List of non-supported entities?

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Permalink Reply by progeCAD USA on September 17, 2009 at 6:13am

I don't know that "Vendors are never motivated to tell you what a product can't do" so much as I don't believe anyone has a complete and conclusive list.

The list may be different for each vendor too, as they may offer support for different capabilities, and in different ways. We offer the progeTABLE add-on software for those who want to do tables linked to Microsoft Excel. progeSOFT has many other tools they add to the engine to make it progeCAD which may add one of those entities that may not be in the package originally.

Lets face it, even with a few missing entities products like progeCAD from companies like progeSOFT make the value proposition very strong when the minute you decide to work with a "powered by IntelliCAD" product you receive an ROI of over $3000 immediately. That can put you ahead of your competition that still use AutoCAD allowing you more flexibility to win those design contracts.

Your best bet is to work with your vendor to accumulate the list. A good place to start is with the complete list of AutoCAD entities. Eh, did you inquire with the vendor BEFORE deciding on which brand to purchase?

oh, and btw, you could have received progeCAD for free for your computer labs, instructors and students by simply requesting it at www.progesoft.us... progeSOFT is continually giving to learning institutions to help defray the cost of education. Last week it was School District #73 in Kamloops, this week Jackson State and today we just donated full coverage to the University of New Orleans! progeSOFT ROCKS!

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Permalink Reply by Joe Dunfee on September 17, 2009 at 7:10pm

In my case, Cadopia was decided before I was involved. And like your product, there was no cost to the school. The cost of the AutoCAD license simply was not justified.

I do have experience with BricsCAD a few years ago when it was based on IntelliCAD. (I understand BricsCAD is no longer based on IntelliCAD) Our company got burned by a situation where we were expecting to be able to edit AutoCAD created drawings given to us by other companies because the lack of support for the Table entities became a significant problem. the typical "Reads and Writes AutoCAD 2006" statment omitted this detail.

I just visited your site. And while you have a feature table that shows what your products have vs. AutoCAD, I see this list is only a partial list. I suspect the number of non-supported entities is actually longer than the one object you list. Is that correct? Must I track down a list of all Acad entities and ask you to check off the ones not supported?

Thank you for jumping in on this question. I realize I may be stepping on the marketing department's toes, but do really feel that tis is an issue that should be addressed.

Joe Dunfee

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Permalink Reply by progeCAD USA on September 18, 2009 at 3:30am

I am just not sure what the official word is on the supported vs. unsupported. Then the gray area appears of proxy hell objects that are created by the Autodesk vertical products. Do they count as "native" AutoCAD entities? I vote no because they are nothing but a pain in a55 for most people.

So, I am not exactly sure how this list can be developed, who would maintain it, and who would be responsible for distributing it. Other than each vendor deciding to create one for themselves to pass around the only definitive answer would be directly from the ITC. That organization is run by volunteers from the member corporations so it may be difficult to organize the effort. I believe they have a new President so you might try and reach them to organize the effort. Since this is primarily for the benefit of your School I think you are going to be on your own with the effort. That is the unfortunate answer but it is the answer available.



Joe Dunfee said:

In my case, Cadopia was decided before I was involved. And like your product, there was no cost to the school. The cost of the AutoCAD license simply was not justified.

I do have experience with BricsCAD a few years ago when it was based on IntelliCAD. (I understand BricsCAD is no longer based on IntelliCAD) Our company got burned by a situation where we were expecting to be able to edit AutoCAD created drawings given to us by other companies because the lack of support for the Table entities became a significant problem. the typical "Reads and Writes AutoCAD 2006" statment omitted this detail.

I just visited your site. And while you have a feature table that shows what your products have vs. AutoCAD, I see this list is only a partial list. I suspect the number of non-supported entities is actually longer than the one object you list. Is that correct? Must I track down a list of all Acad entities and ask you to check off the ones not supported?

Thank you for jumping in on this question. I realize I may be stepping on the marketing department's toes, but do really feel that tis is an issue that should be addressed.

Joe Dunfee

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Permalink Reply by Joe Dunfee on September 18, 2009 at 6:06pm

I agree that the ITC should be the group that creates this list. I disagree that this is primarily something to just benefit my school. Rather it can be a significant issue for any user of the Intellicad related products that hopes to read Acad created DWG files.

Are ITC members given information about which native Acad entities are supported, and which are not?

Joe Dunfee

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Permalink Reply by progeCAD USA on September 19, 2009 at 2:09am

You are right, I stand corrected. I am not privy to the information that ITC member's receive, but I will tell you that when I worked at the consortium I had never seen a complete list like this published. That was a half a decade ago and the head of the Development there, who had just recently come on board when I left, has done a tremendous job of moving the technology forward so that kind of list may be available today.

I disagree that this is primarily something to just benefit my school. Rather it can be a significant issue for any user of the Intellicad related products that hopes to read Acad created DWG files."

Are ITC members given information about which native Acad entities are supported, and which are not?

Joe Dunfee

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Permalink Reply by Deelip Menezes on September 19, 2009 at 11:01am

"So, I am not exactly sure how this list can be developed, who would maintain it, and who would be responsible for distributing it."

I doubt the ITC would ever come up with such a list. AFAIK, the ITC does not have much to do with the ability or inability to read entity types in a DWG file. They simple get that functionality from the ODA through the DWGdirect SDK. And I believe the ODA may be more willing than the ITC to maintain such a list. Not sure if they already have one that it available to its members. But I assume that they will have such a list for internal use. More like a checklist of things to do.

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