Trouble-shooting AutoIsogen for AutoPLANT Plant Design Workgroup 2004 Edition?

by Derek J. Cornell, Tier II Technical Support Analyst, Bentley Covington Office

To start, lets look at a brief synopsis as to how AutoIsogen processes AutoPLANT information and turns it into an isometric drawing. Then we will discuss the method for honing in on the cause of AutoIsogen errors and fixing them. How does Isogen run? Isogen, an application developed by Alias Ltd., is an industry standard used by many CAD applications, including AutoPLANT. Since this is the case, the AutoPLANT Developers create a complimentary application designed to take the AutoPLANT component information and translate it into something Isogen can recognize and process. This is the purpose of the PCF creation process. So in actuality, isometric generation in AutoPLANT Plant Design workgroup is a behind the scenes two-step process. As youve probably already guessed, this information is useful to the Plant Support Department in determining where the problem is caused. As an example, an issue may be caused by a defect in the Isogen system files or due to incorrect syntax in the PCF file. How do I systematically determine the cause of Isogen errors? I. First, what is the error? Isogen will usually tell the error code in the Isogen progress dialog. Sometimes, a limited amount of information is given. Here are some examples of the types of messages you might receive when Isogen did not process the components correctly. a. Isogen errors: 0 Components exported. b. ISOGEN FAILED c. ISOGEN Iso: C:\Bentley Plant Project\PROJECT1\CONFIG\ISOGEN\FINAL\DRAWINGS\L1001.PASS.DXF d. ISOGEN ERROR -13 Errors A and B are generic. Error C indicates there is a disconnect in the original AutoPLANT model. See Section II Question C for details. The cause of Error D can be determined from the following PDF file: ..\PLANT 2004\AUTOISOGEN\ISOUTILS\PERSONAL ISOGEN ERROR CODES.PDF. But further investigation is usually required. In most other circumstances, the error information can be found in the following file

..\<project name>\CONFIG\ISOGEN\FINAL\MESSAGES\FINAL.MES or <line number>.LOG. The component(s) causing the error will have *** to the right of the component. Please see the example below (an excerpt of the FINAL.MES): CLAMP END-POINT 6.054 7.592 0.000 2 SKEY CLMP ERECTION-ITEM ITEM-CODE CPL07-2 WEIGHT 2.300 UNIQUE-COMPONENT-IDENTIFIER AT_D1W6HYS1_6 PIPING-SPEC VICTALIC ***

By finding the corrupted component using the specified coordinates in the affected drawing and replacing it, IsoGEN will successfully run. II. Next, where and when does the problem occur? This gives rise to several sub-questions. a. Within the current drawing, does the problem happen on more than one line number? b. Does the problem happen on sections of that line number if components are manually select or only when using the advanced selection for running Isogen? c. Does the problem happen in more than one drawing? d. Does the problem happen in more than one project? e. Does the problem happen on only one workstation or all workstations that are tested? As you will notice from the above questions, the problem can be narrowed down quickly and different avenues of trouble shooting can be pursued. Lets discuss each of these in depth. Questions A and B are related to each other based on whether or not Isogen is running at all. Most Isogen issues are drawing specific. In other words, the components in the drawing have been created or connected in such a way that the PCF file is generated but not recognized as valid by Isogen. Thus, the following questions will determine if that is the case. Can we get AutoIsogen to run successfully in the drawing? If at some point it does work correctly, then the affected components can be narrowed down by using manual selection for Isogen processing. Hint: Run sections of the model to see which parts work and which ones don't. It's usually possible to narrow down the problem just by trial and error. Run one section. If it works, then try another. If that one fails, then run a smaller part of that section. Keep doing this

until the problem is narrowed down to a few components. Sometimes an IDFGEN error or PASS_DXF file can be caused by an invalid component. By replacing this component, IsoGEN can run successfully. If Isogen doesnt run at all on any lines or sections of lines, then we need to broaden our testing parameters. c. Does the problem happen in more than one drawing? If the answer is no, the cause of the problem is within this drawing and further trouble shooting is recommended. Here are several suggestions which typically resolve Isogen errors. Repair possible disconnects by going to the menu pick: Piping > Piping Tools > Connectivity Checker > Checker. At times, fasteners such as welds, gaskets and bolts will have to be manually repaired. To do this, delete the weld, gasket or bolt and then go to the menu pick: Piping > Piping Tools > Component Manipulation Tools > Join Components The fasteners will be automatically created when two piping components are joined together. If there are multiple tap ports in the same location, IsoGEN may fail. Make sure that there is only one tap port at each tap port location. The above method of joining components may also have to be used in this case. d. Does the problem happen in more than one project? If the answer is no, then the problem lies within the project settings. Open the Project Administrator and go to the section ..\<project name>\ISOGEN. Double check all file paths to ensure that they are valid. It may also be necessary to compare the settings from other projects to make sure the current project has the correct Option Switches set. e. Does the problem happen on only one workstation or all workstations that are tested? If the problem only happens on one workstation for all drawings in all projects, then Isogen has most likely not be installed correctly. AutoPLANT support can be contacted at this time. The affected files are in the following directory ..\PROGRAM FILES\COMMON FILES\PLANT 2004\ISOGEN. If this happens on all workstations in all drawings, then the issue most likely has to do with what is installed on the machine. Perhaps another third party application is preventing Isogen from running correctly. It will have to be uninstalled. In other circumstance, unsupported auditing software or virus scan programs have affected Isogen. In those circumstances, the IT department should review what settings are being

used for those programs. In some extreme cases, the software should be disabled in order to allow Isogen to function. Of course, AutoPLANT Support should also be notified so that you may arrive at a solution.

