Use this forum to ask questions about DataCAD 22 and DataCAD LT 22.
#79959 by RBCA
Wed Jul 28, 2021 1:53 pm
Finally broke down and bought a new computer after 8 years.

In setting up new system (DCAD 22) I am wanting to put my drawing files in my Microsoft OneDrive.
The drawing would change from being in a directory off the root (C) directory to being in my documents directory. Longer directory string.

When I start a file, it takes 10-15 minutes to load.
Then just sits there.
When I highlight the icon at the bottom, i can see that warning box stating "this drawing contains orphaned bitmaps and/or x-ref's.

1. how can i git that box to appear above the DataCAD screen?
2. Is there an easy way to update all the bitmap and x-ref locations.

Reason for changing is that i can then have it in the cloud and able to open with my laptop at other locations.

OR any ways you know that are easier than my ideas would be appreciated.

Thanks.

Brett Coombs
#79962 by joshhuggins
Wed Jul 28, 2021 5:39 pm
Hi Brett!

Not sure what might be causing the message to popup behind the main Window, but could be several things causing a hiccup in the file loading dialogs and the messages gets hidden. Couple things I would start with checking out .

I would guess the first part of the delay and most likely culprit causing the issue you are seeing is the paths being changed for your xrefs. Datacad is probably trying to resolve the missing xrefs. When an xref is missing from it's expected path, then it falls back to look for the files in a few other locations, for example the current file's directory. During this process, Datacad can do some decent processing, and that might be what causes the message to get hidden behind the main program window. Usually while this processing goes on, you might notice the title bar of the main program flicker. This is a good visual indicator that this hidden message issue may have occurred. I would guess you probably don't need to be waiting the 10-15 minutes, and that the orphan messages might be popping up sooner than that, but are just hidden behind the main Datacad window. Next time you notice the delay or the flickering, try using ALT+TAB to cycle thru your open programs to bring Datacad's Orphan message to the foreground. You can hold down ALT, and then tap TAB, to cycle thru the programs or use your mouse after the initial TAB when the multiple windows interface shows up . Sometimes switching to another open program and then back to Datacad will bring them to the foreground as well. These message usually get hidden when some part of a program or Windows causes the focus of Windows to switch to another program. You can also use the WINDOWS KEY+TAB to get a similar interface to switch between programs using the mouse.
2021-07-28_152847.jpg
ALT+TAB Task Switcher Interface



As for updating the XRef and Image paths, the most straightforward way IMHO, is using the Orphan References manager to repath your missing files to their actual locations. You can find it under the Insert menu, Orphaned References.

Next, OneDrive. I am a OneDrive user as well and I would check in OneDrive's Settings, do you have File on Demand enabled? This stores all your files online, until your systems needs to access the files and then downloads them on demand. That download on demand process might be adding a delay or causing the 'hiccup' which suppresses the Orphan messages behind the main window. I would try disabling that setting if you have enough free drive space on your computer to store the contents of your OneDrive account locally.
2021-07-28_135911.jpg
OneDrive Settings
2021-07-28_135911.jpg (140.02 KiB) Viewed 4027 times


Other things to check is what is your upload and download speed? If you are in the US, you should be able to use https://www.speedtest.net to find out. Elsewhere, I am sure there might be other testing sites you could use outside the US if you are not getting good servers to test against.

All in all, you should be able to successfully use OneDrive as your default location, but you may just need to get your paths remapped in your existing files and maybe store your files locally in addition to OneDrive in the cloud if your bandwidth is an issue. This is how I use it. Everything syncs, but it writes locally first on each machine, and then updates the cloud. I like it this way also because it gives me a little more backup redundancy having the files on multiple drives / systems. If you get into trying to work with other users via OneDrive than you could run into some other issues, but that is a topic for another thread. Good luck and let us know how things go!
#79974 by Neil Blanchard
Mon Aug 02, 2021 10:33 am
Brett,

I am also seeing this sort of thing. The dialog boxes being "behind" the main DataCAD screen, and behind all other programs that may be running - has been an issue for a longer time.

The slowness opening some files (but not others) is more recent. Ironically, when I am here in the office on our LAN, it is much slower than when I am working at home, opening the same files over a VPN on the Internet. This is a real head scratcher, and weird.

It seems to be XRef related, but why it is so much slower on a LAN is just completely opposite of what could be expected. And even stranger, this only happens on my computer here at the office, and not the others. I have not found a reason, though I have not been working here in the office very often.
#79996 by artmanvt2000
Fri Aug 06, 2021 3:31 pm
One of the big issues that cause files with xref's to be slow, is circular xref's. I always make sure nesting is turned off in my xref's. It has made a big difference. The other is layer management. Turning off unnecessary layers and entities with alot of lines, such as, furniture.
#80170 by RBCA
Sun Sep 26, 2021 8:38 pm
Sorry for the delay in responding back. Had some family issues that came up right after uploading my questions.
But what i found after i came back to work on computer was that the new computer had a problem with it. Found that using other programs and directories were also a problem.
Returned the computer. They will get me a new one. But now there is a chip shortage so it will not be here until november.
Will try again then.
Thanks for all the comments.

As for the OneDrive. I looked into it and i think that it has to be in a "user" directory, not the root "C" directory.

Brett.
#80175 by joshhuggins
Mon Sep 27, 2021 6:28 pm
RBCA wrote:As for the OneDrive. I looked into it and I think that it has to be in a "user" directory, not the root "C" directory.
Yeah I wouldn't do anything anymore from the root C: as Windows does all kinds of strangeness with the root locations of drives these days. Always best practice to have whatever you are working on be within a dir/folder, on any drive, not just C:. :wink:

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