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Please tell SOLIDWORKS to unlock the Large Assembly Management options in PDM

Question asked by Alin Vargatu on Apr 26, 2016
Latest reply on Feb 3, 2019 by Alin Vargatu

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We really have to find a way to convince SOLIDWORKS developers to add an option for getting all the options for opening a large assembly directly from the PDM vault.

This is such a huge game changer for 90% of my customers!!! They could work 10 times faster with large assemblies if such a trivial change would be made to the PDM functionality.

Also please vote on this SPR: SPR# 712870: “Ability to open SOLIDWORKS files in Large Design Review Mode”

I know that the description is misleading, since there is no reference to PDM, but the SOLIDWORKS technicians told me that this is the correct ER.

Artem Taturevych May 10, 2016 3:59 AM

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Thanks, Alin. I have updated the add-in. You can redownload new version with the same link:

Thanks,
Artem

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Steve Calvert Apr 26, 2016 2:08 PM
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Alin, as in the other string. I have Smarteam and they at least have the functionality to open light weight from the vault.

Steve C
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Alin Vargatu @ Steve Calvert on Apr 26, 2016 2:11 PM
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Thanks Steve. Great point.

I just wanted to make one point very clear: The Lightweight mode is useful, but LDR mode and display states with hidden components not loaded are the hidden gems for large assemblies.
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Alin Vargatu Apr 26, 2016 2:20 PM
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Just discovered another option that is ignored by PDM:

As per SW, by design, this options works only when an assembly is open using the Open dialog.

Then what is the point of having such an option??? I should be able to launch a file from Windows Explorer or from PDM and open in LDR mode if the number of components is below the threshold.
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Steve Calvert Apr 26, 2016 2:33 PM
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In my earlier self here at Wayne, we used Unigraphics and I remember way back then that it sure opened assemblies fast. I think it had something to do with what part of the component file was used in the graphic view of the assembly.

Steve C
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Ben Roland Apr 28, 2016 9:44 AM
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Alin,
Where did your screen shots come from?

Ben R
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S. Casale @ Alin Vargatu on Apr 28, 2016 9:49 AM
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In my experience, This feature and lightweight mode cause many rebuild issues, versioning problems (especially in vaulting), and entire assemblies to fail when used.

A common known.
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Alin Vargatu @ Ben Roland on Apr 28, 2016 9:52 AM
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Ben Roland wrote:

Alin,
Where did your screen shots come from?

Ben R

SOLIDWORKS. Recent Documents ("R"-key shortcut).
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Alin Vargatu @ S. Casale on Apr 28, 2016 9:57 AM
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Scott Casale wrote:

In my experience, This feature and lightweight mode cause many rebuild issues, versioning problems (especially in vaulting), and entire assemblies to fail when used.

A common known.
A lot of users (even non-SW users) need read-only quick access to large assemblies. LDR is the game changer.
Imagine that you get a part from the shop floor and need to quickly locate it in order to send the correct program to the CNC machine. You do not know the part number or file name, but you know where is located in the assembly.
You open the assembly in 5 seconds in LDR mode, then you select the part in the graphic area and open it. It is a thing of beauty!!! That is why the manufacturing engineers and technicians worship me as a God, every time I show them this technique.

Unfortunately, the whole process is cumbersome if they have to open the assembly file using PDM search.
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Ben Roland @ Alin Vargatu on Apr 28, 2016 10:06 AM
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I totally agree Alin. I would like to take it a step further and have an option in groups and user accounts in PDM. Say you are a member of Machine shop group or Shop group, you would have the default of opening Assemblies in large design review mode.

Ben R.
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Alin Vargatu @ Ben Roland on Apr 28, 2016 10:09 AM
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Thanks, Ben. As a user, it seems like a simple project for the SW-Development.

They should be able to implement it in no time at all.

