ACESinspector

C# Windows Forms app for validating automotive catalog ACES xml file content. It will tell you that your ACES Content is not as clean as you thought - guaranteed. Seriously.

You can download the latest stable compiled version at From github as a "release" or at aps.dev

Changelog

1.2.0.68 (3/31/2026)

• So apparently I forgot that PCdb and Qdb also got the "2.0" schema upgrade. Who knew? RTFM

1.2.0.67 (3/31/2026)

• Added ACES 5.0 xsd to collection of schemas
• Added logic to dynamicaly ingest Part or PartNumber app elements
• Added logic to dynamicaly ingest PartType or PartTerminology app elements
• added logic to deal with "versiondate" vs. "publicationdate" in version table that changed with the 3/26/2026 publication ("VCdb 2.0 Schema")
• fixed divide-by-zero bug on loading progress calculation when footer count is 0
• Set net-change output file to 4.2 schema

1.2.0.66 (3/4/2026)

• Added logic to detect when the count of Qdb parameters given in the ACES file do not match with the list in given Qdb. This was inspired by the "pre-check" feature that AutoCare added to their fork of ACESinspector.

1.2.0.65 (2/19/2025)

• Experiment with publishing as a "partial trust" application to account for in-tune - zone is Local Intranet

1.2.0.64 (2/19/2025)

• Experiment with publishing as a "partial trust" application to account for in-tune

1.2.0.63 (2/18/2025)

• fixed a date format culture bug that caused a VCdb load failure when non "en-US" culture was in use on the host machine (thanks Sjoerd Negenman of olyslager for helping identify)
• added an exception list of fluid parttype to the quantity outliers analysis (thanks Sjoerd Negenman of olyslager and Courtney Pedler of Autology for helping define)

1.2.0.62 (10/3/2024)

• Added detection of blank note tags - they are now allowed into the import and added to "questionable notes" list

1.2.0.61 (9/20/2024)

• Fixed "vehcile" typos in several spots (including assessment spreadsheet column heading) - Thanks to Sjoerd Negenman at Olyslager and Dave Logan at Autocare for catching it.

1.2.0.60 (8/23/2024)

• figured out how to code-sign with my new HSM from Sectigo - What a struggle! 0 stars, would not recommend. Post-HSM signing is not for the faint-of-heart. On top of that, I spent $600 for the privilege.

1.2.0.59 (3/13/2024)

• Fixed MakeID / ModelID mix-up bug on Make/Model/Year-range app expansion - Thanks, Eric Snow (NTN) for finding this one.

1.2.0.58 (2/22/2024)

• Added VCdb caching to AiFragments directory as 50 tab-delimited text files containing exactly the query recordsets that result from our queries of the Access file. This is to lay the groundwork for consuming the VCdb from cache and avoid the costly OLEDB overhead. Initial testing implied a 4x speed-up reading the cache.

1.2.0.57 (2/5/2024)

• Added allowance for a year-range app that specifies MakeID but not ModelID (yes, I’ve actually seen someone do it).

1.2.0.56 (1/30/2024)

• added qdb code listing tab to the assessment output spreadsheet

1.2.0.55 (1/16/2024)

• Fixed a crash problem in branch analysis that was introduced by allowing multiple instances of the same QdbID on an app. Dave Logan (AutoCare) identified this one.

1.2.0.54 (12/27/2023)

• Added ability to gracefull consume an app with a missing parttype so that a XSD error could be thrown. Joe Thomas helped identify the need for this fix.

1.2.0.53 (12/18/2023)

• Added allowance and detection of duplicate Qdb IDs on same app. Dups were being dropped on import before this version. This is somewhat controversial in the community.

1.2.0.52 (10/24/2023)

• Added "reference" column to qty outliers grid

1.2.0.51 (9/14/2023)

• Updated the internal version of the 4.2 xsd to "rev 2 11-19-2021"
• fix spelling of a variable: basevehilceid -> basevehicleid

1.2.0.50 (7/27/2023)

• Fixed support for App-level brand and subbrand codes. This is to allow for branding to solve overlaps. They are now properties of the "app" object

1.2.0.49 (7/20/2023)

• Added support for App-level brand and subbrand codes. They get prefixed onto the partnumber like ABCD_EFGH_PARTNUMBER. This is to allow for branding to solve overlaps

1.2.0.48 (2/27/2023)

• Completely back-tracked on the automation endevor - it was a fool's erand. The multi-threaded nature of the existing was pushing me down a road of hacks and compromises that were just too far.
• Began dev on a simpler (non-GUI) version called ACESinspectorCLI

1.2.0.47 (2/25/2023)

• moved analysis actions from button event into "analyze" function so it can be called through automation
• changed importXML .load() to uese read-only streamreader (set as read-only) instead direct reading of the file. ACES file was remaining locked which was a problem for automation's ability to delete the consumed file

1.2.0.46 (2/24/2023)

• compile and publish "release" package

1.2.0.45 (2/17/2023)

• Updated my IDE to VS2022 and reconnected to github
• removed junk files from project

