Instance Name and Part Number 1

[ToniPerez]

Hello,

I am new in this forum and beginner in CATIA too.

My question is because I don´t know why do we have to rename Instance Number and Part Number always with the same name.

Could somebody explain me the reason please?

Thanks for your help in advance

Toni Pérez

 

[GELFS]

Hello Toni,
Instance Name=Part Number is not a requirement of CATIA.

Good Practice is to have Instance Name=Part Number.<Serial Number>
The .<Serial Number> part is required in order to differentiate two instances of the same product.

Some CATIA Applications, like Structure Design, do that due to the fact that each new PartProduct created by this workbench is autonamed iaw a predefined naming schema.

I hope it helps.

-GEL

 

[ToniPerez]

Thank you Gelf !

 

[GELFS]

You are always welcome.

 

[ferdo]

Is a very good practice because CATIA can "look" for instance name in different kind of macros for a specific instance (as GELFS already said).

And there are few others reasons but from my point of view this is the most important.

Regards
Fernando

 

[KevinDeSmet]

It's stupid, that's what it is! ...but, c'est la vie as Dassault would say

Certified SolidWorks Professional

 

[ferdo]

The best example I can give is bellow (copy-paste the code in a CATScript). Try to modify Instance Name and see the result. Unfortunately CATIA is not the perfect tool.

Language="VBSCRIPT"

Sub CATMain()
 Set Document = CATIA.ActiveDocument 
 Set Selection = Document.Selection

MsgBox "Select Part, Product or Component"

               ReDim InputObjectType(0) : InputObjectType(0)="Product" 
               Status=Selection.SelectElement2(InputObjectType,"Select Part, Product or Component",true)
               if (Status = "Cancel") then Exit Sub
               msgbox selection.item(1).value.name
              
End Sub

Regards
Fernando

 

[ToniPerez]

Hello Fernando,

Can you give me an example about how I can compile the script?
Thank you !

 

[ferdo]

Hi,

Copy-Paste the code as it is in a text editor (NOTEPAD for example), save it, change the extension from txt to CATScript, run it from Tools-Macro...

Regards
Fernando

 

[Azrael]

Didn't see an issue until I checked the picture. As GELFS already stated that it automatically sets Instance Name=Part Number.<Serial Number> keeping that in mind, when you insert parts (with proper naming) into your product there is no issue, you will get part number.X. But I noticed in your picture that you have a product that I assume you have added new parts and afterwards changed the properties, doing that way you need to change both part number and instance name following the logic explained by GELFS. So I guess that your real issue is that when you add a new part it will be named part1(part1.1) forcing you later to change both part and instance name... but if you set in tools/options/infrastructure/product structure in the product structure tab the option "manual input" in the part number area... you will be asked when adding new part to set the part number... so if you add a new part and set the name to "piston ring" you will get a piston ring(piston ring.1)

 

[Azrael]

Another thing worth mentioning, in the same area in tools/option you have the node customization tab, where you can control what is presented in the tree

 

[ToniPerez]

Hello,

I only can say that after modify instance Name and Part Number in the tree( window properties ) the part name didn´t change automatically . See my screenshot and you will understand what I am talking about.

Thanks Azrael for the tip

Kind Regards

Toni

 

[ToniPerez]

Enclosed is the screenshot

 

[MarkAF]

In my understanding, the Instance Name is perhaps the single most useless piece of information for the designer. So, I suggest to our users to not even display it in the tree (just what Azrael suggested). However, as Ferdo points out, many scripting methods use the instance name, so for a programmer it is very important.

The requirement in Catia is that the instance name is always unique within a product. The requirement from your customer might be more specific. I have one customer that specifies PartNumber.<Serial Number>, and another customer that specifies the Instance Name should be DescriptiveName.<Serial Number>

If this works right, here you can download a catvba macro that I have written a while back, to automate resetting the instance name to the format PartNumber.<Serial Number> It is a recursive function, to work through all levels of a product structure. The intent is to just use this routine once, at the end of a project, before delivering final data to our customer.

http://files.engineering.com/getfil...0-8e302f178e9d&file=SET_INSTANCE_NAMES.catvba

(Note:There have been a few of these sort of macros floating around, but I didn't find one that worked on all the levels of the whole tree, so I refined it all into my own)


Cheers,
Mark

 

[GELFS]

Hello Mark,
Let's assume that we have a project where 'Product Traceability' is one of the customer requirements. This requirement is very common in military, nuclear, etc projects. For each single piece of the product, the manufacturer shall keep its trace during production of it.
For such a project, the QC Reports shall make reference not only to 'Part Number' but also to 'Instance Name', otherwise the instances of a Product cannot been differentiated. The templates of QC Reports are prepared during 'Detailed Design Phase' and are completed during production of the product.
Furthermore, the Production Drawings and their Bill of Material shall make reference not only to 'Part Number' but also to 'Instance Name' for the same reason. If not, then the QC Records cannot been completed properly during production.
This is just one of many cases where the product's property 'Instance Name' is very usefull, if not necessary.
-GEL

 

[camadian]

Hi you can find in attachment
a very big macro you have to arrange in fact of your project

 

[MarkAF]

GELFS,
That's a fair point, and a case I haven't encountered thus far-thanks! It is though, a reinforcement to the original question about why? And the answer is to understand your organization's or customer's requirements.

Cheers
-Mark