The most common problems are due to format. Trouble shooting tips and techniques:
1. Strongly suggest to use an application like Ultra Edit, NotePAD++, etc.. that clearly indicates current cursor position and row number.
2. Always, Always, Always name your custom material file to a different name than that used by AutoPIPE. Very important to not reuse default AutoPIPE *.LIB names.
3. Highly suggest when working on a SRC material files in any text editor, Turning on "Show all characters" settings to confirm formatting and characters used (ex. spaces, return, tab, etc..)
4. Column alignment and spaces are an important issue in an SRC file, recommend switch from INS (insert) mode to OVR (overwrite) mode to avoid related issues.
5. Material files should not contain any Tabs or Automatic Indents. Search and destroy all Non-ASCII characters like Tabs and indents. File should only contain spaces and text data.
Note: see that line 23 in image above has a Tab character, This would cause the file be compiled with errors.
6. The last entry in every table needs to have an asterisk at the start of the material name. No other material name should start in column #1.
7. When adding a new material to any table in the library file, strongly recommend the following:
a. Highlight & copy an complete table entry for a material
b. Confirm Insert mode is enabled and not Overwrite mode
c. Move to the insertion spot just below the selected entry
d. Paste a new table entry
e. Change the text editor to overstrike mode
f. Modify the data as needed in the new table entry.
This will overwrite the original data with new information preserving the format. Always be vigilant about maintain column alignment.
8. Ensure only the last table entry starts in each section starts with an astrik " * " mark.
9. Verify your "# of rows used" and "Total # of rows" have the correct values.
10. If all else fails, start over with a fresh copy of the SRC file and try again. Recommend to add one material, verifies that it works before mass production of adding many new materials.
11. If you cannot get your file to work correctly, please send the SRC file to Bentley TSG for review. Be sure to include specific details on what is not functioning correctly, 8 digit version of AutoPIPE being used, what piping code and year should the material file be used for, name of original SRC file that was used to start making modifications.
Typically TSG will start over with a fresh copy of the original SRC file, adn utilize all of the suggestions above while be vigilant about every character added / removed from the material library.
Note:
Remember, being a custom module, Bentley cannot be held responsible for the inaccuracy of the new library content. It is your responsibility to verify all of the data and functionality of the new Material library :
a. Verification of data in the SRC file
b. Verification of data in the Press / Temp. dialog
c. Verification of relevant data in the Pipe Properties dialog
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