SW File Permissions

Probably a dumb question, but to cover the bases - is it possible that someone else has the parts in question open? If someone else is using the file, SW will not be able to get full access to it, and tells you it's read-only. On an actual read-only part, SW will let you make any changes you want during the active session but you won't be able to save without renaming the file. I don't think refreshing would be affected by this; you're changing the part as SW has it in memory, not necessarily on the disk.

-Mark

Mark,

One man show/computer. 100% sure nobody else has the file open. I can ignore the rename dialog box after hitting save - shut down the file (without renaming), and then open up the file to see the changes had been made. ( i.e. file was actually saved and wasn't really read- only - SW just thought it was).

Len

Len,

I ran into the same problem when I got a new computer. As best as I can recall, I was running SW07 sp4.0 on the old computer as well, but it's possible I upgraded at about the same time and hadn't noticed the problem until I spent more time with the software on the new computer.

One of my colleagues was running 4.0 before I was and hasn't seen this problem. We would sometimes have issues with ProductCenter and RW permissions, but that doesn't seem to be what is happening here.

I haven't figured out what caused it or how to fix it.

Jerry Steiger

SW has always had issues when it comes to respecting "Read Only" status. If the file isn't protected in other ways, it's fair game for SW to overwrite.

What do your external reference options look like?

Is open referenced documents read only checked?

TOP

Having used other CAD systems that successfully protect users from making unwanted changes to files, I find it shocking how poorly SWX deals with these issues. Short of using Windows file/folder permissions to protect files, there is pretty much nothing you can do to entirely safeguard data.

If you set files to "read only" in Windows, SWX has a big problem when you do an upgrade (say from 2006 to 2007) because it wants to upgrade the file, even it is just referenced by an assembly. When you come to save the assembly it wants to save this "changed" file as well, but it flags an obscure and misleading error (something about a file being referenced by another open document, preventing the save). You end up having to uncheck the "read only" attribute box to get rid of the errors.

I had a demo of PDMW a year or so ago, and after the standard demo I asked the demo jockey to do a series of actions, referencing files from the vault for read-only access etc. He was able to make a change to a "read-only" file and still check it back into the vault!!!....to which he rather shame-facedly said "errr......it's not supposed to do that". Now, hopefully that was "just" a bug, but it certainly left me with no confidence at all in that product.

SWX's attempts tp address data management remind me very much of Windows

95/98/ME and its miriad security issues. i.e. it was just never designed with those things in mind, and it will take years and a major re-write before its sorted. Just look how hard Microsoft has found it, despite the major re-writes of XP/Vista. Different set of issues, I know, but my point is you have to start on firm foundations.

John H

Do you have the "don't prompt to save read-only referenced documents" option on? it's under "External references"

Markku

Yes it was on.

I'll turn it off and play around some more. I haven't touched the options in over a year.

Len