Auto-fill Authors Initials in a Drawing Template 2

[originalhandle]

I am looking to create a SW 2D drawing template for everyone else in my office to use. (SW2010)
I'm at a small hurdle with auto-populating the authors initials.
I don't want each user to have their own drawing template.
I want a single template to be stored on the server, so that any changes only need to be made once.

As I understand, the "SW-Author" property is linked through the drawing properties, meaning each user would manually enter their initials each time.
Not what I want.

The "SW-Last Saved By" seems to reference a Windows login or similar, which for our office is a full name rather than initials.
Can this be changed without effecting Windows?

The only solution I can think of is for each user to have their own part template, with an "author" property, and reference that in the drawing. I don't really like it for a few reasons.

Has anyone got a better solution?

Thanks

 

[Gupta65]

Why can't a property be added in the part/drawing custom property (link that to the drawing tittle block) and ask to user to fill it with initials when they start a new part/drawing.

You can also use a macro with drop down list or even that can be something based on the window login details and will this custom property automatically and finally update the drawing tittle block.

Deepak Gupta
SW2009 SP4.1
SW2007 SP5.0
MathCAD 14.0

 

[49again]

We used the Property Tab Builder to add a drop down box that available when we click on the Custom Properties tab. So...it's not automatic, but it is pretty quick to just hit the drop down arrow and select the drafters' name

Steve R.

 

[fcsuper]

I ditto 49again's comment about property tab. It's easy to set up. If a person cannot be bothers with the 1/4 of a sec it takes to pick their own initials, then there's other issues.

Matt Lorono
Lorono's SolidWorks Resources & SolidWorks Legion

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/solidworks & http://twitter.com/fcsuper

 

[drawoh]

fcsuper,

Yet another issue is when you are ordered to do a modification you consider to be absolutely wrong, and you want to remove your initials from the drawing.

JHG

 

[ctopher]

I used to do the same as 49again at another company.
Everyone involved with creating/editing drawings had their added to the list.
It was also no issue manually typing ones name.
All templates were stored in one place on a server, then the 'copy settings wizard' file was sent to each pc so all links/paths were equal.

Chris
SolidWorks 09 SP5.0
ctopher's home
SolidWorks Legion

 

[originalhandle]

Thanks for all the replies.

I understand that filling in ones initials takes very little time, but by the same token it also requires minimal time or effort to manually enter the creation date, part number, sheet numbers, title etc.
Personally I believe its still nice to have these automated.

I am hesitant about using a macro, purely because I have no experience implementing or maintaining them.

Picking ones name from a drop box doesn't sound any more convenient than manually entering it.

I guess I was hoping each person could input their initials either through a Windows function, or their SolidWorks installation (like a system option), and have a common drawing template which would refer to that.

Thanks again.

 

[Updraft]

A macro isn't necessary if you set the properties in a part file properly and reference them in a drawing.

Our part templates include the following: Part Number (the file name), Description, Material (from the part's material), Made From (our raw material number and description which is cut and pasted from a spreadsheet), Finish, Heat Treat, Weight (from the part's mass properties), Modeled By, Model Date. Our drawing templates reference these fields in the title block. In addition, the drawing template has its own properties that are referenced in the title block: Drawn By, Drawn Date, Checked By, Checked Date, Approved By, Approved Date.

It is not too much to ask to have the engineer go into the part and drawing properties and set the appropriate values. If you really wanted to you could have a part template for each engineer that already has their initials in the properties, but there are other fields that need to be entered. This adds to a maintenance issue. We considered setting up two part templates: one for inch and one for metric, but quickly realized that when we made subtle changes, such as the default views and how the tangent lines were to display, that we had to propagate those changes to the other template. We now only use one template and just change the default units if necessary.

Laziness is not tolerated. Our default Description is "Descriptive and Meaningful Name". It embarrasses the engineer to let this show up in big bold letters as the drawing name, so they go in and change it and the other properties.

- - -Updraft

 

[Gurjjeet]

Our default Description is "ooops you missed the name".
Bet ya, now this's more embarrassing....