Using PDMWorks Enterprise For SolidWorks PDF [PDF]

Zitiervorschau

Do Pr e no -R t c ele op as y eD or R d i AF st T rib ut e PDMWorks® Enterprise

Using PDMWorks Enterprise for SolidWorks

SolidWorks Corporation 300 Baker Avenue Concord, Massachusetts 01742 USA

COMMERCIAL COMPUTER SOFTWARE - PROPRIETARY U.S. Government Restricted Rights. Use, duplication, or disclosure by the government is subject to restrictions as set forth in FAR 52.227-19 (Commercial Computer Software - Restricted Rights), DFARS 227.7202 (Commercial Computer Software and Commercial Computer Software Documentation), and in the license agreement, as applicable. Contractor/Manufacturer: SolidWorks Corporation, 300 Baker Avenue, Concord, Massachusetts 01742 USA Portions of this software © 1990-2007 D-Cubed Ltd., © 1998-2007 Geometric Software Solutions Co. Ltd., © 1986-2007 mental images GmbH & Co. KG, © 1996-2007 Microsoft Corporation, © 1997-2007, Structural Research & Analysis Corp., © 2000-2007 Tech Soft 3D, and © 1998-2007 3Dconnexion, IntelliCAD Technology Consortium, Independent JPEG Group. All Rights Reserved. Portions of this software are copyrighted by and are the property of UGS Corp. © 2007. Copyright 1984-2007 Adobe Systems Inc. and its licensors. All rights reserved. Protected by U.S. Patents 5,929,866; 5,943,063; 6,289,364; 6,563,502; 6,639,593; 6,754,382; Patents Pending. Adobe, the Adobe logo, Acrobat, the Adobe PDF logo, Distiller and Reader are registered trademarks or trademarks of Adobe Systems Inc. in the U.S. and other countries. For more copyright information, see SolidWorks Help About. Other portions of SolidWorks 2008 are licensed from SolidWorks licensors. All Rights Reserved PDMWorks Enterprise software is © 1998-2007 SolidWorks Nordic AB. All rights reserved. Outside In® Viewer Technology © 1992-2007 Stellent Chicago, Inc.

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© 1995-2007, Dassault Systemes SolidWorks Corporation is a Dassault Systemes S.A. (Nasdaq:DASTY) company. 300 Baker Avenue Concord, Massachusetts 01742 USA All Rights Reserved U.S. Patents 5,815,154; 6,219,049; 6,219,055; 6,603,486; 6,611,725; 6,844,877; 6,898,560; 6,906,712; 7,079,990 and certain other foreign patents, including EP 1,116,190 and JP 3,517,643. U.S. and foreign patents pending.

The information and the software discussed in this document are subject to change without notice and are not commitments by SolidWorks. No material may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, for any purpose without the express written permission of SolidWorks. The software discussed in this document is furnished under a license and may be used or copied only in accordance with the terms of this license. All warranties given by SolidWorks as to the software and documentation are set forth in the SolidWorks Corporation License and Subscription Service Agreement, and nothing stated in, or implied by, this document or its contents shall be considered or deemed a modification or amendment of such warranties. SolidWorks, PDMWorks, 3D PartStream.NET, 3D ContentCentral, DWGeditor, eDrawings, and the eDrawings logo are registered trademarks and FeatureManager is a jointly owned registered trademark of SolidWorks. SolidWorks 2008 is a product name of SolidWorks Corporation. COSMOSXpress, DWGgateway, Feature Palette, PhotoWorks, TolAnalyst, and XchangeWorks are trademarks of SolidWorks. COSMOS and COSMOSWorks are registered trademarks, and COSMOSMotion, COSMOSDesignStar, and COSMOSFloWorks are trademarks of Structural Research & Analysis Corp. FeatureWorks is a registered trademark of Geometric Software Solutions Co. Ltd. Other brand or product names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders.

Document Number: PMT0166-ENG-DRAFT

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PDMWorks Enterprise 2008 Training Manual

Table of Contents

Table of Contents Introduction

About This Course . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Prerequisites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Course Design Philosophy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Using this Book . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Laboratory Exercises . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 About the Training Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Windows® XP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Conventions Used in this Book . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

Lesson 1: PDMWorks Enterprise Concepts The Fundamentals of PDM. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 What is PDMWorks Enterprise? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 PDMWorks Enterprise Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 PDMWorks Enterprise Components. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 Microsoft SQL Server. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 PDMWorks Enterprise Database Server. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 PDMWorks Enterprise Archive Server (file vault) . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 PDMWorks Enterprise Client . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 PDMWorks Enterprise Web Server . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 PDMWorks Enterprise Index Server . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 PDMWorks Enterprise Concepts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 File Vault . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 View of File Vault . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 Working Folder (Cache) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 Access Rights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 i

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PDMWorks Enterprise 2008 Training Manual

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PDMWorks Enterprise ‘Smart’ Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 PDMWorks Enterprise ‘Smart’ Folders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 File Data Card. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 Folder Data Card. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 Workflow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 Notifications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 Versions and Revisions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 How PDMWorks Enterprise Helps the User . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

Lesson 2: PDMWorks Enterprise User Interface PDMWorks Enterprise User Interface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 Getting Help . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 The Explorer Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 Logging In. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 Case Study: Exploring PDMWorks Enterprise. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 PDMWorks Enterprise User Interface Layout . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 Logging Out . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28 Exercise 1: Explore PDMWorks Enterprise User Interface . . . . . . . . 29 Lesson 3: Document Creation and Check In Document Creation and Check In. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33 Creating New Folders and Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33 Case Study: Checking in Documents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33 Add Existing Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36 Document Check In . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37 Create Files and Folders from Templates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42 Exercise 2: Document Creation and Check In . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47 Lesson 4: Advanced Document Check In Advanced Document Check In . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51 Check In File. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51 Case Study: Checking in Documents with References. . . . . . . . . . . . 53 Create SolidWorks Files from Templates. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56 Exercise 3: Advanced Document Check In . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59 Lesson 5: Versioning Files Versioning Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63 Check Out . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63 Optional Check Out Method. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63 Case Study: Versioning Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67 Local File Version . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69 Get Latest Version . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69 Get Version . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69 Overwriting Checked Out Versions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69 Undo Check Out . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70 History . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72

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Table of Contents

Exercise 4: Versioning Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75 Lesson 6: Versioning CAD Files

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Versioning CAD Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79 SolidWorks Add-in . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79 Check Out Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80 Case Study: Versioning Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81 Check In Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83 Working With File Versions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85 Exercise 5: Versioning CAD Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89

Lesson 7: File References

File References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93 Creating and Removing References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93 Case Study: File References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93 Copying Files with References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95 Exercise 6: File References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99

Lesson 8: Searching

Searching PDMWorks Enterprise . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103 Name and Location. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103 Start Searching . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104 Searching for Checked Out Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104 The Search Results . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105 Case Study: Search . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105 Favorite Searches . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107 Exercise 7: Search. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109

Lesson 9: Workflow and Notification PDMWorks Enterprise Workflow. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113 Change File State . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113 Case Study: Workflow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117 Exercise 8: Workflow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119 Appendix A: SolidWorks File References SolidWorks File Management. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123 SolidWorks File Structure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123 External References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123 File Associativity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123 File References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123 Object Linking and Embedding (OLE) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123 File Reference Example . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124 Find References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124 Copy Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124 Print. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124 Copy List. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125

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Pack and Go . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125 List External References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125 File Names . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125 Update Holders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125 Out of Context . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125 Opening Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126 Computer Memory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126 Saving Files. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127 Save. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127 Save As . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127 Save As Copy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127 File Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127 Classes of File Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127 Creating File Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128 Uses of File Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128 External Reference Search Order . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129

Appendix B: Bill of Materials (BOM) PDMWorks Enterprise Bill of Materials. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133 BOM Types. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133 BOM View Filters and Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134 BOM Modification . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136 Revision Management of Named BOMs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137 Compare BOMs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138

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PDMWorks Enterprise 2008 Training Manual

Introduction

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PDMWorks Enterprise 2008 Training Manual

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PDMWorks Enterprise 2008 Training Manual

About This Course

This guide is designed to give a one day training overview on PDMWorks Enterprise. As a result of attending this course the student will be able to correctly locate document, drawing and graphics files, edit those files and correctly move a file through its associated workflow.

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The focus of this course is on the fundamental skills and concepts central to the successful use of PDMWorks Enterprise. You should view the training course manual as a supplement to, not a replacement for, the system documentation and on-line help. Once you have developed a good foundation in basic skills, you can refer to the on-line help for information on less frequently used command options. The intended audience for this course is anyone who will manage files with PDMWorks Enterprise.

Prerequisites

Students attending this course are expected to have the following: Basic experience with the SolidWorks software. Experience with the Windows™ operating system. Knowledge of SolidWorks file structure and referencing.

For more information on SolidWorks File Management see Appendix A on page 121

Course Design Philosophy

PDMWorks Enterprise is a highly configurable product. As a result, each company’s vault, project structure, data cards and workflow will be different. The lessons presented in this course are, of necessity, generic to PDMWorks Enterprise. The screen shots used in the lessons were created, wherever possible from the “out of the box” settings used by PDMWorks Enterprise and will generally be different from what you will see on your own system. However, the data cards shown are the Training set which can be found on the PDMWorks Enterprise CD in the directory Support\Training. For each lesson, this manual provides the technical detail of the individual functions of PDMWorks Enterprise. Your instructor will either demonstrate the different features of PDMWorks Enterprise on your vault or a vault created from the settings used in your company.

This course is designed around a process- or task-based approach to training. Rather than focus on individual features and functions, a process-based training course emphasizes the process and procedures you follow to complete a particular task. By utilizing case studies to illustrate these processes, you learn the necessary commands, options and menus in the context of completing a task.

Using this Book

This training manual is intended to be used in a classroom environment under the guidance of an experienced instructor. It is not intended to be a self-paced tutorial. The examples and case studies are designed to be demonstrated “live” by the instructor.

About This Course

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PDMWorks Enterprise 2008 Training Manual

Laboratory exercises give you the opportunity to apply and practice the material covered during the lecture/demonstration portion of the course. They are designed to represent typical situations while being modest enough to be completed during class time.

About the Training Files

A complete set of the various files used throughout this course can be downloaded from the SolidWorks website, www.solidworks.com. Click on the link for Services, then Technical References, then Training. You must sign-in to access the Training page. Once signed-in, you will see the link to Download SolidWorks 2008 Training Files.

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Laboratory Exercises

URL: http://www.solidworks.com/pages/services/subscription/training.html

The files are supplied in signed, self-extracting executable packages.

The files are organized by lesson number. The Case Study folder within each lesson contains the files your instructor uses while presenting the lessons. The Exercises folder contains any files that are required for doing the laboratory exercises.

Windows® XP

The screen shots in this manual were made using SolidWorks 2008 and PDMWorks Enterprise 2008 running on Windows® XP.

Conventions Used in this Book

This manual uses the following typographic conventions: Convention

Bold Sans Serif

SolidWorks and PDMWorks Enterprise commands and options appear in this style. For example, Tools, DrawCompare means choose the DrawCompare option from the Tools menu.

Typewriter

Project names and file names appear in this style. Names that you type appear in this style.

17 Do this step

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Meaning

Double lines precede and follow sections of the procedures. This provides separation between the steps of the procedure and large blocks of explanatory text. The steps themselves are numbered in sans serif bold.

About This Course

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PDMWorks Enterprise 2008 Training Manual

Lesson 1 PDMWorks Enterprise Concepts

Upon successful completion of this lesson, you will be able to:

Describe the basic concepts used by PDMWorks Enterprise to manage files.

Understand the different components of the PDMWorks Enterprise software.

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Lesson 1

PDMWorks Enterprise 2008 Training Manual

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PDMWorks Enterprise Concepts

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PDMWorks Enterprise 2008 Training Manual

Lesson 1 PDMWorks Enterprise Concepts

Product Data Management (PDM) systems provide the following basic capabilities: Organizing product/project files. Secure vaulting/retrieval, versioning and revisioning of files. Change control and sharing. Searching and reporting. Tracking file references (‘contains’ and ‘where used’). Automatic audit trails.

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The Fundamentals of PDM

What is PDMWorks Enterprise?

PDMWorks Enterprise delivers all the basic capabilities of a PDM system and more.

PDMWorks Enterprise is a product data management (PDM) software solution based on proven technology that can be deployed in a fraction of the time required for other enterprise PDM systems. PDMWorks Enterprise helps organizations manage and share product data more effectively and automate workflow to allow better collaboration from engineering to the shop floor, resulting in better products, lower costs, and faster time to market. PDMWorks Enterprise is uniquely positioned for customers that need: 1. To support more than 10 CAD and PDM users. 2. To manage data at different locations 3. To manage data using simple automated workflow

PDMWorks Enterprise is intended to be used by engineers, designers, manufacturers, purchasers, sales, marketing, constructors, authorities, offices, and many others, to manage many types of files including: design geometry, engineering drawings, project plans, part files, assembly diagrams, product specifications, numerical-control machine tool programs, analysis results, correspondence, bills of material, and many other items.

