DriveWorks Pro 17: SOLIDWORKS PDM Professional Plugin Settings [send feedback...]

SOLIDWORKS PDM Professional plugin Settings

The aim of the SOLIDWORKS PDM Professional plugin is to check in DriveWorks specification files (.xls and .xml), all documents and their associated .html files. Then, after model generation, the plugin will check in the models, assemblies and drawings as well as any additional file formats that have been created (.jpg, .eprt, .edrw etc.) .

DriveWorks plugin running inside SOLIDWORKS

This plugin can either be used in DriveWorks Administrator (in which case it will run as part of the DriveWorks Addin inside SOLIDWORKS during model generation) or activated in DriveWorks Autopilot to run as part of the Autopilot function.

SOLIDWORKS PDM Professional Client must be installed on the same machine as DriveWorks.

Configuration

The SOLIDWORKS PDM Professional plugin is installed automatically when DriveWorks is installed and is not required to be downloaded from the DriveWorks Labs portal.

With the SOLIDWORKS PDM Professional Client installed on the same machine as DriveWorks Administrator, DriveWorks User or DriveWorks Autopilot click the Settings button in the header bar of the DriveWorks application.

Click the Plugin Settings category from the settings dialog.

The SOLIDWORKS PDM Professional plugin settings are available from the Application Plugins section of the plugin list.

Selecting the plugin from this category will display a Settings button at the bottom of the list.

Click the Settings button to launch the settings dialog.

DriveWorks 15 SP0 and onwards.
DriveWorks 14 SP1 and onwards.DriveWorks 14 SP0.
DriveWorks 12 SP1.DriveWorks 12 SP0 and prior versions.

Enabled

Uncheck this option to disable the plugin.

Vault Name

Enter the name of the PDM vault you wish to connect to.

SOLIDWORKS PDM supports the local vault view (also called the "Blueberry") being in a different location on each machine - to work correctly with DriveWorks, the vault view must be in the same location on each machine running DriveWorks.

User Name/Password

Enter a valid User Name and Password for access to the vault.

We recommend a unique user is created for DriveWorks to log into PDM.

SOLIDWORKS PDM will display this user as the creator of each file generated by DriveWorks.

For example the vault view will display the message Checked in by DriveWorks next to each file.

See How To: Set Up SOLIDWORKS PDM for more information.

The username that is entered in the settings must be the same as the user logged into the local view of PDM and the SOLIDWORKS add in of PDM.

Check Specification Files in

This setting automatically checks in the specification files created and used by DriveWorks. Any documents created by DriveWorks will also be checked in with this setting.

The Document Path or Specification Path of a file within a project must be a subfolder within the PDM Vault.

Any file stored at the root PDM folder will not be checked in.

Enable Model Processing

Enables the model processing settings below.

Check Models in

This setting automatically checks in all Assemblies, Parts and Drawings as they are created by each new DriveWorks specification. Any additional file types associated with any assembly, part or drawing will also be checked in with this setting.

The Relative Path of a model or drawing within a project must be a subfolder within the PDM Vault.

Any file stored at the root PDM folder will not be checked in.

Ensure latest master models and drawings

This setting will force SOLIDWORKS PDM to perform a 'Get Latest' on the master models and drawings before each generation cycle.

Enabling this setting will have an impact on the time taken to generate models.

When working with infrequent changes to master models it is recommended to manually perform this action, using SOLIDWORKS PDM, on the machine models are being generated from.

If the DriveWorks master project file (ProjectName.driveprojx) is checked into the vault a manual 'Get Latest' should be performed on each machine a specification can be made from if the project has been updated.

Ensure latest reference files

This setting will force SOLIDWORKS PDM to perform a 'Get Latest' on the reference files before each generation cycle.

Generate default values on overwrite

This setting will repopulate variables used in the data card when the existing file has been overwritten.

Update file attributes from database on overwrite

When you add a new file to the vault, PDM optionally generates some attributes for the file. When you overwrite an existing file, PDM doesn't generate (and apply these attributes to custom properties amongst other things) these attributes.

Enabling this setting will tell PDM to generate these attributes, despite the fact that it's not a "new" file

Overwrite Drawings

This setting will force SOLIDWORKS PDM to overwrite existing drawings.

Logging Verbosity

There are three settings that activate various levels of logging during the running of the plugin.

  • None - Disables all report logging.
  • General - Enables basic logging, reports on the load success/failure of the plugin.
  • Diagnostic - Enables full logging, reports on the load success/failure of the plugin and the success/failure of checking in each model and file.

Retry attempts (Not required for DriveWorks 12 SP1 and above)

The retry time delay should a file check in process fail.

Retry timeout (Not required for DriveWorks 12 SP1 and above)

The amount of seconds between retry attempts.

Get specific version of Master model

We have introduced a special custom property called DWMasterVersion. If you create this custom propery in your SOLIDWORKS part, assembly or drawing then the PDM plugin will at the point of model generation preparation pick up on this property, and attempt to retrieve that specific version of the model.

To disable this feature set the value to -1.

Specification Tasks

There are a number of additional Specification Tasks, specific to SOLIDWORKS PDM, that can be run as part of the Specification Flow.

More information on these can be found at the following links:

Test

Click the Test button to test connection to the vault.

SOLIDWORKS System Options

Each machine generating SOLIDWORKS models should have the settings outlined in the topic Info: SOLIDWORKS System Options (KB12121012) applied.

Plugin Use

To run the DriveWorks PDM plugin successfully, thought should be given to where models are located.

The Default Specification Folder (see General Settings) should point to a location inside the vault. If not, absolute paths will be required for all parts that require checking in to ensure they are created into the vault first.

Any standard (non-generated) models need to be added into the vault. These can be checked in or checked out but must be located in the vault. This also includes any standard alternatives (parts that will be swapped out as they are rather than a new version generated)

All Master Models and relevant DriveWorks files (documents that will be cloned for example) can be checked into the vault. DriveWorks will be able to copy these to create new clones where required.

Specifications cannot be edited when they are checked into the vault, they will need to be checked out of the vault. However it is possible to place the specifications outside of the vault so that they can be edited or copied after, but have the models going into the vault so that they can be checked in. This is because DriveWorks deletes existing models when editing before regenerating them. However in a PDM system this is not desired behavior.

Models cannot be set to be regenerated without manually deleting the original out of the vault first.

See also

How To: Set Up SOLIDWORKS PDM

How To: Troubleshoot SolidWorks PDM

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