USE MAP KEY TO COPY PART NO. INTO DRAWING? 1

Use a drawing template which has your border and views already defined.

"Wildfires are dangerous, hard to control, and economically catastrophic."

Ben Loosli
Sr IS Technologist
L-3 Communications

what about copying the drawing no?
we use an 11 digit system- i don't want to wear the keyboard out.
Thanks

You have your drawing number set as a parameter in your part file correct? Something like &DRW_NO? In your drawing FORMAT (different from template) you can create a note that is linked to that parameter. That format can be defined in the template or if you create it separately, you can use it on drawings that have been made already by changing format in Page setup. The parameter will be filled in when a model with the &DRW_NO parameter (or whatever you use) is added. We use mapkeys to add and modify all of our parameters. Does this help?

~Tyler

CAN YOU USE COPY & PASTE WHEN CREATING MAP KEYS?

Are you talking about creating a maykey that copies and pastes something? Or about copying an existing mapkey? To copy an existing mapkey, open up your config.pro file in a text editor (Find the local config.pro, should be in home or working directory). You can copy paste and rename your mapkeys in that file. Make sure you back it up incase you don;t like your changes. I use PSPad editor for that file...great text editor.

~Tyler

FROM THE MODEL I NEED TO CREATE A DRAWING WHICH HAS THE SAME 11 DIGIT CODE AS THE MODEL.
MY MAP KEY ALLOWS ME CREATE THE NEW DRAWING BUT STOPS WHEN THE NUMBER NEEDS PASTING IN - I THEN USE CTRL+V WHICH ADDS THE 11 DIGIT NO.(THIS WAS COPIED FROM THE PARAMETER VALUE). THE MAP KEY THEN FAILS AND I PUSH ENTER (IN THE 'NEW' WINDOW)- THEN 'EMPTY' (BUTTON IN THE 'SPECIFY TEMPLATE' WINDOW') THIS TAKES ME TO THE NEW DRAWING PAGE WHERE WE HAVE ANOTHER TWO MAP KEYS FOR INSERTING THREE VIEWS + ISOMETRIC & A BOARDER (WHICH IS POPULATED).
THANKS- THIS IS NOW NEARLY WORKING.

Actually copying the parameter number seems like it is an unnecessary step. What is your parameter name that contains the 11 digit part number (side note: do you use Intralink?). Is there a reason why you do not want to create a drawing template instead of starting with an empty drawing? It will be a lot easier than using a bunch of mapkeys to create a new drawing every time. From what I gather you want, this is what I would do.

1) Create a new part
2) Have a mapkey to insert all parameters related to that part. eg (copy into config.pro with text editor)
mapkey am1 @MAPKEY_LABELAdd Model Parameters...;\
mapkey(continued) ~ Activate `main_dlg_cur` `Utilities.psh_params`;#PART;#CREATE;\
mapkey(continued) #STRING;PART_NO;<EMPTY_STR>;\
mapkey(continued) #STRING;WEIGHT;<EMPTY_STR>;\
mapkey(continued) #DONE/RETURN;#DONE/RETURN;

3) Modify parameters (you can again create a mapkey to modify these)
mapkey am3 @MAPKEY_LABELModify Model Parameters...;\
mapkey(continued) ~ Activate `main_dlg_cur` `Utilities.psh_params`;#PART;\
mapkey(continued) #MODIFY;#PART_NO;\
mapkey(continued) #MODIFY;#WEIGHT;#DONE/RETURN;#DONE/RETURN;

You should now have a complete model with the drawing number parameter, &PART_NO, that contains your 11 digit number

4) Create a drawing FORMAT (you can search for more information on how to do that) and use a table in the format to display parameter. Type "&PART_NO". Should display the 11 digit number when a model is inserted in the drawing with that format. This format also contains things that you don't want to edit in the drawing once inserted. For example, the border and other model parameters.

5) Create a new TEMPLATE with the 3 views placed. You can use a note here if you would rather to bring in the model parameters.

6) Then with a new part, create a new drawing from part using the TEMPLATE with the FORMAT and all parameters, borders and views should be defined. It requires a little more prep work, but probably a more stable method than mapkeys doing everything.

How does this sound? Hopefully this all makes sense.

~Tyler

THANKS

I'LL SIT DOWN AND FIGURE OUT HOW TO SET UP A TEMPLATE. THE SUPPORTING DATABASE IS DDM.

ANDREW

You can easily create a mapkey by using the Pause for keyboard input option and the Pause Button in the mapkey dialog on mapkey creation You can copy the one I already created for this purpose which I'll probably post in another forum. Since you plan to use templates It'll probably be better to create your own.

nd New Drawing

Add descriptive information and start record your mapkey.
Do a File Rename and then hit Pause button.
Pro E will prompt you to enter a message for the resume mapkey which will appear on screen you can type the following
"Please use CTRL+C to copy the part name, when you hit resume the mapkey will create a new drawing and you can paste the part name you just copied."
After entering the message do the copy text yourself, then hit Resume and select cancel and create new drawing when doing so hit the pause button again and type a message telling the user to CTRL+V Paste the name in and then hit resume and do all your template selection options and hit okay. This has worked great for me and you can always edit the mapkey by saving it to a separate file and text editing it with any text editor.

Michael