Get eInvalidInput Error When ExportLayout from One Drawing

[Jay Chan]

I have a drawing that is consistently giving me an "eInvalidInput" error when I try to use EXPORTLAYOUT from its layout tab, like this:

 

Unhandled exception has occurred in a component in your

application. If you click Continue, the application will ignore this error

and attempt to continue.

 

eInvalidInput.

 

... and there are a "Details" button and "Continue" button

 

You can see the error message in the attached image file. You can see the "Details" of the error in the attached text file. Attached please also find a small drawing that has this error.

 

I have removed _everything_ from the drawing and leave only one text string in it. I have removed all the XRef's and purged everything. But I still have the same error. I have "audited" it and found nothing.

 

This error seems to be similar to the one reported in another message thread called "Exporting Layout to Model J-I-T Error" in AutoCAD 2007/2008/2009 forum that is also in this web site. The suggestion in that message thread was to reboot the PC and said something about the .NET version might not have installed properly. I have reboot my PC, and I still have the same problem. I also have the same problem when I try EXPORTLAYOUT with the same drawing from another computer. Please note that none of the many other drawings have this problem. This problem only occurs in this one drawing.

 

I thought there may be related to a third party application (PractiCAD) that I use with AutoCAD (2012). But I still have the same problem after I have unloaded that third party application from AutoCAD.

 

Would you please take a look of the attached DWG file and see if you can find anything wrong with it? Thanks in advance.

 

Jay Chan

Details of Error.txt

JayTest_Error.dwg

[Jay Chan]

Turns out this problem has something to do with the viewport of the layout tab. The problem goes away as soon as I delete the viewport from the test drawing and re-create it from scratch. Unfortunately, this trick doesn't work when I try it with the real drawing (that the test drawing was originated from). Therefore, I am still not closer to fix this problem.

 

I just want to mention the above in case this helps someone to spot the source of the problem.

 

Jay Chan

[Jay Chan]

A drafting person told me that this is a problem that she had come across with. Based on her experience, if removing viewport doesn't help, she will need to purge everything and copy-and-re-pasting all the objects onto a new drawing in order to get rid of the corruption in the drawing. At this point, this is more than what I want to do with this drawing (the drawing is not mine, and the drawing will be archived away soon anyway). I will have to close this case and move on.

 

Jay Chan

[SLW210]

Did you try running AUDIT?

[Jay Chan]

Yes, as mentioned in my original post above, I had audited the drawing and found nothing.

 

Jay Chan

[ReMark]

I was able to do it but first I had to clean up your drawing. Whatever caused the problem was on one of the layers that was turned off.

 

Your original file size was 549KB. My Export to Layout drawing file size is 20.8KB.

[SLW210]

I missed that.

 

It would appear there is a particular object in this drawing causing the error most likely. Anything in the drawing that would not have originated from plain AutoCAD?

[ReMark]

I'm not sure. What keyed me to it was when I tried to export as a V8 DGN file and was told there was a 3D object in the drawing preventing it from being saved in the format (2D seed drawing) that I wanted.

[Jay Chan]

Thanks for telling me that the problem may be related to some layers that still have hidden objects on them. I see that there are a number of layers that have been turned OFF. When I turned ON those layers, I found there were still some objects left on the drawing. After I deleted those objects and purged the drawing, I found that I could use EXPORTLAYOUT to generate DWG from the Layout tab.

 

The fact that there are hidden objects is one thing. But the other thing is why this has anything to do with EXPORTLAYOUT? Because those hidden objects are hidden, I would assume that EXPORTLAYOUT shuold have ignored them, right?

 

I understand you may not have all the answers, and you are just trying to point a way out. I appreciate that. I am asking this just in case you or someone else knows the answer.

 

Jay Chan

[ReMark]

They are not "hidden"; they are turned off. AutoCAD still has to account for them.

[SLW210]

Read through the AutoCAD Help file on what EXPORTTOLAYOUT is doing with objects, it may give you a better understanding with what is happening.

 

Did you try using -EXPORTTOAUTOCAD (AECTOACAD) on the drawing?

[Jay Chan]

Yes, you are right. AutoCAD still needs to account for objects that are on OFF layers. AutoCAD would not have accounted for those objects if they were on layers that had been frozen. I didn't know that.

 

Seem like there are invisible objects that are on OFF-layers and were blocking some other objects that are on ON-layers. Unfortunately merely turning ON those layers doesn't help. I need to remove them and purged the drawing to avoid the problem.

 

Seem like those problematic objects (that were previously hidden from view) are the source of the problem. And they are all "Block Reference". I will need to look into why those "Block Reference" can cause the problem.

 

Thanks for telling me that there are hidden objects on the drawing.

 

Jay Chan

[Jay Chan]

I ask my program to remove all the block-references from the drawing before EXPORTLAYOUT, and the problem is gone. My application doesn't want to see those block-references on the drawing anyway. Therefore, this works out fine for me.

 

Thanks again for everyone who has helped me.

 

Jay Chan