PDMWorks Enterprise Overview

PDMWorks Enterprise provides a secure method of working. The basic philosophy is:

Files are stored in the vault. Users have controlled access to the vault. Users Check Out or Open files from the vault. All required files are copied to the user’s local cache (vault view). The user works with the files locally thus gaining maximum speed. Only Checked Out files that were changed need to be Checked In to the vault thus minimizing network traffic. When files are ready they may be submitted to an automated workflow process for review and/or approval.

The Fundamentals of PDM

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PDMWorks Enterprise 2008 Training Manual

PDMWorks Enterprise Concepts

PDMWorks Enterprise Components

The PDMWorks Enterprise database server must be hosted on Microsoft SQL Server.

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Microsoft SQL Server

PDMWorks Enterprise is comprised of the following required components:

PDMWorks Enterprise Database Server

The PDMWorks Enterprise database contains information about files stored in the file vault. The PDMWorks Enterprise database server is a service that periodically polls the database for such updates as notifications, local view refresh, replication schedule updates, index server changes, etc.

PDMWorks Enterprise Archive Server (file vault)

The PDMWorks Enterprise archive server hosts the physical files stored in a file vault and also manages PDMWorks Enterprise users and their credentials.

PDMWorks Enterprise Client

Each computer accessing the file vault must have the client software installed.

PDMWorks Enterprise also the following optional components:

PDMWorks Enterprise Web Server

The PDMWorks Enterprise web server provides access to a file vault from the internet or intranet.

PDMWorks Enterprise Index Server

The PDMWorks Enterprise index server provides full content search in many file types stored in a PDMWorks Enterprise file vault.

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PDMWorks Enterprise Components

PDMWorks Enterprise 2008 Training Manual

Lesson 1 PDMWorks Enterprise Concepts

PDMWorks Enterprise Concepts All files added to PDMWorks Enterprise are stored in the file vault, which consists of an archive for the files and a database for the metadata. Only users with the appropriate access rights can modify the files stored in the vault. When a user retrieves a file from the file vault for editing, the file is locked for all other users to make changes on it, but not to view or copy it.

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File Vault

View of File Vault

In PDMWorks Enterprise, all users managing files connect to a file vault through a local file vault view. When a user adds a file to the file vault, he or she places it in a local file vault view, which is a working folder where all intermediate file modifications are made.The file vault view is directly connected to an archive server and database.

When PDMWorks Enterprise is started, the file view in the Explorer window mirrors the files and folders of the file vault as stored on the server. To the user, it therefore appears as if all the files and folders of the file vault are stored on the user's own local hard drive.

Working Folder (Cache)

When a file is retrieved from the PDMWorks Enterprise file vault, a copy is placed in the working folder or cache on the user's local hard drive. The next time the very same file is accessed, PDMWorks Enterprise first finds out whether the file is in the working folder on the local hard drive or not. If it is, and if it has the correct version, PDMWorks Enterprise does not retrieve it from the file vault again. That is, the working folder on the local hard drive acts as a cache area. When a file, after modification, is saved into the vault, the user may choose between keeping a read-only copy of the file in the working folder or removing the local copy.

Access Rights

All files added to PDMWorks Enterprise are stored in the file vault, which consists of an archive for the files and a database for the metadata. Only users with the appropriate access rights can modify the files stored in the vault. When a user retrieves a file from the file vault for editing, the file is locked for all other users to make changes on it, but not to view or copy it. Each user or group of users needs rights to access the files in the PDMWorks Enterprise file vault. Such rights

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yield permission to:

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Read or view a file Share a file between folders Check out a file for editing purposes Delete a file from view Destroy a file, i.e. to permanently remove a file from the PDMWorks Enterprise file vault Add or rename a file Modify file data card, i.e. to alter the layout of the card associated with a file Transfer a file in the workflow.

PDMWorks Enterprise ‘Smart’ Files

PDMWorks Enterprise handles all types of files. Examples: Technical drawings (.slddrw,.dwg, etc.) Part and Assemblies (.sldprt,.sldasm etc.) Calculation sheets (.xls, etc.) Text files (.doc,.txt, etc.) Graphic files (.bmp,.gif,.jpg, etc.)

Files which are stored in the vault become “smart” when additional property information (metadata) is associated to a file. (Examples include: part number, description, drawn by, etc.).

PDMWorks Enterprise ‘Smart’ Folders

File are stored in vault folders which are also “smart” because of the property information (metadata) associated to the folders. (Examples include: project number, project description, project manager, etc.). Folders contain ‘smart’ files. In addition, a folder may contain sub folders, which in turn may contain additional ‘smart’ files.

File Data Card

Each file in PDMWorks Enterprise has an attached file data card, containing information about the file.

The layout and contents of the card are defined by the file type. Data cards are admin-defined and may also be folder specific. The card layout is inherited from the base subfolder, unless it is re-defined in a subfolder.

Folder Data Card

Each folder in PDMWorks Enterprise has an attached folder data card, containing information about the folder.

Data cards are admin-defined and may be folder specific. Typically there is a single folder card used by the PDMWorks Enterprise Vault. Any file added to a folder can have its file card completed by the card of the folder to which it has been added. For example project details for the file can be extracted from the project folders card.

Workflow

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The workflow process is user-defined. Schematically, it should represent the internal workflow, which is used in the work group, at the department, within the company, etc.

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Lesson 1 PDMWorks Enterprise Concepts

The workflow is defined by two concepts: state and transition. State: A file's states represent each of the different phases of a file's

lifecycle Transition: The transition represents moving a file from one state

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to the next. At any given time, each file is in exactly one location (the current state).

Each state can have its own set of user and user group access rights, defining who may do what with the file at a particular state. Each transition also contains rules/rights of who may change the state of a file.

There must always be at least one state in the workflow: the initial state. All new files created in or copied into PDMWorks Enterprise are assigned this state.

Notifications

Notifications are messages sent to users or user groups. The notifications are either transmitted automatically by the state alteration of a file, or manually by the user. The purpose of a notification is to inform, remind or alert the receiving user(s) when a file has changed state or when an accessed file has been released. The receiver is notified by a pop-up dialog box.

Versions and Revisions

A file has at least one version. Each time a file is modified and saved into the PDMWorks Enterprise file vault, i.e. checked in by a user, a new version is created. Every one of these working versions is assigned a version number. A file in PDMWorks Enterprise can have any number of versions stored in the file vault. When the editing of a file is finished, the latest version can be designated a revision that is given an official revision number. You can retrieve earlier versions of a file from the file vault. You can also revert (roll back) to an earlier version of a file. All file versions are handled by the Revision Management.

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How PDMWorks Enterprise Helps the User

The user will notice and benefit from the PDMWorks Enterprise features in many ways. The user interface of PDMWorks Enterprise is, for the most part, the well-known Windows Explorer window, but there are also some new menus and menu options, buttons and dialog boxes.

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On opening PDMWorks Enterprise, the user will find two new preview panes in the Windows Explorer file view, making it easier to identify the file. The file view also contains information about the file's state and who has checked out the file for editing. When the user intends to open a file for editing, he/she first checks out the file, so that nobody else can make changes to this file at the same time. For other users, the file is then solely accessible for viewing and copying.

The user can survey all previous versions and state changes, which the file has gone through: when, by whom, and the type of action done to it. All versions are stored and can be retrieved for review. When the user has modified a file, he changes the file's state, and (optionally) notifies other users, manually or automatically, by means of the notification function. After editing, the user saves the file in the PDMWorks Enterprise file vault and checks it in to make it accessible to other users.

The user is assigned access rights, permitting him to read, check out, destroy, add or rename files, and to modify file data cards. The user may also be given permission to change the user and user group data, and to change the workflow layout.

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PDMWorks Enterprise 2008 Training Manual

Lesson 2 PDMWorks Enterprise User Interface

Upon successful completion of this lesson, you will be able to: Log in to a PDMWorks Enterprise vault.

Identify the principal components of the PDMWorks Enterprise user interface. Log off of a PDMWorks Enterprise vault.

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PDMWorks Enterprise User Interface

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Lesson 2 PDMWorks Enterprise User Interface

SolidWorks (and other CAD) users access the vault using the PDMWorks Enterprise for SolidWorks client. The vault may be accessed from computers that do not have SolidWorks (or other CAD packages) installed, through the PDMWorks Enterprise Contributor client, the PDMWorks Enterprise Contributor Web client or the PDMWorks Enterprise Viewer client.

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PDMWorks Enterprise User Interface

Our perspective in this lesson will be that of a PDMWorks Enterprise for SolidWorks client. This client type is commonly used to create and manage CAD and non-CAD documentation. PDMWorks Enterprise for SolidWorks offers both a Windows-based integration and CAD application plug-ins that enables design team members to create and manage documents and access and manage design information.

Getting Help

Where to Find It

The help files shipped with PDMWorks Enterprise are in HTML Help format. This offers improved search and display functions, as well as a consistent look and feel with Microsoft’s online help. In Windows Explorer, click Help, PDMWorks Enterprise Help.

In SolidWorks, click Help, PDMWorks Enterprise Help Topics.

The Explorer Window

All interaction with PDMWorks Enterprise is done directly from Windows Explorer or from a dialog box, opened from Windows Explorer, or from within the CAD application. As a result of the installation, a new folder icon is displayed where the client view of the file vault was rooted.

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PDMWorks Enterprise User Interface

The client view is identified by a large PDMWorks Enterprise ‘blue berry’ icon. . Before using PDMWorks Enterprise to manage files, we must log into the system.

Log In for the First Time

When browsing into the client view of a PDMWorks Enterprise file vault, (click on the icon ) you will be prompted for user name and password in Windows Explorer (or from the Open or Save dialog box in an application).

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Logging In

Enter your user name and password and click Log In.

In some cases PDMWorks Enterprise will automatically log in a user using their Windows user name and password. In this case no log in screen will appear but a small delay will take place while PDMWorks Enterprise performs this log in action.

Optional Log in Methods

Optionally you can right click on the icon

and select Log In.

Another method to log into a vault is to place the cursor on the PDMWorks Enterprise icon in the bottom right corner of the Explorer Window (in the system tray on the taskbar). Right-click the PDMWorks Enterprise icon. The following menu will appear:

Select Log In to show all available file vaults appears.

Select the file vault you want to log in to. The Log In dialog box is then displayed. Enter your user name and password and click Log In.

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Lesson 2 PDMWorks Enterprise User Interface

Case Study: Exploring PDMWorks Enterprise

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This case study will introduce the PDMWorks Enterprise user interface and its functions. We will log into a vault, browse files within the different project folders and examine the properties (attributes) of the selected folders and files. 1

Log into vault.

Open a Windows Explorer window and log into the PDMWorks Enterprise vault. Browse the C: drive where the system administrator created a vault view to the Training vault.

Click the vault view icon . A login dialog will appear and you will be prompted for user name and password.

Enter the user name student1 and password stu and click Log In. (Students will use the login and password assigned by the instructor for labs.)

We can now see green project folders within the vault.

Folder Status

The color of folders in Explorer indicates their status in PDMWorks Enterprise: Green

The folder is in a vault and you have access to the vault database.

Blue

The folder is in a vault but you are off line. Log in or right-click a folder and select Work On-line.

Gray

The folder is local and does not exist in the vault database. Right-click and select Add to File Vault.

Yellow

The folder is a local folder that is not in a vault.

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PDMWorks Enterprise User Interface

The user interface is comprised of:

User Interface Components

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Pull-down menus. The File, Edit, View, Tools, Go, Favorites, and Help options on the menu bar at the top of the Explorer window.

Toolbar buttons. In addition to the regular Explorer toolbar buttons, there are special buttons for managing files in PDMWorks Enterprise.

Right-click menus. If you click the right button of the mouse, a context sensitive menu appears. The content of the right mouse button menu is dependent on whether a folder, a file or nothing (right-click in the file view) has been selected.

2

Browse folders.

Click the folder Misc Projects to expand the subproject folders.

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PDMWorks Enterprise User Interface Layout

When we browse files within a vault folder, the following views are displayed inside the Explorer window:

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File view, where all folders and files in the selected folder are displayed. A Preview window, displays a preview of the selected file. A Folder/File Data Card window, displaying the properties (attributes) of the type specific data card for the selected folder/file. A Version window, displaying the version the user has in their working area and the current state within the workflow of the selected file. A Bill of Materials window, displaying a configured list of a files, sub-assemblies and parts of the selected file. A Contains window, displaying all the files attached to the selected file. And a Where Used window that display all the files referencing the selected file.

3

View Folder/File Data Card tab.

Click (single click) the folder Bevel Gears from within the file view and click the Folder Data Card tab.

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Note the project specific information such as project number, project name, customer and etc.

4

View project files

Double click on the folder Bevel Gears from within the file view. The files within the project folder are now displayed.

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This file view is similar to the normal Explorer file view, but some columns are changed. The default columns are: Name

Name of the file (or the folder).

Checked Out By

The user who currently has the file checked out. If the column is empty, the file is not checked out, and available to all users with access rights.

Size

File size.

File Type

The program that created the file and type, Microsoft word document

State

User-defined state in the workflow, e.g. Initiated or Waiting for approval.