ERROR : 0X80040154 PERSONAL ISOGEN COMPONENT NOT REGISTERED MSCOMCTL.OCX - Microsoft common controls MSFLXGRD.OCX - Microsoft FlexGrid control

Error Message Codes

Error
Failed to create the specified Pre/Post Processor Pre/Post Processor has crashed Pre/Post processor has timed out and the external process has been killed Pre/Post processor has timed out but the external process cannot be terminated (and is therefore still running) Error in Isogen data. Check message file Isogen dll failed to load (possible installation problem, missing dependent file etc) or crash occurred during execution, which has been trapped by the error handler. Isogen thread failed to finish possible execution loop which has been terminated by Personal Isogen Iso created successfully Personal ISOGEN cannot find the isometric directory specified. Invalid Style for this project. The specified Style cannot be found under the specified project Specified Project not found. The specified project cannot be found IDFGEN handshake failed. The handshake passed to the idfdll.dll has not been verified. Note that a number of other unexpected failures have been found to generate this error. Could not access specified PCF in TEMFILES. ISOGEN DLL failed to establish current directory ISOGEN DLL failed to change directory The handshake passed to the pisodll.dll has not been verified. Personal ISOGEN failed to produce a valid drawing. View message file for details as there are many possible causes ISOGEN DLL failed to restore working directory IDFGEN DLL failed to establish current directory IDFGEN DLL failed to change directory IDFGEN did not complete successfully. View message file for details. One common cause is that the components in the PCF do not form a connected system IDFGEN DLL failed to restore working directory IDFGEN could not delete IPISOGEN\PROGRAMS\FOR036.DAT from a previous run. IDFGEN was unable to create ISOGEN.IDX file. Error opening isogen.idx Error closing isogen.idx

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IDFGEN was unable to copy ISOGEN.FLS to the PROGRAMS directory:- Error allocating m emory to store a line Zero line length encountered Error opening source isogen.fls (in specified project\isotype) Error opening target isogen.fls (in pisogen\programs) Error closing source isogen.fls (in specified project\isotype) Error closing target isogen.fls (in Personal ISOGEN handshake failed. The handshake passed to the pisogen.dll has not been verified. Unknown Error in Personal ISOGEN. An unexpected path through the program has occurred. PISOGEN DLL could not find Current W orking Directory. The current directory cannot be identified. PISOGEN DLL could not Change Directory to \PISOGEN\PROGRAMS. ISOGEN failed to write banner to message file. (Probably cant find m essage file path):Error opening isogen.fls Unable to find MESSAGE line in isogen.fls Error closing isogen.fls Error opening m essage file Error closing message PISOGEN DLL has been unable to restore current working directory. Error opening i-gen.fls for reading Error opening isogen.fls for writing Error opening options file specified in i-gen.fls Error closing options file specified in i-gen.fls Error opening i-gen.opl for writing Error closing igen.opl Error closing i- with the specified isom etric root directory Problem Problem setting the current isom etric root directory Invalid file extension Not applicable when running Isogen W arning occurred creating a POD (interm ediate) file Error occurred creating a POD (intermediate) file. Error occurred during pass 1 when the input IDF file is preprocessed Error occurred creating a POD (intermediate) file. Error occurred during pass 2 when the POD file is being created from Isogen data Failed to load PODGRAPHICS DLL used in the creation of graphics output files such as DW G and IGR. PODGRAPHICS process failed ie a graphics specific process has failed for example, user requested IGR output but SmartSketch is not installed Cannot get path to system temp directory System temp directory does not exist Unable to set bore units to those specified in the input file Unable to perform macro substitution in style ISOGEN.FLS Unable to restore original style ISOGEN.FLS Project disk is full unable to create new output files File containing temp directory is full unable to process files Expected files missing in Style eg no FLS, no options file Requested units combination is inconsistent probably means a combination of metric bore and imperial coordinates Invalid drawing format requested Problem deleting an ISOGEN message file Line in the options file has invalid format Too many switches in the options file Too few switches in the options files MicroStation design file output requested but MS_EXE environment variable is not defined MicroStation design file output requested but MicroStation not installed MS_EXE environment variable does not end with a \ ISOGEN.FLS missing in Style Options file missing specified in ISOGEN.FLS is missing

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Warning messages
1999 2001 Isogen has returned a FAIL for one or more drawings in the set. This means it has been unable to layout the drawing successfully Inconsistent units combination (imperial co-ordinates and metric bores)

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IDFGEN has detected disconnected pipeline. Drawings have still been created that will indicate the cause of the disconnection.