Automated Tasks At Predetermined Times

[Befuddled]

I have a several large assemblies, which my PC will open without exhausting its memory recourses.

I have a requirement to update the contents of reference sets at the top level of the assemblies, I am currently using a macro to do this.

I can manually load the assembly; however I am on a very poor network which gets worse as the day gets started as more and more users log onto the network. So my whole day is spent watching an egg timer.

Does anyone know a method where I can perform this task at a predetermined time during the night using a batch file? Once one assembly has been updated, I need the assembly filed, and closed, before opening the next one.

Note I run NX via TcEng.

Any help appreciated.

Cheers,

B

 

[hudson888]

I don't know how to automate the process to occur at given times during the night and I'm really not even sure whether using TcEng will make this easier or harder. I suspect I could think of a way in native, while on the other hand I know TcEng can be programmed to do certain updating tasks in batch mode which I have seen used to get JT data updated.

What I suspect that I can help you with is to lighten your burden by perhaps reducing the requirement. We find that to keep reference sets updated that we don't have to open the entire assembly. For example what you may want to do is to have one reference set that contains model geometry and another with faceted representations, PART and REP respectively. What you have to do is go into each sub-assembly, and open only the first level components set them to the PART then update the part reference set in that file with those components, then you change the reference set of the components to REP and go through the process of adding those components to the REP reference set of your assembly. Then you save the part. Tedious and long winded as it may be to describe, it can be automated in something as simple as a macro. You would need some extra smarts to establish a list of the assembly files that you need to maintain and to open each one after the other then run the macro, or whatever. My hope for you is that at least you now know as we have found that you don't have to open the whole assembly to perform these updates, and that should save you a heap of time.

Now I have a question, about assemblies that I haven't yet checked out for NX-5 but would like to know the answer to. I have a really large top assembly with lots of sub-assemblies going down several levels. I can never open the whole top assembly, but each of the sub-assemblies are independently well maintained. At the start of the project we created this monster assembly by adding the structure of sub-assemblies that lurk beneath and at that time the contents were accurately represented for all the levels throughout the tree. After some time the assemblies that live several levels down have changed completely and they collect different part numbers. However when I open up the top assembly without loading any components and navigate to those changed assemblies they are still listed having their original contents. This causes no end of annoyance. Can it be fixed?
We created this data in NX-3, has the behavior changed in later versions?

Best Regards

Hudson

 

[MSPBenson]

First Question from Befuddled.

There is a thing in Windows called scheduled tasks.
You can find it in control pannel.
The problem is that the way I've used this before is using a VB script or Bat file to invoke Runjournal.exe (found in your ugii dir)
The journal opens up the part and performs the operaion and saves it again.
This however was all done in a native session. Not sure how it will react in TCEng.
This may lead you to the solution you want though.

Second question from Hudson.
Your top level assy has gone out of date.
Open the Assy with no components then right click in the ANT and select update structure. This can take some time on larger assys.

Cheers,


Mark Benson
Aerodynamic Model Designer

 

[hudson888]

Thanks Mark,

Well actually I do know about this one, and I agree about what it is supposed to. I also agree that yes it does take a while. In fact it seems to me that it takes about the same time as opening the whole top assembly. Which is to say that for larger assemblies that I have never been able to open I have never seem update structure finish either.

I have had some luck with medium sized assemblies open them using representations. Better still making the default reference set set to "Empty" makes opening the monster assembly even lighter and all things being equal it lightens the load. The downside with having to do this is that anyone with any sort of releasing process or file ownership system in place knows that you aren't going to own all of the files all of the time so again you'll struggle to save the result.

I've tested some of this on small to medium assemblies under NX-3 and NX-4. Update Structure works so does opening the assembly with "Empty" reference sets. I was really wondering whether NX-5 or NX-6 have advanced to the point where it isn't necessary for this to happen any more.

Best Regards

Hudson