Modified

Date when the file last was modified (or created).

Check Out In

Gives the local path to the checked out file.

Category

Displays the file category. Files in a PDMWorks Enterprise file vault can be assigned a category to ease organizing of certain files or sending them to the correct workflow.

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File View

In addition to these standard columns (which cannot be changed or deleted), admin-defined columns that show file data card values can be turned on by the administrator. In the file view shown above the column Document Number is such as admin-defined column. To change the order of the columns in the file view, click on the column caption, hold the button down and drag the column to the desired location.

To open a file, simply double-click on the file name. If you open the file from the file view you will always get the local version. If there is no local version of the file, you will get the latest version from the file vault.

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Browse files

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Click on each of the files in the file view and notice the property information for each file. This information may be used to quickly search and retrieve files.

Layout / Configuration Tabs

PDMWorks Enterprise will recognize any layouts stored in AutoCAD files or Configurations in SolidWorks Parts and Assemblies, and will insert additional configuration tabs at the top of the file data card displayed for such files.

The @ tab shown for SolidWorks files displays the Custom (document specific) properties. To switch between the different configurations, click on the tab name. Any data stored in each of the different configurations/layouts will be stored in the separate configuration pages of the file data card.

PDMWorks Enterprise will remember which tab was selected and keep it focused (highlighted in yellow) when switching between files.

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6

Layout/Configuration tabs.

Select the project folder Speaker.

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Click on the file Speaker-Dual.SLDASM in the file view then click the Bill of Materials tab. Select each configuration and view the properties for each.

Preview

When the Preview tab is selected the lower part of the right pane is split in two preview sections, file preview and file data card preview. If you want to change the size of the preview panes, place the cursor on the frame (the upper frame or the one between), hold left mouse button and drag the frame in the desired direction.

The left of the two preview sections contains a preview of the selected file. You can zoom the file preview to examine the file in more detail or to make the text readable. If you place the cursor in the file preview pane and right-click a menu pops up. The menu options vary, depending on the file type. For most files (e.g. .doc and .xls files) there are a number of options. For instance, you can copy or print the file. You can toggle between draft or normal view and you can change the font size to make the text readable. For .jpg files the menu has additional options. Besides copying and printing the file, you can change the size and rotate the preview. You can also use the zoom options to zoom in or zoom out. For SolidWorks files the menu has other options as the preview uses eDrawings. You can pan, zoom, rotate views using the tools available with eDrawings.

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In some cases it is necessary for the selected file to reside in the local cache in order to display the preview. (A good example of this is files that are viewed using the eDrawings viewer.) The system will automatically bring the file into the local cache if needed.

Tip

To quickly browse SolidWorks files and avoid having files copied to the local cache for preview, right-click in the File View (with no file selected) and select Show bitmap for SolidWorks file. Clicking the preview image will automatically change to eDrawings preview.

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Note

7

Preview tab.

Select the project folder Bevel Gears.

Click on the file Base.SLDPRT in the file view then click the Preview tab.

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The Version tab displays which file version you have in your local cache folder. It also displays a small, visible warning when you do not have the latest revision of the file locally. Clicking on the tab opens the Version page providing a bit more detailed information.

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Version View

Files from the vault are placed in the local cache (working folder) when the user requests the file (Check Out, Get Version, Get Latest Version, etc.) or when the viewer needs the file in order to display it in the Viewer tab. If a file has not yet been copied from the vault to the local cache the Version tab will display a warning message.

The local cache will only have one version of a file at any time.

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Version tab.

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Click on the file bevel3.SLDPRT in the file view then click the Version tab.

The Bill of Materials tab is a window that displays a preset list of column values representing a Bill of Materials for the selected file. Multiple views can be configured by the system administrator to display different BOMs as required by the organization.

Bill of Materials View

9

Bill of Materials (BOM) tab.

Select the project folder Speaker.

Click on the file Speaker-Dual.SLDASM in the file view then click the Bill of Materials tab.

The BOM for the Single Speaker Glue Mount is displayed.

From the Configuration pulldown select the Dual Speaker Glue Mount configuration. The BOM displayed is unique for the selected configuration.

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There are multiple BOM view filters and options available for modifying the BOM view display. See Appendix B on page 131 for a complete review of BOM functionality.

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For More Information Contains View

The Contains tab displays the file reference structure of the selected file. If the file was an assembly it would show any sub assemblies and part files contained within. This is commonly known as a top down view.

10 Contains tab.

Select the project folder Limit Mechanism.

Click on the file Limit Mechanism.SLDASM in the file view then click the Contains tab.

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Where Used View

The Where Used tab displays the files that the selected file has been referenced by or ‘where it is used’. This is commonly known as a bottom up view. It can be used to locate any assemblies or drawings where a specified part (or configuration of a part) has been used.

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11 Where Used tab.

Select the project folder Geneva Mechanism.

Click on the file Input Disk.SLDPRT in the file view then click the Where Used tab.

Logging Out

To log off from the local PDMWorks Enterprise client view and the file vault on the server, right-click the PDMWorks Enterprise icon in the bottom right corner (on the taskbar) on your monitor: The following submenu pops up. Select Log Off.

From the submenu, select file vault to log off from.

To log in again, choose Log In from the same submenu. The Log In dialog box is then displayed.

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Exercise 1: Explore PDMWorks Enterprise User Interface

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In this exercise we will explore the PDMWorks Enterprise User Interface.

1

Open an Explorer Window.

2

Log In to PDMWorks Enterprise.

Several student accounts have been set up, student1, student2, student3..... All have a default password of stu.

Log in using the login and password assigned to you by your instructor.

3

Examine Folder Data Cards. Expand the Misc Projects folder. In the file view, select each folder

4

Browse the Bevel Gears Folder. Select the Preview tab and view each of the

and examine the information of the Folder Data Card.

document types. Right click in the preview and explore the options for various file types.

5

Examine File Versions. Select the Versions tab and view each of the documents.

The value of Local version lets you know what version of the file resides in your local cache (working folder) while Latest version alerts you to the latest version of the document that resides in the vault. Local revision and Local state are controlled by the document workflow.

6

Examine Bill of Materials. Select the Speaker folder then select the Bill of Materials tab and select the Speaker-Dual.SLDASM. Select from the Configuration pulldown and notice

how the BOM reflects the different contents of each configuration. To explore more options in the Bill of Materials tab, please reference Appendix B on page 131.

Exercise 1

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7

Examine Contains. Select the Limit Mechanism folder then select the Contains tab and select the Limit Mechanism.SLDASM. Notice that the assembly

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consist of a sub-assembly and several parts. 8

Examine Where Used. Select the Geneva Mechanism folder then select the Where Used tab and select the Input Disk.SLDASM. Notice that the Input Disk is

used in two other documents.

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PDMWorks Enterprise 2008 Training Manual

Lesson 3 Document Creation and Check In

Upon successful completion of this lesson, you will be able to: Create project folders.

Create new documents in the vault.

Add existing documents to the vault. Check documents into the vault.

Create new project folders from pre-defined templates. Create new documents from pre-defined templates.

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Document Creation and Check In

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Lesson 3 Document Creation and Check In

PDMWorks Enterprise is a document management system entirely integrated within Windows Explorer. Users perform all functions with PDMWorks Enterprise either through Windows Explorer, a Windows application or one through of its CAD integrations.

Creating New Folders and Files

PDMWorks Enterprise users can create new folders and files in the same manner as they do in Windows Explorer or from within a Windows application. For example:

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Document Creation and Check In

Right-click in the file view and create a new folder or file.

Create a new file from within the application being used.

The advantage of PDMWorks Enterprise is that you have the opportunity to associate information (properties/attributes also known as metadata) to the folders and files. This information helps to organize your data and makes it easier to find information when needed.

Case Study: Checking in Documents

In this case study, we will create a new folder in the Student Projects folder of the Training vault. This folder will then be used organize the new files we will create and an existing file set that we will be add to the vault.

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Document Creation and Check In

1

Login.

Select the training folder and log in. For this lesson we will log in as student1. The password is stu. 2

Create new project folder.

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Browse into the Training vault and select the folder Student Projects. Right-click in the file view area and select New > Folder.

Give the folder the name PRJ-XXXXXX (where XXXXXX is your name).

3

Modify folder data card.

Select the new folder in the file view and select the Folder Card tab.

Select the tab Edit Values for the folder data card and enter My Project for the Project Name, ACME for Customer and your name as the Project Manager, then select the Save icon to the right of the data card.

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Lesson 3 Document Creation and Check In

Private (local) Mode When a new file is first created or placed into a users local cache, the document is a special, private checked out state. The file has not yet been checked into the vault, however, information about the file (properties/attributes - also known as metadata) is entered into the database. This information is viewable only by the creator or by the admin user. Other users will not have access to the file until it has been checked in.

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File Modes

Checked In No user is working with this file. Any user with the appropriate rights may therefore check out the file for editing. Opening an checked in file in an application will open it in a read-only mode.

Checked Out The file is exclusively checked out by one user for editing. No other user can check out this file at the same time. Other users can open the file for viewing and copying, but it is not possible to save any changes.

When a file is first created or placed into the users local cache, it will be version 1 of the file. Viewing the Version tab will show that you have version 1/1. If you check the file in now, it will remain at version 1.

If you edit the file properties or modify the document after placing it in your local cache but before check in, the Version tab will reflect the document was modified by displaying the version as -/1. The dash symbolizes that it was modified. If you check in the file after modification it will become version 2. Version 1 will be the original state prior to modification.

If you create a new file in a folder that is located outside of the vault you must browse to the correct vault folder upon Save, or Save As and browse to the correct vault folder, or drag and drop the folders from their current folder into the appropriate vault folder.

Warning

4

Create new file.

Browse into the newly created folder and right-click and create a new Microsoft Word Document. The document will be created in the folder. Give the document the filename DOC-XXXXXX (where XXXXXX is your name).

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Document Creation and Check In

Fill in the File Data Card as follows: My Document

Subject:

Product Specification

Keywords:

Specification

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Title:

Select the Save icon to the left of the data card when finished.

Notice that several properties were already filled out. The extent to which the data card that gets filled out automatically is determined by the setup put in place by the system administrator. In this case, the Doc Number automatically used the next available number, the Created By field are automatically filled in with the users login name, the Date field is filled in with todays’ date and the Project Name and Project Number fields are inherited from the parent project folder.

5

Modify file.

Double click on the new file to open.

Add several lines of text to the word document, save and exit out of Word. Select the Preview tab to view the changes.

Add Existing Files

In some cases users will have files that were created prior to using PDMWorks Enterprise or files that were obtained from an outside source such as a contractor who does not have access to the vault.

To add these files to the vault you can drag and drop the files into the specific vault folder or you can drag and drop a folder into the vault.

6

Copy folder.

Open a second Explorer window.

Browse to the location for the training documents:

...\Training Files\PDMWorks Enterprise for SW\Lesson03\Case Study Locate and select the folder ACME Project Documents and drag and drop into the Training vault folder Student Projects\PRJ-XXXXXX.

Browse the folder and file information on the data cards. Notice that if the files had the appropriate property/attribute values, they are automatically extracted to populate the data cards.

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Lesson 3 Document Creation and Check In

Document Check In

After creating and adding new file(s), Check In the file(s) to make them available to all other users with appropriate rights.

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Users can select multiple files at one time by using the Shift or Ctrl keys or simply select the folder and all eligible documents will be selected for check in. Where to Find It

Select the file(s) or folder and right-click Check In.... Or select the file(s) and select the Check In icon

Note

.

All changes of a file are solely made in the file in your local working folder until you check them into the vault.

When a file is checked in and its data has changed from the latest version stored in the file vault, a new version of the file will be created. This way PDMWorks Enterprise ensures that all changes to a file are stored, without having the previous version overwritten and destroyed. If nothing has changed in the version of the file stored locally, the Comment field will be grayed out during check in and the version will not be incremented.

Procedure

To check your file(s) into the file vault and create a new version:

1. Select the file to be checked in (press and hold Shift or Ctrl to select multiple files). 2. Right-click the selection and select Check In from the menu, or click Check In on the toolbar. 3. Refer to the description below about the check in columns and make any selections by marking the checkboxes. 4. Enter a comment about the changes made to the file in the Comment field.

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Document Creation and Check In

The columns in the Check In dialog box are as follows: Name of the file or referenced file.

Result

Shows if there are any problems unlocking the file. The different results are: OK – No problems found. File will be checked in. File not found – The referenced file is not found. Outside PDMWorks Enterprise – The referenced file is stored in a location outside the file vault and will not be added as a reference in PDMWorks Enterprise for the parent file (the actual reference is still stored in the physical parent file). Cyclic reference – The referenced file itself refers back to the parent file and cannot be checked in.

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File Name

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Check In

Select to check in the file. If the checkbox is greyed out, the file is not checked out by you and cannot be checked in or there is a problem unlocking the file.

Keep Checked Out

Select to keep the file checked out after it has been checked in and a new version with the changes has been made.

Remove Local Copy

Select to remove the local copy of the file from the working folder (cache) once it is checked in.

