Just when I think I've happened upon the solution to a tricky problem, SW dashes my hopes, leaving me crushed and dejected.
We are getting ready to (finally) start using an Oracle database to create and maintain our part numbers and bills of material. Up until now, our part numbering and file organization has been a mishmash of half a dozen systems invented over the past twenty years. SW files are scattered across 4 network drives, in several hundred directories, intermixed with Cadkey parts, Autocad parts and a variety of other non-SW data.
We have a shiny new file server set up and a partition of it is dedicated to storing SW files for parts that have been assigned Oracle numbers.
The problem, of course, is the assembly reference issue. We can't just move/rename the SW files. The extreme disorganization of the current files is such that it would take several man years to use SW Explorer to sort out all the references and rename all the parts.
I *thought* I had stumbled upon a solution in the form of Windows shortcuts. The process would go something like this:
We have file SALLY.sldprt in directory DANGERVILLE. SALLY is a promiscuous little gal and thus she is referenced by everybody and his brother. We want to give SALLY a chance for a better life by relocating her to a new home (PLEASANTVILLE) and give her a new name (HOPE.sldprt). However, there are some relationships back in the old neighborhood that we would like to maintain (FAMILY.SLDASM, CHURCH.SLDASM, etc). So, how do we move SALLY without breaking all ties with those who matter? Enter the shortcut.
We move SALLY to PLEASANTVILLE with her new name HOPE. She sends a postcard (SALLY.sldprt.lnk) with her new address (HOPPE.sldprt) back to the old neighborhood. The thinking is that FAMILY.sldasm will see the postcard and be able to then load HOPE.sldprt into the family unit for some quality time together.
Unfortunately, the *evil*, *evil* Solidworks Automated Postal Service (SAPS) claims that it does not understand the return address. HOPE is left alone in her new life, far away from home.
In other words, a Solidworks assembly does not recognize Windows shortcuts and will nto follow them. Despite the fact that the SW 'File....Open' dialog *will* recognize and follow them.
I would like nothing more than to discove rI am wrong about this. If anyone has a suggestion, I'm all ears.
Jim S.