Feature Distance Expression. 1

[Matsa]

Hi,
I have a model that contains a feature I never seen before-"distance expression"(see att file).
I can see the expression under tools/expression, but I can`t change it.
How do I get it and how/when is the function used?

 

[jerry1423]

The attachment didn't work, but I assume that expression is related to a distance measurement. Look in you feature tree and see if there is something in there that says "distance measurement".
Open you expressions menu and go to the bottom of it, the second icon from the left is the "measurement menu".
Something similar is also located under your "analysis" pull down - but in that menu you need to toggle on "associative" for an expression to be created.

 

[JohnRBaker]

The reason WHY this feature's accompanying Expression cannot be edited is that it's being generated by the feature itself. It's the result of a measurement and is therefore 'system' generated as it were. When the model is edited and the measured objects update, the Expression will update to reflect the new measured distance.

John R. Baker, P.E.
Product 'Evangelist'
Product Engineering Software
Siemens PLM Software Inc.
Industry Sector
Cypress, CA

http://www.siemens.com/plm

UG/NX Museum:

http://www.plmworld.org/p/cm/ld/fid=209

To an Engineer, the glass is twice as big as it needs to be.

 

[Matsa]

This is NOT feature "Distance Measurement". The feature name is "Distance Expression".
Tried to upload the file again.

 

[JohnRBaker]

What version of NX are you using and could you provide us with the actual part file?

John R. Baker, P.E.
Product 'Evangelist'
Product Engineering Software
Siemens PLM Software Inc.
Industry Sector
Cypress, CA

http://www.siemens.com/plm

UG/NX Museum:

http://www.plmworld.org/p/cm/ld/fid=209

To an Engineer, the glass is twice as big as it needs to be.

 

[JohnRBaker]

Are you performing any 'Routing' operations in this part file?

John R. Baker, P.E.
Product 'Evangelist'
Product Engineering Software
Siemens PLM Software Inc.
Industry Sector
Cypress, CA

http://www.siemens.com/plm

UG/NX Museum:

http://www.plmworld.org/p/cm/ld/fid=209

To an Engineer, the glass is twice as big as it needs to be.

 

[Matsa]

I`m using NX5. No "routing" in the part what I can see.
I have attached a part that contains a feature "distance expression".

 

[JohnRBaker]

OK, mystery solved.

Back before we had implemented the more general Measuremenet Expressions, where you can capture, either using associative functions on the Analysis menu or the explicit Measurement Expressions created inside the Expression system, things like Distance, Length, Angle, Area, Volume, etc. of various aspects of your models, we had a single simple 'Distance Expression' function as part of the Expression system (and which was replaced by these newer functions). In your example part, this is where that particular 'Distance Expression' feature originally came from, which in this case was created using UG V18.0 on May 16, 2003 by someone with the user ID 'JONASSMA'. Note that this information can be gleened from your part files using...

Information -> Part -> Part History...

...where you can get a complete history of who worked on a particular part file, when they did this work and what versions of the software and OS were they using, and if you cross references this information with what you can learn using...

Information -> Part -> Modifications...

...where you can track when features and expressions were created and edited, you can get a very detailed 'history' of the evolution of your part files.

Note that this 'Distance Expression' feature was created with UG V18.0 using a function then found on the Expression dialog. As mentioned previously, this functionality was replaced with the introduction of the newer Expression system, which included the more general Measurement Expression function, with the release of NX 3.0. Now even though you are no longer able to create NEW 'Distance Expression' features (you now would use Analysis -> Distance or a Measurement Expression to do the equivalent), you can still edit them if you wish to, reassigning the objects which this feature is referencing (measuring the 'distance' between). Note that if this feature is updated or edited, that Expression 'p312' will update to reflect the new distance.

Anyway, I hope this clears up the mystry. And more importantly, you can leave it there since it will still work and update as expected, just that in the future don't go looking for 'Distance Expressions', but rather use the 'Measurement Expression' instead.

John R. Baker, P.E.
Product 'Evangelist'
Product Engineering Software
Siemens PLM Software Inc.
Industry Sector
Cypress, CA

http://www.siemens.com/plm

UG/NX Museum:

http://www.plmworld.org/p/cm/ld/fid=209

To an Engineer, the glass is twice as big as it needs to be.

 

[Matsa]

Aha,
Thanks for the info. This could be useful for me..

Best regards Matsa