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My file names are too coplex

Question asked by Chris Green on Jun 3, 2013
Latest reply on Jun 5, 2013 by Chris Green

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Sorry to bother but I am fairly new to solidworks, and am an intern at my company. They are making the switch to solidworks and you can guess who they put in charge of solving problems with the new system. The main concern right now is when exporting a file from I-deas as an Iges file, I open it in solidworks, and all the part names are very long they include everyparent folder and sub folder thereafter in the part name. All we want is the parts original nae with out the extras. A samall example.

a parts name is RELEASED PARTS.680-699-681xxxDROP_TABLE_1525MM_ARM681706M0820NULL_2 (Default<<Default>_Displau State1>)

This part comes from a folder called released parts with a sub folder of parts from 680-699 then a folder of parts beginning with prefix 681xxx, and in here you find the part by name followed by part number. What the Null and defaults mean I have no clue. I undertand how forums work and I had bad luck searching this issue because Im not sure how to describe it. An answer would be great but a poin in the right direction would help just as well.

Thanks much,

The newb Chris

Kieran Choy Jun 4, 2013 12:29 AM

Correct Answer

Chris, when you import the assembly as an IGES, is it a single IGES file that SolidWorks then imports as an assembly? Or is it multiple files that you import individually?

If it is the latter, you can use an external file renaming program (like metamorphose) to batch rename the IGES files before importing them.

(If you were to do it to the exported SLDPRT files, you would break the links between the assembly and parts)

If it is a single IGES file, this is the fastest method I can think of:

Open the IGES file in SolidWorks
File > Pack and Go
Search / Replace
"Search: Save To Name" and enter a string to search such as "680-699"
Replace text with: (leave this blank to simply remove)
Replace All
Repeat steps 3-6 for all various sub folders, etc.
Save

Granted it's not perfectly automatic but as long as you don't have to remove too many sub-folder designations it shouldn't be too bad.

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Walter Fetsch Jun 3, 2013 2:04 PM

Chris, if I understand your problem correctly, Ideas is exporting the iges file with a long file name. When you import it into Solidworks (SW), it brings the long file name along with the model. Correct? If so, all you have to do is change the file name when you save the part. When you import a part, it doesn't save until you give the command, so just save it with a new file name.

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Chris Green @ Walter Fetsch on Jun 3, 2013 2:21 PM

Thanks for the response. With an individual part you are right I can change the part name in multiple places, or when saving. Its just when I bring over an entire Assembly with multiple sub assemblies, and each of those has numerous parts the list is very long and would tkae a great deal of time to rename each part. I was hoping there was a way to import the entire iges file over and only the parts name or number came over without all the extra lables within the same part name. I definitley did what you said earlier a few times and I can change piece by piece I was hoping there was a way to export that rid me of this tedious process.

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Walter Fetsch @ Chris Green on Jun 3, 2013 3:20 PM

In order to have individual parts, you'll have to save each part individually. If you're willing to work with a dumb solid, you could import the assembly and save-as a part file. Then you'd only have to name the assembly, which would be treated by SW as a single part.

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Kieran Choy Jun 4, 2013 12:29 AM

Chris, when you import the assembly as an IGES, is it a single IGES file that SolidWorks then imports as an assembly? Or is it multiple files that you import individually?

If it is the latter, you can use an external file renaming program (like metamorphose) to batch rename the IGES files before importing them.

(If you were to do it to the exported SLDPRT files, you would break the links between the assembly and parts)

If it is a single IGES file, this is the fastest method I can think of:

Open the IGES file in SolidWorks
File > Pack and Go
Search / Replace
"Search: Save To Name" and enter a string to search such as "680-699"
Replace text with: (leave this blank to simply remove)
Replace All
Repeat steps 3-6 for all various sub folders, etc.
Save

Granted it's not perfectly automatic but as long as you don't have to remove too many sub-folder designations it shouldn't be too bad.

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Jerry Steiger Jun 4, 2013 3:42 PM

Chris,

I suspect your best bet is to change the way that Ideas names the files. There may be a setting that will change from the full path in the name to just the file name. On the other hand, Ideas may do it this way because they allow different parts to have the same name, provided that they are in different folders. This could cause you problems when you end up with different parts in SolidWorks that have the same name.

