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Composer not loading properly

Question asked by Cory Lehr on Aug 30, 2013
Latest reply on Sep 3, 2013 by Cory Lehr

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I hope someone here can help me with this or let me know the best place to move this question for help.

Currently we have 2 users that have access to Solidworks Composer. One of the users has a 64-bit computer running on windows 7 with Solidworks 2013 sp04 installed. The seat of Composer is also the latest service pack, sp04. The other user has a 32-bit windows 7 machine and is not running Solidworks. He also has the latest service pack of composer installed. We do use workgroup PDM for all of our files as well. Both users have access to the vault, the one without Solidworks has a contributor license for workgroup.

When the user with the 32-bit machine opens a file from the vault location on our local server, approximately 90% of the components don't show up. When I open the assembly the same way, from the vault location on the server. When I open up the file, on a 64-bit machine, the assembly comes in like it shows in Solidworks.

I'm wondering if there is a better way to do this, or if this is something that is happening because of the 32-bit machine?

Any help is appreciated.

Thank you

Cory

Alan Sweetenham Sep 2, 2013 11:41 AM

Correct Answer

Hi Cory

Ultimately the files need to be brought local for an update, with regular composer i do not know of a way to automate this update. If you really want this to be automatic then there may be some possibilities but they would need extra software/cost. I know 3Dvia Enterprise Sync (soon to be renamed SolidWorks composer Enterprise Sync) has come capabilities for a more automated update although in reality i haven't been involved in implementing this at any customer.

Alternatively if you are going to switch to Enterpise PDM at any point in the future you could atleast easily set up some noticfications when files are updated.

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Alan Sweetenham Aug 30, 2013 12:17 PM

when you open the files on the problematic machine are you opening directly or have you tried getting the files from the vault first from explorer by unchecking "open now" This way you are assured of having all the files local when you want to open them. The fact you are getting something presumably means the SolidWorks import is installed, just some of the files are missing!

The only other thing i can think of is if the import settings are not correct on one machine. If there are surface parts then "import free faces" needs to be checked, if there are hidden parts then import hidden components ("no show") needs to be checked,

below is how i have mine set usually (merge part into one actor per part is typically very important also)

Finally if you want consistancy with these setting the defaults can be set under File -> Properties -> Default Document Properties -> Input

cheers

alan

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Cory Lehr @ Alan Sweetenham on Aug 30, 2013 2:05 PM

Thank you for the response Alan. If the other user gets the copy through SW explorer from the vault, so it is a local copy, it works ok. The problem I am having understanding this is that if I go through the server location, the same way he was trying to get it, I could get the entire file that way. I'm not sure if having a local copy the software was looking at my local drive to get some files or not. I don't have any experience with Composer, but from what I understand if we wanted to update the composer, ex. if the part revision is changed, then you would have to get the latest copy on the local machine where the file was originally created, to keep the paths looking at the local copy. We are wanting to reference the file in the vault so it would be able to be updated from the vault and not a local copy. Do you have any experience with this?

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Alan Sweetenham @ Cory Lehr on Sep 2, 2013 11:41 AM

Hi Cory

Alternatively if you are going to switch to Enterpise PDM at any point in the future you could atleast easily set up some noticfications when files are updated.

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Cory Lehr @ Alan Sweetenham on Sep 3, 2013 8:23 AM

Alan,

Thank you for the response. If the files have to be loaded up locally, wouldn't the composer file look for the assembly/part files on the local machine the original document was created on? I'm assuming that the file would look for the assembly/part with the path directed at the original computer's local file location, ex. C:\Users\clehr\Desktop\PDM FILES. If this is the case wouldn't it take extra steps each time someone on a different machine wanted to open and modify the composer files?

Cory

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Alan Sweetenham @ Cory Lehr on Sep 3, 2013 10:47 AM

Hi Cory

i hope i am understanding you correctly this can all get a bit confusing!

