Custom Properties mapped to drawing title block Problem

We have several custom properties that are being mapped to the drawing title block. I can link the property in the model to our PDM system, but I cant link the mapped property in the title block to the PDM system. EX. Description in Mode01 is "Shaft". I can link this to the Description field in our PDM system for the model card. When I go to checkin the drawing, the Description field on the drawing card is blank (since their isnt a Description property in the drawing, only a link to the description in the model).

Is this the correct way to link properties to the Title Block?

-MODEL CUSTOM PROPERTIES- Description Eng Dwn_by Part_Type Material

-TITLE BLOCK MAPPING- $PRPSHEET:"Description" $PRPSHEET:"Eng" $PRPSHEET:"Dwn_by" $PRPSHEET:"Part_Type" $PRPSHEET:"Material"

Reply to
SW Monkey
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Mr. Monkey,

You are correct in your assumption. In linking the property of the models to your titleblock you don't populate the Drawing properties. The PDM is looking for these custom properties in the drawing and can't find it.

A quick test would be to insert a custom property in the drawing called "Description" and then fill out the field "Shaft_dwg". Save or register the drawing into the PDM system and it should pick up the "Shaft_dwg" value from the drawing.

Most PDM systems have the ability to link model properties with drawing properties (Such as descriptions, revision changes, etc....) to ensure that both are in sync. Thus, when the drawing is saved the custom properties can populate the meta data of the PDM form. PDM should do this automatically so you don't.

Which PDM system are you using?

With respect to your title block mapping my comments are as follows:

Descriptions and Title Block Names may differ.

Descriptions are usually longer (read detailed) and will probably appear on a BOM or purchasing list. Title blocks are usually shorter due to space constraints. Thus a description in a model/BOM may be

Shaft, Modifed Stock Component, Reduced to 3/4 Inch, Stock 6061-T6 Al

The drawing Title block might be

Shaft, Mod. Stock Comp.,

3/4 IN, 6061-T6

in order to fit on two lines.

BTW: I try to avoid using material callout in the titleblock. SW2006 text can be formatted so longer lines are automatically wrapped to the second line.

The designer of the model and the creator of the drawing may be two different people. If there is a problem with the model I want to know who go after..... if it is a drawing error then I want to know who to go after.......

The creation date of the model and drawing will differ. There may be multiple drawings referencing the same part file (i.e two different configurations as purchased and as-modified). Both will reference the same model file but will have two different drawings).

Part Type may (or may not) be determined by the drawing.

Also, I use configuration properties now that SW allows you to assign different materials to different configurations. Thus, geometrically identical, models can be assigned different materials per configuration. Using configuration properties allows a BOM to show both configurations with different part numbers, material, and descriptions.

My .02 cents worth.

Len K. Mar, P.Eng. E-data Solutions

"If sense is so common....... why is it in such short supply?"

SW M> We have several custom properties that are being mapped to the drawing

Reply to
lmar

Thanks for the comments Len.

Yes, if I have a Description property in my drawing, it does get propagated to the PDM system. We dont want to have to put the description in both the model and drawing, thats why we have the titleblock grab the Description from the model. Do you have any other ideas what we could do? We are currently using Smarteam, which I just started playing around with mappings, but we will soon be switching to another system.

snipped-for-privacy@edatasoluti> Mr. Monkey,

Reply to
SW Monkey

The only thing I can think of is to try and use a "close" drawing trigger to copy the model properties to the drawing document database.

This would depend on your PDM's API set to be able to determine the condition of the drawing, its linked model, model configuration used in the drawing, and properties of that configuration.

There is nothing wrong with having the data in two files as long as there is a system to synchronize them.

All my configuration/drawing properties are PDM generated. Depending on client they may have 30-40 properties. I haven't had to add a file property in years.

Most PDM systems treat drawings and models as separate entities (as they should). I suspect the system you choose will dictate "best practices" with respect to said properties.

Cheers,

Len

Reply to
lmar

Last time I was responsible to make a format, I mapped the model properties to the drawing properties, then put the drawing properties into the format.

i.e. custom properties of drawing as [property name] --> [property value] Description --> $PRPSHEET:"Description" Eng --> $PRPSHEET:"Eng" Dwn_by --> $PRPSHEET:"Dwn_by" Part_Type --> $PRPSHEET:"Part_Type" Material --> $PRPSHEET:"Material"

Reply to
That70sTick

That70sTick,

I tried doing this. The PDM system sees the drawing description property as $PRPSHEET:"Description"

Thats no good :(

Reply to
SW Monkey

Interesting. Our PDM did not do that. SW does store the evaluated value of custom properties, so it's there to be found somewhere. Maybe there's a setting somewhere?

Reply to
That70sTick

What system do you use?

Reply to
SW Monkey

BUMP.

Anyone else have a solution to this? Do most people not have any custom propertys in the drawing, only have them populated to the titleblock from the model?

Reply to
SW Monkey

What system will you switching to?

Wouldn't time be better spent making sure your current files are set up to be ported over to the new system.

Wouldn't that new system dictate the schema you need to use?

Len

Reply to
lmar

Well, we are looking at a few packages. I want to get a better idea of what the "right" way of handling custom properties is. It seems like if SolidWorks has a standard way of handling custom properties, than the software than is written for SolidWorks should support the standard.

Reply to
SW Monkey

That was last job. PDM system was "Meridian". More of a generic PDM, not CAD-specific, maybe somewhat affiliated w/ Inventor. Handles SW just fine, including assembly and drawing dependencies. I would DEFINITELY trade Meridian for SmarTeam.

Reply to
That70sTick

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