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AutoCAD

Bug Watch: Which bugs buzzed off in AutoCAD 2006?

14 May, 2005 By: Steve Johnson Cadalyst

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Bugs banished from AutoCAD 2006, losing your links, properties problems and tank trouble trivia.

AutoCAD 2006 Bug Fixes
Along with the surprising wealth of new features in AutoCAD 2006, I have more good news. Jimmy Bergmark reports that the new version fixes quite a few bugs, including these young and old Bug Watch items:

• Zero Lines, November 2000
• Blind Find 1, May 2003
• Blind Find 2, May 2003
• Holy Color Calamity, Battman!, November 2004
• Perverted Revert, March 2005

I'm still checking, and I expect I'll find more fixes to report. Look out for more AutoCAD 2006 bug news next month.

Missing Link (2005 to 2006)
This bug was submitted by Mike Perry, a moderator on the AUGI Forums, where it was originally reported.

If you attach a hyperlink to a drawing object, when you move your cursor over that object, it changes to include a little picture of a world with a chain link. A tool tip also displays, showing the link and the instruction Ctrl+click to follow link. This feature lets you set up a group of linked drawings and other documents that is very easy for other users to navigate.

The problem is that this tool doesn't work in AutoCAD 2005 or 2006 for hyperlinks associated with hatch objects. This bug is unfortunate because using hatching is a common way to associate links with a whole area, rather than just an outline.

Workaround: No workaround exists for the person creating the drawing. If the person using the drawing knows a hyperlink is there, they can just Ctrl+click, and the link still works. If they don't know if a link is there, they can pre-select the object and right-click to see the cursor menu. If the object has a hyperlink, the Hyperlink sub-menu will appear at the bottom of the cursor menu.

This bug does not affect users of earlier AutoCAD versions, so if you are using AutoCAD 2005 or 2006 and providing drawings to AutoCAD 2004 users, your users will not see a problem. The bug also does not affect DWF files created using AutoCAD 2005 or 2006.

Arc Angle Anarchy (2000 to 2006)
(This bug was originally reported in February 2001, but it still applies to AutoCAD 2006. Since the latest Cadalyst Web site update, it and its workaround LISP routine have been unavailable.)

If you select an arc at the Command prompt, the Properties window displays its included angle. Unfortunately, this useful feature has something of a drawback -- the angle displayed can be wildly inaccurate. It all depends on the current units settings for angle direction and base angle.

When the angle direction is counter-clockwise, the following scenarios exist. If the base angle is east, then the angle is correct. If the base angle is north, the angle is 270 degrees too large or 90 degrees too small. If the base angle is west, the angle is 180 degrees too large or small. If the base angle is south, the angle is 90 degrees too large or 270 degrees too small.

When the angle direction is clockwise, the following scenarios exist. If the base angle is east, then the angle is correct. If the base angle is north, the angle is 90 or 450 degrees, minus the true angle of the arc. If the base angle is west, the angle is 180 or 540 degrees, minus the true angle of the arc. If the base angle is south, the angle is the angle is 270 or 630 degrees, minus the true angle of the arc.

Workaround: None known involving the Properties Window, other than setting the base angle to east before checking any arc angles. Alternatively, use this AutoLISP routine to examine the included angles of arcs.

Now For Something Remarkably Similar. . .
. . . to Bill Fane's long-standing tradition of ending a column with a piece of completely unrelated advice. It only counts as plagiarism if one fails to acknowledge one's sources.

If you are about to set up an aquarium with a base made of wire-reinforced glass, don't clean it and then leave it out in the sun to dry off. If you do, the wire expands faster than the surrounding glass and causes cracks. If you're lucky, you'll notice this problem before you cover the cracks with gravel and then fill the tank. No prizes will be awarded for guessing how I learned about this particular bug.