It is currently Sun May 26, 2013 3:09 am

View unanswered posts | View active topics


Board index » Other CAD Discussion » SolidWorks Discussion

All times are UTC





Post new topic Reply to topic  Page 1 of 1
  [ 12 posts ] 
  Print view Previous topic | Next topic 
Author Message
ChrisB
PostPosted: Tue Jul 19, 2011 8:48 pm 
Offline
MCAD Regular

Joined: 30 Jul 2008
Posts: 207
Country: United States
State: NewYork
CAD System: Solidworks
For those of you that use IV: In case you're not familiar with SW, it has to use a special file manager that it calls "SolidWorks Explorer" - which is a slow & unweildly app needed for doing things like renaming files. It needs this because it relies on external references between document files, and that data needs to get updated whenever, for instance, a file gets renamed, -and regular ol' Windows Explorer won't do that, so SolidWorks Explorer must be used. But it crashes a lot, so that it wastes even more time to accomplish nothing.

-How does IV handle this?


Share on FacebookShare on TwitterShare on DiggShare on DeliciousShare on TumblrShare on Google+
Top
 Profile  
 
cbliss
PostPosted: Wed Jul 20, 2011 3:26 am 
Offline
MCAD Guru
User avatar

Joined: 29 Jan 2004
Posts: 5170
Country: United States
State: California
CAD System: Inventor
Inventor has Design Assistant which is plugged into Windows Explorer. RMB on a file and you can 'manage it'. SW Explorer might be more like a sub-classed Windows Explorer. Both Inventor and SolidWorks have document managment systems, which might be better suited to management.
Top
 Profile  
 
SeanDotson
PostPosted: Wed Jul 20, 2011 11:29 am 
Offline
Forum Admin
User avatar

Joined: 29 Jan 2004
Posts: 13448
Country: United States
State: Florida
CAD System: Inventor
I'd call Design Assistant an albatross ;) If you use Vault can can more easily rename/relink files. Or use Explorer and relink upon opening.

_________________
Sean Dotson, PE
RND Automation & Engineering
Free 30 day trial of iPropWiz v5
Follow @seandotson & @mcadforums & @rndautomationon Twitter
Top
 Profile  
 
ChrisB
PostPosted: Wed Jul 20, 2011 7:06 pm 
Offline
MCAD Regular

Joined: 30 Jul 2008
Posts: 207
Country: United States
State: NewYork
CAD System: Solidworks
SeanDotson wrote:
I'd call Design Assistant an albatross ;) If you use Vault can can more easily rename/relink files. Or use Explorer and relink upon opening.



I don't know, Sean, the fact that Design Assistant supposedly works integrally with Windows Explorer sounds much better to me. Small companies may not want to pay extra for a "Vault" add-in that may be of limited advantage for them.
Top
 Profile  
 
tbryant
PostPosted: Thu Jul 21, 2011 12:23 pm 
Offline
MCAD Contributer

Joined: 20 Aug 2004
Posts: 163
Do you know what level of SolidWorks you have? If you have either SolidWorks Professional or SolidWorks Premium then you also own PDMWorks which is a basic PDM software that I am guessing is similar to Inventors Vault. Using PDMWorks will make managing and renaming your files much easier if that is something you need to do on a frequesnt basis.

Todd
Top
 Profile  
 
SeanDotson
PostPosted: Thu Jul 21, 2011 1:49 pm 
Offline
Forum Admin
User avatar

Joined: 29 Jan 2004
Posts: 13448
Country: United States
State: Florida
CAD System: Inventor
And basic Vault is free...

_________________
Sean Dotson, PE
RND Automation & Engineering
Free 30 day trial of iPropWiz v5
Follow @seandotson & @mcadforums & @rndautomationon Twitter
Top
 Profile  
 
Todd Hudgins
PostPosted: Thu Jul 21, 2011 3:43 pm 
Offline
MCAD Expert
User avatar

Joined: 02 Jun 2005
Posts: 1649
I have to side with Sean on this one. I have tried using DS to rename/copy designs before and more than not it has messed the file association up.
However, I have now done this same thing numerous time with Vault and never had any issues at all.

