[Software] LDD Manager

[rex81371]

I don't know what this can be. The only problem could be if the LXF-file is for some reason saved as a text-file (i.e. a LXFML-file saved with LXF-extension). To make sure this isn't the case, open one of your LXF-files in LDD and then chose "Save-as" and save it as LXF with a new name. This will make sure it's saved as a "true" LXF, (i.e. a zipped LXFML). The try to open it in LDD Manager. If that doesn't work, send me the file, and I'll have a look at it (mail address is in the help-file).

Please note though that LDD Manager hasn't been updated for a while, so some bricks may not be properly mapped to BrickLink. I may release an update if there will be an update to LDD in the future.

Ok I have just tried to save the file under a different name and made sure it saved a a true LXF file and it did. I have no problem opening it in LDD so not sure why it won't open in Manager. Heading over to send you the file in a e-mail now. Hopefully you will see something I am not seeing for the reason why it will not open.

Thanks

[Bartolomeo404]

hi i have a problem, i've created an ldd awp|asiimow (is not mine but i wont to create it) but when i load on LDD Manager (the all number of bricks is 878) it says :"brick count [878], unique bricks [167]", i have done all passages and i have uploaded the xml on bricklink, but bricklink says i selected only 167 items .

can you help me?

thanks

(AWP ASIMOV.lxfi add a copy of the awp asiimow on description)

please i neet it for christmas

Edited December 14, 2015 by Bartolomeo404

[Superkalle]

I'm not sure what the problem is. Can you explain what you see in Bricklink. Does not the Items column add up to 878 bricks? Or does it only add up to 167?

EDIT: I just imported your file into LDD Manager and then uploaded it to a Wanted List, and it looks all good, see attached image.

PS: Is it going to be a toy? Why don't you make the scope hollow so you can see through?

[Bartolomeo404]

thanks because i'm new and i can't uderstand but i can now (sorry for my english)

(for the scope)and because i have a few time

tanks again

Edited December 14, 2015 by Bartolomeo404

[DawnTreader]

Your model has a total of 878 bricks but there are only 167 different bricks. So you might have 17 tiles but there is 1 round one and 16 tile square. (or whatever type they are). Total Quantity and Total kind of bricks are 2 different things.

[snakebyte]

Hi

I am having ODBC problems with my LDD Manager.

When I try to use thumbnails it wants me to choose a datasource .

I can see others have the same problem but it doesn't seem to be fix for this?

I am using ldd 4.3.8 version 1564.2

And LDDManager 1.25 for LDD 4.3.8

Office is 2013 32 bit.

Has anyone found a solution to fix the ODBC problem?

[Superkalle]

Hi snakebyte.

I haven't heard about any ODBC issue before (or maybe I just forgot )

Unfortunately I don't know what the problem can be right of the bat. Everything in LDD Manager is "self contained", i.e. there are no references to any data sources outside the program. Can you please post more exactly what the error message is and when you get (in which window) and I'll try to investigate.

[snakebyte]

I have attached 3 files.

Window1.jpg: When I have chosen a model in my library and choose "Show brick thumbnail" the dialog in Windows2.jpg shows up.

Sorry - it is in danish.

When I cancel the window in Windows in windows3.jpg shows up.

I hope this helps.

[Superkalle]

No problem with the Danish Jeg forstår nokk dansk rimligt godt.

I've had a look. In the code it tries to make a connection (Application.CurrentProject.Connection). Why it then throws you the dialog to chose a data source I'm not sure about. I did some googling on it, and found this, so my best recommendation is that you make a repair of your Office 2013, so that necessary files are re-installed/re-registered? You shouldn't need to download anything - just a repair installation should do it.

Another thing to do can be to try LDDManager on another computer with Office/Access (32-bit) and see if it works there.

[snakebyte]

Hi Superkalle

Tak for hjælpen :)

I have tried to reinstall my office, but i still get the same error.

I uninstalled, restarted, and installed again but still the same error.

I then tried to install office 2010 x86 on the computer, so that I both have office 2013 x86 and office 2010 x86 on the same computer.

That seems to have fixed the problem.

[Superkalle]

Hi Superkalle

Tak for hjælpen :)

I have tried to reinstall my office, but i still get the same error.

I uninstalled, restarted, and installed again but still the same error.

I then tried to install office 2010 x86 on the computer, so that I both have office 2013 x86 and office 2010 x86 on the same computer.

That seems to have fixed the problem.

OK, good that it got solved, but it shouldn't really be necessary to install Office 2010. Sometimes installing another Microsoft product (e.g. One-note) will mess up the installation for existing Office installations. Maybe this was the case?

