12c2BG.TXT - ACAD R12c2 bug list

Compiled by Mike Dickason [72711,3404]
April 3, 1993       Initial posting   Bugs 1-34
June 13, 1993       Second posting    Bugs 35-40 DOS, 1-5 WINACAD
November 3, 1993    Third posting     Bugs 41-48

**** NOTE****
The R12 Windows bugs are no longer listed in this file.  They will
be located in the file W12BUG.ZIP which will be uploaded sometime
soon.
*************

The following list of ACAD 12c2 bugs and corresponding work arounds
was compiled from a combination of problems I have personally
encountered and from messages posted on the ACAD forum of
Compuserve.  This list was originally called R12BUG.TXT, because
many of the bugs listed in R12BUG.TXT have been fixed with either
R12c1 or R12c2, this new list was started which lists only the bugs
which are still present in R12c2.  Many of the bugs in R12c1 were
driver related.  Since I personally can't verify all of the
different drivers, I've made the assumption that all known driver
bugs were fixed with R12c2.  Time will tell whether or not this is
true.

I'm not an employee of AutoDesk, nor did I compile this list to
discredit AutoDesk.  Indeed, I am quite happy with R12c2, but as
with any program of this size and magnitude, there are some bugs. 
This is not an official nor a complete list of R12c2 bugs.  It is
meant to be used as an informative list to help other users who
might be encountering similar problems.  All of the problems on
this list have been reported to and acknowledged by ADESK.  If you
know of any bugs which are not included on this list, I would be
interested in hearing about them, solely for the purpose of keeping
the list up to date.  Unless noted otherwise, the bugs are present
in the North American version of ACAD R12c2 for DOS.

Numbers prefixed with an '*' are either new to this posting, or
have been updated from the previous posting to include additional
information.


 1.  There is "lockup" problem with a combination of DVIEW,
     LTSCALE, DRAGMODE, and INSERT using a block containing
     entities with non-continuous linetypes.  The following lisp
     routine demonstrates the "lockup":

     (defun c:lock ()
          (setvar "dragmode" 2)
          (command "._zoom" "w" (list 1999995 499995) (list
          2000105 500100))
          (command "._line" (list 2000000 500000) "@100,0" "")
          (command "._chprop" (entlast) "" "lt" "hidden2" "")
          (command "._block" "lock" (list 0 0) (entlast) "")
          (command "._dview" "" "")
          (command "._ltscale" 50)
          (command "._insert" "lock" (list 0 0))
     )

     Start a new drawing with no prototype, run the lisp routine
     and ACAD will "lockup" the system.  If I remove the call to
     Dview, leave the line's linetype as continuous, leave
     LTSCALE=1, or turn of DRAGMODE, the "lockup" problem
     disappears.  It turns out that this routine does not lock up
     the program.  If you initiate this sequence, then leave the
     computer running for 3-6 hours and then come back, ACAD will
     be waiting at the next prompt.  Same problem can occur when
     attaching XREF's.  So if this happens while in an important
     drawing that you haven't saved in several hours (shame on
     you), just walk away from it and come back later and you
     should be able to cancel out of the insert and then save.

 2.  If you use WBLOCK <dwgname> * to purge a drawing, and the
     drawing contains xrefs, Release 12 resets all xref layer
     visibility, color, and linetype settings to the values in
     the external drawings, even when you've changed some of
     these values and set VISRETAIN to 1 to keep the changes.

     Workaround: Use the PURGE command instead of WBLOCK * (note
     that, because of block nesting, you sometimes have to go
     through several OPEN and PURGE cycles in order to purge
     everything).  Alternately, if your changes to xref layers
     are minimal, simply reapply them after purging with WBLOCK
     *.

 3.  R12 has a problem with Wblocks and file locking when using
     relative paths to specify the drawing name.  With file
     locking turned on, if I open a file with a relative path,
     then attempt to Wblock the drawing back to itself using the
     same relative path, ACAD reports the following error
     message:

         Unable to lock file .\MIKE
         File write locked by USER1
         at 10:00 on 08/13/1992

          The command sequence to show this...

