How to Rename Parts 2

[CADWHORE]

I am at the end of a design and I need to rename all of the parts to the correct format required by our company. They are currently named, drive shaft, base plate, etc.

Is there a good way to do this other than to do a file save as in the part file? When I do this it asks a few questions and then tells me that a file exists with this same name, so I cancel out of that, then it asks if I really want to continue with the save as, I say yes. When this is all done it seems to do what I need, but it is kind of a hassle.

Any ideas for me?

Thanks.

 

[hudson888]

We have touched on this a few times in the past. You can't clone successfully because you don't have a regular naming system that can be altered by prefix, suffix or uniform substitution. So you'll have to so some of the work yourself.

I would export the assembly structure to a spreadsheet to create a list of former and future file names. I find that using Excel I can quickly massage that data into a .bat file and rename all the files that way. the key function to use in Excel would be "concatenate".

So basically you rename all the files in native, and then you open the assembly (loading no components)in NX, and use the "Open component as" function to reconstruct your assembly.

For any reasonably large assembly I find this quicker and less error prone than the Save As method.

Do turn on "Allow Substitution" in your load options, as we were recently reminded it will be necessary to do so.

Best regards

Hudson

 

[phillpd]

Be careful with native OS renaming if you use interpart expressions or linked geometry. These wont get updated.

I know it's hassle, but File->Save As, starting at the bottom of the assembly is the safest approach.

Specialty Engineered Automation (SEA)

http://www.sea4ug.com

a UGS Foundation Partner

 

[hudson888]

This is true, and we don't use too much linked geometry or interpart expressions simply because transfers more difficulty in maintaining data onto downstream users than we are perhaps willing to trust them with.

Too much of anything is bad for you! That's what too much means.

Having said this the likely result will be that the links just get broken, so if they are relatively few or you aren't concerned too much about it then you should be able to re-establish those links quite readily without much trouble.

As I said for small assemblies I use "Save As" and for larger ones I have to use a work around because being human I find the procedural nature of the task otherwise unsustainable and I make too many errors.

Some of the previous posts included requests for a program to do this task. We haven't seen an affirmative response as yet. It would be good though!

Best Regards

hudson

 

[CADWHORE]

Thanks for the replies you guys. I am not advanced enough with NX4 to externally reference any parts yet, I am still trying to get my wits about me with the overall progarm still. My assembly is relatively small so it looks like I am stuck with the file save as function.

Thanks again.

 

[DavidTolsma]

Should try clone with manual naming if you don't have a naming pattern to base off of.

-Dave

http://plmwiki.com

http://groups.google.com/group/NX_CAX/