VBA macros and Windows 10

Hello, I'm trying to find an answer for our CAD support programmer regarding VBA macros and Windows 10.  Our company currently has numerous VBA macros that we run on Windows 7 machines with Microstation / Powerdraft V8i SS2 & SS3 with no issues.  When upgrading some of our computers to Windows 10 these VBA macros no longer work.  Is there a specific FAQ sheet or readme or some other resource I can pass along to him that can help us out?  Is this a Windows issue or a Bentley software issue?  We can't upgrade to Powerdraft Connect due to the fact that that we only have 32 bit machines.  Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks,

Kevin

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  • Hi Kevin,

    Unknown said:
    When upgrading some of our computers to Windows 10 these VBA macros no longer work.

    As Jon wrote, V8i (SELECTseries 2) has not been certified for Windows 10, so from Bentley support perspective it's not supported combination and environment. But in a real life, regardless it's not supported officialy, it should work and I use for code compatibility testing purposes MicroStation V8i (SELECTseries 2) on Windows 10 without any problem.

    Unknown said:
    Is this a Windows issue or a Bentley software issue?

    As Jon wrote, without further information it cannot be answered. In my opinion none from these option is true and the problem is maybe directly how VBA macros are written. What dll are referenced in the project? What error messages are reported. Do MicroStation and PowerDraft works well? Were there any issues reported during the installation?

    Unknown said:
    Is there a specific FAQ sheet or readme or some other resource I can pass along to him that can help us out?

    No specific readme is required, I guess it should be a standard development approach to analyze error messages and using standard VBA and Windows documentation to investigate where the problem is.

    Unknown said:
    We can't upgrade to Powerdraft Connect due to the fact that that we only have 32 bit machines.

    Wow, for many years I have not met anybody with 32bit machine. What exactly does it mean? Do you use processors with only 32bit instruction set (and not 64bit)? As far as I know for at least 5 years all desktop Intell and AMD processors are 64bit and the only exception were the first Atom generation. Or it's about Windows version? I am not Microsoft licensing expert, but I think from Windows Vista both 32 and 64bit Windows are treated as the same license, so it's easy to swap. Or is there some specific reason why you stay in 32bit world (which is not recommended for many many years no for CAD users only, but by Microsoft for all users).

    With regards,

      Jan

  • Jon / Jan, thanks for the reply (I think). I think you guys missed something in my first post. I am NOT a programmer. I am doing our programmer a favor by posting these questions here in hopes that there was some general information available about VBA macros and how they do/do not translate between different versions of Microstation / Powerdraft and different versions of Windows. The information about the versions of Microstation / Powerdraft we have and that they aren't compatible with Windows 10 was all I needed to know and I'll be sure to pass that information on. And Jon, if I was a programmer, don't you think I would have provided a more detailed example of what was/wasn't occurring in order to find a resolution, or didn't your horoscope tell you that? And Jan, while obviously your place of employment must have deep pockets in order to keep all of your computers up to date with the latest hardware/software, there are a lot of companies (like the one I work for) who don't have the available resources to do that. I've learned my lesson and will let our support guy ask his own questions from now on and I'll stay out of this programming forum.
  • Well, thanks for explaining what we did wrong spending our time to write what we guessed would be valuable answers to fuzzy question.

    Unknown said:
    I am doing our programmer a favor by posting these questions here

    Why the programmers don't ask here? The whole discussion will probably be more focused in such case. And in my opinion it's the only way to find out why macros don't work.

    Unknown said:
    in hopes that there was some general information available about VBA macros and how they do/do not translate between different versions of Microstation / Powerdraft and different versions of Windows.

    They should start to read MicroStation VBA help and to search and study discussions in this forum about similar topics.

    Unknown said:
    The information about the versions of Microstation / Powerdraft we have and that they aren't compatible with Windows 10

    Nobody wrote anything like this, it's a pure incomprehension. Lets be accurate: Both me and Jon wrote your version is not certified for W10 and officially supported by Bentley, but it does not mean the version is not compatible. The compatibility is not confirmed by passing extensive testing, but it doesn't prevent many users to use not certified versions in W10 environment.

    Unknown said:
    And Jon, if I was a programmer, don't you think I would have provided a more detailed example...

    Before writing such sentence and trying to demonstrate Jon is wrong, maybe you would read and follow BE Communities Best practices and also Programming Forum Best practices. The primary rule is to provide as much information as possible. In programming it's mandatory.

    Unknown said:
    And Jan, while obviously your place of employment must have deep pockets in order to keep all of your computers up to date with the latest hardware/software

    Again, nothing about the latest hardware was written, it's your (purposely?) not correct interpretation. Intel and AMD releases the first consumer 64bit processors more than 10 years ago. I am quite sure 5, maybe 7 years, ago, all desktop processors sold were 64bit. Microsoft allows to switch from 32bit Windows to 64bit for free (e.g. the same Windows 7 key is valid both versions). And it is the reason why I asked you (and you have not answered, so no chance for further discussion) if is there any specific reason (very special HW or external devices...) you cannot use 64bit ... especially if you used W7 in the past. Or is it simpler just to tell "we are small company and have no budget to buy the latest HW", despite of the discussion is not about the latest HW?

    With regards,

      Jan

  • I was just wondering if you guys figured out your VBA and windows 10 problem.  I recently upgraded to windows 10 and I am using Microstation v8i ss4 and as soon as I try to run a VBA application it shuts down Microstation.  I am running Microsoft Office 2016, I also am testing Microstation Connect and the VBA seems to be working fine.

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