               Command:     OPEN
               File name:   .\MIKE
               Command:     WBLOCK
               File name:   .\MIKE

     R11 didn't exhibit this problem.  The only way to make it
     work in R12 is to type out the full path for the Wblock
     name, which is a pain when you have long paths for the file
     directories.  
     The same problem occurs if you open a new drawing with a
     relative path then attempt to save it using the SAVE
     command.

 4.  With FILEDIA=1, if you have a repeating menu command such as 
     [Fan]*^c^cinsert c:/acad/elecsyms/fan which attempts to
     insert a non-existant block, the ACAD displays a text
     message stating that the block can't be found, then repeats
     the command as it should because of the '*' prefix.  At this
     point, if you hit any key other than ^C, ACAD will enter an
     infinite loop attempting to insert a non-existant block.  At
     this point the only way out is to re-boot the computer.

 5.  When performing a Zoom Extents within a viewport in
     Paperspace, ACAD is incorrectly computing the drawing
     extents based on every entity in the drawing instead of only
     those thawed in the current viewport.  To show this, start a
     new drawing, then place a circle at (5,5) with a 10' radius
     on LAYER1, then create a second circle at (1000,1000) with a
     10' radius on LAYER2.  Set TILEMODE=0 and create then use
     MVIEW to create 2 viewports.  Run VPLAYER and freeze LAYER1
     in one viewport and LAYER2 in the other viewport.  Now
     perform a Zoom Extents in each viewport.  ACAD is zooming
     over the entire model space instead of just the object
     space.  No known workaround.

 6.  If you perform a PEDIT Join command on a polyline containing
     curve information, the resultant joined polyline is stripped 
     of all the curve information leaving you with a polyline
     made entirely of straight line segments.  No known
     workaround.

 7.  With a closed polyline, if you perform the sequence PEDIT,
     Edit vertex, Break, the command will not only break out the
     segment between the specified vertices, but it also removes
     the "closing" segment of the polyline leaving you with two
     separate polylines if you attempt to break out an interior
     section.  No known workaround.  Note:  This problem occurred
     in earlier versions of ACAD and is not unique to R12.
 
 8.  ACAD does not allow the valid DOS filename characters
     "`~!@#$%^&{}()'" to be used with the NEW, SAVE, WBLOCK, and
     SAVEAS commands.  Interestingly enough, the commands OPEN
     and INSERT do allow these characters to be used.  Because of
     this discrepancy, it is possible to open an existing drawing
     which contains these characters but you won't be able to
     save it back to the disk with changing its name.

 9.  Having Limit Checking turned on prevents the you from
     configuring your tablet menu.  Attempting to configure the
     tablet menu with Limit Checking on results in the message
     "Outside Limits" being display for each corner of the menu. 
     The work around is to turn it off with the command, LIMITS
     OFF.

 10. With file locking enabled, start a new drawing and attempt
     to DXFIN a .DXF file which contains errors.  ACAD will
     generate an error message about the invalid DXF file, then
     re-initialize the drawing editor so that the current drawing
     name is "UNNAMED" but it leaves the .DWK file for the
     original new drawing.  You then have to delete the original
     .DWK before you can attempt to start a new drawing with the
     same name.

 11. If you perform a Dview Twist on a drawing, then plot with a
     window, the coordinates of the window corners displayed in
     the new plot dialog box do not match the actual coordinates
     that were picked.  Regardless of what the plot window shows,
     the actual coordinates picked are used for generating the
     plot.  This appears to related to the variable "TARGET",
     which changes after a DVIEW, but never seems to be set back
     to its default value (i.e. start a new drawing, look at the
     value of TARGET, then do a Dview Twist 300, Dview Twist 0,
     and then look at TARGET again and it is different).  No
     known work around.

