If you have a question for Enventive support, check the list below to see whether you can find the answer in our FAQ. If you don't find what you're looking for, or you cannot resolve your question using the information you find here, please contact Enventive support for assistance.

Why am I getting an error (DeleteFile failed; Code 32) during Enventive installation?

I'm using a floating license and cannot access the Enventive license server. How can I get a license?

When I try to run tolerance analysis, I don't see anything appear in the spreadsheet. Why can't I run tolerance analysis?

I cannot see some of the Excel menus when Excel is running inside Enventive. Is this a limitation?

Enventive symbols, such as constraints and other symbols in the sketch view, look like they are the wrong symbols. How can I get the symbols to appear correctly?

What is the best way to construct constant thickness parts?

I'm having some problems working with arcs. Do you have some rules for arcs that may help?

Error during Enventive installation

If Excel is running during the Enventive installation, the installation procedure cannot install the Excel add-in for Enventive (EnExcel.xla), and the following error message appears.

An error occurred while trying to replace the existing file:
DeleteFile failed; Code 32.
The process cannot access the file because it is being used by another process.

It is important to exit from Excel before installing Enventive to ensure you have the most current version of the EnExcel.xla file.

The error message gives you the option to Abort, Ignore, or Retry. Close Excel and select Retry from the error message dialog, and Enventive should install normally. If you already completed the installation, uninstall Enventive, close Excel and all other programs, and reinstall Enventive.

Note: To avoid installation problems, it is always recommended to close all programs before installing Enventive. We also recommend uninstalling the previous version of Enventive before installing a newer version.

Cannot access Enventive license server

The most likely causes for license access problems are:

• A problem with the network

• The license server or license service has been shut down

• All of the licenses have been checked out

To determine what the problem is, try pinging the license server by opening a Command Prompt and typing ping host where host is either the hostname or the IP address for the license server.

If you are unable to ping the server:

There is either a problem with your network or the license server has been shut down. In either case, contact your system administrator for assistance.

If you are able to ping the license server:

If you are able to ping the license server, but still can't get a license, use the following steps to test whether the license service (which runs on the license server) is running, and to find out if any licenses are available.

1. Download this utility: http://www.enventive.com/dl.php?lmxendutil.exe.

2. Open a Command Prompt window and go to the directory where you saved the license utility.

3. Enter the following command: lmxendutil -licstat -host host  (where host is your license server hostname or IP address).

The output from this command will tell whether the license server is running, and whether any licenses are available.

If the license server and license service is running, and licenses are available, and you're still not able to connect, see your system administrator.

Cannot run tolerance analysis

It is important that Excel 2000 or higher be installed prior to installing Enventive. If you did not meet this requirement, you may need to uninstall Enventive, ensure you meet this and other system requirements for installing Enventive, and then reinstall Enventive. Please refer to Enventive installation notes for complete installation instructions.

If you still cannot run tolerance analysis after ensuring you meet all installation requirements, Excel may be unable to find the location or correct version of the Enventive add-in EnExcel.xla, which is required for running tolerance analysis.  

To determine what might be causing this problem:

1. Check whether EnExcel.xla exists in the ..\Microsoft Office\OFFICEn\Library folder (where n is the version of Office that is installed; e.g., OFFICE10 for Office 2000 or OFFICE11 for Office 2003). The default location for this folder is in C:\Program Files.

2. Depending on whether the file exists in the correct location, follow the appropriate procedure below.

If EnExcel.xla does not exist in the ..\Microsoft Office\OFFICEn\Library folder:

In this case, the Enventive installation was unable to locate the Office directory (this may occur if Office is installed in a non-standard location) and alternatively installed the Excel add-in file in C:\Library. If this folder does not already exist, Enventive creates it.

To fix this problem:

1. Close Enventive and Excel.

2. Move EnExcel.xla from C:\Library to the ..\Microsoft Office\OFFICEn\Library folder. If you do not have an EnExcel.xla file, you must reinstall Enventive after removing the add-in (step 3) or contact Enventive to obtain a new EnExcel.xla file.

3. Start Excel. You should see a message warning you the add-in cannot be found. Select Add-Ins from the Tools menu, and uncheck the EnExcel add-in. Excel displays a message indicating the add-in is not found and prompting you to delete it.

4. Click Yes at the prompt to remove the add-in, click OK to exit the Add-Ins dialog, and exit Excel. (Removing the add-in instead of redirecting it at this point will ensure that Excel properly locates the add-in the next time you start Excel.)

5. Restart Excel, select Add-Ins from the Tools menu, and check the EnExcel add-in. Excel automatically finds and installs the add-in from the new location.

6. To use Excel with Enventive, close Excel and then start Enventive. You should now be able to run tolerance analysis. If you need further assistance, contact Enventive support.

If EnExcel.xla does exist in the ..\Microsoft Office\OFFICEn\Library folder:

In this case, Excel is pointing to an incorrect location for the add-in or is otherwise using an older version of the add-in. This issue may occur if you install a new version of Excel after installing Enventive.

To fix this problem:

1. Close Enventive and Excel.

2. Locate and remove any EnExcel files from directories other than the ..\Microsoft Office\OFFICEn\Library directory. Specifically check for ..\Enventive 1.0\Plugins directories from any older Enventive installations, which may hold outdated versions of EnExcel.xla. (Note: We recommend you remove older installations of Enventive, preferably using the uninstall procedure, prior to installing new versions.)

