SWX 2005 w/ SP 2 & Equations

I recently updated my installation to SP2, and I have started to notice some problems with my equations. When I go to a part that was created with SP 0, sometimes I will get rebuild errors on my equations saying some of the referenced dimensions are not available. It turns out that the eqations are now _very_ case sensitive!

If I had an original equation of:

"D1@Sketch5" = "d1@sketch1"/2

it will give the rebuild error.

Change to:

"D1@Sketch5" = "D1@Sketch1"/2 (Note capital 'D' and 'S')

Now it works fine.

Has anyone else seen this? This is extremely aggravating, as now I need to not only add the proper quotes (cen't understand why it needs quotes to parse the equation), but I also need to make sure I get my capitalization correct!

Side question....is there any way I can use unit suffixes in equations? If I want to do mixed english and metric dimensions, I always need to divide millimeters by 25.4, i.e:

"D1@Sketch5" = "D1@Sketch1" - 3.5/25.4

I would like it to just be:

"D1@Sketch5" = "D1@Sketch1" - 3.5mm

Thanks guys!

Dave

Reply to
Dave Nay
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This is not new to me. I had this exact same problem when I upgraded from SW2003 to SW2004. But, it only happened in one assembly that I created. I certainly understand your aggravation. When it happened to me, I wasted a whole day trying to figure out what went wrong. When I saw what was causing it, I nearly went postal.

Richard

Reply to
Richard Charney

I was under the impression that Dimension Names were always case sensitive. My practice is to copy and paste.

Dave Nay wrote:

created

equations?

Reply to
P.

I've been treating them as case sensitive ever since that happened.

Richard

Reply to
Richard Charney

How do you do cut and paste when the equation editor is modal? You can cut and paste one Dimension Name if you plan ahead before you get into the editor, but then you will be doing a cycle of close editor, copy name, open editor, paste name for each referenced dimension in your equation.

This is just a royal PITA having to make sure that names are properly cased, as well as quoted.

Dave

Reply to
Dave Nay

I'm surprised that doesn't work, since it works everywhere else. Just another one of SW's little inconsistencies?

Jerry Steiger Tripod Data Systems "take the garbage out, dear"

Reply to
Jerry Steiger

When you have the add / edit equation dialog open clicking a dimension will add the name of that dimension into the box at the cursor position.

AC

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Reply to
AC

Good tip! Thanks! The only problem is this is great when referencing dimensions within the current sketch, but I cant find a way for this to work when I need to reference dimensions in other sketches.

Dave

Reply to
Dave Nay

Reply to
Michael

Maybe I'm missing something here, but I have no problem adding dimensions from several sketches to the "add equation" or "edit equation" window.

Double click a sketch name in the feature tree to display its dimensions, then single click a dimension to paste it into the window. Double click a different sketch name in the feature tree and repeat.

Art

Reply to
Art Woodbury

The problem is my technique. I like to add my equations to dimensions as I do the original insertion of the dimension, by using the "Add Equation..." option in the little floating toolbox. When done like this, the feature tree is not available due to the dimensions parameter dialog being displayed in that pane. If I add placeholder dimensions, and then go back and add/edit the equations, it works as you have described.

Dave

Reply to
Dave Nay

Okay, Plan B.

With an open sketch and a newly placed dimension, the "Modify" toolbar is active and the "Dimension" property box completely covers the feature tree. What's worse, you can't drag the top border of that box down to reveal the feature tree beneath. But, when you hit the down arrow in the Modify box and select "Add Equation", the "Add Equation" window opens and the Dimension property box is greyed out. At this time you *can* drag the top border down as far as you like to reveal the feature tree.

Another, faster, way to do this is to expand the fly-out feature tree and then click in open space to close it, at which time the entire feature tree pops up in its pane.

There are days when we have to spend more time fighting an inconsistent UI than designing!

Art

Reply to
Art Woodbury

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