> Hi Geoff -- I was able to export to Windows metafile successfully. No errors
> and the file
> looks good in my graphics viewer program. I don't think the function is
> necessarily broken.
>
> Windows 2000 SP4, P99SE SP6, Windows FS ddb
>
> FWIW I always use the Windows FS ddb with Protel 99SE.
>
> Matt Pobursky
> Maximum Performance Systems
Thank you for also reporting on your experience when you tried using the Export
command. After hearing from Wojciech Oborski and now you, it is now clear that
this command does work with .DDB files using the 'Windows File System' option
on at least some PCs, if not all PCs of a non-faulty nature.
Hence there is probably either some problem with my PC (I lost a hard drive
about a couple a months ago, so maybe it did something like corrupting the
memory used by the BIOS on its way out), or else there could be some defect
within Protel 99 SE of a flaky nature which results in that command working on
some/most PCs, but not on all PCs.
Otherwise maybe something else again is causing problems. (As one possible
example, maybe installing some other application after Protel 99 SE (has been
installed) results in some critical registry entry being changed which then
"breaks" the Export command provided within Protel 99 SE.)
But given that I still normally have no interest in using that particular
command, and that I have now managed to ascertain under what circumstances the
metafiles created by that command contain mis-oriented strings (which was why I
was wanting to use that command in recent times), I don't see any profit in
attempting to spend too much additional time in determining exactly why I am
having problems with that command. If however, I do manage to uncover any
further details as to why I am having problems with this command, then I will
report my findings to this mailing list.
And just in case anyone is doubting that there are defects with the PcbPrint
server as far as mis-oriented strings are concerned, there really are problems
in that regard (in Protel 99 SE and DXP). If the Bottom Overlay layer within a
PCB file contains any (mirrored) strings (which typically is the case for any
PCB file containing any components on the bottom side of the PCB), and one or
more of those strings have an "upwards reading" or "downwards reading"
orientation, then those strings will be incorrectly depicted within any
printout which is created in a mirrored form and which also uses Windows fonts
in place of the Protel fonts.
To be more specific, text strings which *should* be depicted as "upwards
reading" within such printouts are *actually* depicted as "downwards reading"
instead, and vice-versa.
And if anyone is currently wondering why anyone would ever want to select that
option (in which Windows fonts are used in place of the Protel fonts), the
answer is that if that option is selected, and the associated "printer" is an
Acrobat file, then the Acrobat file which is subsequently created incorporates
strings which can then be searched by anyone who subsequently opens that file.
OTOH, if that option is *not* selected, then any strings depicted within the
Acrobat file actually consist of data of a graphical nature instead, and as
such, the Acrobat file will *not* contain any strings which anyone subsequently
opening that file will be able to search for.
And the ability to search for particular strings is very helpful within
assembly drawings, as one example. If somebody is trying to determine the
location of a particular component (e.g. L14), then they can specify the
associated string as the string to be searched for.
At this stage, some people reading this message could well be thinking that the
"Smart PDF" feature (first provided in AD 2004) could be used to create Acrobat
files which incorporate bookmarks which could similarly be used to determine
the locations of particular components (or other details, such as particular
nets, etc). And my response to that is that maybe the "Smart PDF" feature has
been refined to some extent within AD 2006, but within AD 2004, there were many
aspects of that feature that left a lot to be desired. As one example, users
had no control over the dimensions of the pages within the Acrobat files
created by that feature. And there are also assorted defects with that feature,
such as "misplaced" bookmarks and/or text strings, so many users have probably
inferred that making use of that feature would be a mixed blessing at best.
And in any event, as the option of using Windows fonts in place of the Protel
fonts has been provided for each Printout definition defined by a user, then
any printouts actually created from such Printout definitions should actually
always be fully satisfactory. (It is not impossible to modify the values of the
Rotation properties of all of the mirrored strings within a PCB file in order
to create printouts of a more satisfactory nature - but apart from being very
undesirable to have to resort to doing that, having to resort to such a
workaround should definitely not be necessary.)
As I mentioned in my previous message, this particular defect has been "mostly"
rectified within AD 2004 (if either SP3 or SP4 is installed), but I still think
that it is scandalous that it took so long for that to occur. I first reported
this defect in 1999 (and even before the initial publicly released version of
Protel 99 SE), but SP3 for AD 2004 was not released until part way through
2005. It is one thing for a defect to still not be rectified a year after it
was first reported, but in this particular case, the defect was still present
*five* years after it had first been reported.
I don't doubt for one minute that some members of this mailing list consider
that I am given to complaining excessively about the defects within the
Protel/DXP/AD applications. But while those applications are not of a highly
"mission critical" nature (e.g. controlling life-support equipment within a
hospital's intensive care ward, or a nuclear reactor, and thus requiring the
extermination of all bugs within the software), nor are those applications of a
recreational nature instead (e.g. computer games, within which the presence of
bugs imposes no significant threats to any members of the community). Given the
professional nature of the typical user, it is not far-fetched to surmise that
they are looking for tools of a similarly professional nature, and as such,
they want to use well debugged tools, rather than half-baked toys.
And to the extent that users don't complain more vigorously about defects of
this nature, they are giving Altium a license to continue "shipping" software
whose quality frequently leaves so much to be desired. But enough for the time
being...
Regards,
Geoff Harland.
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