Preview version doesn't match solidworks version.

Discussion created by Jason Barr on Apr 25, 2008
Latest reply on Aug 7, 2008 by Lucas Dexter

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I am having a problem with drawings that are opened with e-drawings, SWveiwer, or even looked at in the PDMWorks preview window not matching when actually opening the file in Solidworks. I have tried clearing cache, checking out file again and re-saving but the problem still exists. From what I can tell, if I do a save as on a part and drawing the preview will show the original part and not the new. But it has also been happening on new parts showing a older version in the preview.

Anyone have any suggestions?

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12 Replies

Lucas Dexter May 20, 2008 1:56 PM
Jason,
We had a similar issue, if not the same issue, when we first implimented PDMWE about a year ago. We found if the file is not fully rebuilt (ctrl Q) in SolidWorks before it is saved and checked back in, the drawing would not look the same as viewed in SolidWorks. The reason for this is SolidWorks performs a rebuild of sorts when it opens a file where viewer and eDrawings is just a snapshot as it was last saved. We have not had issues since the ctrl Q was put in our release process.
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John Layne May 20, 2008 9:36 PM
Anyone out there that can write a macro to do this automatically?
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John Layne Jul 30, 2008 3:30 AM
Bump

Just testing our WorkFlow and have noticed that the Edrawings preview in PDM show the last saved view not the latest state of the Custom Properties.

It basically make the preview / print from PDM useless unless the file has been re-saved after the final WorkFlow transition.

Hope SolidWorks are working on this for the next release of PDM Enterprise.
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John Layne Jul 30, 2008 3:51 AM
Ok after rummaging through the forum---- (would be nice if the advanced search would work properly when selecting forum categories)

This would not be problem if we upgrade to SolidWorks 2008, can someone confirm?

Currently running:-
SolidWorks 2007 SP5.0
PDMWorks Enterprise 2008 SP4.0
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- Jeremy Schmidt @ John Layne on Jul 30, 2008 11:41 AM
  I'm running SP4 of both SW and PDMWE and still have the same issue.
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- richard lock @ John Layne on Jul 30, 2008 11:51 AM
  Yes 2008 edrawings can update to display changes in custom properties without needing to open and save the file in SolidWorks. A couple of notes on this however is that the drawings files need to be in 2008 format and that the custom properties also need to be part of the drawing when created. This also means that you should not 'blank' a varaiable as it will then not display the next time it is updated. To get over this problem we also blank a variable by using a space.
  
  There is an SPR for this : 428302
  
  Drawing title block property text ($PRP) only updates if the custom property exist when drawing is created
  
  Another note is that if a varaiable is actually updated from the part then the drawing still needs to be open to retrieve the new value of the variable from the part itself......this should not cause a problem however you just need to take care in you mappings of $PRP & $PRPSHEET.
  
  Oh and one last thing is that 2008 now has a tab on the data card for each sheet in a drawing, much like for part and assembly files and this has caused a fair bit of confusion as to what is updating what, especially with leagacy and no way to control the variables within solidworks as there is only one set for the file.
  
  Regards,
  Richard
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- Joy Garon @ John Layne on Jul 30, 2008 12:19 PM
  Hi Folks -
  
  Solution Id: S-011868 Area: FAQ
  
  Question: Why is the updated title block information not visible when previewing a drawing after updating its data card in PDMWorks® Enterprise? Topic: PDMWorks
  
  Link:
  
  Answer: The preview section of the PDMWorks ® Enterprise interface will either show a static bitmap of a drawing file (slddrw) or a dynamic drawing preview using the eDrawings® viewer. As eDrawings® is a "lightweight" viewer it is actually previewing the "last-saved-bitmap" of a drawing file (i.e. what was last generated when the drawing was saved within SolidWorks). If a drawing custom property, or other title block notes are updated without it being opened in SolidWorks, regenerated, and resaved (i.e. from a data card or via workflow transition) the preview will show the title block as it looked when last saved.
  
  The same behavior will occur if the drawing file is stored in a local folder, update its custom properties from the property tab and open it in the eDrawings® application.
  
  To see the correct title block information, open the drawing in SolidWorks.
  
  Note that with eDrawings 2008, it should be possible to see the updated title block property values without having to reopen the drawing. This only applies to drawings saved in SolidWorks 2008.
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John Layne Jul 30, 2008 9:21 PM
Thanks, that's made it very clear.

Now need to twist my client's arm to upgrade to SolidWorks 08.
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- richard lock @ John Layne on Jul 31, 2008 6:12 AM
  Personally I'ld now wait for 2009.......get youself signed up for the beta as there is some really nice stuff and just from my experience 2008 can be a pain (especially if using x64).
  
  Regards,
  Richard
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John Layne Jul 31, 2008 11:39 PM
Thanks --- but NO WAY at least until SP4 or SP5.
Been burned to many times on early SP's
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- richard lock @ John Layne on Aug 1, 2008 10:04 AM
  Thats's most peoples reaction however I would really recommend looking at the functionality that is availiable in 2008 compared with 2009 and remember that you will be fully testing any system before implementing it. Don't forget if you find problems with 2008 in your implementation then you are pretty stuck for getting any resolutions as sp5 is due out about the same time as 2009. However if you find problem with 2009 then you stand a good chance of getting them in an sp.
  
  At the end of the day each client is different however if you are looking at upgrading then I would recommend testing all the options avaialiable, there are always issues with each release and version, it's really just how many can you live with.
  
  Cheers,
  Ricky
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  - Lucas Dexter @ richard lock on Aug 7, 2008 12:17 PM
    O.K., back on topic -
    The situation that Joy explained is also happening when the file is updated from SW 200x to 2008. We use $PRPSHEET for some of our variables that may have to change in the titleblock
    
    There is a new SPR open for this situation which is really upsettign our purchasing department because they view and print with eDrawings through PDMWE. When they can not see the titleblock information, they can not send prints to the supplier with missing information in the titleblocks.
    
    The SPR is SPR 444433 (saving 2007 drawing files in 2008 format will corrupt display of annotation notes using $PRPSHEET syntax as a custom prop in eDrawings).
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Preview version doesn't match solidworks version.

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