Troubleshooting the Installation of STROBOSCOPE

The most common reason for a "faulty" Stroboscope installation is that you did not install Stroboscope "as an Administrator". To remedy this, install Stroboscope again:

• • Right click the installation program "Stroboscope_Setup.exe" and select "Run as Administrator". Stroboscope and EZStrobe should now work.

The Stroboscope GUI in Visio appears to hang - Case 2 - Bug in Visio 2021 - Office 365.

It is possible that Visio may exhibit the same behavior described above, i.e., when a user chooses to "Run Model" or "Build Stroboscope Source Code", a small dialog box with incomplete text (one or two characters) shows up at the upper left corner (as if though Stroboscope is about to start) but nothing happens.  The difference from the situation described above, however, is that in this case there are no entries in the registry that the user can delete and solve the problem.

This Case seems to occur only when using Visio 2021 (but not when using Visio 2016 or Visio 2019). The cause of the problem seems to be the following VBA statement that is run automatically when the Visio file is opened:

• ActiveWindow.ShowPageTabs = False

An indicator of this issue in Visio 2021, is that the above statement results in a circular cursor that spins forever and causes the behavior described in Case 1. 

What to do:

• When you open a file in Visio that shows a circular cursor that spins forever, click on the "File" tab on the Visio "Ribbon", and then click on the "back arrow" to return to the Visio drawing page.  These actions stop the circular cursor from spinning forever and the Stroboscope model in Visio behaves normally. You should now be able to run simulations in Stroboscope.

• To repair the Visio file so that it no longer shows a circular cursor that spins forever when the file is opened:

  • Follow the steps above to stop the  circular cursor from spinning.

  • Enable the "Developer" tab in the Visio "Ribbon".

  • Click on "Visual Basic" in the "Developer" tab.

  • Look for the VBA that starts with 

    • Private Sub Document_DocumentCreated(ByVal doc As IVDocument)

  • Change the culprit statement to:

    • ActiveWindow.ShowPageTabs = True

  • Save the Visio file.

The Stroboscope GUI in Visio appears to hang - Case 3.

It is possible that Visio may exhibit the same behavior described above, i.e., when a user chooses to "Run Model" or "Build Stroboscope Source Code", a small dialog box with incomplete text (one or two characters) shows up at the upper left corner (as if though Stroboscope is about to start) but nothing happens.  The difference from the situation described above, however, is that in this case there are no entries in the registry that the user can delete and solve the problem.

A verified possible solution in this case, is to uninstall and reinstall Visio. Doing so, can make Visio work correctly again.

For Stroboscope Versions earlier than 5,22,1,15.

The Stroboscope GUI in Visio does not work (but EZStrobe works)

The Stroboscope GUI provides the necessary automation between Visio and Stroboscope (such as the multi-tab custom dialog boxes that appear when a Stroboscope node or link is right clicked in Visio).  Stroboscope versions earlier than 5,22,1,15, include only the Stroboscope GUI "StrGUI32.vsl", which is a custom 32-bit DLL for Visio written in C++ and installed with Stroboscope.  For these earlier versions of Stroboscope, you must use the 32-bit version of Visio. The 64-bit version of Visio does not work with the Stroboscope GUI because StrGUI32.vsl is a 32-bit dynamic link library (DLL). 

Starting with Stroboscope version 5,22,1,15, the Stroboscope GUI is implemented in two separate Visio DLL's: the 32-bit "StrGUI32.vsl" and the 64-bit "StrGUI64.vsl" (both written in C++ and installed with Stroboscope). Thus, the Stroboscope GUI works with both the 32-bit and the 64-bit versions of Visio.

Installing Microsoft Office and Visio: 32-bit vs 64-bit

Because Visio is considered part of Microsoft Office, you cannot install the 32-bit version of Visio unless all other Microsoft Office programs that are already installed on the same computer (such as Word, Excel, etc.) are also the 32-bit versions.  

If you have already installed the 64-bit versions of Microsoft Office programs on your computer, you must uninstall the 64-bit Microsoft Office programs and install the 32-bit versions of all Microsoft Office programs (including Visio).  

It is a common misconception that if your computer is running the 64-bit version of Windows, you must also install the 64-bit version of Microsoft Office (and Visio). That is incorrect. Like Stroboscope (which is a 32-bit program), the 32-bit versions of all Microsoft Office programs work fine under the 64-bit version of Windows.

There is no advantage to the 64-bit versions of Microsoft Office programs (vs. the 32-bit versions) other than the ability to open files that are greater than 2GB each. Very few people work with massive Microsoft Office files that are so large. The disadvantage of the 64-bit versions of Microsoft Office programs is that they are not compatible with 32-bit add-ons (such as StrGUI32.vsl and several addons for Excel). 

EZStrobe does not work

The most common evidence of a "faulty" Stroboscope installation is that EZStrobe does not seem to work. For example, when you right-click the drawing page in Visio and when you select an action such as "Run Simulation" nothing happens.

The cause of this problem is the same as above: You must install Stroboscope as an "Administrator".

EZStrobe does not work --- Multiple user accounts

Sometimes, Stroboscope is installed using one user account, and then another user logs into Windows with a different user account and tries to run EZStrobe and fails. The reason for this is that each user has their own "Visio settings", and the appropriate "Visio settings" for the second user account have not been set up, yet.

There are two ways to correct this (other than reinstalling Stroboscope with the second user account).

Method 1 (automated):

From the Windows Start menu:

Find "Stroboscope"

     and then find "Register Stroboscope with Visio" in the Start menu.

Right-click the menu item

    "Register Stroboscope with Visio"

and select

    "Run as Administrator."

    (If right-click does not show the option "Run as Administrator", then select

     "More" > "Open file location"

Right-click the batch file 

    "Register_Stroboscope_with_Visio.bat"

and select

    "Run as Administrator."

Method 2 (manual):

Go to

    Menu: Stroboscope > Installation

Read all the text and follow the manual instructions at the end of the page about how to set up Visio manually (for the current user account) to work with Stroboscope.

Either of the above methods should solve the problem.

STROBOSCOPE Installation

The step-by-step installation of Stroboscope is described here.