Fixing Toolbox Fasteners Archived into PDM Works

[Shaydog]

My company has a design pool of about 12 people. We use SW2006 SP5.1 & PDM Works for doc. management. We also have a Network Toolbox set-up. Toolbox hardware is not revision controlled, however some users checked in toolbox items and they are now archived in PDMW. I would like to change these toolbox parts so they are "not revision controlled", but I don't want to wreck any relationships in their respective assemblies. Nor do I want to force a revision bump on released assemblies.

Ideas?

 

[CADGemini]

I think you can check out the assembly and point the hardware in that assembly to the network location using SolidWorks Explorer or by selecting "References.." before opening the assembly. Once the new paths to each piece of hardware are pointing to the network location you should be able to check in the assembly and overwrite the current revision if your PDMW Admin has given you those rights. Otherwise the revision will have to get bumped.

Let me know if you need further explanation.

Best Regards,
Jon Knabenschuh

Gemini CAD Solutions

http://www.geminicadworks.com

Challenges are what makes life interesting; overcoming them is what makes life meaningful.

Solidworks 2007

 

[Shaydog]

Thanks, but I don't think this pertains to my problem. The toolbox hardware is already pointing to the network location. The problem is users were not supposed to check toolbox parts in the vault as a revision controlled file.

My initial thought was to take ownership of the read-only toolbox parts, check them out, change their property state to "No" using the sldsetdocprop application in the Toolbox Data Utilities app. Then check them back in. Unfortunately this method demanded a revision bump to the Parent Assemblies. Also, it doesn't put these parts back to "not revision controlled" in PDM Works. Rather, it just leaves them looking like regular revision controlled parts. There is 40 or 50 instances of this and they are located throughout many different assemblies. I was hoping for a simple solution. Guess that's just wishful thinking!

 

[CADGemini]

I don't think it will be simple.

It sounds like the admin had the settings set to rev control toolbox parts and now has them set to uncontrolled. The only way I think you would have ultimate success would be to delete the assemblies from the vault that have toolbox components rev controlled. This could be a very long process if those assemblies have several revisions.

You will want to place each revision of each of the assemblies in their own separate folder when you check them out of the vault. Once all the assemblies are extracted from the vault you will need to systematically check them back in starting with the earliest rev.

Maybe someone else on here may have a better idea but this is the only way I can think it would work given the situation your in. The PDMW Admin should also give you rights to delete in order for this to work.

Best Regards,
Jon Knabenschuh

Gemini CAD Solutions

http://www.geminicadworks.com

Challenges are what makes life interesting; overcoming them is what makes life meaningful.

Solidworks 2007

 

[Shaydog]

Admin didn't have it set to "always" rev control toolbox parts, but it did have it set to "allow it". That explains why there are only 40-50 instances as opposed to hundreds. Admin has changed it to "not allow" now.

I think your idea of deleting, rolling back, replacing etc. would work, but it is not feasible based on the amount of work it requires.

You did give me an idea though. It would be easier to delete the hardware from the vault as well as from the copied parts folder. Basically get rid of all instances of these toolbox parts. Then recreate the toolbox parts and check them into the vault as non revision controlled hardware. The assemblies may open with errors next time, but it should be possible to navigate to the copied parts folder to find them when prompted. It's worth a test anyways.

Thanks for your quick responses. I'll post the results of my test. (Might be useful for somebody else one day)