3 Replies Latest reply on May 6, 2014 3:51 PM by Jeff Sweeney

    Report for External File References

    Brian McEwen
    Brian McEwen May 6, 2014 9:58 AM

      Does anyone have a Report for EPDM that will identify SolidWorks files with external (outside the vault) references? 

       

      Or another way to search for files with External ref... might need Content (search index) type searching for this? 

       

      I know Update References will help with first check-in, but for some reason it cannot identify external ref after a file was checked-in without fixing them.  I now block check-in if there are externals, but did not intially.

       

      Thanks!

      Brian

       

      see also  Re: Enterprise PDM External References

        • Re: Report for External File References
          Jeff Sweeney
          Jeff Sweeney May 6, 2014 10:49 AM (in response to Brian McEwen)

          The database does not track references to files outside of the vault. Thus you aren't going to get a nice SQL report. You'll have to go to the actual files and read the external references from them. (Probably via the document manager)

            • Re: Report for External File References
              Brian McEwen
              Brian McEwen May 6, 2014 11:44 AM (in response to Jeff Sweeney)

              Document Manager - that is an API thing right?  API makes my eyes go blank at this point. 

               

              How about if I had Indexing set up - could a Content search pick up a search for some external paths?

              (Content search like on the OOTB Complete Search card)

               

              Thanks! And again great tip about fixing external references. I'll add it here. 

               

              """"""""""""""""" Sweeney wrote:

              I've seen a demo by Tor where he checked out the assembly file, made it "dirty" via changing the data card, then when he checked the file back in, it re-read the references from the file instead of the database. [[and external references are flagged like on initial check-in]]

              """""""""""""""""""""

                • Re: Report for External File References
                  Jeff Sweeney
                  Jeff Sweeney May 6, 2014 3:51 PM (in response to Brian McEwen)

                  The document manager is an API tool that you can use to read (and sometimes change) information of a file without having to completely open the file within SOLIDWORKS.

                   

                  I've never tried it, but I am very pessimistic that the content search is going to have any value as far as reading external references of a SOLIDWORKS document.