I am aware of doing that, but what I meant was some sort of document properties or something that automatically does this. What you describe, if I understand you correctly, would require opening every file myself. I wanted to do it such that the next time anyone opens any of the drawings referencing the format, it will update without them worrying about it.
We can't afford training right now. I'll try to tone down my questions, I got a little carried away with this site I suppose
Training doesn't mean you can't still call your VAR, unless you didn't pay for the subscription support. Then you can't call your VAR either. Don't worry about toning them down just read the FAQ that is added in my signature.
To answer your question... No if you open an old drawing it will load the sheet format that it was saved with. You will have to do the above to reload the sheet format and then save the file. Now the next time that drawing is opened it will have the new format.
[blue]Andy330hp[/blue], you might be able to create a macro file that reloads the sheet format, then place that macro in your Feature Manager. Each time you rebuild your drawing the macro would be called, and update your drawing format. I don't ever recall a macro that would batch-update all drawing files... but that doesn't mean that someone out there hasn't created one.
MadMango "Probable impossibilities are to be preferred to improbable possibilities."
Have you read faq731-376 to make the best use of Eng-Tips Forums?
The macro sounds like a good idea, I'll give it a shot (I'm not very experienced with them either, but I have some reading material to start out with!)
Andy330hp,
We change something on our templates at least 4 times a year. Our company name changed 3 times in the last 4 years.
What I did to replace our old format with a new format was to record a SolidWorks macro. Start the SolidWorks record function. Right mouse click on drawing, click properties. Set the sheet format to none. While the macro is still running, set the Sheet Format to Custom. Browse to your format. Stop macro from recording, save to name like Sheet1Form.swb. Assign to a macro key, like F10. I did not even have to edit the macro. It runs for others and me in our department right out of the box. I am starting to like this SolidWorks macro recorder. It gets better all the time.
Ladies and gentlemen – Friends of all ages – Have we just found another Easter Egg that I missed?
Was that a new in SW2003? I tried to find a way to create a macro that started automatically when a SW first opened a file a couple of years ago and never did find a way to make it happen. – I am really confused by your statement though. For that to work, wouldn’t Andy330hp have to open every drawing to insert the macro / or am I missing something vital. – You can obviously tell that I haven’t seen this before.
Just a word of caution: Our AutoCAD (or AutoCrap as I've heard elsewhere) dwg files reference xrefs for the titleblock, rev block, and tolerance block so that every file points to these xrefs to build the complete sheet format (SWX lingo). When these Xrefs get changed, so does every other dwg file. Originally I think our company did this to save disk space - pathetic, I know. It has the nicety in that it saves time, but we've had other issues that weren't even thought of when this method was implemented. Often times a tolerance block for a company will change as advances in machining practices and the machines themselves occur. The problem with the older drawings is that they were created with what the designer had in mind according to the tolerance block that was being used at that time. When the tolerance block change occurred, it took every drawing that was created before the new tolerance block and totally invalidated what tolerances were in mind at the time. It makes it awfully tough to look at a drawing created in 1990 and say for sure that the designer at the time was thinking of the current tolerance block - obviously he wasn't, and often it makes it hard to find out what tolerances were being used at the time - specifically for a 65 year old company. This issue comes up when a part returns from a customer in the field, and the part is inspected according to the current drawing only to find that it is out of spec. The reason it appears to be out of spec is not poor craftsmanship or that it was missed during initial inspection, but that the part was created to the original tolerance block on the drawing. At the time the part was created, it was very much in spec. In my opinion, a change to the sheet format should constitute a change to the drawing rev, so that information can be obtained later on for individuals looking at the history of the part/drawing. I hope I am making sense. Just be careful that whatever method you use - you can control the tolerances on sheet format to point to the particular ones that were used at the time. This could be accomplished by making a completely new set of sheet formats while keeping the old ones and having the old files point to the old sheet formats. That way, ant new drawings will stay current at the sheet format for the time, and the old ones will be frozen in time to what was used during its creation. If you desire to update an old drawing to a new sheet format - rev it to show what was done to the file. If you have a PDM program, it makes it really easy to look backwards in history to see the changes. Keep asking the questions Andy - this forum can be addicting to "enginerds" like myself.
[blue]StarrRider[/blue], I might have given some bogus info out. I know that you can insert a macro file in the Part and Assembly Feature Manager, but I am not 100% sure this can be done with a Drawing in SW03. But to answer your question, Yes, it would have to be inserted into every file.
[blue]Pdybeck[/blue] brings up a good point. If you modify anything on a drawing (including the boarder info), you should rev-up the document.
MadMango "Probable impossibilities are to be preferred to improbable possibilities."
Have you read faq731-376 to make the best use of Eng-Tips Forums?
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