_________________
Todd Hudgins
Top
 Profile  
 
Pineapple
PostPosted: Thu Jul 21, 2011 7:19 pm 
Offline
MCAD Expert

Joined: 11 Apr 2006
Posts: 1550
Country: Canada
State: Ontario
CAD System: Inventor
Never use either explorer from IV or SW. I've setup my project folders so that I just copy the whole folder, rename the old one so IV or SW can't find it. Open the main assembly and drawings and save them. Of course this works only if you don't have a few thousands drawings.
Top
 Profile  
 
gildashard
PostPosted: Fri Jul 22, 2011 1:11 pm 
Offline
MCAD Addict
User avatar

Joined: 22 Aug 2005
Posts: 756
Country: United States
State: Mississippi
CAD System: Solidworks
You don't need to launch the full SWX explorer to rename files and have it update. Right click the SWX file in Windows Explorer, there should be a SolidWorks menu with options to "Pack n go", "Rename", and "Replace". This is still using SWX Explorer functionality but without having to load the full interface.

_________________
Jason
-I don't know if I'm alive and dreaming, or dead and remembering.

"Chuck Norris can speak braille."
Top
 Profile  
 
ChrisB
PostPosted: Fri Jul 22, 2011 5:07 pm 
Offline
MCAD Regular

Joined: 30 Jul 2008
Posts: 207
Country: United States
State: NewYork
CAD System: Solidworks
gildashard wrote:
You don't need to launch the full SWX explorer to rename files and have it update. Right click the SWX file in Windows Explorer, there should be a SolidWorks menu with options to "Pack n go", "Rename", and "Replace". This is still using SWX Explorer functionality but without having to load the full interface.



-Thanks, Gil - I hadn't noticed that great little R.C. feature that apparently gets added to Windows Explorer when SW gets installed.


-Gil - I don't want to make other members jealous*, but you always seem to get right to the heart of the question. Maybe my questions aren't always very clear, but you always seem to get right to the point of the issue. Maybe you could do a Q & A blog. I don't know much about blogs, but I understand that with on-screen ads, money can be made. Perhpas you don't have the time - but I think you do have the ability, IMHO.
-Chris B

* There are certainly other members who obviously have a great deal of expertise (DR. Mather, Sean D, Pineapple, et.al)
Top
 Profile  
 
gildashard
PostPosted: Fri Jul 22, 2011 5:44 pm 
Offline
MCAD Addict
User avatar

Joined: 22 Aug 2005
Posts: 756
Country: United States
State: Mississippi
CAD System: Solidworks
Thanks for the comment.

I manage SolidWorks for over 100 users where I work so most of the questions that get asked here I've probably answered before several times over the years. Plus I've been using the software since '98.

I think I'd be burnt out too much to blog about it. Also, it would eat into time I'd rather spend with my wife and kids.

_________________
Jason
-I don't know if I'm alive and dreaming, or dead and remembering.

"Chuck Norris can speak braille."
Top
 Profile  
 
ChrisB
PostPosted: Fri Jul 22, 2011 6:23 pm 
Offline
MCAD Regular

Joined: 30 Jul 2008
Posts: 207
Country: United States
State: NewYork
CAD System: Solidworks
gildashard wrote:
Thanks for the comment.

I manage SolidWorks for over 100 users where I work so most of the questions that get asked here I've probably answered before several times over the years. Plus I've been using the software since '98.

I think I'd be burnt out too much to blog about it. Also, it would eat into time I'd rather spend with my wife and kids.



-That's kind of what I fiigured. Good to have you in this discussion group, though.
Top
 Profile  
 
Display posts from previous:  Sort by  
Post new topic Reply to topic  Page 1 of 1
  [ 12 posts ] 

Board index » Other CAD Discussion » SolidWorks Discussion

All times are UTC


Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 0 guests

You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot post attachments in this forum

Search for:
Jump to:  
cron
POWERED_BY