Local Ver.

Shows both the local version (cached version) and the latest version of the file. The local version is written as a hyphen ('-') if the local file is modified or not found.

New Ver.

If the file is a reference and you have retrieved an earlier version to the local working folder, you can select which version of the reference should be attached to the checked in parent file. To change which version that should be used, click the button and select from the following options: Use Local Version – Attach the version of the reference that is retrieved to the local working folder. Use Latest Version – Attach the latest version of the referenced file.

Checked Out By

Shows which user, you or other, which has the file checked out.

Checked Out In

If the file is checked out, shows on which system the file is checked out.

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PDMWorks Enterprise 2008 Training Manual

Lesson 3 Document Creation and Check In

Shows how the file is referenced by the parent file (by full path, relative path or only the file name).

Found in

Folder where the file is actually found.

State

Shows which workflow state the selected version of the file is in.

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Referenced as

Referenced as, Found in and State are not displayed by default. To view these, rightclick and select to toggle the option display on/off.

Additional Options

If you right-click in the Check In dialog box the following menu opens giving you four additional options: Columns: You can select

which columns will be displayed in the Check In dialog box. Select the columns to display.

Select All: This option selects

all files displayed in the Check In dialog box. Select Files: This option allows you to select files which match a wildcard pattern. Check In All Files: This option toggles on/off the selection all checkboxes in the Check In column. Keep All Files Checked Out: This option allows you to keep all the files chacked out after the check in. Remove All Local Copies: This option will delete all local copies after check in.

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Document Creation and Check In

Open File List: This option opens an Excel file containing the

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check in information currently displayed.

Save File List: Similar to Open File List, this option saves as

a .txt file the check in information currently displayed.

7

Check in a single file.

Browse to the Student Projects\PRJ-XXXXXX folder.

Select the DOC-XXXXXX.doc file, right-click and select Check In....

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Lesson 3 Document Creation and Check In

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The Check In dialog will appear. Enter Initial check in in the Comment field then select Check In.

Noticed that the Checked Out By field is now empty and the Version tab information had been updated to reflect that the document is now in the vault and in a workflow.

8

Check In multiple files.

Browse to the Student Projects\PRJ-XXXXXX folder.

Select the ACME Project Documents folder, right-click and select Check In....

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Document Creation and Check In

Note

Notice that the Check Out command is not grayed out. This is because the documents were multi-selected. In some cases, you may have a folder consisting of documents that are checked in and checked out, in which case both selections would be valid for eligible files.

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Check in to complete the check in operation.

Create Files and Folders from Templates

PDMWorks Enterprise templates are used to automate creation of new files and folder structures in PDMWorks Enterprise. A template can, for example, create a project structure and automatically name the folders and fill in the project data cards with information.

When creating a new file in PDMWorks Enterprise you can use any of the templates installed. Right-click in the file view and select New. In the sub-menu, all available templates are listed.

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Lesson 3 Document Creation and Check In

9

Create standard folder set.

Browse to the Student Projects\PRJ-XXXXXX folder.

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Right-click and select New > Project > Type A.

The template creates as standard folder structure where the top folder name is a concatenation of the text Student and the value of the Project Number variable. It then creates two sub-folders CAD Files and General Documents beneath the first folder created.

10 Create a standard document.

Browse to the newly created sub-folder General Documents. Right-click and select New > Specification.

The property Doc Number is already filled in by the template. The File name will automatically be generated from the Doc Number. Fill in the Title, Subject and Keyword variables in the data card.

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Document Creation and Check In

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Select the Comments tab on the data card and type in a few lines of text.

Select Open File to open the file for editing. Notice that the text entered into the Comments field of the data card will populate the document. (This is driven by a macro saved within the template document.) Save and exit.

Check In the document.

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Lesson 3 Document Creation and Check In

Be sure that the Macro Security in Microsoft Word is set to Low (or Medium) so that the Macro can properly execute.

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Warning

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Document Creation and Check In

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Exercise 2: Document Creation and Check In

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In this exercise we will add new and existing folders and documents to the PDMWorks Enterprise Vault.

1

Open an Explorer Window.

2

Log In to PDMWorks Enterprise.

Several student accounts have been set up, student1, student2, student3..... All have a default password of stu.

Log in using the login and password assigned to you by your instructor.

3

4

5

Create a New Project Folder. Expand the Student Projects folder. Create a new project folder PRJ-XXXXXX (where XXXXXX is your name). Create New Project Folders from a Template. Browse into the newly created PRJ-XXXXXX folder. Use the Type B template to create a new set of project sub-folders.

Create a new Word Document.

Browse into the newly created Specifications folder and create a new Word document.

6

Create a new Word Document from a Template. Browse into the Specifications folder. Use the Specification

template to create a new Word document. Make sure to fill out the Comment tab to see the text reflected with the new file.

7

Copy Existing Documents into the Vault. Select the ACME Project Documents folder from C:\Training

Files\PDMWorks Enterprise for SW\Lesson03\Exercises\ folder (or

Exercise 2

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the location specified by your instructor) and drag an drop into the folder PRJ-XXXXXX. 8

Check in a Document. Browse into the Specifications folder. Select a Word document

and check the document into the vault. Check in Multiple Documents. Browse into the PRJ-XXXXXX folder. Check in all the documents in the ACME Project Documents folder.

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9

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Lesson 4 Advanced Document Check In

Upon successful completion of this lesson, you will be able to: Check In files with references.

Create SolidWorks files from pre-defined templates.

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Advanced Document Check In

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Lesson 4 Advanced Document Check In

Document Creation and Check In on page 33 covered the check in of simple documents. This lesson will discuss the check in of documents with references.

Check In File

After creating or placing new files in the local view, Check In the file to make it available to all other users with appropriate rights. If the checked in file contained references, the new file version will remember (in the file vault database) which versions of the references were used so that when retrieving an earlier version of the parent file, all referenced versions will be retrieved as they were attached.

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Advanced Document Check In

Where to Find It

To Check In your file(s) into the file vault and create a new version:

1. Select the file to check in (hold down Shift or Ctrl to select multiple files). 2. Right-click on the selection and select Check In from the menu, or

button on the toolbar. click the Check In 3. Refer to the description below about the check in columns and make any selections by marking the checkboxes. 4. Enter a comment about the changes made to the file in the Comment field. This comment makes it easier to find changes made to a file in its history.

Note

If nothing has changed in the version of the file stored locally, the Comment field will be greyed out. No new version will be created. 5. Click Check In (new versions will be created for any changed files). The columns in the Check In dialog box are as follows: File Name

Name of the file or referenced file.

Result

Shows if there are any problems unlocking the file. The different results are: OK – No problems found. File will be checked in. File not found – The referenced file is not found. Outside PDMWorks Enterprise – The referenced file is stored in a location outside the file vault and will not be added as a reference in PDMWorks Enterprise for the parent file (the actual reference is still stored in the physical parent file). Cyclic reference – The referenced file itself refers back to the parent file and cannot be checked in.

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Advanced Document Check In

Select to check in the file. If the checkbox is greyed out, the file is not checked out by you and cannot be checked in or there is a problem unlocking the file.

Keep Checked Out

Select to keep the file checked out after it has been checked in and a new version with the changes has been made.

Remove Local Copy

Select to remove the local copy of the file from the working folder (cache) once it is checked in.

Local Ver.

Shows both the local version (cached version) and the latest version of the file. The local version is written as a hyphen ('-') if the local file is modified or not found.

New Ver.

If the file is a reference and you have retrieved an earlier version to the local working folder, you can select which version of the reference should be attached to the checked in parent file. To change which version that should be used, click the button and select from the following options: Use Local Version – Attach the version of the reference that is retrieved to the local working folder. Use Latest Version – Attach the latest version of the referenced file.

Checked Out By

Shows which user, you or other, which has the file checked out.

Checked Out In

If the file is checked out, shows on which system the file is checked out.

Referenced as

Shows how the file is referenced by the parent file (by full path, relative path or only the file name).

Found in

Folder where the file is actually found.

State

Shows which workflow state the selected version of the file is in.

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Check In

References Outside the PDMWorks Enterprise Vault

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If a referenced file is reported Outside PDMWorks Enterprise, it is stored and referenced in a location outside the current file vault. The reference will not be added to the PDMWorks Enterprise file vault when you check in the parent file. Nor will any information about the reference to the parent file be stored in the vault. Next time you check out the parent file, this referenced file will not appear in the check out dialog box.

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Lesson 4 Advanced Document Check In

To avoid this, you can choose either place the referenced file in the same folder as the parent file or place it in a vault folder and update the parent file to refer to the referenced file using a fixed path. For all references, which are not referred to in the parent file with a full (fixed) path, PDMWorks Enterprise searches in the same folder as the parent file resides.

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Search for External References

SolidWorks setting should be verified to ensure proper references are used when loading drawings and assemblies.

Important!

When Search file location for external references is not selected, the paths in File Locations, Referenced Documents are not used. To ensure that eDrawings information is created in every document, make sure the option in Document Properties, Image Quality, Save tessellation with part document is selected in all SolidWorks part document templates.

Case Study: Checking in Documents with References

In this case study, we will add project folders and their files to the Training vault and check in the CAD assembly file and their references.

SolidWorks Documents

1

Login.

Select the training folder and log in.

For this lesson we will log in as student1. The password is stu.

2

Add existing project folder.

Open an Explorer window.

Browse to the location for the training documents:

...\Training Files\PDMWorks Enterprise for SW\Lesson04\Case Study Locate and select the folder MainBase and drag and drop into the Training vault folder Student Projects\PRJ-XXXXXX.

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Advanced Document Check In

3

Check in Assembly.

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Browse into the MainBase folder, select SubHolder-2.SLDASM and right-click Check In. Click Check in to complete the operation.

Note

All references contained in the Assembly are included in the Check In dialog list. References that are already checked in will not be selected in the reference file list. Notice that in the previous check in of an assembly, the drawings were not included in this list. This is because the assembly does not reference the drawing, rather the drawing references the assembly.

Tip

Click on the File Type header in the file view to sort files by file type. This will make it easier to locate a specific file type for check in.

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Lesson 4 Advanced Document Check In

4

Check in Drawing.

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Browse into the MainBase folder, select MainAssy.SLDDRW and rightclick Check In. Click Check in to complete the operation.

5

Check in Remaining Project Files.

In the MainBase folder, click on the header Checked Out By to sort. Select all files Checked Out By student1 and right-click and Check In. In addition to SolidWorks file types, PDMWorks Enterprise will automatically recognize file references for AutoCAD, Inventor, and Solid Edge file types.

Other CAD Documents

6

Check in AutoCAD files.

Open an Explorer window.

Browse to the location for the training documents:

...\Training Files\PDMWorks Enterprise for SW\Lesson04\Case Study

Locate and select the folder Caster Assembly and drag and drop into the Training Vault folder Student Projects\PRJ-XXXXXX.

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Advanced Document Check In

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Browse into the Caster Assembly folder, select Caster Assembly.dwg and right-click Check In. Click Check in to complete the operation.

7

Browse References.

Select the file Caster Assembly.dwg and select the Contains tab.

Create SolidWorks Files from Templates

PDMWorks Enterprise templates are used to automate creation of new files and folder structures in PDMWorks Enterprise. A template can, for example, create a project structure and automatically name the folders and fill in the project data cards with information.

When creating a new file in PDMWorks Enterprise you can use any of the templates installed. Right-click in the file view and select New. In the sub-menu, all available templates are listed.

In addition to accessing SolidWorks file templates from an Explorer window, templates can be accessed from within SolidWorks.

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Lesson 4 Advanced Document Check In

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Select File > New click on the Advanced button. A new tab, PDMWorks Enterprise, will appear containing SolidWorks template selections.

The SolidWorks, System Options, Default Templates paths must not be blank. If the paths are not defined the PDMWorks Enterprise tab will not populate.

Warning

8

Create SolidWorks Files from Templates.

Open an Explorer window.

Browse into the PRJ-XXXXXX\Student PROJ-nnnnnn\CAD Files folder.

From within the file view, right-click and select New > SolidWorks > Part. Enter a Description in the data card and select Create File. Check the file into the vault.

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Advanced Document Check In

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Exercise 3: Advanced Document Check In

In this exercise we will add existing folders containing SolidWorks documents to the PDMWorks Enterprise Vault.

Open an Explorer Window.

2

Log In to PDMWorks Enterprise.

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1

Several student accounts have been set up, student1, student2, student3..... All have a default password of stu.

Log in using the login and password assigned to you by your instructor.

3

Copy Existing Documents into the Vault. Select the Tool Vise folder from C:\Training Files\PDMWorks

Enterprise for SW\Lesson04\Exercises\ folder (or the location specified by your instructor) and drag an drop into the folder PRJ-

4

XXXXXX. Check in a Document. Browse into the Tool Vise folder. Select the file tool vise.SLDASM and check the file and all its references into the

vault.

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Lesson 5 Versioning Files

Upon successful completion of this lesson, you will be able to: Check out files.

Create new versions of files.

Understand working with file versions. Undo a check out.

View document history.