3. Start Excel. You should see a message warning you the add-in cannot be found. Select Add-Ins from the Tools menu, and uncheck the EnExcel add-in. Excel displays a message indicating the add-in is not found and prompting you to delete it.

4. Click Yes at the prompt to remove the add-in, click OK to exit the Add-Ins dialog, and exit Excel. (Removing the add-in instead of redirecting it at this point will ensure that Excel properly locates the add-in the next time you start Excel.)

5. If you installed a newer version of Excel after installing Enventive, you must reinstall Enventive after removing the add-in or contact Enventive to obtain a new EnExcel.xla file to place in the ..\Microsoft Office\OFFICEn\Library folder.

6. Restart Excel, select Add-Ins from the Tools menu, and check the EnExcel add-in. Excel automatically finds and installs the add-in from the new location.

7. To use Excel with Enventive, close Excel and then start Enventive. You should now be able to run tolerance analysis. If you need further assistance, contact Enventive technical support.

Cannot see Excel menus

Occasionally, some of the Excel menus may become inaccessible when running Excel docked inside Enventive. To restore the menus, you must  delete the Excel .xlb file that stores special menu options. Excel will then create a new .xlb file with the correct settings when you restart Excel.

To re-create the Excel .xlb file:

1. Exit from Enventive and from any Excel process that is running.

2. Using Windows Explorer, locate Excel<version>.xlb (where <version> is your Excel version number; for example, Excel10.xlb or Excel11.xlb). By default, this file is located in C:\Documents and Settings\<username>\Application Data\Microsoft\Excel.

3. Delete the .xlb file.

4. Restart Enventive and check that you can access the menus in the docked Excel application.

Symbols not appearing correctly

If some Enventive symbols (such as constraint symbols seen in the sketch view and Properties Explorer) look incorrect, you may not have the latest Enventive font file.

Enventive's constraint symbols and some other symbols use characters from an Enventive font. When new features result in new symbols being added to Enventive, the Enventive font file must be updated to display these new symbols in Enventive.

The Enventive font file is included in the Enventive installation. However, the font file may not get installed when other applications that use the font files in question are open. The most likely programs to interfere with font file installation are Office applications such as Word, Excel, etc.

To be sure you have the latest font file:

1. Uninstall Enventive (use the Uninstall option from the Enventive installation directory or use Add or Remove Programs from the Windows Control Panel).

2. Close all programs.

3. Reinstall Enventive.

Note: To avoid installation problems, it is always recommended to close all programs before installing Enventive. We also recommend uninstalling the previous version of Enventive before installing a newer version.

Constant Thickness Parts

Follow the rules given below to obtain the best results for constant thickness parts. If these rules are not applied, you are likely to experience problems with constant thickness parts.

1. For any continuous section of constant thickness part (no sharp corners), you must use only one dimension to control the section width (the wall thickness).

• It is best to control the thickness with a point-to-line dimension. Avoid using line-to-line dimensions to control wall thickness.

• If more than one thickness dimension exists, it probably indicates that there is an error in the model, and redundancy problems are likely to occur.

• Note that a section with a sharp inner corner is continuous if the outer wall has a radius. To be discontinuous, both the inner and outer walls of a corner must be sharp.

2. Constrain each pair of lines parallel to each other.

3. Constrain each pair of arcs concentric to each other. If you have an outer arc but no inner arc (that is, a rounded corner on the outside but a sharp corner on the inside created by two connected lines), constrain the centerpoint of the arc coincident to the intersection point of the two lines.

4. Apply a coincident point constraint to each line-arc connection point before applying a tangency constraint (see the next step).

5. Apply a tangency constraint at each line-arc connection point, after applying a coincident point constraint (see the previous step).

6. Apply a radius dimension to only one arc in each arc pair. Do not apply a radius dimension to both arcs in an arc pair. Usually, the best practice is to dimension the inner arc radius.

7. Only after steps 2-6 are completed, apply dimensions to locate the arc center points. If you do this step before the other steps, the model will be prone to redundancy problems.

8. Test the section by perturbing the wall thickness dimension by an amount less than half the wall thickness (perturbing by an amount greater than half the wall thickness will give bad results). If everything perturbs smoothly, your constraint scheme is good. If it won't perturb (it seems unresponsive), you have a redundancy that is freezing your model.

Rules for Arcs

The following rules concerning arcs may help you to understand and work with arcs more effectively in your Enventive models.

Double Strand Arcs (concatenated concentric arc pairs) Constrained Tangent at Each Connection Point

1. You can use only one dimension to control the width across arc pairs. The width may be controlled directly (e.g., with a line between two arcs in a pair), or indirectly by dimensioning both radii of one of the arc pairs.

2. With one end fully determined (arc endpoints fully constrained) and the other end open, with x and y of one centerpoint defined, and without the width defined, the net DOF equals the number of pairs of arcs: 2 pairs = 2 DOF; 3 pairs = 3 DOF; etc.

3. The open end accounts for 2 DOF (one DOF for each arc length at the end).

4. With the width defined, the number of centerpoint dimensions that may be defined equals the number of arc pairs minus one. For two arc-pairs, only one centerpoint dimension may be defined.

5. The width may be defined by using an extra centerpoint dimension, but doing so may make the model unstable.

Single Strand Arcs (concatenated arcs) Constrained Tangent at Each Connection Point

With one endpoint fully defined (fully constrained), and the other endpoint open (arc length not defined), the available centerpoint dimensions equal the number of arcs.