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PDM Properties

Question asked by Simon González on Jun 2, 2011
Latest reply on Jun 6, 2011 by Jack Parlane

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Dear all,

I've just started to use PDM Workgroup and have some doubts. Let me explain you how I'm working and which my doubts are.

Each part is defined with a part number and a description. I use the part number as the SLDPRT File Name and the same for the corresponding drawing.

Regarding the description, I associate it to the "Description" property, which is linked in the part drawing.

When I register the part+drawing, the PDM Description is perfectly linked to the part property, but I don't know how to do that with the Drawing. It appears with no description. The same happens with the "Number" property. It appears empty.

Am I working OK or I should be doing something totally different?

Any advice would be appreciated and thanks for you wisdom!!

Scott McFadden Jun 2, 2011 9:48 AM

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Hi Simon,

After using PDMW for years, I have seen this and never worried about it. Mainly because

it would involve me having to create a description custom property within the drawing for the

sole purpose of having this field filled in. It wouldn't do anything or add ant value to the drawing.

If you really want this field filled in for the vault check in, just create another custom property

within the drawing and fill it in then the checkin value will be filled in. But understand you would

be filling out the description twice. Once for the part and once for the drawing.

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Scott McFadden Jun 2, 2011 9:48 AM
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Hi Simon,
After using PDMW for years, I have seen this and never worried about it. Mainly because
it would involve me having to create a description custom property within the drawing for the
sole purpose of having this field filled in. It wouldn't do anything or add ant value to the drawing.
If you really want this field filled in for the vault check in, just create another custom property
within the drawing and fill it in then the checkin value will be filled in. But understand you would
be filling out the description twice. Once for the part and once for the drawing.
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Jiral Parikh Jun 2, 2011 8:16 AM
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You need to take a look at the VaultAdmin tool and make sure that your Property mappings are done correctly. You should have number for the .sldprt file show correctly if your mappings are done correctly.
For the drawing, these information only shows up if you have that properties written in the drawing also.
Since your part number is same as the file name, your PDM search will be able to find the file based on the number. If you run the search purely for number, it might not show you anything since your number is not mapped. I am not entirely sure about this. You can try this yourself in PDM and make sure that it works correctly.
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- Simon González @ Jiral Parikh on Jun 2, 2011 9:38 AM
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  Thank you both for your answers.
  I think I'll live it like it is now, as Scott says.
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Kenneth Barrentine Jun 2, 2011 5:27 PM
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I like to have those properties filled out for these reasons.

- I use properties in drawing (not model) for title block
- drawing properties show up in vault for visual reference (see jpeg)
- vault search can find drawing easier with these properties

In jpeg notice i don't display the filename, i rely solely on properties. very clean this way.

Also, drawings have additional properties which model does not.

During check-in you can ctrl+select the 2 cells and copy contents (apply button) from one cell to the other.
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- Model_Props.jpg74.0 KB
- Properties_Vault_Display.jpg192.9 KB
- Drawing_Props.jpg116.4 KB
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- Scott McFadden @ Kenneth Barrentine on Jun 2, 2011 9:28 PM
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  Ken,
  Where I am working now currently has properties in both the drawing and the models.
  It is very confusing. I ahve never and still not a proponent of properties filled out in the
  drawing. The only advantage I can see to it is if it is strictly a drawing with no model
  association. I am currently setting up new formats and I have always driven the drawings
  from the model properties. It works very smoothly this way for me and others I have worked
  around.
  You outline your points very well and I am glad you find they work for you.
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- Daen Hendrickson @ Kenneth Barrentine on Jun 3, 2011 12:33 PM
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  We are using SW2011 with SP3
  
  We have a very similar setup to Ken. We have properties in both part and drawing templates. Regarding the description, the copy and paste from the part file is really not a big effort. It is an extra step and it would be great if SW would auto-fill these. But the additional step of manually copying is of relatively low intensity. Also like Ken, I like to organize my vault in a similar manner with display options set similar.
  
  We have two classes of drawing templates. One class links much of the titleblock information to the part/assembly properties. The other links only to the drawing file. This allows us to create additional drawings of a part for non-manufacturing purposes (operator manuals, sales, ICD, etc) We can have the titleblock update to any text we want without disturbing the part/assembly properties - which would disturb the manufacturing drawings.
  
  Also as Ken indicated, there are properties that are always only associated with a drawing.
  
  Hope this gives you some scenarios to consider.
  
  Daen
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  - Wayne Matus @ Daen Hendrickson on Jun 3, 2011 12:43 PM
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    I wrote a SolidWorks add-in for a customer several years ago that would monitor the user pre saving or save as events on a drawing file. It would read the custom properties from the referneced model and copy them to the drawing file. It was done before EPDM had the functionality built in. It could be used with WPDM as well.
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    - Kenneth Barrentine @ Wayne Matus on Jun 3, 2011 12:48 PM
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      the add-in sounds nice.
      i've been using a macro.
      
      also, because of the check-in window grid structure and features therein it's pretty easy to copy between cells.
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      - Daen Hendrickson @ Kenneth Barrentine on Jun 3, 2011 2:13 PM
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        I hadn't really considered the copy/paste routine at within the checkin grid. I'll have to give that a whirl.
        
        That autofill from part to drawing would be wonderful. Unfortunately no one here to work on macro/api/coding. I would like to trigger this functionality from the "Make Drawing From Part/Assembly" icon click - when making a new drawing just copy over any custom properties with the same name.
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        Kenneth Barrentine @ Daen Hendrickson on Jun 3, 2011 2:30 PM
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        not copy/paste per say.
        just select cells and then select "apply" button
        see attached jpeg.
        
        macro attached too.
        Attachments
        apply_copy_cells.jpg31.9 KB
        Migrate_Properties.swp.zip13.0 KB
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      - Scott McFadden @ Kenneth Barrentine on Jun 3, 2011 3:03 PM
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        Ken,
        Do you mind sharing the macro?
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      - Wayne Matus @ Kenneth Barrentine on Jun 3, 2011 5:52 PM
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        Here is the add-in converted into a macro. Run the macro rigtht after you first launch SolidWorks. It will stay running until you exit SolidWorks. If you launch SolidWorks from a shortcut, you could even have it automatically run the macro.
        
        To make it flexible, I had a constant string of the custom property field names that you want to copy separated by semicolon. Hust modify the highlighted area as shown.
        What it does is when a user performs a Save or a Save As on a drawing file, it will get the referenced model and it's referenced configuration name. It will read the configuration specific custom properties that you define as mentioned above. If the configuration specific custom property value is blank, it then gets the custom property. It then either addes the custom property to the drawing or changes the value if it already exists. Since it is a pre save notification, the custom property changes are also saved.
        
        It is free to use, just shoot me an email wayneATwlmservices.net. I would like to keep track of users.
        Attachments
        CopyCustomProps.zip15.8 KB
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Jack Parlane Jun 6, 2011 4:50 AM
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https://forum.solidworks.com/thread/42696

Check out this thread I created a month or so ago, similar scenario where I wanted to copy specific custom properties from parts to dwg files, i've had some success with it too so well worth a read through if that's the route you want to take.

Thanks,

Jack
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