How can you use a text editor to determin SolidWorks File Version

[mjcole]

Hello All,

I've wondered this for a while and finally discovered the answer I was looking for. The list is by no means complete.

USING TEXT EDITOR TO DETERMINE SolidWorks FILE VERSION

How to determine SolidWorks Version a File was created on using a text editor
SolidWorks files contain text for VERSION of the file but it is separated by spaces as follows.

"V E R S I O N _" Search for this string in the SolidWorks file when opening with a text editor.

SolidWorks File Version is listed twice in each file.
_DL_V E R S I O N _ ## 0 0
_MO_V E R S I O N _ ## 0 0

_ #### = YYYY
?? = '95
?? = '96
?? = '97
?? = '97 Plus
_ ??? = 199?
_ 822 = 1998
_ ### = 1998 Plus Beta version?
_ 1008 = 1999
_ 1332 = 2000
_ 1750 = 2001
_ 1950 = 2001 Plus
_ ???? = 2002
_ ???? = 2003
_ 2500 = 2004
_ 2800 = 2005
_ 3100 = 2006
_ 3400 = 2007
_ 3800 = 2008

This list will continue and is still missing data from before 1998 back V E R S I O Ns

Michael

 

[handleman]

From API help on SldWorks::Version History:

SolidWorks 95 44

SolidWorks 96 243

SolidWorks 97 483

SolidWorks 97Plus 629

SolidWorks 98 822

SolidWorks 98Plus 1008

SolidWorks 99 1137

SolidWorks 2000 1500

SolidWorks 2001 1750

SolidWorks 2001Plus 1950

SolidWorks 2003 2200

SolidWorks 2004 2500

SolidWorks 2005 2800

SolidWorks 2006 3100

SolidWorks 2007 3400

SolidWorks 2008 3800



-handleman, CSWP (The new, easy test)

 

[EEnd]

So, who is going to try changing these numbers to see if that is all it takes to open a 2008 file in 2007?

Eric

 

[handleman]

Only a moron. You might try it just to see what happens, but I guarantee it won't be anything useful. Backward-compatibility has been asked for too many times for it to be such a simple fix. Also, you won't be able to change it in a text editor. SW files contain hex data that a text editor can't interpret. When you open a hex file in a text editor and then save it, it saves the text of the garbled result of the editor trying to traslate hex data into text, not the original hex data.

I'm still curious as to why this information (how to find version with text editor) might be useful.

FYI, the file actually contains the entire version history. The history can be easily read with the API.

-handleman, CSWP (The new, easy test)

 

[mjcole]

handleman,

Thanks for the data I've always heard from users that I've talked to that the Version wasn't shown if file was viewed in text editor. Pro/E shows PTC Wildfire etc then 21001158 or some date code which is similar to the 3800 number shown in SolidWorks.

When I originally tried searching for Version VERSION v16 etc. I found nothing and 3800 didn't seem to be recognizable as an indicator. then when I looked at a 2007 file and saw 3400 and in 2005 Personal edition file saw 2800 something clicked.

This information is useful if you work in multiple versions or are using an older version and don't name your files -06 -07 etc. Before I knew version could be determined I was using a SWversion file property to allow me to search for certain files.

Michael

 

[fcsuper]

If you can come up with a protocol for this, I would be very interested.

Matt Lorono
CAD Engineer/ECN Analyst
Silicon Valley, CA
Lorono's SolidWorks Resources
Co-moderator of Solidworks Yahoo! Group
and Mechnical.Engineering Yahoo! Group

 

[handleman]

Here's a simple little macro that will tell you the latest SW version that a list of files has been saved in. It uses Excel's GetOpenFilename function because (in contrast with SW's version) it allows multi-select. So if you don't have Excel installed on your system it won't work. If you do have Excel and it still doesn't work, you may have to check the references under Tools->References in the VBA editor.

Run the macro and hit "Browse". Choose some files. The latest version will be listed along with the file path.

This is a loose framework, and could be easily changed to output to Excel, list entire version history, etc. However, it should be noted that the version history includes the version history of the template used to create the file. So if you have been using the same templates since '98, and making minor tweaks ever since, your version history will include those versions.

-handleman, CSWP (The new, easy test)

 

[handleman]

Forgot to add that with this method the file version is read off the disk without fully opening the files in SolidWorks, so it can be run from any version of SW. Well, any version greater than '98Plus, when the VersionHistory function was made available.

-handleman, CSWP (The new, easy test)