	The ScriptLink md5 command is truncating the output.
SRX00147	Husco	This ExpertCAD file does not convert all the calls to symbols into the corresponding block and block references when exported to DXF format.
SRX00148	AMT	Add an option to output calls to symbols as lines and text instead of block references and blocks.
SRX00149	Manitowoc	Configurable mill post processors are not processing event files correctly when there are comments in the file containing one or more comma characters.
SRX00150	Scania	Malformed dimensions in this file is causing the drawing to not display in ExpertCAD.
SRX00151	Scania	180 degree angular dimensions are not being properly drawn when the ISO is set for the drawing standard.
SRX00152	Kaman	Font paths that reference the root drive are failing to be remembered.
SRX00158	AMT	The analysis function of the parametrics library module is crashing for this drawing.
SRX00159	AMT	The ScriptLink command 'cd' does not work properly if the path has a trailing '\' character.
SRX00160	AMT	Add proper support for AutoCAD 2016 data file import and export.
SRX00161	AMT	Revise the configurable post processor installation instructions for ExpertCAM.
SRX00163	Kyung Sung Machinery Technology	Using the color editor to change the background color does not work properly.
SRX00162	AMT	Add post processor directories for NIBBLE and FLAME.
SRX00164	Thumb Tool and Engineering	Add a means to source in a configuration file at startup for all users of a computer.
SRX00165	Maschinebau Scholz	Add a way to change the default printer for ExpertCAD.
SRX00167	AMT	Allow ExpertCAM to open or insert ExpertCAD files directly.
SRX00172	AMT	Error message about removing a temporary file is emitted when using the Save CLdata function in ExpertCAM.
SRX00175	AMT	The most recently used list of files in ExpertCAM should omit all files that no longer exist or are inaccessible.
SRX00180	AMT	The animate feature in the parametrics library can hang the system on Windows 8 and later.
SRX00181	Kaman	Revise ExpertCAM to handle file names for file systems that have the 8.3 form of the file name disabled.
*SRX00185	iFS Building Systems	AutoCAD files with block references that have a null layer causes the AutoCAD translator to crash.
*SRX00186	AMT	The FLEXnet Client tab in the License Manager page incorrectly enables the Use Three Server switch.
*SRX00187	AMT	Upgrade the About box to offer information about the computer system and licensing information’
*SRX00188	AMT	Icon tracking is not working properly in a remote desktop environment.
*SRX00189	AMT	The AutoCAD translators do not recognize a valid floating license.
*SRX00190	AMT	The AMT-Update program does not work properly on Windows 10.
*SRX00191	AMT	Revised the check for expiring licenses at program start to check only for the product & license enforcement type currently used.
*SRX00196	Pall	If the /v command line option is used with ExpertCAD, it will acquire an ExpertCAD license if an ExpertCAD View license is not available.
*SRX00197	AMT	A floating license for ExpertCAD View is incorrectly listed as an ExpertView license in the License Manager application.
*SRX00198	Maschinebau Scholz	Allow ExpertCAD to run even if there is no license available.
*SRX00195	AMT	The copy-file primitive command does not work if the destination is a directory.
*SRX00201	AMT	Upgrade ExpertView to allow the use of TrueType fonts.
*SRX00202	AMT	Allow the user to change color and line style using the status bar in ExpertView.
*SRX00203	Thumb Tool & Engineering	AutoCAD files with region entities are not being translated correctly. The region entities are omitted.
**SRX00211	Thumb Tool & Engineering	DWG file written from Autodesk Inventor does not import correctly into ExpertCAD.
**SRX00212	AMT	The \T<n> formatting for text notes is not being handled properly.
**SRX00213	Thumb Tool & Engineering	Crosshatch entity in this DWG file is causing the translator to crash.
**SRX00238	gromatec	DWG file written from Autodesk Inventor does not import correctly into ExpertCAD.

*Incidents addressed in the 2015 Update 1 release.

**Incidents addressed in the 2015 Update 2 release.