4 Replies Latest reply on Jan 25, 2018 9:33 AM by Elmar Klammer

    Changing drawing references is also updating assembly references???

    Joe Cann
    Joe Cann Jan 25, 2018 6:57 AM

      So you have the following structure;

      Top Level Assy

           Sub Assy 1

                Part 1

                Part 2

           Sub Assy 2

                Part 3

                Part 4

       

      I've made a drawing of Sub Assy 1 (BOM and drawing border all point towards this sub), but the drawing also has a single view of Top Level Assy used for reference.

      As Sub Assy 1 & 2, and the parts within them, are very similar, I've just copied and pasted the drawing of Sub Assy 1 and changed the references so it now looks at Sub Assy 2 (And also still looks at the common Top Level Assy).

       

      This is all well and good and I've been changing the references of copied drawings for years. The problem I'm having today is that when the drawing opens after just changing the references, it also seems to replace Sub Assy 1 with Sub Assy 2 within the Top Level Assy!? (Are you still following??)

       

      To sum up, I'm ending up with a Top Level Assy that now has 2x Sub Assy 2's in it? I've never seen this before and I'm wondering whether there's a sneaky little check box I don't know about?

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      • Categories: Drawings and Detailing, SolidWorks
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        • Re: Changing drawing references is also updating assembly references???
          Joe Cann
          Joe Cann Jan 25, 2018 7:05 AM (in response to Joe Cann)

          UPDATE

           

          I've found that if you have the Top Level Assy open in the background when you copy, paste, rename, relink and open the new drawing, the Assy isn't affected.

           

          However, I consider this to be a bit of a work around as the Top Level Assy is quite large and would prefer to have it closed down if I can.

           

          If anyone has an answer to the original question, I'd still appreciate a response

          • Re: Changing drawing references is also updating assembly references???
            Elmar Klammer
            Elmar Klammer Jan 25, 2018 7:46 AM (in response to Joe Cann)

            Hi Joe,

             

            If you have the drawing open that references the top level asm then SW has it open but hidden. So opening the ASM even if it is large should not a big deal. It's already in memory unless you work with loading specified pages or that kind of thing.

            It depends how you change the references. Do you do it going into File references dialog before opening your new drawing or do a save as change the references their? In this case SW replace the references (default behaviour) in all open files (shown or hidden). And that is what you see. Now since you know that behaviour you can simply open the hidden top level asm and do a "reload" and you original file references will be fixed again.

            Another approach would be to copy paste the drawing & sub asm in your file explorer. Then open the drawing and replace the file reference for the views that reference the old sub asm.

            Or you can search the forum Matt Gjertson. He offered a solution to automate your process without the file reference issues.

             

            Elmar

              • Re: Changing drawing references is also updating assembly references???
                Joe Cann
                Joe Cann Jan 25, 2018 9:00 AM (in response to Elmar Klammer)

                Hi Elmar, sorry, you've misunderstood. The problem is that I'm changing the drawing references and it's updating the assembly references as well.

                 

                I'm sure this is a glitch as I've not told the assembly to swap assemblies out. It's as if I've changed the drawing references, so instead of looking for Assy 1 I've changed it to look at Assy 2, and then it's gone into the assembly and done a Replace Component on Assy 1 for Assy 2?!?

                  • Re: Changing drawing references is also updating assembly references???
                    Elmar Klammer
                    Elmar Klammer Jan 25, 2018 9:33 AM (in response to Joe Cann)

                    Hi Joe,

                     

                    I think I did understand. As per your description below it's a default SW behavior.

                     

                    ""...This is all well and good and I've been changing the references of copied drawings for years. The problem I'm having today is that when the drawing opens after just changing the references, it also seems to replace Sub Assy 1 with Sub Assy 2 within the Top Level Assy!?"

                     

                    If the Top Level Assy wasn't open at time when you change references than you would be okay. The problem is that you have a drawing view in your open sub assy drawing that references the top level assy. That means your top level assy is in memory, even though it's not visibly open. That makes no difference to SW whether you see it, cause SW sees it if it is loaded. And loaded it is.

                     

                    I can see that you don't want this behavior. I can also see that it might be confusing to the user if you don't have awareness of the limitation to the change reference function.

                     

                    I hope that helps explain it.

                     

                    Elmar