1.2.0.45 (10/31/2022)

• Added error catching on Qdb import to allow a null in the QdbTypeId field (ACA added a "0" record for referencial reasons with a null typeid in the 10/2022 version)

1.2.0.44 (10/12/2022)

• Fixed version number in AssemblyInfo.cs to 1.2.0.44

1.2.0.43 (10/1/2022)

• Began groundwork for automated operation
• Added EngineBlockID support

1.2.0.42 (9/3/2021)

• Added "Asset Item Order" to flattened export (at the request of Ben B. at Dr1v)
• Added the imporation of Action="Deleted" apps (at the request of Ben B. at Dr1v) so that they could be exported to the flattened output
• Added missing Qdb qualifiers in Net-Change export
• Added XSD schema 4.2 (RC2) to the list
• Added a feature to ignore non-fitment type Qdbs when evaluating CNC overlaps (at the request of Ben B. at Dr1v). Avoid looking at a "replaced by" or "use until" qualifiers in such a way that a CNC is generated
• Fixed progres bar hide/un-hide on exports tab
• Fixed the ignoring of the "qty outliers" checkbox on the settings tab

1.2.0.35 (released 10/21/2020)

• Added "Coded-Values" format option to the "Export Simplified (flat) apps" function. This was to meet an internal need of my own for import of ACES files from trading partners into my PIM system (sandPIM)
• fixed "Treat Assets as Fitment" checkbox to be sticky in registry
• added ACES 4.1 xsd data to schemas
• added basevid to the holes report (requested by Joe @ Autology)

1.2.0.34 (released 1/25/2020)

• Added 2 more levels of depth to logic diagram

1.2.0.33 (released 12/12/2019)

• Added "Reference" field to VCdb code problems tab (and spreadsheet output).
• Added "BAse Vehicel id" field to VCdb code problems tab (and spreadsheet output).
• Added "Reference" field to flattened export.
• Added AssetName, AssetItemOrder to exported ACES xml file
• Added "Export Asset List" feature to "Exports" tab
• Added logic to respect the checkbox "Treat Assets as Fitment". It was permenantly true before now
• Fixed false positive "Asset Problems"

1.2.0.32 (released 9/12/2019)

• Added new format option to assessment file layout in response to Tenneco's suggestion for CSV-style content that can be consumed into a BI system.
• Fixed "Part adds/drops list is too large to show here" message was showing up in error when vehicle diff list was above threshold
• Added results row to the stats tab of the assessment spreadsheet.
• Fixed net-changed ACES xml export. Had been broken since 1.0.2.1 due to changing from arrays of apps to lists of apps.
• Fixed differential vehilces datagrid - it was not showing any results if results count was above "limit".
• Added automated processing features.
• Added clickability to the fitment tree diagram in the logic problems tab. Clicking a fitment element draws a red line through it and addds it to a hitlist of things to go back and remove from the source PIM dataset.
• Removed brake wear-sensors from the list of typical parttype/qty analysis.
• Fixed loading of Access files was not updating version lables properly - Calvin @ Dr1ve identified this issue
• Upgraded included MySQL client DLLs to latest generally-available version (8.0.17.0). -switched to from 4.7.1 to 4.8.0 .NET Framework

1.2.0.31 (released 9/13/2018)

• Upgraded included MySQL client DLLs to latest generally-available version (8.0.12.0). Had to add "SslMode=none" to the connect string as a result.
• Started catching bogus years that are implied by year-range-style apps that go beyond (earlier or later) than the valid basevehicles defined in the VCdb.
• tweaked the Qdb utilization score to avoid divide-by-zero.

1.2.0.30 (released 9/7/2018)

• Added row to assessment spreadsheet stats tab to show Qdb utilization score.
• Added decoded Qdb-transformed notes to the distinct notes list in assessment spreasheet.
• Fixed header row to be Frozen and bold/gray bg in assessment spreadsheet notes tab.
• Fix fullFitmentString() function to properly delimit consecutive Qdb elements with a semi-colon.

1.2.0.29 (released 9/5/2018)

• Added distinct note-tag reporting in the output spreadsheet.
• Added Qdb-Transform feature to the note translation mechanism.
• Added Qdb utilization stats on home tab.
• Added "Ignore NA items" control and (back-end execution) to settings tab.
• Moved controls around (cosmetic) on the settings tab.

1.2.0.28 (released 8/20/2018)

• Fixed blank lblAssessmentsPath.Text and lblCachePath.Text logic on first run

1.2.0.27 (released 8/19/2018)

• Fixed creation of AiFragments directory on path selection

1.2.0.26 (released 8/16/2018)

• switched to from 4.5.2 to 4.7.1 .NET Framework

1.2.0.25 (released 8/15/2018)

• cosmetic fix - "Select VCdb" button was tweaked out of place

1.2.0.24 (released 8/10/2018)

• Fixed asset analysis to correctly look for assets matched to apps. Also limited DNS-based version publishing to 9.0.0.0 as highest version

1.2.0.23 (released 7/31/2018)

• Added a mechanism to lookup the current official released version from public DNS in