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biff44 (Electrical)

(OP)

20 Jan 08 15:10

I am getting pretty fed up with Mathcad and the rude way they treat their users. Have used Mathcad for many years, but a number of my legacy programs from before no longer work with new versions of Mathcad. So for this reason I am not eager to spend good money every year just to get the latest version.

My problem is that, even though I recently upgraded to Mathcad 13, I just got a file in Mathcad 14 that my version would not open. I assume these jerks just write something in the file header to disable earlier versions from using the newer files. So how do I hack in, or use some sort of translator, to be able to down-version new files that someone sends me and read them in Mathcad 13? Is there some freeware around to do this.

PNachtwey (Electrical) · Answer 1 · 2008-01-20 16:15:51

I compared v13 and v14 .xmcd files since these are just text files.  You are right, there is very little difference between them.  One difference is the header as you suggested.  The other change was small, perhaps two lines.  I changed the header in the v14 file so it was the same as the v13 file.   It didn't work.  I think there is something coded in the other two lines that makes it so v13 can not read v14.  I don't see how these two lines could be used for anything but some sort of version control.
I used CompareIt to compare the files.  There are other text comparison programs that should work too.

If the v14 file is in compressed mode then you may be out of luck.   Save in xml text mode if you want to make comparing easier.

biff44 (Electrical) · Answer 2 · 2008-01-20 21:42:05

Hmmmm. Thanks for trying. I changed the one line that says "Mathcad 14" to read "Mathcad 13", and that did not do it. I was not aware of the other two lines. Obviously, if I had control of the programs coming in, I could have them saved in version 13. Unfortunately I do not always have that option, and will be double darned if I am going to plunk down $300 just for that capability. There has to be a way to convert them!

philipoakley (Aerospace) · Answer 3 · 2008-01-30 10:46:37

The compressed files can be unzipped by winzip. just ask it to open the file - don't change the extension though, open WinZip then use File>Open.

There are subtle changes in the XML between the versions.

One thing that annoys me about XML in general is the way they have these alledged URLs for the XML type (inside the XML e.g. xmlns:ws="http://schemas.mathsoft.com/worksheet30") then don't have a file there that tells you what the format means!

Philip

IRstuff (Aerospace) · Answer 4 · 2008-01-30 17:02:37

If there's nothing too secret, you might try posting the file here or in the Mathcad Collab and see if someone will convert it for you.

TTFN

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biff44 (Electrical) · Answer 5 · 2008-02-04 13:34:55

I guess I am not following what you are saying. If I take a mathcad14 file, zip it, and then unzip it, it still will not open inside of my mathcad13 software. It still "knows" somehow.

biff44 (Electrical) · Answer 6 · 2008-02-04 13:38:00

IRStuff, I was able to get the file I needed to be sent to me in the earlier version. So I am all set for right now.

I am just saying that for future reference, even say 3 years from now, I might want to take a mathcad 16 file and still read it in! The very few features they add each year and bang you $300+ for them are probably not going to be used in the newer files anyway, so except for a secret header somewhere in the file, an old version of mathcad should work just fine at reading them.

IRstuff (Aerospace) · Answer 7 · 2008-02-04 14:46:13

That's not necessarily true. Up until v6(?), the file format was plain text. Since then, until v12, the file format was pure binary. Only since v12 have the file formats reverted to text, albeit in the form of XML. Fundamentally, v11 cannot read v12 or later formats, regardless of what you do the to header. Likewise, v6 can't read ANYTHING later than that version because the basic file formats weren't even invented at that time.

TTFN

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philipoakley (Aerospace) · Answer 8 · 2008-03-03 17:14:04

Just post the file on http://collab.mathsoft.com/~Mathcad2000 and ask to convert, folk will convert back to V6 at the drop of a hat.

Most are still welded to V11, or V2001, and some to V6! You won't be alone in wishing PTC well

and hoping for a converter etc.

regards,
Philip

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