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vroberts8-Gravel
8-Gravel
April 2, 2021
Solved

Mathcad Prime 7 Converter Fails with Very Simple Worksheets

  • April 2, 2021
  • 1 reply
  • 12391 views

I downloaded and installed Prime 7.0 and the new converter that is supposed to convert MC15 worksheets to Prime 7.0 worksheets.  The first two MC15 worksheets I converted were claimed to have been converted, but did not work properly in Prime 7.

 

The more complicated one had a plot which uses a format that may not be supported in Prime 7, but the second file is a mystery. It is an extremely basic worksheet, so basic that it could be argued that I'm wasting the power of MC, but the file does use units. After conversion, the Prime 7 worksheet would not work until I removed and replaced at least some of the units and the PI symbol.

 

It seems as if the converter is unable to properly recognize and convert unit symbols and PI. If so, this is a massive fail.

 

Three files are attached. The MC15 file, the Prime 7 file as converted, and the converted Prime 7 file as fixed.

 

If I am making some stupid mistake, please let me know.

Best answer by Werner_E
@vroberts wrote:

Werner,

 

Thanks for the file. The Prime 6 converter has the same issue. The units are not properly recognized until I delete one and replace it. Than the other units in that calculation are also recognized and displayed in Blue

 

So it looks that there is nothing wrong with the converter in P7.

I suspect something else:

When you open a Prime sheet, the sheet is not immediately recalculated (as is the case in MC15 and below) but you see the results which were seen the last time the file was saved. This view is stored separately in the mcdx file (its in "result.xml"). When a file is converted the original MC15 file is also stored in the new mcdx file (I don't know what this may be used for - its deleted the first time you save from Prime) but no "previous Prime view" is created. So when you open a converted file the first time, you see the content without any labels applied and so it just looks like the units are not recognized.

 

If the sheet is recalculated, the units should pop up magically 😉

You can recalculate the sheet by pressing F5 or Ctrl-F9.

You also force a recalculation if you change something on top which affects other calculations. And this seems to be the case why you see the correct units when you delete one and retype it.

 

So I guess that at least this time we can't blame or accuse PTC for having introduced a new bug.

When I started testing Prime I was irritated because the automatic recalculation after the load of a worksheet was missing. But this feature enables the stripped down free version Prime Express to open and display worksheets containing premium features, so probably we have to classify this feature a good one.

 

But of course it could be implemented in a better way. Automatic recalculation at startup could be an option to be turned on or off in the settings. The converter could/should be modified to create a "previous view" so the sheet displays with correct labels, etc.

But there are so many things which could and should be improved in Prime ...

 

1 reply

F
Fred_Kohlhepp23-Emerald I
23-Emerald I
April 2, 2021

Well, I can see your frustration.

 

Prime did convert the file, and it did recognize the units.  But it failed miserably at the resulting calculations.  Until I erased the units after the results in the converted file.  Then it did the calculation and reported the results, and when I restored the original units it gave the correct result.  (File attached, but you should try it on your converted file.)

 

Prime (AND its converter) are painfully S  L  O  W!

V
vroberts8-GravelAuthor
8-Gravel
April 2, 2021

Thanks.

 

When I said that the Converter did not recognize the units, I should have been more precise.

 

The units were there, but not shown in blue, which is the way that Prime enters units, and the results were shown as indeterminate.

 

As soon as I deleted and reentered one of the units, all the units in that calculation turned blue and the results were now determined and correct. 

 

So, as you seem to have confirmed, the converter is no properly converting the units from the MC15 worksheet. 

    S
    StuartBruff23-Emerald V
    23-Emerald V
    September 29, 2021
    @HO_2228703 wrote:

    <<Legitimate complaints about Prime graphing relative Mathcad 11..15.>>

     

    I have literally hundreds of Mathcad sheets, starting back to the earliest MC versions under Windows. In subsequent versions up to 15 I could always convert my worksheets while maintaining the layouts and graphs still looking the same. Ah, those were the days. If I have to start to make my converted old MC sheets presentable in P7 then that affects productivity in a big and very negative way. My biggest project where I used MC15 for development and documentation consisted of several sheets to a total of 160+ pages. It'll take a while to make the "converted" remnants of the original sheets presentable again.

    (putting on my best Crocodile Dundee accent)  That's not a problem   Imagine if you'd used the Picture Operator for, say, image processing or other visualization (even animation!).   Now, imagine going through a worksheet exporting every image to a bmp, then inserting an image button into your worksheet and using it to importing your bmp directly into the worksheet (with no link, therefore no auto-update).   Oh, and you want to make a few ripple-through changes to your images.   That's a problem.  ðŸ˜‰

     

    So, PTC keep MC15 alive. Your disgruntled MC customers will be (mildly) grateful for that.

    One of the things that often gets forgotten in the Prime vs M11..15 debate, is that several of us had *huge* lists of feature enhancements that we'd have liked for the original Mathcad, things that, if not already present in the competition, soon would be.   OTOH, I'm not sure who PTC saw as their market for Mathcad and who their competitors were/are.   I've a feeling the answers to those questions might shed some light on why Prime took the path it did.

     

    Still, looking at the roll-out plan, Prime seems to be heading in the right direction.   It could do with speeding up, though.

     

    Stuart

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