Hey guys,

My job involves creating cabinetry with hinges, locks etc. and I'm trying to automate the design process by using smart parts. I have created a few smart parts such as a hinge which creates its own mounting holes in the door and wall when placed. I have encountered a few problems with these smart components.

Sometimes I need to change out the door on a cabinet which has a "smart component" hinge. When I do so I want to edit the reference surface so the hinge can create the correct holes in the new door. To do this I click "Edit Feature" in the right-click menu of the smart component. Solidworks will display a question mark in the references box, which turns into a green check mark once I click the new door. I can then click the green check mark at the top of the Edit Feature menu to close it. Everything seems fine, no errors or anything, Solidworks has however changed nothing. The only way I have found to fix this is by deleting the smart component and inserting a new one.

Another problem I've encountered is that sometimes I want the smart components to only insert certain features. The menu seems to be set up to allow this. I can see all the features the smart component can create with checkboxes in front of them, yet when I uncheck some features it still asks for the respective reference plane of the un-checked features. For example: I want to place a hinge on a door, I then want the smart component hinge to insert the mounting holes in the door. I uncheck all the features related to the mounting holes in the wall . Solidworks will still ask me to select the wall,which I can't because I don't have one. Because of this solidworks refuses to deploy any of the features. 

Is there something I'm missing here? Because it seems "smart components" can't chew bubblegum and walk at the same time. Any help with the above-mentioned problems is greatly appreciated.