We are planning an upgrading from 2006 to 2008. I'm starting to put together a testing plan to make sure there aren't any big surprises. My major concern is that we do a lot of internal development so we need to make sure our programs still work. Does anyone have any suggestions on what they typically test before doing an upgrade?
Thanks
My main testing comes through the Beta program - that's one of the main reasons I do it. I figure that anything I can find during that period that doesn't work with our stuff the way I would like it to has a better chance of getting fixed by the time that version is released. Of course, I don't use it on real work, which makes it extra time, but at least I get to try it with our programs, parts, assys, etc.
So, more to answer your direct request, I would load it up with a copy of some current project, and then try every program you can think of. One example is that for SW2007, they changed the ID number of drawing blocks. I had a program that looked at the type of an object selected and watched for a block. The number had changed so my program never recognized that one had been selected. Also try your methods of manipulating parts, etc.
WT
Thanks for the feedback.
Do you do any testing for system performance or to check on the retrieval/rebuild of parts and assemblies from old versions?
Why test for performance? You know it's going to be slower. Always is.
Since we don't do any programming, our main test is to open up the parts that are likely to fail and do a control q on them. Then we try to fix them.
Jerry Steiger
Generally not as I'm usually looking for failure types of things. The decision is usually whether or not the added features outweigh the risk, and just a seat-of-the-pants performance evaluation. I will open some old stuff and see how it works, but I generally don't time it or anything.
WT
I'm an old PTC person and regen failures were an issue. However, I'm new to Solidworks. Do you see a lot of part failures across revs? Do you have policy on taking older version parts and converting them to the new version?
It depends on who you talk to and what kind of work they do. If you keep it simple, you probably won't have many, if any, issues. If you are pushing the envelope, you probably will find failures in a new version. Tricky geometry (lofts and sweeps, surface trims) and mates are the most likely items to fail.
Jerry Steiger
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