Skip to main content
J
JC_107456941-Visitor
1-Visitor
July 26, 2023
Solved

converting from math cad 15 to math cad prime 9.0

  • July 26, 2023
  • 3 replies
  • 3876 views

Hi, I converted my file from mathcad 15 version to the new mathcad prim 9.0 and a lot of the functions are not working anymore from before. I have attached the converted file and it is not working properly. Could someone help me fix this issue?

 

 

 

 

 

 

Best answer by Werner_E

First of all, to clarify - this is not an official support forum where PTC personnel provide assistance, but a forum where normal users try to help others. PTC only provides the infrastructure for this even from time to time PTC personnel is also active in this forum.
For specific questions about licensing etc. you would have to create a ticket at the official PTC support.

 

PTC is legally no longer able to distribute Mathcad 15 and also older versions of Prime, because they contain an older version of muPad for symbolic calculations and PTC does not want to license it from the owners (Mathworks, the company behind MatLab) anymore and instead have replaced it by a free system (friCAS/Axiom).


It is unclear so far (as far as I perceive) how this will be handled with unlimited Mathcad 15 licenses, which were distributed as "perpetual" at the time. It has not been made clear here on the forum, from the inquiries that have already been made about this, whether PTC will provide new license files for installation on new equipment upon request, or whether they define "perpetual" as "lifetime" and want that to refer to the life of Mathcad 15 as declared by PTC to be over.

 

If your organization does indeed own "perpetual" license for Mathcad 15 (there are no perpetual licenses for Prime, as far as I know), you would need to contact official PTC support about this.

3 replies

W
Werner_E25-Diamond I
25-Diamond I
July 26, 2023

What you are observing here is the normal behavior of Prime. This PTC product is much less powerful than the aging Mathcad, and even after a dozen or so years of development, it is not able to hold a candle to the old version in terms of functionality. It is very sad and annoying to see PTC recklessly destroy a good product.
The development (if you can even call it that) of Prime is so slow and hesitant that you just can't take it seriously anymore.

Your Mathcad 15 spreadsheet contained (probably scripted?) components and they simply don't exist in Prime and the converter apparently replaces them with meaningless empty fields that give no clue as to their original purpose.

If the MC15 components are not scripted its a flaw of the converter as simple selection fields are offered in Prime already(?) since version 9.

 

It may be possible to make the sheet work in Prime as well, but it is certainly quite some  work, requires knowledge of both the old Mathcad 15 and the new Prime to develop appropriate workarounds and rewrite from anew various pieces. And of course it would also be necessary to have access to the original Mathcad 15 sheet to see what function of the components was. If (as suspected) these are not all that complex, perhaps they can be painstakingly recreated in Prime.
Conclusion: You sure have a some work ahead of you!

 

PTC has promised scripted components for future versions of Prime. How these will be implemented, whether they will be reasonably compatible with the old scripted components and whether the converter will then be able to convert your old worksheet without any problems is unclear and may be highly doubted in view of PTC's previous approach. So don't hold your breath.

 

You may post the Mathcad 15 sheet here and I'll have a quick look but I can't promise to invest a lot of time trying to make the file work OK in mediocre Prime.

As far as I see there are three variables which were chosen using a drop down list and another one which is selected via a slider.

Seeing the original sheet it should not be that difficult to recreate this in Prime - less comfortable (we have no sliders in Prime) but at leaszt working.

Next problem may be the plot which is less capable in Prime and so you may live with limitations.

J
JC_107456941-VisitorAuthor
1-Visitor
July 26, 2023

Can I get a machine locked liscense of mathcad 15 instead? So I can at least open all of my sheet up and keep using the scripts I already have done? I have many of them that will not work now because of the change.

L
LucMeekes23-Emerald IV
23-Emerald IV
July 26, 2023

Reading this:

https://community.ptc.com/t5/Mathcad-Tips/Official-PTC-Mathcad-15-and-Prime-1-6-End-of-Sale-Announcement/ta-p/818870

I'd say there's little chance you get that, unless you have a perpetual license.

 

Success!
Luc

W
Werner_E25-Diamond I
25-Diamond I
July 27, 2023

Another idea you can try if you don't have success in acquire a working Mathcad 15:

@LucMeekes  was kind enough to share a software he developed which enables you to view older Mathcad sheets.

I never gave it a try so I don't know if and how it handles components or scripted components, but it may be worth to give it a try.

See here: Can't see your sheet, but... - PTC Community

 

Furthermore you still can post the MC15 sheet here to clarify the amount of work necessary for a fix.

Of course hundreds of worksheets might be slightly problematic...

L
LucMeekes23-Emerald IV
23-Emerald IV
July 27, 2023

My tool will read and display the Mathcad 15 worksheet as good as it gets with the calculation results stored in the worksheet file, provided they are there. That is: the sheet wasn't saved without calculation results.

 

Next to conversion, the Mathcad to Prime converter utility of Prime (7 ...9) also allows to create an HTML file from the Mathcad file.

My investigations have led me to think that the compute engine used to create the results is Prime, not Mathcad. That is: PTC have NOT built Mathcad 15 into that utility. But it's worth a try...

Also it requires that the worksheet was (last) saved with autocalculation switched ON (I generally have that switched off)

 

Success!
Luc

Terms & ConditionsCookie settingsAccessibility statement