 12. Here's a minor bug with R12's help command.  Run the help
     command, and select "Index" from the opening dialog box. 
     Double click on any item in the index list (I'll use 3D as
     the example) and the help screen for that item comes up as
     expected.  Now select "Index" again and the index dialog
     pops up with the selected item still highlighted.  Select
     "OK" to view the same item again and you get a prompt that
     says "Nothing selected." even though the item is still
     highlighted.  To get the item again, you have to physically
     select it instead of just selecting "OK".

 13. When using the new Shift to Add feature for building
     selection sets, the "Window" and "Crossing" selection
     options add to the current selection set instead of
     replacing it as documented.  No known work around.

 14. There is a problem with any command which uses the new File
     Dialog box to allow for file selection.  When you change the
     file search pattern so that it matches enough file names to
     require the slider bar to be used then slide the bar to the
     bottom of this list it jumps back to the top of the list. 
     To see this, load a drawing with enough blocks to enable the
     sliders in a list box.  Call DDINSERT and pick Block to get
     a listing of the blocks.  Change the Pattern specification
     to anything that will retain the sliders (or just delete the
     "*" and enter it again).  Then slide the list to the bottom
     and release - it goes back to the top of the list.  It
     happens whenever you change the Pattern specification. 
     However, it will work correctly if you do it a second time -
     only happens the first time after changing the Pattern
     specification.  This problem occurs in every command which
     utilizes the R12 file dialog box.

 15. With file locking enabled and FILEDIA=0, if you shell out of
     ACAD and delete the MNX file for the current menu then
     return to the editor and then attempt to make a selection
     from the current menu you get the message "Error reading
     menu file.".  At this point the "Command:" prompt does not
     appear, although the program is actually waiting for the
     next command.

 16. With file locking enabled, save the current file, make some
     changes, then shell out of ACAD and delete the .DWK file for
     the current drawing.  Now end out of ACAD.  You get the
     following message:
          Unable to lock file XXX.
          Trying to remove a non-existant lock.
          Press RETURN to continue:

     This message will keep appearing until you hit ^C to cancel,
     at which point the drawing is successfully saved and ACAD is
     exited.

 17. The new variable PICKAUTO does not work.  Regardless of its
     setting, ACAD allows you to draw a selection window (both
     window and crossing window) automatically at the "Select
     objects: " prompt.  Setting PICKAUTO to 0 is supposed to
     disable this automatic windowing, but it only does works for
     the first pick.  All subsequent picks will envoke the auto
     selection window.

 18. After restoring a PCP file which has a default plot file
     name which contains a path, any PCP files saved (during the
     same editing session) will contain the default plot file
     name with path that was originally read in, instead of the
     current default plot file name.

 19. Create a visible attribute on layer 0.  Create a block
     called TEST which consists solely of the attribute you just
     defined.  Make a new layer called HOWCOME and insert the
     TEST block onto this layer and enter "THIS IS TEXT" at the
     attribute value prompt.  Freeze layer 0.  The attribute
     value of "THIS IS TEXT" is still visible on the screen, as
     it should be since anything created on Layer 0 is supposed
     to take on the properties of the insertion layer.  Now try
     to select the block using any command, including DDATTE,
     ERASE, MOVE, COPY, etc. and you will not be able to.  The
     only known workaround is to THAW Layer 0.

 20. When using the fillet command on lines that are residing on
     different layers, the fillet arc will be created on the
     current layer with the current layer color and current layer
     linetype rather than on the current layer in the color
     currently set by the color command and the current linetype
     set by the linetype command.  No known workaround.  Same
     problem applies to the CHAMFER command.

 21. The command DDIM does not work transparently, even though it
     is documented to do so.  The only workaround is to run the
     command from the "Command:" or "Dim:" prompts.

