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(Mass-)-Rename best practice

Question asked by Christopher Mueller on Nov 20, 2007
Latest reply on Nov 21, 2007 by Christopher Mueller

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I work at a company where we build up assemblies that often need aname change in the middle of the project. Usually, this meansswapping out a prefix in the name of the assembly and 90% of itscomponents (all components except the design librarycomponents).

We've been using Pack and Go to accomplish this. We check out theold assembly, run Pack and Go, and then check in the newly namedassembly in PDMWorks. The problems occur when we then try to checkout the new assemblies. All of the design library components aresuddenly unresolved and we need to point to the path of eachcomponent in the new assembly.

Question 1 to the forum: Am I doing something wrong? Does it matterif I check or uncheck the library components when running Pack andGo? They don't get renamed anyway...

Question 2 to the forum: Are there any "Best Practice"methods/ideas/random musings for using PDMWorks to manageassemblies that need to be renamed en masse (excepting designlibrary)?

We are working with SW2007 SP5

Christopher Mueller Nov 21, 2007 9:36 AM

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Our library components are on a network drive (S:\Design Library).We work in a subfolder of My Documents, which is on a seperatenetwork drive (U:\). After a checkout of an assembly, all of therevision managed components (PDMWorks) end up on U:\, while thedesign library components are not copied to U (they remain on S\).When the assembly is opened, SolidWorks has no trouble finding thedesign library components on S:.

After the pack and go, with the library components checked (to anew folder), SolidWorks has no trouble finding the design librarycomponents (as expected--they are copied into the new folder).However, after a check in, and then a check-out to a new folder,SolidWorks can't find the library components if they have beendeleted from the folder to which they were copied. It is likePDMWorks gets a brain fart and can't figure out that thesecomponents can be found in the design library. The probable reasonfor the brain fart is that the assembly thinks that the referencedparts are still located in the folder to which all parts werecopied.

I have now tested the behavior when the design library componentsare unchecked in the Pack and Go dialog. There is no problemopening the assembly in the new folder, and the Design Librarycomponents are fetched from S:. I think that this is the solutionto our problem, when the components are checked, the Assembly wantsto look for them in their copied location. The assembly thenmaintains this "desire" after a check-in/out cycle eventhough PDMWorks has a good idea of where these parts arelocated.

Here is what the help says about the check box for pack and go

Select or clear check boxes to include files in the saved folder orzip file.

That's it...

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Mahir Abrahim Nov 20, 2007 3:43 PM

Where are your library components originally? When you first check out the assembly they are likely in the same folder with the assembly. If you Pack and Go to another folder without checking the library components, they won't be in the same folder with the new assembly. If you close the original assembly and open the new one, it might not find the library components. Are they resolved when you open the new assembly to check it in?

As far as mass renaming goes, I would do it in PDMWorks. It may be less centralized and more tedious, but it will avoid the possibility of having multiple versions of the same part in the vault.

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Christopher Mueller @ Mahir Abrahim on Nov 21, 2007 9:36 AM

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Mahir Abrahim Nov 20, 2007 3:43 PM
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Where are your library components originally? When you first check out the assembly they are likely in the same folder with the assembly. If you Pack and Go to another folder without checking the library components, they won't be in the same folder with the new assembly. If you close the original assembly and open the new one, it might not find the library components. Are they resolved when you open the new assembly to check it in?

As far as mass renaming goes, I would do it in PDMWorks. It may be less centralized and more tedious, but it will avoid the possibility of having multiple versions of the same part in the vault.
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- Christopher Mueller @ Mahir Abrahim on Nov 21, 2007 9:36 AM
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  Our library components are on a network drive (S:\Design Library).We work in a subfolder of My Documents, which is on a seperatenetwork drive (U:\). After a checkout of an assembly, all of therevision managed components (PDMWorks) end up on U:\, while thedesign library components are not copied to U (they remain on S\).When the assembly is opened, SolidWorks has no trouble finding thedesign library components on S:.
  
  After the pack and go, with the library components checked (to anew folder), SolidWorks has no trouble finding the design librarycomponents (as expected--they are copied into the new folder).However, after a check in, and then a check-out to a new folder,SolidWorks can't find the library components if they have beendeleted from the folder to which they were copied. It is likePDMWorks gets a brain fart and can't figure out that thesecomponents can be found in the design library. The probable reasonfor the brain fart is that the assembly thinks that the referencedparts are still located in the folder to which all parts werecopied.
  
  I have now tested the behavior when the design library componentsare unchecked in the Pack and Go dialog. There is no problemopening the assembly in the new folder, and the Design Librarycomponents are fetched from S:. I think that this is the solutionto our problem, when the components are checked, the Assembly wantsto look for them in their copied location. The assembly thenmaintains this "desire" after a check-in/out cycle eventhough PDMWorks has a good idea of where these parts arelocated.
  
  Here is what the help says about the check box for pack and go
  
  Select or clear check boxes to include files in the saved folder orzip file.
  
  That's it...
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(Mass-)-Rename best practice

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