[snakebyte]

OK, good that it got solved, but it shouldn't really be necessary to install Office 2010. Sometimes installing another Microsoft product (e.g. One-note) will mess up the installation for existing Office installations. Maybe this was the case?

Perhaps - When installing I allways choose a complete install of office. I believe that includes - among other things - onenote.

It is a pro plus version in both 2010 and 2013 if I remember correctly.

[Superkalle]

Perhaps - When installing I allways choose a complete install of office. I believe that includes - among other things - onenote.

It is a pro plus version in both 2010 and 2013 if I remember correctly.

Oh, OK. But I didn't mean products that are in the Office installation, but later installations that somehow overwrite the Office files. Could be even non-MS products.

[DawnTreader]

To bad this won't work on 64 bit office 2013 / 2016 / 365

You need 32 bit of Access or else it won't start.

to use this in 64bit Access would require a major rewrite. Kalle might as well as redo it in a better place instead of the work to make the thing 64bit.

64bit also gives no benefit as far as this app goes. if this thing ever gets over 2gb in size then you are doing something wrong.

just because there is a 64bit version doesn't mean that things are better because of it. almost any value that a 64bit Access application would have would be better served by moving to a more scalable database system like SQL server or MySQL.

I think Kalle should webify what he built and either have his own site or talk with Rebrickable and work it in to that system.

works good as is.

[DawnTreader]

Correct me if I am wrong Kalle, but there wont be a 64bit version will there?

I mean this database hasn't been updated in what? 3 years?

besides the amount of work for a 64 bit doesn't justify it. trust me I know. I built a database similar to this and when I tried to convert to 64 bit it was a pain. there was so much code that needed to be amended and altered it became a nightmare.

what you really should do is uninstall office 64bit and put in office 32bit. unless you are a database creator with a database that will be over 2gb in size or someone who needs super-duper excel functionality as per here:

https://support.office.com/en-us/article/Excel-specifications-and-limits-ca36e2dc-1f09-4620-b726-67c00b05040f

then it really isn't necessary to use the 64bit version of office. understand that the latest and greatest, especially when it comes to office 64bit, isn't always the best solution to a problem. if I had a computer that needed super speedy reaction to everything and needed super large hard drive space, super reliability and it all had to be super speedy I would have a few options:

1. set up my computer with a 960GB SSD, this is costly, although the prices have been coming down quite drastically.

2. set up a RAID with 6 1TB 7200 RPM drives so I could get mirroring with striping and array mirroring. if I had some old reliable drives that were kicking around and a motherboard and case to use them with I could do this pretty cheap.

just because the SSD is the latest and greatest doesn't mean it is the best and most effective solution. I would still have to backup the SSD while the RAID array would be failsafe against up to 2 drives failing. and the SSD would also cost more, even if I went out and bought a few 1TB drives.

anyways... the best solution to your problem is to uninstall office 64bit and install the 32bit version.

see the reason I say all this? is because when I first had the chance to install 64bit office I did. I ended up in the same boat you are currently in. I ended up reading about the headaches of 64bit and even though I wanted the best, I realized that there were a lot of things that just wasn't going to be possible and that I would either have to give those things up or I would have to go back to 32bit. so please understand I am saying this from experience, go back...

[Superkalle]

@DawnTreader

You are spot on in your analysis.

Even MS themselves don't advice people to install the 64 bit version, unless they have specific needs of extremely large files. The 64 bit version is not faster or more stabile then the 32 bit. Having said that, it wouldn't be too difficult for me to make a 64-bit version - I just have to "compile" the project on a 64 bit office installation...Only problem is that I don't have that version.

But more importantly - I can't seem to find the motivation to update all brickdata and keep LDD Manager updated. I was thinking about maybe making it shareware or donorware, but I'm not sure that would work. People kind of expect software to be free nowadays (open source etc).

[SylvainLS]

Hi, sorry to butt in as I don’t use LDD Manager, but I don’t really understand your point of view:

When I started with computers, everything was DOS and freware/shareware. There were lots of projects that were the same: each trying to add to the neighbor but failing to include this or that. All disapeared because they were competing between each others but couldn’t compete with commercial softwares (often cracked). They often died because of their authors’ lack of motivation or time.

Nowadays, LDD Manager is freeware (for non commercial use), closed source. A few Lego fans use it, for free, some have problems. You’re the only one who can update or correct the programme. And you don’t have the time nor the motivation anymore.

If it were open source, the same Lego fans would still use it, some would still have problems, but others could help you update or correct the programme (even if it’s only to compile it for 64bits), and, maybe, it could be ported to other OSes/databases, thus increasing the number of potential users. You’d still be paid the same as now (that is, donations, no?).

And making it open source wouldn’t deprive you of your copyright or of the leadership of the project.

