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epdm daily check in

Question asked by Emily Augason on Sep 25, 2014
Latest reply on Oct 1, 2014 by Dan Seaman

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Hi,

I'm trying to implement a nightly sweep of all checked out files in our vault. There are only two main users in the vault including myself, but we move around between multiple locations and computers and have been frustrated by files checked out on the wrong computer.

I've been trying to figure out how to create some kind of time or date triggered epdm transition or dispatch action, but there doesn't seem to be any way.

Is this possible without more complicated programming? It seems like it should be fairly simple to do, but I'm pretty stuck.

Thanks!

Emily

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Michael Dekoning Sep 25, 2014 6:44 PM
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Have you looked at EPDM Tasks? I think this would be the only way to run something on a scheduled basis.
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- Emily Augason @ Michael Dekoning on Sep 25, 2014 7:30 PM
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  Oh I seem to have overlooked that. This looks promising.
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Brian McEwen Sep 29, 2014 4:04 PM
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You could also consider a search favorite or a report. But you would need to get in the habit of running it. It could just be files checked out by the current user.

...An automatic check-in seems a bit risky, if that is what you intend to do, but a reminder about check-in might be good. On the other hand you can always go back to previous versions.

I assume Dekoning is taking about a New Task of the General variety. How do you make an EPDM task run at a specific time?

Under "Enter script to execute in SolidWorks" what language is that anyway? ...I'm not helpful but I'm interested.
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- Michael Dekoning @ Brian McEwen on Sep 29, 2014 6:21 PM
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  Brian,
  
  To do what Emily is wanting would require writing a Task add-in with the EPDM API. There is a flag that you set in the code to allow scheduling. When you set up the Task to run in the Adin tool, you can configure the day, time and interval that the Task should be run.
  
  The "Enter script to execute in SolidWorks" appears in the SolidWorks Task provided with EPDM for batch convert and print operations. You can customize it to perform other actions by entering a Visual Basic macro script.
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- Dan Seaman @ Brian McEwen on Oct 1, 2014 6:54 AM
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  Hi Brian,
  Tasks can only be scheduled if the add-in they use indicates that it supports scheduling. If you look at the example here http://help.solidworks.com/2015/English/api/epdmapi/TaskSample.htm, the key bit of code is:
  Dim props As IEdmTaskProperties
  props = poCmd.mpoExtra
  
  'Turn on some properties, e.g., the task can be launched during a
  'state change, can extend the details page, is called when the
  'task is launched, and supports scheduling
  props.TaskFlags = EdmTaskFlag.EdmTask_SupportsChangeState + EdmTaskFlag.EdmTask_SupportsDetails + EdmTaskFlag.EdmTask_SupportsInitExec + EdmTaskFlag.EdmTask_SupportsScheduling
  
  The script language used the SWTaskAddin is Visual Basic for Applications (VBA).
  
  When the task executes the script is parsed for macro* tokens (e.g. <Filepath>) and these are replaced by values based on the current selection. The script is then sent to SOLIDWORKS as a macro to be executed.
  
  When you're developing a script for a task its a good idea to start out with a SOLIDWORKS VBA macro and only adapt it to a task script once the macro is working as you want.
  
  Regards,
  Dan
  * Macro as in a string token in code to be replaced with another string before the code is compiled.
  ** Macro as in code to be executed by a host program.
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  - Brian McEwen @ Dan Seaman on Oct 1, 2014 8:13 AM
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    Thanks Daniel and Michael. This will require some further study on my part. I hope it helped Emily also.
    
    Do I understand and assume correctly that the SWTaskAddin may be used to create a custom script (for a scheduled task), but in many cases one would just write a standalone add-in to do the job?
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    - Michael Dekoning @ Brian McEwen on Oct 1, 2014 8:24 AM
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      Yes. Use the SWTaskAddin if you need to run SolidWorks to accomplish your task. Otherwise, you'd create your own add-in. There is a complete example in the API help file. There have been some sessions at SolidWorks World and you may be able to find them here.
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    - Dan Seaman @ Brian McEwen on Oct 1, 2014 8:34 AM
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      Further to Michael's reply:
      The standard Convert, Design Checker and Print tasks use the SWTaskAddin.
      
      You can review the scripts for these tasks in the Task Properties dialog. If you feel the need to customise these scripts then I suggest you export the task first to create a back-up or, better yet, create a copy and edit that.
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Dan Seaman Sep 30, 2014 1:00 PM
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Hi Everyone,
The Add-In solution Michael Dekoning describes is pretty much one of the use cases taught on the API Fundamentals of SolidWorks Enterprise PDM course:
http://www.solidworks.com/sw/support/8721_ENU_HTML.htm

You can download the training files without attending the course but I wouldn't recommend it; debugging Tasks is not trivial.
http://www.solidworks.com/sw/support/1804_ENU_HTML.htm

Regards
Dan
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