Once the solidworks assembly have been converted into composer SMG file it does not need to reference the original solidworks data unless/until you want to update it. When you wish to update a SMG file you go to File-> Update SolidWorks Composer document and simply pick the assembly again. I do not believe the file path matters it is only the file names that should match (you can get around them not matching but it requires manual work and is not the intended method)

Cheers

Alan

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Cory Lehr @ Alan Sweetenham on Sep 3, 2013 10:50 AM

Alan,

That is the answer I was looking for. I've never used Composer myself but know I may need to at some point. I just wasn't sure if the composer file would look at the file location of the assembly/part.

Thank you for all of your help.

Cory

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6 Replies

Alan Sweetenham Aug 30, 2013 12:17 PM
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Correct Answer
when you open the files on the problematic machine are you opening directly or have you tried getting the files from the vault first from explorer by unchecking "open now" This way you are assured of having all the files local when you want to open them. The fact you are getting something presumably means the SolidWorks import is installed, just some of the files are missing!

The only other thing i can think of is if the import settings are not correct on one machine. If there are surface parts then "import free faces" needs to be checked, if there are hidden parts then import hidden components ("no show") needs to be checked,

below is how i have mine set usually (merge part into one actor per part is typically very important also)

Finally if you want consistancy with these setting the defaults can be set under File -> Properties -> Default Document Properties -> Input

cheers

alan
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- Cory Lehr @ Alan Sweetenham on Aug 30, 2013 2:05 PM
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  Thank you for the response Alan. If the other user gets the copy through SW explorer from the vault, so it is a local copy, it works ok. The problem I am having understanding this is that if I go through the server location, the same way he was trying to get it, I could get the entire file that way. I'm not sure if having a local copy the software was looking at my local drive to get some files or not. I don't have any experience with Composer, but from what I understand if we wanted to update the composer, ex. if the part revision is changed, then you would have to get the latest copy on the local machine where the file was originally created, to keep the paths looking at the local copy. We are wanting to reference the file in the vault so it would be able to be updated from the vault and not a local copy. Do you have any experience with this?
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  - Alan Sweetenham @ Cory Lehr on Sep 2, 2013 11:41 AM
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    Correct Answer
    Hi Cory
    
    Ultimately the files need to be brought local for an update, with regular composer i do not know of a way to automate this update. If you really want this to be automatic then there may be some possibilities but they would need extra software/cost. I know 3Dvia Enterprise Sync (soon to be renamed SolidWorks composer Enterprise Sync) has come capabilities for a more automated update although in reality i haven't been involved in implementing this at any customer.
    
    Alternatively if you are going to switch to Enterpise PDM at any point in the future you could atleast easily set up some noticfications when files are updated.
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    - Cory Lehr @ Alan Sweetenham on Sep 3, 2013 8:23 AM
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      Alan,
      
      Thank you for the response. If the files have to be loaded up locally, wouldn't the composer file look for the assembly/part files on the local machine the original document was created on? I'm assuming that the file would look for the assembly/part with the path directed at the original computer's local file location, ex. C:\Users\clehr\Desktop\PDM FILES. If this is the case wouldn't it take extra steps each time someone on a different machine wanted to open and modify the composer files?
      
      Cory
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      - Alan Sweetenham @ Cory Lehr on Sep 3, 2013 10:47 AM
        Mark Correct
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        Hi Cory
        
        i hope i am understanding you correctly this can all get a bit confusing!
        
        Once the solidworks assembly have been converted into composer SMG file it does not need to reference the original solidworks data unless/until you want to update it. When you wish to update a SMG file you go to File-> Update SolidWorks Composer document and simply pick the assembly again. I do not believe the file path matters it is only the file names that should match (you can get around them not matching but it requires manual work and is not the intended method)
        
        Cheers
        Alan
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        Cory Lehr @ Alan Sweetenham on Sep 3, 2013 10:50 AM
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        Alan,
        
        That is the answer I was looking for. I've never used Composer myself but know I may need to at some point. I just wasn't sure if the composer file would look at the file location of the assembly/part.
        
        Thank you for all of your help.
        
        Cory
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