PAC4SWX FAQ and HowTo

Frequently asked questions and answers and some tips for efficient using of PAC4SWX

FAQ 1: Is it possible to scan directories and subdirectories  to look to for *.slddrw files to convert?

PAC4SWX doesn't offer this function, but there is a "trick" to do this: PAC4SWX accepts filelist which are drag-dropped to the filelist area of PAC4SWX. So follow these steps:

1. Open your windows explorer and find the directory, where you want to start
2. Right click this folder and choose Search ... from the menu
3. In the search dialog enter .slddrw in the textbox "Search for files and folders"
4. Hit "search now" and you will get a complete list with all drawings from this folder and every subfolder
5. Now hit CTRL-A to select all entries
6. Drag-drop all selected items to the filelist area of PAC4SWX

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FAQ 2: I get an error when opening a PDF generated with PAC4SWX!

It may happen that you can't open a PDF file in Acrobat Reader, which is exported using PAC4SWX; if you save teh document yourself in SolidWorks everything looks good. If this happens you get a warning in Acrobat Reader:

There is a limitation if you start SolidWorks from an external EXE program, then no Add-Ins is loaded, even if they are checked in Tools/Add-Ins.

If you try to save a PDF without the "Save As PDF" add-in being  loaded (which is only possible with API, you can't do this manually) then SolidWorks will save the original SolidWorks document but give it the extension .PDF (you may check this, if you rename your "PDF" to slddrw you will be able to open it in SOlidWorks again).

But the workaround is easy: please start SolidWorks before you launch the PAC4SWX job to convert your drawings to PDF, this should do the trick, for the "Save as PDF" add-in is loaded.

fixed the SolidWorks bug with PAC4SWX 1.9.0 and higher: PAC4SWX always tries to automatically load the Bluebeam PDF addin

FAQ 3: I get a run-time error 339 "Component mscomct2.ocx or one of its dependencies not correctly registered: a file is missing or invalid"

The mscomct2.ocx (and his buddy mscomctl.ocx) are quiet old active-x components used in VB6 and Office applications. These are part of the windows operating system since windows 2000.

If your computer is a Windows 10/64 bit, then these files should be located in C:\Windows\SysWOW64

However there was an office security patch (quiet long ago) KB2597986 ( see https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_7-windows_update/security-update-for-mscomctlocx-kb2597986-ms12-060/6dadedda-7bfa-4569-91d8-a31ebcf6a08a?page=3 ) which brings havoc to the registration of these OCXs. Many people had to re-register the OCX.

This is briefly explained in https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_7-windows_programs/component-mscomctlocx-or-one-of-its-dependencies/4ae4dfc4-4a67-4927-990e-489cdb070efb 

You should reregister both of the ocx, if you have them in your SysWOW64 directory.

1. Make sure both mscomctl.ocx and mscomct2.ocx are in c:\windows\syswow64
2. Open a command prompt as an administrator (right click command prompt and select "Run as administrator")
3. Change working directory with

CD C:\Windows\SysWOW64

4. Register the OCX with

regsvr32 C:\Windows\SysWOW64\MSCOMCTL.OCX
regsvr32 C:\Windows\SysWOW64\MSCOMCT2.OCX

5. You should get a message "DllRegisterServer in mscomctl.ocx succeeded"

6. If this isn't sufficient there is a chance that there is a dependency missing, a simple typelibrary, which also have to be reregistered. However to register a type library you have to use the command regtlib instead of regsvr32. The type library msdatsrc.tlb is also located in c:\windows\syswow64, so in your command propt also type:

regtlib msdatsrc.tlb

If the files are not located in c:\windows\syswow64 you may want to re-install the vb runtimes, you can get that from Microsoft at https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=24417 or repair your system as described in https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/all/missing-mscomct2ocx-file/f19e803a-a72e-4f6d-a303-89b90b73f755

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