 22. The new TRIM with Fence option does not work correctly with
     polylines which cross the trimming boundary more than twice. 
     The only workaround is to keep repeating the trim command
     until all of the polyline is gone.

 23. Call REPLAY to replay a TIFF file. Select a file from the
     dialog box by double clicking on the file's name. Works
     perfect.  Call REPLAY again. ACAD defaults to the file
     entered before. Click OK: "Error: can't locate file". Press
     RETURN: "Error: can't locate file". Double-click on the
     filename: This works.

 24. R12 doesn't correctly display or plot certain circles with   
     non-continuous linetypes contained within a block.  The
     following lisp routine demonstrates the problem.
          (defun c:showme ()
            (setvar "ltscale" 1)
            (command "._layer" "m" "hidden" "lt" "hidden" "" "")
            (command "._circle" (list 0 0) (/ 3.0 32.0))
            (command "._block" "no_show" (list 0 0) (entlast) "")
            (setvar "ltscale" 48)
            (command "._insert" "no_show" (list 0 0) 48 "" "")
            (command "._zoom" "e")
          )
     If the block is exploded at this point, the circle will show 
     up with a hidden linetype.  To make the circle display
     correctly without exploding the block, the LTSCALE must be
     set  to a value less than PI/2 (1.5706 works).

 25. The lisp expression (ssget "X" (list (cons 0 "ARC") (cons -4 
     "=,=,=") (cons 10 (list 0 0 z)))) doesn't work.  The z
     coordinate isn't being evaluated in the relational test with 
     arcs.

 26. The lisp expression (ssget "X" (list (cons 0 "INSERT") (cons
     -4 "=,=,=") (cons 10 (list 0 0 z)))) doesn't work.  The z
     coordinate isn't being evaluated in the relational test with
     blocks.

 27. If you create a custom linetype that consists of a repeated
     sequence of two or more dots, AutoCAD doesn't display or
     plot the linetype correctly. For instance, suppose you
     create a "3-dot" linetype (a sequence of 3 closely spaced
     dots, followed by a wide space, followed by 3 more dots...)
     by adding the following linetype definition to ACAD.LIN:

          *3DOTS,... ... ... ... ...
          A,0,-.25,0,-.25,0,-.5

     When you draw random line segments with this linetype, some
     of the segments are continuous, and in other segments the
     dot groupings are incorrectly spaced or contain the wrong
     number of dots.  Note that this bug isn't new with Release
     12.

     Workaround: Although we haven't discovered a completely
     effective workaround, drawing polylines with linetype
     generation turned on minimizes the problem.  The first and
     last sequences of dots are still wrong, but the remaining
     dots are fine and the continuous segments disappear.  To
     turn on linetype generation, set the Release 12 system
     variable PLINEGEN to 1 before drawing the polylines.  Use
     the PLUD command or the Ltype gen option of the PEDIT
     command to change existing polylines.

 28. Documentation bug.  The ACAD Reference Manual index is
     missing references to these AutoCAD commands: GraphScr,
     TextScr, Redefine, Undefine, Script, RScript and Resume.

 29. Documentation bug.  The ADS Reference Manual example on page
     108 which shows how to use ads_entmake() to generate a
     polyline is incomplete.  The codes for the linetype and
     color were omitted for each VERTEX and for the SEQEND.  If
     the linetype and color are not included in the
     ads_buildlist() command for these items, the AUDIT command
     will report several errors in the drawing after running the
     example as shown.

 30. When using the DLGCOLOR command, typing a filename into the
     default file box will not work unless you include the .DCC
     extension in the name.

 31. In the FILTER dialogue, double clicking on an item in one of
     the "Select..." subdialogues doesn't work.  AutoCAD puts the
     dialogue away, but the item isn't selected.  To reproduce
     the problem, load a drawing containing several layers and
     linetypes.  Start FILTER and select Layer as the filter
     criterion.  Click on "Select..." and when the layer list
     comes up, double click on a layer name.  AutoCAD returns to
     the FILTER dialogue, but doesn't copy the layer name to the
     X: text box.  Ditto with using Linetype as a filter
     criterion.