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Versioning Files

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Lesson 5 Versioning Files

Versioning Files

One of the primary benefits of PDMWorks Enterprise is the ability to modify files and retain a history of all file changes and if necessary retrieve older versions of files when needed.

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A file that is stored in a PDMWorks Enterprise file vault will have one or more file versions. A version stores the changes that were made to the file after the previous version was modified. When files are added to the file vault the original file version is 1.

To modify a file you check it out for editing and make the changes with an associated application. To later commit the changes to the file vault for other users to see, you check it in it. Each time a file is checked in and it is different from the latest version, a new version will be created, but the filename will remain the same.

This file history can be viewed at any time by selecting a document and right-click select History. The history dialog provides an audit of all actions performed on the selected file. This lesson will detail the operations that enable users to create and retrieve file versions.

Check Out

The Check Out command creates a writable copy of the latest version of a file in the working folder of the file vault. By checking out a file, PDMWorks Enterprise ensures that no two users can simultaneously edit the file. If you want to edit a file, you must first check the file out.

Where to Find It

To Check Out a file in Windows Explorer:

Select the file to check out (hold down Shift or Ctrl to select multiple files). Right-click on the selection and select Check Out in the menu, or click

button on the toolbar.

If you have sufficient rights to check out the file, the file will now be marked as checked out in the file vault.

Optional Check Out Method

Versioning Files

Since PDMWorks Enterprise is fully integrated into the Windows Explorer interface, you can use the Check Out command directly from within any Window application using its open dialog.

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Versioning Files

For example, when you are working with files such as Word documents or an Excel spread sheets, click File, Open. The Open dialog box opens.

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Browse in the Look in field to the folder in the PDMWorks Enterprise file vault, which contains the desired file. If necessary, change to appropriate file type (e.g. All Files) in the Files of type field. When you have found the file, right-click it. The right-click menu opens.

Select Check Out. The file is now checked out in the PDMWorks Enterprise file vault and you can open it to modify the file. To submit the file changes to the file vault for other users to see after saving the file, you will have to check it in.

Files Containing References

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If the file(s) that you are checking out contain references to other files, a check out dialog will open to let you check out or retrieve the referenced files also:

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Lesson 5 Versioning Files

The columns in the Check Out dialog box are as follows (you can make selections using the checkboxes in the list): Name of the file or referenced file.

Result

Shows if there are any problems locking the file. The different results are: OK – File will be checked out by you. File is checked out by you – The file is already checked out by you. File is checked out – The file is checked out. Look for by whom in the Checked Out By column. No check out rights – The file exists but you have no rights to check out the latest version of the file. Contact your system administrator to obtain sufficient access rights.

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File Name

Versioning Files

Check out

Mark the checkbox to check out the file. If the checkbox is greyed out you cannot check out the file.

Get

Mark the checkbox to retrieve the selected version (displayed in the Local Ver. column) of the file to your local working folder. If you select to check out the file it will always retrieve the latest version. If the checkbox is greyed out you lack rights to retrieve the selected version of the file.

Local Ver.

Shows both the local version (cached version) and the latest version of the file. The local version is written as a hyphen ('-') if the local file is modified or not found.

Checked Out By

If the file is already checked out, shows which user that has the file checked out.

Checked Out In

If the file is already checked out, shows on which system the file is checked out.

Referenced As

Shows how the file is referenced by the parent file (by full path, relative path or only the file name).

Found in

Folder where the file is actually found.

State

Shows which workflow state the selected version of the file is in.

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Versioning Files

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Referenced as, Found in and State are not displayed by default. To view these, right-click and select to toggle the option display on/off.

Additional Options

If you right-click in the Check Out dialog box the following menu opens giving you four additional options: Columns: You can

select which columns will be displayed in the Check Out dialog box. Select the columns to display.

Select All: This option selects all files displayed in the Check Out dialog box. Select Files: This option allows you to select files which match a wildcard pattern. Check Out All Files: This option toggles on/off the selection all checkboxes in the Check Out column. Get All Files: This option toggles on/off the selection all checkboxes in the Get column. Open File List: This option opens an Excel file containing the check out information currently displayed.

Save File List: Similar to Open File List, this option saves as

a .txt file the check out information currently displayed.

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Depending on the file type selected, the corresponding application (Word, Excel, etc.) starts automatically when double-clicking on the checked out file.

Start the Editing Program

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You can now edit the file. After editing, save the file as customary of the Windows application used to modify the file.

Case Study: Versioning Files

In this case study, we will check out a file, modify the file, check the modified version into the vault, and retrieve an older version from the vault.

1

Login.

Select the training folder and log in.

For this lesson we will log in as student1. The password is stu.

2

Check out file.

Browse to the Student Projects\PRJ-XXXXXX\ACME Project Documents folder.

Select the Thesis Outline.doc file, right-click and select Check Out.

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Versioning Files

3

Modify file.

Double click on the file Thesis Outline.doc to open.

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Make modifications to the file text, Save and exit Word.

4

Check in Modifications.

The Version tab will reflect that the document has been changed.

Select the Thesis Outline.doc file, right-click and select Check In.

Since we would like to make another change, select the option Keep Checked Out. Enter a change Comment: and Check In.

5

Make additional modifications.

Double click on the file Thesis Outline.doc to open.

Make modifications to the file text, Save and exit Word.

6

Check in Modifications.

The Version tab will reflect that the document has been changed.

Select the Thesis Outline.doc file, right-click and select Check In.

Do not keep checked out. Enter a change Comment: and Check In.

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Lesson 5 Versioning Files

Local File Version

When you select a file in the Explorer file view, the current version of the file stored locally in the working folder (cache) will be displayed in the version preview tab:

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The first number represents the local version and the second number represents the latest version in the vault. A hyphen ('-') is displayed if the local file version is modified. If the file is not found locally, the latest version of the file will be retrieved from the file vault and physically copied to the working folder on your local hard disk drive. You can also find out which version is stored locally by displaying the properties of the file. To change which version you are currently viewing, use Get Latest

Version or Get Version.

Get Latest Version

To retrieve the latest version of a file:

Right-click on the selection and select Check Out in the menu.

Where to Find It

Or, click Get Latest Version

on the toolbar.

If you have sufficient rights to retrieve the file version, the file(s) will physically copied to the working folder on your local hard disk drive.

If you use the Get Latest Version command on a folder, all subfolders and files will be processed and the latest version of the files will be retrieved locally.

Get Version

To retrieve an earlier version of a file:

Right-click on the file and select Get Version. A submenu will appear listing all file versions that you have sufficient rights to retrieve. If a version is unavailable the name will be greyed out. Select a version in the menu and the chosen file version will be physically copied to the working folder on your local hard disk drive.

Where to Find It

Note

If your system administrator set the Always work with latest version of files option, Get Version will not be available in the menu.

Overwriting Checked Out Versions

If the file is checked out by you, the Get Latest Version and Get Version command will overwrite any file content stored locally with the content from the selected version.

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Versioning Files

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A dialog box will be shown asking you to confirm that the file content will be overwritten with the latest version. Click Yes to retrieve the selected version.

7

Get previous version.

Browse to the Student Projects\PRJ-XXXXXX\ACME Project Documents folder. Select the Thesis Outline.doc file, right-click and select Get Version. Get a previous version of the file.

Select the Version tab and review the information.

8

Get Latest Version

Select the Thesis Outline.doc file, right-click and select Get Latest Version.

Select the Version tab and review the information.

Undo Check Out Where to Find It

70

To remove the check out on a file checked out by you, without saving any changes made to the file, use Undo Check Out: Right-click on the file.

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Lesson 5 Versioning Files

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In the pop-up menu, select Undo Check Out.

An Undo Check Out dialog appears.

If the file was modified after Check Out and before Undo Check Out, a warning will appear in the dialog box. Click Undo Check Out to continue.

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An Undo Check Out warning dialog box appears. Click Yes or Yes to All.

You will lose any changes you have made to the local copy of your file.

Warning

The check out is undone, and if the checked out file was modified prior to performing the Undo Check Out, the local copy be removed. If the checked out file was not modified prior to performing the Undo Check Out, the local copy remains.

9

Get Previous Version.

Browse to the Student Projects\PRJ-XXXXXX\ACME Project Documents folder. Select the Thesis Outline.doc file, right-click and select Get Version. Get a previous version of the file.

10 Check Out file.

Select the Thesis Outline.doc file, right-click and select Check Out. Notice that the previous version is overwritten with the latest revision.

Note

Always check out before editing.

11 Undo Checkout.

Select the Thesis Outline.doc file, right-click and select Undo Check Out. Select Undo Check Out in the dialog box to complete the undo operation.

History

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The history dialog provides an audit of all actions performed on the selected file.The History dialog provides a means to Compare versions of files (if the viewing application supports this action), Rollback to an earlier version (if permission is granted), or Get the selected version as the active version.

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Lesson 5 Versioning Files

12 View History.

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Select the Thesis Outline.doc file, right-click and select History... to browse all actions on the selected file.

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Exercise 4: Versioning Files

In this exercise we will create a new document, modify the document to create new versions, get previous and latest versions of the document, undo a check out and view document history. Open an Explorer Window.

2

Log In to PDMWorks Enterprise.

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Several student accounts have been set up, student1, student2, student3..... All have a default password of stu.

Log in using the login and password assigned to you by your instructor.

3

Create a new Specification document.

Browse to the Student Projects\PRJ-XXXXXX\ACME Project Documents folder. Create a new Specification from a template and check it into the vault.

4

Version the document.

Check out the newly created Specification file. Make modifications then save and close the document. Check the document into the vault.

5

Get Version.

Get a previous version of the document. Examine the Version tab.

6

Get Latest Version.

Check out the document. Examine the Version tab. Open the document, make modifications then save and close the document. Do not check the document in. Examine the Version tab.

7

Undo Check Out.

Undo Check Out on the document. Examine the Version tab.

8

View History.

View the document history.

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Lesson 6 Versioning CAD Files

Upon successful completion of this lesson, you will be able to: Turn on the SolidWorks Add-in. Check Out CAD files.

Create new versions of CAD files.

Understand working with CAD file versions.

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Lesson 6 Versioning CAD Files

Versioning Files on page 63 covered the versioning of non-CAD documents. This lesson will discuss the versioning of CAD documents, specifically SolidWorks, and their references.

SolidWorks Add-in

The PDMWorks Enterprise Add-in for SolidWorks provides access to control and workflow tools from within the SolidWorks application.

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Versioning CAD Files

Where to Find It

To use PDMWorks Enterprise from SolidWorks:

1. In SolidWorks, select Tools, Add-Ins and verify that PDMWorks Enterprise is selected. The PDMWorks Enterprise window is displayed in the Task Pane. 2. Open or create a part, drawing, or assembly to view PDMWorks Enterprise file statuses.

Note

You are warned if a file you are opening is Read Only. If you want to modify it, right-click the file name in the PDMWorks Enterprise pane and select Check Out. 3. Right-click the file or a variable to access Enterprise functions.

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Check Out Files

The Check Out command creates a writable copy of the latest version of a file in the working folder of the file vault. By checking out a file, PDMWorks Enterprise ensures that no two users can simultaneously edit the file.

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If you want to edit a file, you must first check the file out. Where to Find It

To Check Out a file in SolidWorks:

Select the file in the graphics window, or from the task pane, or from the feature manager tree.

Right-click on the selection and select Check Out in the menu, or click the check out button on the toolbar.

If you have sufficient rights to check out the file, the file will now be marked as checked out in the file vault.

Files Containing References

If the file(s) that you are checking out contain references to other files, a check out dialog will open to let you check out or retrieve the referenced files also:

Start the Editing Program

Depending on the file type selected, the corresponding application (SolidWorks, AutoCAD, etc.) starts automatically when doubleclicking on the checked out file.

You can now edit the file. After editing, save the file as customary of the Windows application used to modify the file.

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Lesson 6 Versioning CAD Files

Case Study: Versioning Files

In this case study, we want to version a part contained within a SolidWorks assembly. We will version both the part and the assembly and see the effects on other file references. Login.

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1

Select the Training vault and log in.

For this lesson we will log in as student1. The password is stu.

2

Open assembly in SolidWorks. Start SolidWorks, select File > Open and browse to the Student

Projects\PRJ-XXXXXX\MainBase folder, select SubHolder.SLDASM and Open.

Select Yes when asked to open read-only and select OK to acknowledge the message regarding the need to check out in order to modify.

3

Check out files.

Click on the PDMWorks Enterprise tab in the task pane.

Select the SubHolder assembly and rightclick Check Out. The assembly is automatically selected for check out. Select the check out boxes for both the Bracket part and drawing and select Check Out.

Note

Unlike the check in command, check out can gather the drawing references from the PDMWorks Enterprise database and offer them for check out along with the reference parts and assemblies.

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4

Modify design.

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Open the part file Bracket for editing. Modify the part by adding a 10mm diameter through hole on the top face between the slot and the other two holes.

Open the Bracket drawing to update.

5

Save Modifications.

Save the changes to the part and drawing and close the files. Click Yes to rebuild the assembly then Save the assembly. The modifications of the assembly and the part will be reflected in the task pane. The Local version of both files will be highlighted red and the Value -/1 indicated that the local version has been modified.

