Populating a Vault - Generic File Names 3

[JamesBarlow]

I am in the process of creating a test vault to use to get everyone to buy in to making the switch to PDMWorks. I have run into a problem and wanted to get some suggestions and feedback.

I mentioned in a previous post that our network is extremely slow so I will be putting everything, even vendor OEM parts into the vault. Many of these have been downloaded off of various websites by everyone here. The problem I am running into is often the files come in as an assembly with a vendor part number, which is not a problem, but the parts inside the assembly have generic file names. The files may be named, for example, part1, part2, part3, etc. I always made it a habit to rename all the parts based on the assembly number so everything was easy to identify. However I'm not the only person who has been downloading parts.

My original thought was to use SW Explorer to rename the parts, but that won't work because they have to be in the vault first.

Anyone every have to deal with this and what did you do?

 

[macduff]

James,
This is how I handle my assemblies. I use the base p/n for all the parts in the assembly, and then add _AC1, _AC2, _AC3 etc...after the parts to make them unique. See attached example.

Best,

Colin Fitzpatrick (aka Macduff)
Mechanical Designer
Solidworks 2009 SP 3.0
Dell 490 XP Pro SP 2
Xeon CPU 3.00 GHz 3.00 GB of RAM
nVida Quadro FX 3450 512 MB
3D Connexion-SpaceExplorer

 

[macduff]

Oh, by the way...........AC stands for accessory. It's an accessory to that assembly

Colin Fitzpatrick (aka Macduff)
Mechanical Designer
Solidworks 2009 SP 3.0
Dell 490 XP Pro SP 2
Xeon CPU 3.00 GHz 3.00 GB of RAM
nVida Quadro FX 3450 512 MB
3D Connexion-SpaceExplorer

 

[JamesBarlow]

My problem, however, is that I have hundreds of parts that need to have this done before they can be put into the vault.

I'm looking for a way of doing exactly what you did but on a larger scale. The only way I know is to open the assembly and then do save as for each part to keep all the associations.

 

[DesignerGuy16]

I've adopted doing xxx_01, etc for our purchase parts. This isn't in a PDM vault, but just a shared design library. It works well, and yes you should take the time to change the names to a consistent format before adding them into your vault.

Otherwise garbage in, garbage out.

James Spisich
Design Engineer, CSWP

 

[Finethread]

You will be much better off if you check in the parts and rename them in the vault.

BTW, we employ a similar technique described by Macduff re naming associated parts in an assembly where XXXXX is the assy number and XXXXX_1 would be the first part associated with the assy, XXXXX_2 the 2nd and so on.

 

[fcsuper]

I usually put the part number in front of all the file names that come from vendors and such. You can rename them once in the vault, but training of everyone with access is important so that this doesn't get into the vault in the first place (let them know to use Pack and Go to add prefixes, for example).

Another thing you can do is set up an FTP and then move the files over yourself once you've formatted the file names.

Matt Lorono
CAD Engineer/ECN Analyst
Silicon Valley, CA
Lorono's SolidWorks Resources
Co-moderator of Solidworks Yahoo! Group
and Mechnical.Engineering Yahoo! Group

 

[CorBlimeyLimey]

Pack and Go can add a suffix or prefix to selected files.

 

[NL8]

SW Explorer can be used to rename parts without breaking references, it's just slow and kind of cumbersome. Basically you select the folder the parts and assemblies reside in. In the selection area below the preview window, right click on the part you want to rename and choose rename. Let the system find all the references for the part and then rename. SW Explorer will update everything from there. It's a bit cumbersome, I think CBL's Pack and Go option is the best. This is just another method.

Joe Hasik, CSWP/SMTL
SW 09 x64, SP 3.0
Dell T3400
Intel Core2 Quad
Q6700 2.66 GHz
3.93 GB RAM
NVIDIA Quadro FX 4600

 

[SteveJJH]

Have you tried "save as with references" to perform a similar task to pack and go but with more flexibility on file names?

From the assembly, hit File > Save As... , then press the references button, then press more options. make sure you have the "name" column highlighted, then you can use "find/replace" to rename parts to whatever you like

 

[ZillionM]

You can setup a macro - renaming all the files for ya. However, if you havent worked with macro's in the past, it may take as long as manual renaming..

 

[avlis]

I usually save downloaded purchased part assemblies as parts. Just makes for less files and overhead. There are some cases where I need to preserve a purchased part as an assembly because it either moves or needs to have configs. But that is rare in my case. If I'm never going to take the thing apart, no need to have it as an assembly.

 

[SteveJJH]

Yes, i use that technique when we download things like motors (which can be handed or have things like cable entries in different places) then i just use "body move/copy" to make different versions.

 

[leeave96]

Take my suggestion with a grain of salt as I am no SW or vault expert - but here is what I am trying with an assembly of mine.

The assembly is a 3D assembly of an electrical device. It was downloaded from a vendor as a STEP file. Via SW Explorer, I renamed the assy, but not the sub assy and piece part files that are contained within the assy.

We created a directory (this may not be the right wording) in the vault that is the same name as the assembly and saved the assy and it's supporting parts in that directory.

The reason for having all associated files in a unique directory is that there will be other downloaded assemblies from this vendor and they will always be a STEP file. I believe that when SW convert them, there may be same part/assy files names, but the internal ID is different. Further, if one of these files is modified (as via import diagnostics and feature reconigition), then overwriting files and the fall-out of that is prevented.

That's what we are trying.

Good luck,
Bill

 

[SteveJJH]

you can't have two files of the same name in a PDM vault, no matter what your folder structure is. be careful, as you could end up overwriting, or leaving files behind out of the vault

 

[smcadman]

We use the naming convention in the attachment.

We do not append the vendor part number in the name we give it a unique name per our naming convention. We have some properties in the part/assembly where we enter the vendor and part number for the BOM table.

To rename parts and keep all links together, we use Pack and Go on the drawing to make sure it gets all the parts. While in Pack and go, use the "Select/Replace" button and in the "Search for" field, enter the original name/number of the component. Then pick the "Replace text with" radial button and enter the new part number you want to use.


Flores

 

[SteveJJH]

i can't believe how many times i've used pack and go and not noticed that button right in the middle of the dialog!

 

[CorBlimeyLimey]

SteveJJH ... Pack and Go has all the functionality and flexibility of the "Save as with References" ... and then some.

 

[SteveJJH]

Is there any way to use either method in a macro? whenever i try and record a "save as" or a "pack and go" i just end up with a blank macro

 

[ZillionM]

You need an external macro program Im afraid. You can try microsoft word macro recorder, although Im not sure thats gonna work. I use Macroscheduler, a very "solid" program. It actually has pixel recognition build into it. It is a hard way for the non macro-ers. But building macro's is definitely something you want to have in your résumé.