Invalid Filename

[quest4k]

Good afternoon, I am trying, unsuccessfully, to save a model I made and I keep getting the following message, "The above file name is invalid." I am just trying to save a tube and this P/N already exists in our SQL business system. The file name I need to save it as is:
1/4X.049 SS-12
I even use this in an Excel spread sheet and an Access dbase as well. I also have this model in UG as well. What is the problem with this name in SolidWorks? Thank you in advance for any assistance.

 

[dgowans]

The / in your filename is the problem.

 

[CorBlimeyLimey]

You are able to name a file 1/4X.049 SS-12 in UG ... running Windows?

This is a Windows limitation. The following characters are all invalid in naming files in Windows.
\ / : * ? " < > |

 

[Theophilus]

As a workaround (I need to name stuff like that all the time) I convert to decimal. So your file would be something like "250 x 049 SS-12", understanding that numbers refer to thousandths of inches. If I go above the full inch, I do something like "1-250 x 049 SS-12". You can use decimals in file names (now), but I'm still leery of what Windows will do with my file if I do that--since we used to be constrained to an 8.3 decimal file format a while back--and I don't trust Windows any more than absolutely necessary (yeah, paranoid).



Jeff Mowry

http://www.industrialdesignhaus.com

Reason trumps all. And awe transcends reason.

 

[quest4k]

Thanks, but that is the answer I was hoping would never come up. This is the beginning of a major nightmare, because every drawing is supposed to tie to a P/N in our business file and if I have to change what is already there, I am looking at hundreds of hours of work changing our business system over so that SW can link to it. The boss and Accoounting are going to love this on. And yes I have this part in UG, with no problem and the OS is NT.

 

[ctopher]

I've been thru it. They will have to get used to the file naming.

Chris
SolidWorks 07 4.0/PDMWorks 07
AutoCAD 06
ctopher's home (updated 04-21-07)

 

[CorBlimeyLimey]

quest4k ... I mean no offence, but I have trouble believing that any program can save a file using those invalid characters in any flavour of Windows.

Would you please post a screen capture of such files in an open Windows folder?

 

[J-C]

From the Microsoft Knowledge base:

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/archive/winntas/maintain/optimize/09wntpca.mspx?mfr=true

File Naming

Windows NT file naming conventions apply to both files and directories. For simplicity, the term "file naming" is often used to refer to both files and directories. Although Windows NT file names are case-aware, they are not case-sensitive. This means you can save a file named MyBook.doc and the file name will be displayed in the correct case. However, you can't save a file called mybook.doc to the same directory.

Both NTFS and FAT support long file names—up to 255 characters. You can name files using just about any of the available characters, including spaces. However, there are some characters you can't use. They include
? * / \ : ; < >

Jason

SolidWorks 2007 SP4.0 on WinXP SP2
SolidWorks 2008 SP0.0 on WinXP SP2