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Lesson 6 Versioning CAD Files

Check In Files

After editing and saving a checked out file, Check In the file to make it available to all other users with appropriate rights.

Note

All changes of a file are solely made in the file in your local working folder till you check it into the vault.

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When a file is checked in and its data has changed from the latest version stored in the file vault, a new version of the file will be created. This way PDMWorks Enterprise ensures that all changes to a file are stored, without having the previous version overwritten and destroyed. Users can quickly retrieve versions of a file, that they have access rights, using the Get Version command.

Where to Find It

To Check In a file in SolidWorks:

1. Select the file in the graphics window, or from the task pane, or from the feature manager tree. 2. Right-click the selection and select Check In from the menu, or click Check In on the toolbar.

3. Make any selections in the check in columns by marking the checkboxes. 4. Enter a comment about the changes made to the file in the Comment field. This comment makes it easier to find changes made to a file in its history and will help selecting correct version when using the Get Version command.

Note

If nothing has changed in the version of the file stored locally and the latest version in the file vault, the Comment field will be greyed out. No new version will be created either after unlocking the file(s). 5. Click Check In and new versions will be created of the changed files.

Note

If the checked in file contained references, the new file version will remember (in the file vault database) which versions of the references were used so that when retrieving an earlier version of the parent file, all referenced versions will be retrieved as they were attached.

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Versioning CAD Files

If a referenced file is reported Outside PDMWorks Enterprise, it is stored and referenced in a location outside the current file vault. The reference will not be added to the PDMWorks Enterprise file vault when you check in the parent file. Nor will any information about the reference to the parent file be stored in the vault. Next time you check out the parent file, this referenced file will not appear in the check out dialog box.

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References Outside the PDMWorks Enterprise Vault

To avoid this, you can choose either place the referenced file in the same folder as the parent file or place it in a vault folder and update the parent file to refer to the referenced file using a fixed path.

For all references, which are not referred to in the parent file with a full (fixed) path, PDMWorks Enterprise searches in the same folder as the parent file resides.

Searches for External References

6

Check in Files.

Click on the PDMWorks Enterprise tab in the task pane.

Select the SubHolder assembly and right-click Check In.

Enter the comment; added a 10mm hole to the bracket.

Click Check In to complete the operation. Close the file in SolidWorks.

Note

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Remember that the drawings are not part of the assembly reference list and must be checked in separately.

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Lesson 6 Versioning CAD Files

Check In the Bracket drawing.

You can use the Open dialog to perform any right-click operation including Check In.

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Tip

Working With File Versions

When you open the file you will always get the local version. If there is no local version of the file, you will get the latest version from the file vault. To retrieve an assembly as built, you must use the Get... command to retrieve the correct version of the assembly and its references.

To retrieve the latest versions an assembly and the latest version of its parts, you must use the Get Latest Version command to retrieve the assembly and its references.

Important!

The Check Out command always retrieves the latest version of files regardless of how it was built.

In-Context References

There are times when modifications made to a part or a sub-assembly will impact a parent assembly and/or the files within the parent assembly. One such example is the use of mirrored components.

PDMWorks Enterprise alerts you to these changes when you work on the parent assembly. A warning message will be displayed that lists the affected files. To update the assembly you will need to check out and update the affected files, then update the assembly and version the modifications.

7

Open Assembly As-Built. From SolidWorks, select File > Open and browse to the Student

Projects\PRJ-XXXXXX\MainBase folder, select MainAssy.SLDASM and Open. Select Yes when asked to open read-only.

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Select the checkbox Do not show this message again and select OK to acknowledge the message regarding the need to check out in order to modify.

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The file is opened with the latest version of the SubHolder assembly.

Select the MainAssy assembly in the task pane and right-click Get.... Select the version and click OK.

.

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The Get dialog shows which version of each reference will be retrieved. (In this case version 1 of 2 as signified by the Version 1/2).

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Click Get to complete retrieving the as-built version of the assembly.

The status of the SubHolder sub-assembly and Bracket part are reflected in the task pane.

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8

Update main assembly.

Select the MainAssy assembly in the task pane and right-click Check

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Out.

Check out will Get the latest version of the references. Click Check Out to continue.

If necessary, select OK to warning messages about files that need to be checked out in order to modify.

9

Update components. From the task pane, Check Out the SubHolder-2 assembly and the

Bracket-2 part.

10 Create new version. Save the MainAssy assembly.

Check In the assembly and related files, then close the files in

SolidWorks.

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Exercise 5: Versioning CAD Files

In this exercise we will modify and version SolidWorks documents.

Open an Explorer Window.

2

Log In to PDMWorks Enterprise.

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1

Several student accounts have been set up, student1, student2, student3..... All have a default password of stu.

Log in using the login and password assigned to you by your instructor.

3

Start SolidWorks and add-in.

Start the SolidWorks application and turn on the PDMWorks Enterprise add-in. Locate the PDMWorks Enterprise tab on the task pane.

4

Version a SolidWorks part and drawing. Browse into the Tool Vise folder. Select the file tool holder.SLDPRT and open in SolidWorks.

Check out the part. Add a hole in the top face. Open and check out the related drawing (tool holder.SLDDRW). Save the files and check in.

5

Version a SolidWorks assembly and drawing. Browse into the Tool Vise folder. Open the files tool vise.SLDASM and tool vise.SLDDRW in

SolidWorks. Perform the steps necessary to update and create a new version of the assembly and drawing.

6

Get Previous Version.

7

Get Latest Version.

8

Undo Check Out.

Get a previous version of the assembly.

Check out the assembly to get the latest version of the assembly. Undo Check Out of the assembly.

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View History.

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View the assembly and part history.

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Lesson 7 File References

Upon successful completion of this lesson, you will be able to: Create user-defined file references. Copy files and references.

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File References

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Lesson 7 File References

File References

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CAD files typically have references that tie parts to assemblies, part and/or assemblies to drawings, etc. It is sometimes desirable to create references (links) between office documents, PDFs, images, etc. Users can manually create references between files. This is useful when you want to tie documents together so that when you work on the parent file, its references are displayed automatically. Examples: Microsoft Excel spreadsheet with a Microsoft Word file. 3D component of a motor with the PDF specification file. Digital image of a building with the renovation drawing in SolidWorks.

Creating and Removing References

You can create user-defined references between files. When you work on the parent file, its references are displayed automatically.

Procedure

To create a user-defined reference:

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7.

Right-click the parent file and select Check Out. Select the files to reference. Right-click the files and select Copy. Right-click the parent file and select Paste as Reference. Click OK. Check in the parent file. To verify the references, select the parent file and select the Contains tab. To remove a reference:

1. Check out the parent file. 2. On the Contains tab, click Edit user defined reference . 3. In the dialog box, clear the check boxes for the references to remove. 4. Click OK. 5. Check in the parent file.

Case Study: File References

This case study will illustrate how to manage file references.

1

Create a reference.

Browse to the Student Projects\PRJ-XXXXXX\ACME Project Documents folder.

Select the realview7.TIF file, right-click and select Copy.

In the same folder, select the Thesis Outline.doc file, rightclick and select Check Out.

File References

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File References

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Select the Thesis Outline.doc file, right-click and select Paste as Reference.

Click OK.

Check in the Thesis Outline.doc file.

2

View Reference.

Browse to the Student Projects\PRJ-XXXXXX folder, select the DOCXXXXXX.doc file. Select the Contains tab to validate the references.

3

Remove a reference.

Browse to the Student Projects\PRJ-XXXXXX\ACME Project Documents folder, select the Thesis Outline.doc file, right-click and select Check Out. (Do not check out TIF file.)

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Lesson 7 File References

Select the Contains tab and select the Edit user-defined references icon .

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Select the realview7.TIF file to uncheck and click OK.

Check in the Thesis Outline.doc file.

Copying Files with References

You can copy a parent file with all its references to create a second instance unrelated to the original. For example, you can copy a document set to create as the basis for a new document set or an assembly file to use as the basis for a new product. Copying a file with references lets you reuse all the related parts and drawings without having to recreate the data.

To copy files with references: 1. Browse to the parent file, right-click it, and select Copy Tree. 2. In the dialog box, click Browse and navigate to the destination folder. 3. Select an option for how to copy the files: Copy files to folder:

Copies all referenced files to the Destination folder.

Copy files to compressed archive:

Copies all referenced files into a compressed archive stored in the Destination folder. The compression tool specified in the PDMWorks Enterprise settings is used. If no compression tool is specified, a compressed Windows archive is created.

4. Set the remaining options: Transform. Lets you add prefixes or suffixes or change file names.

Include Drawings. Includes any related drawing files (.slddrw,.dwg,.idw, etc.) when copying the reference tree. Regenerate serial number in cards.

If serial numbers are used, assigns the next number in the sequence.

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File References

Preserve relative paths.

Keeps the path of references relative to the copied parent file. Use latest version of attached reference. Use attached version of the references.

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Uses the version that is attached rather than the latest version. Check in files with comment.

After creating the new files, automatically checks the files into the vault with the comment provided.

5. Under the Copy column, select references and click Copy. The newly copied parts start with a new version history.

4

Create references.

Browse to the Student Projects\PRJ-XXXXXX\ACME Project Documents folder.

Select the realview7.TIF and Sales Invoice1.xls files, right-click and select Copy.

In the same folder, select the Thesis Outline.doc file, rightclick and select Check Out.

Select the Thesis Outline.doc file, right-click and select Paste as Reference. Check In the Thesis Outline.doc file.

5

Copy files.

Browse to the Student Projects\PRJ-XXXXXX\ACME Project Documents folder.

Select the Thesis Outline.doc file, right-click and select Copy .Tree. Select Student Projects\PRJ-XXXXXX as the Destination folder.

Click Transform, select Add prefix..., enter New- and click OK.

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Lesson 7 File References

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Click Check in files with comment and add the comment New Files and click Copy.

6

View new files.

Browse to the Student Projects\PRJ-XXXXXX folder and review newly created documents.

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File References

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Exercise 6: File References

In this exercise we will create a user defined file reference and duplicate an assembly.

Open an Explorer Window.

2

Log In to PDMWorks Enterprise.

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1

Several student accounts have been set up, student1, student2, student3..... All have a default password of stu.

Log in using the login and password assigned to you by your instructor.

3

4

Create a user defined file reference. Browse into the ACME Project Documents folder. Add the file Sales Invoice1.xls as a reference to the file Project Overview.ppt. Duplicate an assembly. Browse into the Tool Vise folder. Create a duplicate of the tool vise.SLDASM including all part

references and drawings. Prefix the new file names with the prefix MOD- and place the new files in a new folder Tool Vise Modification. Browse into the Tool Vise Modification folder and check in all the newly created documents.

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Lesson 8 Searching

Upon successful completion of this lesson, you will be able to: Search the vault for specific files and properties.

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Searching

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Lesson 8 Searching

When you need to find documents or folders in the PDMWorks Enterprise file vaults, you can use the PDMWorks Enterprise Search function. With the search tool you can search using the file/folder name, but also a number of other search criteria, separately or in combination.

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Searching PDMWorks Enterprise

Where to Find It

Right click in the vault (making sure neither a file nor a folder are selected) and select PDMWorks Enterprise Search. Or, click PDMWorks Enterprise Search

on the toolbar.

Or, click Tools, PDMWorks Enterprise Search

Name and Location

In the upper left section of the search dialog, expand Forms and select Complete Search.

Select the Name and Location tab. If you know the file name (or part of it), enter the file name, with or without extension, in the Name field. Select location, such as the file vault and folder in the Look in list. You don't have to type the whole file name, it's enough to enter part of it, with or without wildcards (* or ?). PDMWorks Enterprise finds all files, whose name contains the entered string.

Note

If the Name field is empty, PDMWorks Enterprise will find all files of all file types, which are stored in the vault location defined in the Look in field.

You can look for files with different file names in the same search by entering several search values in the Named field, separated by space or comma. Examples: fax.doc,frame*dep.pdf *frame.dwg

These search values will find all doc files ending with fax.doc, all pdf files whose file names contain the strings frame and dep, and all dwg files ending with frame.dwg. To search for all files of a certain file type enter the search value using the wildcard, such as *.pdf. PDMWorks Enterprise will find all pdf files. You can search for several file types in the same search by entering several extensions, separated by space or comma. You find the most recently used search values in the drop list in the

Searching PDMWorks Enterprise

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Searching

Name field. If you select one of these search values you can use it in

the next search without having to re-write it. Check Include subfolders to search also in all the underlying subfolders of the selected folder.

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Check Search in all versions to have PDMWorks Enterprise search through all file versions for the file data card values.

Start Searching Where to Find It

After you have defined the search criteria you must execute the search. Click Search, Start Search from the menu. Or, click Start Search

on the toolbar.

To clear the search criteria in preparation for defining a new search, click the Clear Search icon .

Searching for Checked Out Files

It is often important for users to locate files they have checked out to themselves. These files should be checked in regularly (at least once a day). To help find those files the search engine allows for the checked out criteria to be searched on.