So, yes, it may seem that the trend be that people want everything for free. But they also give back. Direct donations work (things like flattr).

Now, you have a software that is slowly dying, that you get nothing for. Making it open source would at least allow it to survive.

Don’t wait too long.

(Just saying, eh )

[DawnTreader]

@DawnTreader

You are spot on in your analysis.

Even MS themselves don't advice people to install the 64 bit version, unless they have specific needs of extremely large files. The 64 bit version is not faster or more stabile then the 32 bit. Having said that, it wouldn't be too difficult for me to make a 64-bit version - I just have to "compile" the project on a 64 bit office installation...Only problem is that I don't have that version.

But more importantly - I can't seem to find the motivation to update all brickdata and keep LDD Manager updated. I was thinking about maybe making it shareware or donorware, but I'm not sure that would work. People kind of expect software to be free nowadays (open source etc).

Thanks Kalle

I have tried to "just compile" a database from 32bit to 64bit. Every time you have used a Long Integer variable you need to convert it to a LongPTR in order to be compatible with 64bit code. It was the reason I gave up on running 64bit office. My Access databases were not going to easily convert and so I just uninstalled office and reinstalled 32bit version.

If you were to try compiling LDD manager on a 64bit Access I am 99% certain it would fail and you would spend 1/2 trying to rework the VBA code to make it work before you became frustrated and decided it wasn't worth it. (You know the reason why, if you remember my offer from way back when. I attempted a conversion then.)

Anyways...

[Superkalle]

Thanks Kalle

I have tried to "just compile" a database from 32bit to 64bit. Every time you have used a Long Integer variable you need to convert it to a LongPTR in order to be compatible with 64bit code. It was the reason I gave up on running 64bit office. My Access databases were not going to easily convert and so I just uninstalled office and reinstalled 32bit version.

If you were to try compiling LDD manager on a 64bit Access I am 99% certain it would fail and you would spend 1/2 trying to rework the VBA code to make it work before you became frustrated and decided it wasn't worth it. (You know the reason why, if you remember my offer from way back when. I attempted a conversion then.)

Anyways...

Thanks for the info about 64bit conversion. I was just under the impressions it wouldn't be much of a problem so I never bothered to look into it. I'll stick with 32 bit.

[ALCO]

Hi, I have started using LDD Manager since Brickficiency is now unsupported and no longer works. I find that LDD Manager is better than other programs like Brickstock because I can import an LDD creation and then export a Bricklink Wanted List. While using this program I have noticed that it supports BrickSetVersion 1264 while my LDD is BrickSetVersion 2075. I think this is the cause of my issues...In that my models are using newer parts. With some parts, LDD Manager tells me which parts are new and so I can write them down and manually add those to my wanted list. However, with other parts, I have no idea. They just are not there at all. I know this because in LDD I have a total of say, 2500 parts. By in LDD Manager I have a total of say 2400 parts. Then I see 295 unique elements in LDD Manager but my BOM Export from LDD says I have 305. While these numbers are not totally unruly, they are just enough so to be a pain.

1. Will LDD Manager support BrickSetVersion 2075?

2. Are there any methods, strategies, Excel formulas (vlookup and such), or whatever to quickly identify the missing elements? I have tried using a vlookup but with very little success.

I would greatly appreciate any thoughts, ideas, or insights!

[legolijntje]

Regarding LDD Manager: I don't really have an idea.

However, I do know that you can upload/import an LDD file (among other formats) to Rebrickable into a 'private MOC'. You then can export it again into a variety of formats including Bricklink wanted list.

I don't know how accurate Rebrickable's import is, but you could try

[ALCO]

Regarding LDD Manager: I don't really have an idea.

However, I do know that you can upload/import an LDD file (among other formats) to Rebrickable into a 'private MOC'. You then can export it again into a variety of formats including Bricklink wanted list.

I don't know how accurate Rebrickable's import is, but you could try

Thanks! I'll try that!

[Superkalle]

You can actually upload LXF-files directly to BrickLink nowadays. I'm not sure how accurate it is though (and if it covers all bricks in LDD).

[ALCO]

You can actually upload LXF-files directly to BrickLink nowadays. I'm not sure how accurate it is though (and if it covers all bricks in LDD).

Yes, I tried that and if you build in Extended mode and have pieces in the wrong color it rejects your file and doesn't tell you want was wrong so you can fix it.

[Classicsmiley]

Yes, I tried that and if you build in Extended mode and have pieces in the wrong color it rejects your file and doesn't tell you want was wrong so you can fix it.

If you're getting the error, please send in a bug report to bugs@bricklink.com. I opened a ticked for this issue a while back, and when I checked on the status today, I was told that I was the only one that had reported it...