 32. In the Text Location subdialogue of DDIM, two of the choices
     in the Alignment drop-down list are reversed.  "Align When
     Inside Only" turns DIMTIH on and DIMTOH off, as the manual
     states, but the effect of these settings is to keep text
     horizontal when it's inside the extension lines, and to
     align it when the text is outside (exactly the opposite of
     what the label and manual say).

     Similarly, "Align When Outside Only" turns DIMTIH off and
     DIMTOH on, which keeps text horizontal when it's outside the
     extension lines, and aligns it when the text is inside.

 33. Undo doesn't work quite right with DDIM. To reproduce the
     problem:
     1)   Start DDIM and save the current dimvars to a style
          name, say STANDARD.
     2)   Draw a dimension (optional).
     3)   Start DDIM again and make any dimvar changes using one
          of the Dimension Variable subdialogues.  Close the DDIM
          dialogue.
     4)   AutoCAD updates the dimension style.  Now type U to
          undo.  AutoCAD (correctly) undoes the change to the
          dimension style.
     5)   Start DDIM once more and note that the current style is
          *UNNAMED, rather than STANDARD.

     Workaround: Type U twice instead of just once (or pop up
     DDIM after you use U and select STANDARD as the current
     style).

 34. The new "F", "CP", and "WP" selection methods do not honor
     the setting of Orthomode.

 35. There is a problem with using "Auto" in menu macros for
     building selection sets.  Given the menu line:
          [Copy Multiple]^c^cSelect Au \Copy P  Mul \

     AutoCAD's implied windowing is activated for the first
     screen pick, after that you have to physically type "W" or
     "C" to get a selection window.

     If you change the menu line to:

          [Copy Multiple]^c^cSelect \Copy P  Mul \

     AutoCAD's implied windowing is never activated unless you
     physically type "W" or "C" to get a selection window.

     Finally, if you change the line to:
          [Copy Multiple]^c^cCopy \

     AutoCAD's implied windowing is only activated after the
     fourth pick.  The only known workaround is to replace the
     menu macro with a lisp routine.

 36. With only the DOS version of R12c2, the "alignment=right"
     DCL command does not work for text.  Instead it displays the
     text as left justified.  There is no known workaround.

 37. The lisp functions (ssget "f"), (ssget "wp") and (ssget
     "cp") each take as an argument a list of the points that
     define the fence or the selection polygon.  However, if you
     pass a list containing only a single point, such as (ssget
     "f" '((1.0 1.0 0.0))), ACAD generates a FATAL ERROR.  With
     the (ssget "f") option you are instantly dumped to the DOS
     prompt and given no chance to save the current drawing. 
     With the other two methods you are prompted to save before
     ACAD exits to DOS.

 38. Using (ssget "x") in an MNL file changes the value of the
     MENUNAME system variable.  To see this behavior copy
     ACAD.MNU to TEST.MNU and create TEST.MNL containing only the
     line:
        (ssget "X" '((8 . "0")))

     Load the TEST menu.  If the (ssget) returned a selection set
     the MENUNAME is "TSSn" where n is the number of the
     selection set.  If (ssget) returned nil the MENUNAME is
     "_X".  There is no known workaround.

 39. Using the PTEXT program supplied with ACAD, if you use the
     "Fit" option and hit <Spacebar> at the "Text: " prompt, a
     "General Protection Exception" is generated and ACAD ends
     out of the drawing.  The is no known workaround.

 40. Call up the DDMODIFY dialog box then select the CANCEL
     button.  Type "U" to undo the last command and ACAD will
     report "Start of Group encountered.  Must enter UNDO END to
     go back further.".  To fix the problem, edit DDMODIFY.LSP
     and add the line "(ai_undo_pop)" after line 128 which
     currently reads "(defun reset ()".