The Checked in/out tab of the Search tool allows a user to search for: Checked in files Checked out files Files checked out to a particular user

A very useful search for the user to run is a search to find files checked out to themselves. Select Display checked out files option and picking their user name from the drop list.

Only files checked out to that user would be displayed in the search result window.

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Lesson 8 Searching

The Search Results

Below the search definition area is the search result list. Below the search results listing there will also appear a preview pane. If you select a file in the search result list, the file preview, file data card and other information tabs are displayed.

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If you right-click on a file name, the pop-up file menu is opened. From this menu, most PDMWorks Enterprise options are available as in Windows Explorer. To open a file in the file list:

Double-click on the file name. Right-click the file and select Open.

To clear all defined criteria and create a new search, click New Search.

Case Study: Search

Case Study: Search

When you need to find documents or folders in the PDMWorks Enterprise file vaults, you can use the PDMWorks Enterprise Search function. Users can search by filename, for a specific variable value in a data card, by workflow status, user name, etc.

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Searching

1

Define search criteria.

Start the search tool, select the Complete Search form and select the Name and Location tab.

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In the Name field enter slddrw, In the Look In field click the Browse button and select the Training vault. Click the Start Search icon results area.

2

Define a new search Click the Clear Search icon

. The results are displayed in the file

to clear old search criteria.

In the Number field enter PRT, In the Look In field click the Browse button and select the C:\Training\Misc Projects folder. Click the Start Search icon results area.

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. The results are displayed in the file

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Lesson 8 Searching

Favorite Searches

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A favorite search is one that would be run regularly by the user. The search is typically the users own favorite and is not seen by other users. Some users may have the administrative right to create favorite searches that can be used by others. A favorite search does not remember what results have appeared before but it remembers the criteria that was used to locate the files\folders returned in a previous search. To create favorite searches do the following:

1. Define the criteria for the search.

. 2. click Add Favorite 3. Enter the name of the new favorite search.

The resultant favorite will be added to the context sensitive menu that appears when the user right clicks in the document vault.

3

Create a Favorite Click the Clear Search icon

to clear old search criteria.

In the Number field enter PRT, In the Look In field click the Browse button and select the C:\Training\Misc Projects\Bevel Gear folder. Click the Start Search icon results area. Click Add Favorite

. The results are displayed in the file

and enter the name Bevel Gear Parts.

Click the Clear Search icon

to clear old search criteria.

In the Number field enter PRT, In the Look In field click the Browse button and select the C:\Training\Misc Projects\Speaker folder. Click the Start Search icon results area. Click Add Favorite

Case Study: Search

. The results are displayed in the file

and enter the name Speaker Parts.

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Searching

4

Search by Favorite

Close the search window.

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In the file view area (with no file or folder selected), right-click and select the search favorite Speaker Parts.

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Exercise 7: Search

In this exercise we are going to build a search to find all the files that you have checked out and make the search a favorite. Open an Explorer Window.

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Log In to PDMWorks Enterprise.

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1

Several student accounts have been set up, student1, student2, student3..... All have a default password of stu.

Log in using the login and password assigned to you by your instructor.

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Check out files.

Browse into the Tool Vise folder. Check out the tool vise.SLDDRW including all references and drawings.

4

Search for files.

Right-click in the file view and select Complete Search… from the menu. On the Name and Location page change the Look in section to the Vault or click browse and select the PDMWorks Enterprise Training vault blueberry icon. Make sure the following are checked: Include sub folders Search all version Display files Make sure that the following are unchecked: Display folders

Change to the Checked in/out tab Make sure Display non-checked out files is cleared Make sure Display checked out files is selected Select your training log in name from the drop list Select Start Search

The search engine should now locate ALL the files that your training user has checked out in the vault.

By holding CTRL and pressing the A key all the files in the search results window will be selected.

Note

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Check in files from search results.

Click Check In

Exercise 7

and check in ALL your files.

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Create Favorite

Click Add Favorite Enter Checked out By as the name of the new favorite search

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The resultant favorite will be added to the context sensitive menu that appears when the user right clicks in the document vault.

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Lesson 9 Workflow and Notification

Upon successful completion of this lesson, you will be able to: Understand workflow states and transitions.

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Workflow and Notification

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Lesson 9 Workflow and Notification

The PDMWorks Enterprise workflow is designed to represent the location of a file within a pre-defined process. You can associate files in the vault with a pre-defined process, configured by the PDMWorks Enterprise administrator, that moves the files through a design process, approval process, etc. You need to change the state of a file to move it through the process.

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PDMWorks Enterprise Workflow

Change File State

Files in a PDMWorks Enterprise file vault will always reside in one of the defined states of a file vault workflow. The state determines which access rights you have to the selected version of the file.

Note

When you wish to change the current state (e.g. Under Editing) of the file version to another state, the file must be checked in.

Where to Find It

Select the file (or hold down Ctrl or Shift to select multiple files) and right-click on the selection.

Place the cursor over Change State option. A submenu will display all selectable state transitions. The state transitions that are selectable depends on the state transition rights you have been assigned in the Workflow Editor. The submenu options correspond to the state transitions, which are defined in the Workflow Editor. The little symbol before each submenu option indicates the target state of this transition.

Select state transition (state to change to) in the submenu.

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Workflow and Notification

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The Do Transition dialog box appears:

The selected files will be listed in the dialog box (if a selected file contains references to other files, these references will also be shown). The title of the dialog box will display which state you are changing to.

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Lesson 9 Workflow and Notification

The columns in the dialog box are as follows: Name of the file that is changing state.

Result

Shows if the file can change state or if there is a problem performing the transition: OK – This file will make the transition to the new state when you have ticked the checkbox in the Change State column. If a file is marked with a warning sign there is a problem with the file. This has to be corrected before the file can change state. File is checked out – You can only change state on checked in files. Check in the file before committing the transition. File in wrong state – You have selected a file that is in another state, from which the state transition cannot be made. No rights to change state – You have no transition rights to change state on this file in the workflow. Parent can’t change state – The file that references this file cannot make the state transition. Correct the problem with the parent file and try the transition again, or return and select only the referenced file by itself to make the transition on. Not latest version attached – The attached version of the referenced file is not of the latest stored on the server and therefore no state transition can be made on this file. A state change is always made on the latest version of a file. Can’t increment revision: [error] – A transition action is set to increment the file revision, but there is a problem. The message after the warning sign describes the error.

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File Name

Change State

Tick the checkbox if the file should make the state transition.

Version

Shows which version of the file the state transition is made on. For referenced files, the value shows which version is attached to the parent file.

Found in

Folder in where the file is found.

State

Current state of the most recent version of the file.

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Workflow and Notification

Verify the files in the dialog box and check all files to change state. Enter a state transition comment in the Comment field. The comment will be added to the file(s) history. Click the OK button to make the state transition on the selected files. If you right-click in the Change State To dialog box the following menu opens giving you three additional options:

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Additional options

Columns: You have the possibility to define the columns in the Change State On Files: dialog box.

Place the cursor over the Columns option to open the submenu. Mark the columns to display in the dialog box

Select All: This option selects all files displayed in the Change State To dialog box. Select Files... This option allows

you to select files which match a wildcard pattern. Change State on All Files: This option ticks all checkboxes in the Change State column.

Note

Multiple files can be moved through the workflow at the same time however all the files must be in the same state and they must be moved to the same state.

Notifications

It is possible to design the workflow so that specified users or groups receive a notification whenever a file or files reach a certain state. For example, a project manager may want to be notified when project files have been updated by the engineers. It is also possible to subscribe to be notified when an action is performed on a specific file or files.

Where to Find It

Select the file (or hold down Ctrl or Shift to select multiple files) and right-click on the selection. Place the cursor over Notify option. A submenu will display all selectable notification options. Select the type of notification desired from the submenu.

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Lesson 9 Workflow and Notification

Case Study: Workflow

In this case study, we will change the state of a SolidWorks assembly drawing and its referenced files to submit for approval. We will then log in as a different user and approve the submitted documents.

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Notifications will be sent to and received by the specified users.

1

Login.

Select the Training vault and log in.

Log in as student1. The password is stu.

2

Submit for Approval.

Open an Explorer window.

Browse into the Student Projects\PRJ-XXXXXX\MainBase folder. Select MainAssy.SLDDRW and select Change State, Submit for Approval. Enter a comment: Please review and approve the attached documents. and select OK.

The files are now in the state Waiting for Approval.

3

Read Notifications.

Log out as student1.

Log in as Instructor. The password is ins.

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Workflow and Notification

You will receive a notification bubble indicating that you have received a notification for each document submitted for approval. to read the

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Click on the notification bubble or task tray icon notifications.

4

Approve Files

Close the Notification window.

Select MainAssy.SLDDRW and select Change State, Passed approval.

Enter a comment: Approved for release. and select OK.

The files are now in the state Approved.

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Exercise 8: Workflow

In this exercise we are going to submit a SolidWorks assembly and it’s references for approval. Open an Explorer Window.

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Log In to PDMWorks Enterprise.

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1

Several student accounts have been set up, student1, student2, student3..... All have a default password of stu.

Log in using the login and password assigned to you by your instructor.

3

Submit files for approval. Browse into the Tool Vise folder. Right-click the tool vise.SLDDRW and select Change State, Submit for Approval.

(You may need to check in files first).

Note

Exercise 8

Depending on your classroom environment you may have received notifications when logging in. If so, feel free to explore the notifications.

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PDMWorks Enterprise 2008 Training Manual

Appendix A SolidWorks File References

The following topics are covered in this appendix: Understanding SolidWorks file referencing. Understanding SolidWorks file properties.

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SolidWorks File Management

SolidWorks File References

There are several principals of SolidWorks File Management that are key to our understanding of PDMWorks Enterprise. First and foremost, PDMWorks Enterprise does not change the way SolidWorks searches for or references files.

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In order to properly manage SolidWorks files, or use any Product Data Management system with SolidWorks, it is important to understand just what SolidWorks files contain and how they relate to one another.

SolidWorks File Structure

The SolidWorks file structure is a single point database. This means that each piece of information is stored in only one file. Any other file that needs that piece of information must reference the file where the information is stored rather than copy the information into itself. This creates external references.

External References

External references are the links between documents. There is no separate database to list the references, instead a pointer in the file header lists the referenced files and their location. These are absolute references, in other words they are a complete path such as D:\myfiles\bracket.sldprt.

External references in SolidWorks are only one directional. Assemblies have references to the parts contained in the assembly. The individual parts do not have references back to the assembly. In other words, the part does not know where it is used.

File Associativity

The advantage of using external references is that when information such as a dimension in a part is changed, all files that use that part are updated. This highlights the fact that each file must always know the path to all of the files it references.

File References

SolidWorks creates files that are compound documents that contain elements from other files. File references are created by linking files rather than duplicating information in multiple files.

Referenced files do not have to be stored with the document that references them. In most practical applications, the referenced documents are stored in multiple locations on the computer or network. SolidWorks provides several tools to determine the references that exist and their location.

Object Linking and Embedding (OLE)

In the Windows environment, information sharing between files can be handled either by linking or embedding the information.

The main differences between linked objects and embedded objects are where the data is stored and how you update the data after you place it in the destination file.

Linked Objects

When an object is linked, information is updated only if the source file is modified. Linked data is stored in the source file. The destination file stores only the location of the source file (an external reference), and it displays a representation of the linked data.

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Linking is also useful when you want to include information that is maintained independently, such as data collected by a different department. When you embed an object, information in the destination file doesn't change if you modify the source file. Embedded objects become part of the destination file and, once inserted, are no longer part of the source file.

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Embedded Objects

File Reference Example

The many different types of external references created by SolidWorks are shown in the following graphic. Some of the references can be linked or embedded. Drawing

Fil

Table

Assembly

In-Context Reference

efe

Fil eR

ce ren

Library Feature

efe eR

Derived Part

F il

Split Part

Where to Find It

Re fe re nc e

Part

er ind B n si g De

Find References

Fi le

r en ce

Design

ce en r efe eR

Mirror Part

Insert Part

Find References provides the exact locations of referenced part and assembly files. Find References will display the Search Results dialog box which lists the component files used, including the full path names. This is useful if you have several versions of the component files.

From the File menu, select Find References.

Copy Files

The Copy Files button is used to copy the files to another, common, directory. Copy Files opens Pack and Go, which is used to copy the parent and all referenced files to a single location, or to create a ZIP file.

Print

Print sends the list of references to the printer as plain text.

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Copy List

SolidWorks File References

Copy List makes a copy of the search results list on the Windows

clipboard. This can then be pasted into other documents. Pack and Go

Pack and Go provides a method to copy all references as well as

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drawings and COSMOS results to either a specific directory or a Zip file. List External References

In an assembly, you can create an in-context feature on one component that references the geometry of another component. This in-context feature has an external reference to the other component. List External References lists the specific feature, data, status, entity or component information for each in-context entity. If you change the geometry on the referenced component, the associated in-context feature changes accordingly.

Note

Do not confuse the command List External References with File, Find References. In a part document, the command File, Find References only lists the name of externally referenced documents, if they exist. It does not provide feature, data, status, entity, or component information.

