Friday Training Follow Up: Smart Client Extensions for AutoCAD

Robert Stephen Consulting, LLC provides free 30-minute Client Training session every Friday at 10:00AM PST.  RSC prides itself in providing learning opportunities for our clients.  We feel that if our clients know the system better, we will able to work better with them to discover and implement the solutions that they need.  

Last week Matt Ritzman discussed AutoCAD, specifically Smart Client.  Below is an overview of the training.

SMART CLIENT EXTENSIONS FOR AUTOCAD

BACKGROUND

Smart Client Extension for AutoCAD tends to install fairly easily. Most of the time issues arise when there's a copy of Overlay installed on the same computer. Also, 20.x versions of Smart Client had difficulty switching away from Smart Client, and required editing the registry to allow AutoCAD to run with a regular profile.

COMPATIBILITY

Smart Client Extension for AutoCAD

The Smart Client version determines the compatible versions of AutoCAD allowed.

• The version of Smart Client DOES NOT have to match the version of Web Central.
• As an example, you can have Web Central 21.2 installed but run Smart Client 22.1, if you are on subscription.
• If you are on subscription, you can install any version of Smart Client you like; it doesn’t require a database backend upgrade.
• Generally, Smart Client is compatible previous versions of AutoCAD:
• Smart Client 22.1 (which just came out 1 month ago) is compatible with AutoCAD 2016 (which came out last April).

Here’s the matrix for the some of the most recent versions:

Smart Client	21.1	21.2	21.3	22.1
ACAD 2009	yes	no	no	no
ACAD 2010	yes	yes	yes	no
ACAD 2011	yes	yes	yes	no
ACAD 2012	yes	yes	yes	no
ACAD 2013	yes	yes	yes	yes
ACAD 2014	yes	yes	yes	yes
ACAD 2015	no	no	yes	yes
ACAD 2016	no	no	no	yes

TROUBLESHOOTING

• Smart Client needs to have an installation AutoCAD set in Preferences
• Check that the profile is "Smart Client Extension for AutoCAD"
• Support file search paths should have only Smart Client path information (paths should look like this: C:/Program Files (x86)/ARCHIBUS/2X.X NOT C:/Program Files (x86)/AFM2X.X).
• Smart Client Path should be first in Support file search path
• Use APPLOAD to be certain that only the routines you intend are being loaded.
• Use CUILOAD to check which menus are loaded.
• Use CUI to check which menus are visible
• Sometimes the ribbon won't load. To get it to show up type: RIBBON
• If the ARCHIBUS Ribbon panel does not show up type afm_disable into the command line and press enter. Then type afm_enable into the command line and press enter. The ARCHIBUS panel should now display in the ribbon.
• Sometimes the drop down menu won't show up. Most of the time you can just set the workspace to AutoCAD Classic and that will solve the problem.

Additional checks for RSC tools:

• Need to have RSC_SC_Main.lsp in the Startup Suite
• Need Plotter configuration to be consistent across all computers using the system.

REGISTRY EDITS

Versions 20.X of Smart Client didn't release control of AutoCAD. An adjustment to the registry was required. To simplify registry edits, a batch file (*.bat) can be created.

AutoCAD without Smart Client Extensions

REGEDIT4
; @ECHO OFF
; CLS
; REGEDIT.EXE /S "%~f0"
; Start "" "C:\Program Files\AutoDesk\AutoCAD 2012 - English\acad.exe" -p std
; EXIT

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Autodesk\AutoCAD\R18.2\ACAD-A001:409\Applications\AfmOverlay]
"LOADCTRLS"=dword:0}}}}

AutoCAD with Smart Client Extensions

REGEDIT4

; @ECHO OFF
; CLS
; REGEDIT.EXE /S "%~f0"
; Start "" "C:\Program Files\AutoDesk\AutoCAD 2012 - English\acad.exe" -p "Smart Client Extension for AutoCAD"
; EXIT

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Autodesk\AutoCAD\R18.2\ACAD-A001:409\Applications\AfmOverlay]
"LOADCTRLS"=dword:2

This is the code for AutoCAD 2012. You will have to change the pathing for other versions of AutoCAD. Acad.exe will be in a different directory location, and you'll need to change the \R18.2\ACAD-A001:409\ portion of the registry key.

AutoCAD with Overlay

REGEDIT4

; @ECHO OFF
; CLS
; REGEDIT.EXE /S "%~f0"
; Start "" "C:\Program Files\Autodesk\AutoCAD 2012 - English\acad.exe" -p Overlay
; EXIT

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Autodesk\AutoCAD\R18.2\ACAD-A001:409\Applications\AfmOverlay]
"LOADCTRLS"=dword:0

If you'd like to know more about this particular training, email us at training@rsc2lc.com

We’d love to have you join us for this week's training on MicroView/SpaceView: SV Moves  this Friday, February 26, 2016. 

Please register by clicking on this link and follow the instructions:

https://attendee.gototraining.com/r/5787100603410695170

Registering is required to receive a confirmation email and a link to the training.

Our weekly client trainings are held Fridays from 10:00 AM to 10:30 AM PST.  This is an opportunity to learn more about an area of ARCHIBUS that you may not be familiar with.  

We look forward to seeing you there!

Like what you read?  Subscribe to the blog and follow us on Twitter, Facebook, and Linkedin to keep up to date with the latest news from RSC, LLC.

Thoughts? Questions?  Comment below and let us know what you think!  We'd love to hear your insights.

Follow @rsc2lc Tweet