Aras Innovator has an underlying mark-up language it uses for all of its database transactions. The language is referred to as Aras Mark-up Language, or AML. Aras also provides a sandbox interface for developing and running AML, called NASH. Here’s a short primer for getting familiar with AML and NASH. Continue Reading
With every upgrade to ENOVIA SmarTeam (not to mention upgrades to CAD, Office and database platforms) there’s no question about the benefits of building a test environment for validation prior to a production roll-out. An important piece of building a test environment is a properly configured test vault. Quite often, a successful test doesn’t require a complete copy of the entire production vault, so let’s take a look at a simple process to copy specific files from a production system to a test environment on demand. Continue Reading
We regularly have clients ask us what information they should gather concerning a support issue, prior to calling the Razorleaf helpdesk. So we thought it made sense to answer that question publicly. Here’s how you can “help us, help you.” Continue Reading
Every Windows executable binary file (EXE, DLL, etc) has a version consisting of the following elements and format: Major.Minor.Build.Revision. To many software users, this is just a random string of numbers. For those that develop and deploy software though, this version information is important, even crucial in troubleshooting situations. Have you ever wondered how the version is controlled or set, and how you can manage the version in your own Visual Studio projects? Continue Reading

Like many technologies, the ending of support for a particular platform is, as Mr. Anderson is told in the Matrix, inevitable. Such is the way of Microsoft and VBA (Visual Basic for Applications). Microsoft announced a while ago it will no longer enhance or develop VBA (read as end-of-support), and will also no longer sell licensing to software developers (read as end-of-life). However, there is a replacement for this ubiquitous tool – Visual Studio Tools for Applications. Continue Reading
SolidWorks’ Enterprise PDM (EPDM) system contains what some might call a “poor man’s API” known as the Dispatch Tool. The Dispatch Tool allows non-programmers (those who don’t write formal code in Visual Studio.NET) to create basic programs, scripts, and functions within EPDM without having to learn a programming language. The tool is limited in functionality of course and is a procedural language, but it does provide a lot of ways to manipulate data inside EPDM. This article highlights the capabilities of the Dispatch Tool through an example that renames a file with the information contained on the file’s Data Card. Sample code for this example is provided. Continue Reading
If you’ve ever had to work with Windows servers, or troubleshoot a problem with a Windows service, you’re probably familiar with the Windows Event Viewer. You may even have a few tricks of your own, like looking up Event Viewer error codes using Google. But you may not realize how powerful the tool can be, and what Microsoft has done to enhance it recently. Here is our Top 5 list of great things you can do with the Windows Event Viewer now. Continue Reading