File Names

Unique file names are key to managing files in SolidWorks. Only one document of a given name can be open at any one time. When first saved, each file should be changed from the default name (Part1, Assembly1, etc.) to something unique. If part numbers are used, assigning the part number when the file is first created can prevent file reference problems later.

Update Holders

The external references created between components are listed as features at the bottom of the assembly FeatureManager design tree. These update holders are the features that cause the in-context features in one part to update based on changes in the referenced part.

Because update holders are part of the assembly file, in-context features do not update unless the assembly is open. If the update path is not available (for example, if the assembly document is closed), updating occurs the next time you open the assembly that contains the update path.

Out of Context

File Reference Example

Because changes propagate through the assembly to the in-context feature, in-context features are out of context if the assembly is not open.

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Opening Files

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SolidWorks is a RAM-resident CAD system. Whenever a file is opened, it is copied from its storage location to the computer’s Random Access Memory or RAM. All changes to the file are made to the copy in RAM and only written back to the original files during a Save operation.

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Open

RAM

Fixed Disk

Save

Computer Memory

To better understand where files are stored and which copy of the file we are working on, it is important to differentiate between the two main types of computer memory.

Random Access Memory

Random Access Memory (RAM) is the volatile memory of the computer. This memory only stores information when the computer is operating. When the computer is turned off, any information in RAM is lost.

Fixed Memory

Fixed memory is all the non-volatile memory. This includes the computer hard drive, floppy disks, zip disks, flash drives, CDs and DVDs. Fixed memory holds its information even when the computer is not running.

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SolidWorks File References

Saving files writes the file information in RAM to a location on a fixed disk. SolidWorks provides three options for saving files. Each has a different effect on file references.

Save

Copy the file in RAM to the fixed disk, leaving the copy in RAM open. If this file is being referenced by any open SolidWorks files, there are no changes to the reference.

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Saving Files

Save As

Copy the file in RAM to the fixed disk under a new name or file type, replacing the file in RAM with the new file. The old file in RAM is closed without saving. If this file is being referenced by any open SolidWorks files, update the references to this new file.

Save As Copy

Copy the file in RAM to the fixed disk under a new name or file type, leaving the copy in RAM open. If this file is being reference by any open SolidWorks files, do not update the references to this new file.

File Properties

File properties are details about Windows based files that help identify it – for example, a descriptive title, the author name, the subject, and keywords that identify topics or other important information in the file. Document properties can be used to display information about a file or to help organize files so that they can be found easily. You can search for documents based on document properties.

SolidWorks adds and has available file properties unique to SolidWorks that are more suited to engineering than the default properties associated to other Windows documents. Additional properties can be added based on the user’s needs.

Metadata

File properties and attributes are sometimes referred to as Metadata.

Classes of File Properties

File properties can be grouped into several classes. Automatic

Automatic properties are maintained by the application that created the property. These include properties such as the date the file was created, last modified and file size. Preset

Preset properties already exist, but the user must fill in the text value. The preset file properties used in SolidWorks are stored in the file Property.txt. This file may be edited to add or remove preset properties. Preset properties can accept text, date, yes/no and numerical data. Custom

Custom properties are defined by the user and apply to the entire document Configuration specific

Configuration specific properties apply only to a specific configuration.

Saving Files

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SolidWorks custom properties

There are several custom properties that can be automatically updated by SolidWorks. These include the part’s mass and material. Click File, Properties.

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Where to Find It

Creating File Properties

File properties can be created directly in the file, or they can be created by other procedures. Direct method

File properties are added directly to the file by the user. Design tables

Design tables can create custom properties using a column header $PRP@property where property is the name of the property to be created and populated with the information created in the design table. PDMWorks Enterprise

PDMWorks Enterprise may add several custom properties to files checked into the vault. These will vary depending on the setup defined by the system administrator.

Uses of File Properties

File properties can be used for several operations. Parts, assemblies and drawings

File properties can be used to create parametric notes. Annotations linked to file properties will update as the properties change. Assemblies Advanced Selection and Advanced Show/Hide can select

components based on specific file properties. Specific procedures are found in the training course Advanced Assembly Modeling. Drawings

File properties can be used to fill in data in the title block, BOM, revision blocks and annotations. Specific procedures are found in the training course SolidWorks Drawings.

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SolidWorks File References

When any parent document is opened, all documents that are referenced by the parent document are also loaded into memory. In the case of assemblies, components are loaded in memory according to the suppression state they were in when the assembly was saved.

Important!

PDMWorks Enterprise does not change the SolidWorks search order.

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External Reference Search Order

The SolidWorks software searches for referenced documents in the following order:

1. Random Access Memory If a file with the correct name is already in memory, SolidWorks will use that file.

2. The directory paths specified in the Referenced Documents list on the File Locations tab in Tools, Options, System Options (optional). Users may establish a list of directories for SolidWorks to search first. Generally, these directories would be shared network locations where projects are stored. Establishing this list is optional and may be bypassed. 3. The last path you specified to open a document. When you open a parent document, SolidWorks will search in the same directory for the referenced files. 4. The last path the system used to open a document. This applies if the system opened a referenced document last.

5. The path where the referenced document was located when the parent document was last saved. This is the path stored in the parent document except that the drive path (C:\, D:\, etc.) is considered to be the current drive. 6. The path where the referenced document was located when the parent document was last saved with the original disk drive designation. This is the absolute path name stored with the parent document. 7. If a referenced file is still not found, SolidWorks gives you the option to browse for it. When SolidWorks reaches the end of the search list and has not found a document, it turns the process over to the user to search manually.

Note

All updated reference paths in the parent document are saved when you save the parent document.

External Reference Search Order

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PDMWorks Enterprise 2008 Training Manual

Appendix B Bill of Materials (BOM)

The following topics are covered in this appendix:. Named and Computed BOMs.

Bill of Materials filters and options. Modifying BOMs.

Revision Management of Named BOMs. Comparing BOMs.

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Bill of Materials (BOM)

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The Bill of Materials tab is a view window that displays a Bill of Materials (BOM) listings for CAD assemblies and drawings. The system administrator can define multiple BOM views to display information in different formats and define user control access to BOMs. (These capabilities are discussed in the PDMWorks Enterprise Administrator class.)

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PDMWorks Enterprise Bill of Materials

Bill of Materials (BOM)

BOM Types

Computed BOMs Computed BOMs are BOMs that are recalculated each time you view them. The values that populate computed BOM columns are derived from the data cards of all components referenced by the computed BOM.

You cannot add items to a computed BOM. You also cannot check in or check out computed BOMs, and you cannot use them in a workflow. However, you can check out selected items (usually assembly files) that are listed in a computed BOM, and modify data values for these items. The computed BOM is updated when you check in the assembly document. If you edit properties or quantities in a computed BOM, the BOM is updated when you save it. User access rights determine whether you can view a computed BOM.

Named BOMs Computed BOMs can be saved as Named BOMs. With Named BOMs you can modify values, add items, check in/out, and change status (workflow). This type of BOM is treated as a stand-alone document and is not recalculated each time you view it. A Named BOM never appears in the standard file views of PDMWorks Enterprise. It only appears in the Bill of Materials file view. It is from the Bill of Materials file view that check in/out and change status is performed.

Named BOMs can be used to save a BOM for a specific configuration or layout for an assembly, or to save a BOM in a particular format.

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BOM View Filters and Options

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The following BOM View Filters and Options are available: Version

The Version pulldown allows you to select the version of a document for BOM generation.

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Configuration

The Configuration pulldown allows you to select the configuration/ layout of a document for BOM generation. Toggle Tree Display This option will toggle the display of the tree (Show/Hide)

You can toggle the display for the tree view of a BOM except in the following cases: You are viewing a named BOM. The selected document is not an assembly.

Select Bom View Indented

The hierarchical indented view is similar to a tree view. Parts and subassemblies are indented from their parent assemblies. Parts Only

The parts-only view displays only parts in a flat view with accumulated quantities. Top Level Only

The top-level view displays only top level entries in the BOM list hierarchy for computed BOMs.

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Bill of Materials (BOM)

Additional BOM options: Click to save edits made to a Computed or Named BOM.

Save As BOM

Click to save as a Named BOM.

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Save BOM

Search

Click to search for text within a BOM.

Export

Click to save the BOM to an external CSV file.

Open in Excel

Click to open the BOM in Excel.

Show Selected

As Built

Activated

PDMWorks Enterprise Bill of Materials

Select/unselect to toggle the display of the assembly or subassembly selected in the tree view. (This option does not apply if the filter Parts Only is in use.)

Select/unselect to toggle from the As-Built version of a Computed BOM to the Latest version

Select/unselect to toggle the display of the active Computed BOM in the Bill of Materials file view. (This option only applies to Computed BOMs and is only available if permission was granted by the system administrator.)

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The types of modification allowed depend on the BOM type:

Modification

Computed

Named

Y*

Y

Modify Quantity of items in the BOM

Y **

Y

Add items to the BOM

N

Y

Delete items from the BOM

N

Y

Re-order items in the BOM

N

Y

Check in/out of the vault

N

Y

Submit BOM to a workflow

N

Y

Automatically recalculate BOM items

Y

N

Compare BOMs

Y

Y

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Edit values for items in the BOM

* Values in a Computed BOM can only be modified if the document is checked out.

** System properties (shaded in gray) are not allowed to be modified in a Computed BOM with the exception of quantity (Reference Count). Your system administrator must give you permission to modify the quantity.

Modify Quantity in Computed BOM

To modify the quantity (Reference Count) in a Computed BOM:

Check out the file (usually an assembly). Click in the cell and type in a new Quantity value. The value will turn green indicating that is has been changed, but, not yet saved.

Save the BOM. The value will turn orange indicating that the value is not the original computed value.

To reset the quantity in a Computed BOM:

Check out the file (usually an assembly). Right click in the Quantity cell and select Use Computed Quantity. Save the BOM.

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To add an item to a Named BOM: Check out the file(s).

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Bill of Materials (BOM)

Right click in the desired cell and select Insert (or press the Insert key on your Keyboard)

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Type in the new text. You can you the tab key to advance to the next cell. The text will turn green indicating that is has been added or modified, but, not yet saved. Save the BOM.

Values can also be copied and pasted between cells using the right click menus or typical CTRl-C, CTRL-V actions.

Reordering items in Named BOM

To reorder items in a Named BOM, use drag and drop: Select one or more items in the BOM. Drag and drop them to another location in the list.

Revision Management of Named BOMs

When you save a BOM as a named BOM, it is a working document. Each time you check in a BOM after editing, you create a new version of the BOM. For example, you can add components to a BOM. PDMWorks Enterprise maintains the version and revision history for each BOM.

Bill of Materials File View

The Bill of Materials file view is a special file view for BOMs. To display the Bill of Materials file view, select Views

, Bill of

Materials.

Computed BOMs can be added to the file view by using the Activate option on the Bill of Materials tab.

Named BOMs are added to the file view when created. Operations that can be performed on Named BOMs include: Checked in Checked out Undo Check Out Increment Revision (if permitted) Change Status History Delete Rename

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Compare BOMs

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You can compare two Named BOMs, a Named BOM to a Computed BOM or two configurations within a Computed BOM. After you compare two BOMs, you can export the BOM comparison data to a .csv file.

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When you compare two BOMs: The union of all entries from both BOMs appears in the BOM comparison. Data for the original BOM appears first. Changed data in an entry that is common to both BOMs appears as a single color-coded BOM entry in the BOM comparison. Changes in the new BOM are indicated in square brackets. BOM entries derived only from the original BOM are color-coded. BOM entries derived only from the new BOM are color-coded and the data appears in square brackets.

To compare two BOMs:

Click Compare BOM . Select the BOM (to compare to) from the BOM list. Select the version from the Version list. Select the configuration from the Configuration list. (This option only appears for a computed BOM.) Click OK.

When finished comparing BOMs: Click Compare BOM

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A access rights 9

components 123 R RAM 126 references 123 external 123 revisions 11

Do Pr e no -R t c ele op as y eD or R d i AF st T rib ut e

C cache 9 concepts 7 copy files 124

Index

D data card 11

E external reference search order 129 external references 123 list 125 F favorites 107 features out of context 125 file find references 124 references 123 save 127 save as 127 save as copy 127 file associativity 123 file data card 11 file properties creating 128 uses 128 file structure 123 file vault 9–10 file versions 93 files copy 124 open 126, 138 properties 127 structure 123 find references 124 fixed memory 126

S save 127 save as 127 save as copy 127 search 103 favorites 107 order 129 smart files 10 smart folders 10

U update holders 125 V vault 9–10 view 9 version 93 versions 11

W workflow 10 working folder 9

L list external references 125 log in 16 M metadata 127

N notification 10 notifications 11

O object linking and embedding 123 OLE 123 out of context 125 P PDMWorks Enterprise concepts 7 smart files 10 PDMWorks Workgroup 123

139

PDMWorks Enterprise 2008 Training Manual

Do Pr e no -R t c ele op as y eD or R d i AF st T rib ut e

Index

140