*41. Plotting from within a lisp or ADS routine can cause AutoCAD
     to lock up.  For example, when configured for the HPGL/2
     driver, the lisp expression (command "plot" "" "") will
     cause the system to lock up.  Download the patch PLTPCH.EXE
     from Lib 9 of the ACAD forum.

*42. With TILEMODE=1, thaw a layer containing entities in both
     Model and Paper Space.  Set TILEMODE=0.  Entities on the
     thawed layer do not display, but they will plot.  To see
     these entities, you must freeze then thaw the layer.

*43. With REGENMODE=0, freeze a layer, do a REGEN, then thaw the
     layer you just froze and AutoCAD will report "Regen queued". 
     At this point insert any block into the drawing at any
     location and take the defaults for scale and rotation
     factors.  Now do a REGEN to take care of the "Regen queued"
     from the thaw operation above.  The frozen/thawed layer will
     not appear on the screen, but it will plot.  To get the
     layer to appear on the screen, you need to freeze and thaw
     any layer in the drawing.

*44. When specifying saved views for plotting, AutoCAD may plot
     the wrong view. This problem occurs with several plotter
     drivers, but not all of them.  In particular, it happens
     with the HPGL/2 and the PCL drivers.  To duplicate the
     problem call up the HOUSEPLN.DWG file in the SAMPLE
     directory.  Zoom in and save a view named V1.  Zoom in again
     and save a view named V2.  Set CMDDIA=0, then run the plot
     command.  Select an HPGL/2 or PCL plotter (already set up in
     the configuration) specify V1 as the view to plot sending it
     either to a file or directly to the plotter.  Run the PLOT
     command again and specify V2.  Now set CMDDIA=1 and run the
     plot command again.  Select the "View name" button and
     select V1 as the view to plot.  Take all the defaults and
     generate the plot. The resulting plot is that of V2, not the
     specified V1 view.  At this point, no matter how many views
     you create or select, as long as you are plotting from the
     dialog box and specifying a view, you will get V2 plotted.

*45. In Paperspace, freezing and thawing layers at certain stages
     of the drawing will result in a complete lock-up of the
     system.  The following script demonstrates the problem in a
     new drawing.

     ----------- Start here
     TILEMODE 0
     LAYER NEW X
     FREEZE X
     MAKE Y

     LINE
     0,0
     1,1
     2,2

     LAYER SET 0
     FREEZE Y
     THAW X

     REGENALL

     ------------ End here
     After the REGENALL, the system is locked tight.  Currently,
     the only known workaround is to have save the drawing after
     doing the freeze/thaw combination, then use the OPEN command
     to re-start the drawing.  Any command that forces a regen
     after the freeze/thaw could trigger this lockup.

*46. If you create an ATTDEF using (entmake) calls, the attribute
     prompts get converted to upper case.  The workaround is to
     immediately follow the (entmake) with an (entmod) to set the
     prompts back to the original value you specified.

*47. When plotting from Paperspace, sometimes if you change the
     zoom ratio within model space relatively recently prior to
     plotting, the plotted drawing will often be of an earlier
     zoom ratio view than what is displayed the screen. The paper
     space drawing is of the correct size, only the zoomed or
     panned view in the viewport into model space is incorrect. 
     The workaround is to save the drawing, open it back up, and
     then replot.

*48. There are some errors in "DDMODIFY.LSP".  On line 309,
     "WIDTH" should be changed to "ROTATION ANGLE". On line 316,
     "WIDTH" should be changed to "HEIGHT".  These two changes
     are only for the comments, the lisp data is correct.  On
     line 371, if the selected entity is an "ATTDEF" and text
     justification is modified, the lisp routine does not work. 
     For TEXT, vertical text justification is set by group code
     73 which is what DDMODIFY.LSP changes for both TEXT and
     ATTDEF.  However, for ATTDEF's group code 74 changes the
     vertical text justification, not 73.
