3-6-4 Pro/E Plug-In

[juergen]

There seem's to be a huge bug in the Pro/E Plug-In of driver 3-6-4.

If you use the following protk.dat

name 3DxProENGINEER
startup dll
exec_file $ProgramFiles\3Dconnexion\3Dconnexion 3DxSoftware\3DxProENGINEER\$PRO_MACHINE_TYPE\obj\3dxproe.dll
text_dir $ProgramFiles\3Dconnexion\3Dconnexion 3DxSoftware\3DxProENGINEER
end

in Wildfire 3.0 M140, EVERY dat-file in c:\program files\3Dconnexion\3Dconnexion 3DxSoftware\3DxProENGINEER\i486_nt\obj will be deleted!!

Also every file in c:\program files\3Dconnexion\3Dconnexion 3DxSoftware\3DxProENGINEER\text will be deleted!!

c:\program files\3Dconnexion\3Dconnexion 3DxSoftware\2DxProENGINEER
and
c:\program files\3Dconnexion\3Dconnexion 3DxSoftware\4DxProENGINEER
will work, but not
c:\program files\3Dconnexion\3Dconnexion 3DxSoftware\3DxProENGINEER

What's going on?! Such a good hardware and so miserable drivers. When will 3Dconnexion ever change that?!

Version 3-6-6 shows exactly the same behavior.

Juergen

[ngomes]

Hi juergen,

There are no dat files in the "i486_nt\obj" sub-folder of the Pro/E plug-in installation folder.

Can you explain what steps are you taking to reproduce the problem? Also, what exactly is the issue? Are you not able to assign application commands to your 3D mouse buttons?

[juergen]

You're right, the dat files are of course in

c:\program files\3Dconnexion\3Dconnexion 3DxSoftware\3DxProENGINEER\i486_nt.

I have the protk.dat

name 3DxProENGINEER
startup dll
exec_file $ProgramFiles\3Dconnexion\3Dconnexion 3DxSoftware\3DxProENGINEER\$PRO_MACHINE_TYPE\obj\3dxproe.dll
text_dir $ProgramFiles\3Dconnexion\3Dconnexion 3DxSoftware\3DxProENGINEER
end

which I load with the config.pro entry

protkdat C:\Program Files\3Dconnexion\3Dconnexion 3DxSoftware\3DxProENGINEER\i486_nt\protk.dat

Once more the problem: If I use the standard installation directory "c:\program files\3Dconnexion\3Dconnexion 3DxSoftware\3DxProENGINEER" for the Pro/E Plug-In all dat files and all files in the "text" directory will be deleted.

I want 3Dconnexion to test their drivers before they throw it on their homepage.

[ngomes]

The installation of the Pro/E plug-in is an automated process. Are you taking any manual steps?

When are the dat files deleted? After you run the application?

[juergen]

Okay, let me explain more detailed:

If you install the driver with the Pro/E Plug-In, it'll create the file

C:\Program Files\proeWildfire 3.0\text\protk.dat

with the content

name 3DxProENGINEER
startup dll
exec_file C:\program files\3Dconnexion\3Dconnexion 3DxSoftware\3DxProENGINEER\$PRO_MACHINE_TYPE\obj\3dxproe.dll
text_dir $TEMP\3DxProENGINEER
end

If you then start Pro/E, the Plug-In is loaded correctly.

But it creates the folder 3DxProENGINEER in the temp directory (see: command prompt: set -> temp) with the resources for the Plug-In in it. And that is, because it is said so in the protk.dat file (the line "text_dir").

1st, I don't want the protk.dat file in the installation folder of Pro/E (because then it will be overwritten if our admin distributes a newer version of Pro/E) and 2nd, I don't want the resources in the temp folder.

You can load any Pro/Toolkit application (and the 3dxproe.dll is a Pro/Toolkit application) from within the config.pro (one of the configuration files of Pro/E) with protkdat.

As per Pro/Toolkit documentation, the default protk.dat should look as follows:

name 3DxProENGINEER
startup dll
exec_file $ProgramFiles\3Dconnexion\3Dconnexion 3DxSoftware\3DxProENGINEER\$PRO_MACHINE_TYPE\obj\3dxproe.dll
text_dir $ProgramFiles\3Dconnexion\3Dconnexion 3DxSoftware\3DxProENGINEER
end

The documentation also says "The text_dir does not need to include the directory text, it is added automatically by Pro/ENGINEER."

If you start now Pro/E, the Plug-In is not loaded and the files are deleted.

[ngomes]

Hi juergen,
Please correct me here.

If you then start Pro/E, the Plug-In is loaded correctly.

This means that the automated installation succeeded.

But it creates the folder 3DxProENGINEER in the temp directory (see: command prompt: set -> temp) with the resources for the Plug-In in it. And that is, because it is said so in the protk.dat file (the line "text_dir").

But in a way that, in your opinion, is not correct.

You go to explain why and then...

You can load any Pro/Toolkit application (and the 3dxproe.dll is a Pro/Toolkit application) from within the config.pro (one of the configuration files of Pro/E) with protkdat.

... you start following a different procedure and it does not work as expected.

The Pro/E plug-in developers are tied up all of this week and I'm tracking this thread so that they can get a head start.

Until then, we'll appreciate if could bear with us and if you could share any more information that you feel is relevant.