Do you have someone in IT that you can talk to about the problem? They may be able to help.

If Ideas has a function similar to Pack and Go, you could put all of the files to be exported in a single folder to at least reduce the difficulty. It would be easy then to use Pack and Go in SolidWorks to rename all of the files to remove the folder name.

Jerry S.

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Chris Green Jun 5, 2013 11:40 AM

Thanks a lot all, much appreciated. A co-workier spoke with the solidworks rep and he said something similar to the pack and go option. However he too said it wont be super fast, and easy but it should get the basic job done of removing that first big chunk of unwanted name. I have no idea how I-DEAS works so I will go over that with a coworker and see if its possible to change those files before they get exported over to solidworks. Thanks again to all that helped out.

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6 Replies

Walter Fetsch Jun 3, 2013 2:04 PM
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Chris, if I understand your problem correctly, Ideas is exporting the iges file with a long file name. When you import it into Solidworks (SW), it brings the long file name along with the model. Correct? If so, all you have to do is change the file name when you save the part. When you import a part, it doesn't save until you give the command, so just save it with a new file name.
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- Chris Green @ Walter Fetsch on Jun 3, 2013 2:21 PM
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  Thanks for the response. With an individual part you are right I can change the part name in multiple places, or when saving. Its just when I bring over an entire Assembly with multiple sub assemblies, and each of those has numerous parts the list is very long and would tkae a great deal of time to rename each part. I was hoping there was a way to import the entire iges file over and only the parts name or number came over without all the extra lables within the same part name. I definitley did what you said earlier a few times and I can change piece by piece I was hoping there was a way to export that rid me of this tedious process.
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  - Walter Fetsch @ Chris Green on Jun 3, 2013 3:20 PM
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    In order to have individual parts, you'll have to save each part individually. If you're willing to work with a dumb solid, you could import the assembly and save-as a part file. Then you'd only have to name the assembly, which would be treated by SW as a single part.
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Kieran Choy Jun 4, 2013 12:29 AM
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Correct Answer
Chris, when you import the assembly as an IGES, is it a single IGES file that SolidWorks then imports as an assembly? Or is it multiple files that you import individually?

If it is the latter, you can use an external file renaming program (like metamorphose) to batch rename the IGES files before importing them.

(If you were to do it to the exported SLDPRT files, you would break the links between the assembly and parts)

If it is a single IGES file, this is the fastest method I can think of:
1. Open the IGES file in SolidWorks
2. File > Pack and Go
3. Search / Replace
4. "Search: Save To Name" and enter a string to search such as "680-699"
5. Replace text with: (leave this blank to simply remove)
6. Replace All
7. Repeat steps 3-6 for all various sub folders, etc.
8. Save
Granted it's not perfectly automatic but as long as you don't have to remove too many sub-folder designations it shouldn't be too bad.
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Jerry Steiger Jun 4, 2013 3:42 PM
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Correct Answer
Chris,

I suspect your best bet is to change the way that Ideas names the files. There may be a setting that will change from the full path in the name to just the file name. On the other hand, Ideas may do it this way because they allow different parts to have the same name, provided that they are in different folders. This could cause you problems when you end up with different parts in SolidWorks that have the same name.

Do you have someone in IT that you can talk to about the problem? They may be able to help.

If Ideas has a function similar to Pack and Go, you could put all of the files to be exported in a single folder to at least reduce the difficulty. It would be easy then to use Pack and Go in SolidWorks to rename all of the files to remove the folder name.

Jerry S.
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Chris Green Jun 5, 2013 11:40 AM
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Thanks a lot all, much appreciated. A co-workier spoke with the solidworks rep and he said something similar to the pack and go option. However he too said it wont be super fast, and easy but it should get the basic job done of removing that first big chunk of unwanted name. I have no idea how I-DEAS works so I will go over that with a coworker and see if its possible to change those files before they get exported over to solidworks. Thanks again to all that helped out.
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My file names are too coplex

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