Object reference not set..

[jhiker]

I got this error message again this morning while trying to constrain an elbow to a tube as part of a Boolean Add operation. It is not really very helpful so I don't know how to avoid it in the future.

I deleted the entire Boolean operation and started again with good results this time.

 

[DavidJ]

have you seen this article https://support.alibre.com/support/...nce-not-set-to-an-instance-of-an-object-error

 

[jhiker]

have you seen this article https://support.alibre.com/support/...nce-not-set-to-an-instance-of-an-object-error

No, I hadn't seen that - it helps somewhat - thanks!

 

[simonb65]

In the article, it says ... "This can happen when something in the design has been suppressed, deleted, or edited out of a feature. For this reason, a designer should be very cautious of removing features which have dependencies during their workflow." ...

My question is Why does Alibre let you delete something that is a dependency in the first place ?

The application should stop you doing this at you point you try and break the dependency chain!

 

[anson]

My question is Why does Alibre let you delete something that is a dependency in the first place ?

The application should stop you doing this at you point you try and break the dependency chain!

If I may, I would like to disagree and say if I want to delete a dependency I want it to leave without being interrupted by a "no you can't do that" message. At the most it should give a warning that the user could ignore.

 

[JST]

....... At the most it should give a warning that the user could ignore.

That would be totally standard, and perfectly acceptable. I suspect the poster of the issue would accept it also.

 

[simonb65]

If I may, I would like to disagree and say if I want to delete a dependency I want it to leave without being interrupted by a "no you can't do that" message. At the most it should give a warning that the user could ignore.

I agree that a graceful reminder, that if you are about to do something that breaks the dependency chain, is required. The crash the OP saw is just plain ugly and unnecessary. However, the caveat of a warning that the user can ignore, is that it will still break the model and its internal references! If you then want to go and fix those like a bad constraint does, then fine. I personally like an application to look after my interests and stop me doing bad stuff that causes me pain and more work. Each to their own! The application already has safeguards like you can't delete a sketch without deleting the feature that use it first (or remove the dependency of the feature on it), so it's not a alien concept.