If there is a SW employee reading this, please feel free to comment.
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Steve Reinisch May 2, 2016 3:05 PM
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How do you get those dialog boxes?
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Alin Vargatu @ Steve Reinisch on May 2, 2016 3:08 PM
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Steve Reinisch wrote:

How do you get those dialog boxes?
SOLIDWORKS. Recent Documents ("R"-key shortcut).
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Rob Kuehl May 4, 2016 8:50 AM
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I fully support this idea. Maybe it could be as simple as having the dialog box Alin posted pop up when you double click a file from EPDM's explorer view AND search tool? (might be nice to be able to turn it off in the Display->Options menu for those that don't deal with large assemblies, but default it to on!)
My comments here represent more than just my voice, we have about 20-25 people who are in our EPDM vault full time and maybe another 30 people who less frequently have to browse/search and access our vaulted data. Many times I have witnessed meeting rooms full of people waiting while a large assembly loads. All they want to do is spin it around and talk about a few points of interest. Should the computer operator have gone through the Solidworks open dialog? Probably, but in that meeting situation other things may be on their mind, or they are jumping from excel sheets to pdf's, then solidworks and Explorer is EPDM's tool. A pop up dialog reminding you about LDR or speedpak is exactly what is needed to save that time.
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Lee Priest May 4, 2016 4:31 PM
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This is a fantastic idea, and I think our employees would benefit from this greatly. We have nearly 100 CAD users, many of whom are only using EPDM to view assemblies in read-only mode, and often our assemblies can get very large (where LDR mode is necessary for quick access). The workflow of accessing these files through SolidWorks is inconvenient, as I rarely use the open dialog to browse the vault (instead, I keep a Windows Explorer window open most of the day).
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Alin Vargatu May 5, 2016 3:08 AM
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Also, do not forget the drawings. We need to be able to open the most complex drawing in seconds for printing or PDF conversion purposes.

And give us the option to select which sheet(s) we want to load.
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Dave Bishop May 5, 2016 8:03 AM
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Alin - I agree that this would be an extremely useful feature. Countless amounts of time are continuing to be wasted, watching and waiting for the spinning wheel to stop. The general need is to simply find out the overall context of problems in our top level assemblies that typically take less than a minute to find resolution once the file is actually open. This would be a major improvement for me and our engineering department of 40 users.
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Claudio Perfetti May 5, 2016 9:20 AM
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I completely agree and this was something I meant to bring up. On behalf of the 80+ users of ePDM within Teknion, this functionality would save a tremendous amount of time. Do the math on 80+ users 5 days a week. In the course of a full year, that's a pretty significant ROI if this can be built in.
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Alin Vargatu May 5, 2016 10:31 AM
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Also please vote on this SPR:

SPR# 712870: “Ability to open SOLIDWORKS files in Large Design Review Mode”

I know that the description is misleading, since there is no reference to PDM, but the SOLIDWORKS technicians told me that this is the correct ER.
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Ben Roland @ Alin Vargatu on May 5, 2016 11:11 AM
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I voted
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Artem Taturevych @ Ben Roland on May 5, 2016 8:19 PM
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Hi,

Take a look at this PDM add-in we just have developed. Hopefully it can be helpful: #CODE|Open Files in Large Design Review From EPDM

There is a short video demonstration there. This is currently in beta so please contact us at dev@ic3d.com.au if any issues with the ad-in or you want to receive an update when new version is released.

Thanks,
Artem
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Alin Vargatu @ Artem Taturevych on May 5, 2016 8:31 PM
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Artem Taturevych wrote:

Hi,

Take a look at this PDM add-in we just have developed. Hopefully it can be helpful: #CODE|Open Files in Large Design Review From EPDM

There is a short video demonstration there. This is currently in beta so please contact us at dev@ic3d.com.au if any issues with the ad-in or you want to receive an update when new version is released.

Thanks,
Artem

Wow!
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Steve Reinisch @ Alin Vargatu on May 6, 2016 9:04 AM
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I second that Wow!

One suggestion I would have is
change the ‘View File’ menu selection to something else as it is a duplicate of
another one in the menu.
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Alin Vargatu @ Artem Taturevych on May 6, 2016 9:13 AM
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Artem, I tested the functionality and works like a charm for both assemblies and drawings.

You need to provide an address for the PayPal donations that I am sure you will receive from all these big PDM users.
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Alin Vargatu @ Steve Reinisch on May 6, 2016 9:14 AM
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Maybe QuickView File?
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Claudio Perfetti May 6, 2016 9:53 AM
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Are there any limitations as to which versions of ePDM (or PDM Pro) that this will run on? ie. 2014/2015?
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Please tell SOLIDWORKS to unlock the Large Assembly Management options in PDM

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