Same Attribute in Model File and Drawing File

[OldCADPOPro]

Hello All,

I am asking this question again to see if anyone has a cool trick for this. I am working in NX8.5. I need to have a part attribute be the same in both the model file and drawing file. Here is what I need. I have a model attribute called DESCRIPTION which is the full drawing title of the part. I need that same description in the drawing file. I would like to have this read directly from the model. Here is what I attempted:

1. Created a DESCRIPTION attribute in my drawing template file.
2. Created DB_DWG_TEMPLATE_DESCRIPTION in my drawing file to read from the model.
3. Created an expresion called DESCRIPTION and linked it to DB_DWG_TEMPLATE_DESCRIPTION.
4. Linked the DESCRIPTION attribute to the DESCRIPTION expression.

The issue here is that the DB_DWG_TEMPLATE_DESCRIPTION attribute seems to only sends blank text to the expression. Short of re-creating the attribute in the drawing template, does anyone have a suggestion?


Thanks in advance,

Richard

 

[Arkance/PhoeNX]

Do you need the DESCRIPTION attribute in your drawing to appear on the drawing or for some other reason?
Creating the DB_DWG_TEMPLATE_DESCRIPTION in your template drawing file will automatically populate with the value of DESCRIPTION from the model part.
I made a video a while back that shows how that works amongst other things about attributes:

http://vimeo.com/100179684

Anthony Galante
Senior Support Engineer

NX5.0.6, NX6.0.5, NX7.5.5, NX8.0.0 -> NX8.0.3
NX8.5.0 -> NX8.5.3, NX9.0.0 -> NX9.0.2, NX10 Beta

 

[OldCADPOPro]

Yes. The DESCRIPTION attribute is being read by our PLM system, unfortunately, not Teamcenter. Therefore I need DESCRIPTION in both the model file and drawing file. They need to be the same. This is not something that I need to appear on a drawing.

Richard

 

[jerry1423]

possibly this thread will help you:

http://www.eng-tips.com/viewthread.cfm?qid=228567

 

[OldCADPOPro]

Thanks Jerry1423,

I am going to try this some more. I need to try some additional things. Still not convinced that the attribute passes to Expressions very well. I did find an answer to another issue so I am a lot closer than I was.

 

[cowski]

Why do you need to use an expression at all?

www.nxjournaling.com

 

[OldCADPOPro]

Cowski,

I am open to suggestion. I am not using the DESCRIPTION attribute as any drawing text. I only want it to be a "linked" attribute between the model and drawing file. They need to be the same for our PLM system. I thought I would be able to have the attribute fed into an expression from DB_DWG_TEMPLATE_DESCRIPTION from the model and then fed back into the DESCRIPTION attribute in the drawing. Seems like the mechanism is there to do this, but the attribute seems to always put " " as the value of the string.

Any help would be appreciated. I am about to contact GTAC.

Richard

 

[cowski]

Does the DB_DWG_TEMPLATE_DESCRIPTION attribute read the correct value from the part file?
If so, create the DESCRIPTION attribute in the drawing and use the "reference text" option to point it to the DB_DWG_TEMPLATE_DESCRIPTION attribute. This will link the value of the attributes (expressions will be created behind the scenes for you).

www.nxjournaling.com

 

[OldCADPOPro]

Okay, I have been messing with this for too long now and it is time to ask you for any other suggesions. First, I tried cowski's method of simply linking DESCRIPTION to DB_DWG_TEMPLATE_DESCRIPTION using Reference Text and Part Attributes. This did not work. First, it wont let you use a part attribute that has no value to is or is in the UNSET category. Next, if you give the attribute text then is does not overwrite it when it uses the DB_DWG_TEMPLATE part to retrieve the attibute info from the model.

So next, I tried John Bakers method of placing a dummy component into my drawing template. Here is my steps (Images are in attached zip file)

1. For DESCRIPTION, I used Reference Text and linked it to an Object Attribute. (See 1 Add Object Attribute.jpg)
2. I verified that DESCRIPTION was linked. (See 2 Linked Description Attribute.jpg)
3. I verified that the expression created (p4) was linked to the object. (See 3 Linked Description Expressions.jpg)
4. I created a new model and added the attributes to it. I also created a solid. (See 4 Attributes for new model.jpg)
5. I created a new drawing from my template, saved it, and verified the Properties. (See 5 Attributes from new drawing.jpg)
6. I verified the expressions in the new drawing to find that p3 is no longer associated the component. (See 6 Expressions from new drawing.jpg)

Is there something I am missing here? Is there some setting I need to use? Any help is deeply appreciated.

Thanks,

Richard Andrew

 

[OldCADPOPro]

After trying many things with no success, it is time to call GTAC and log an IR. I will keep you posted.

Richard

 

[aluminum2]

Given that NX 10 is almost out, chances are that siemens isn't going to help you with nx 8.5. From what I gather, Siemens re-did their attribute/ expression programming in NX 8 and it is taking them a few realeases to find all their bugs. I looked at NX9 and it seems they fixed a lot of these issues.


One thing I noticed with wave linking in NX 8 (similar to NX8.5 IMHO) is that if you change an attribute in one file then open the next file it doesn't update. To get around this I either have to use update for external change , or close the initial file then close and reopen the file in the second file. Maybe it will work for you. Hard to say, it still kicks me where the sun don't shine once in a while.