Find Component and ANT columns
Find Component and ANT columns
(OP)
We are struggling to use the Find Component command from the Assemblies licence due to which columns in the ANT it searches and the information that is displayed within those columns. When using the find By Name tab, which, should be very useful to us, NX seems to look through the component name and part name column in the blue and green box (see jpeg), it will not take into account the information in the db_part_name column unless you use filter by regular expression which is not as loose as the others and by default the information that is displayed in part name and component name is just the part number which is of little use in an assembly of 8000 parts unless you know the part number.
The only way we can get it to work effectively is by manually entering the component name in the component name column which is extra work and leaves it wide open to user input error.
Therefore, is there any way that we can do either of the following things?
1. Force NX to take into account the text in the db_part_name column when executing a By Name search
2. Change the type of information that is displayed in the Part Name column (blue box) so that it picks up the name as entered in the TCEng attributes when the part is created, rather than displaying the part number e.g. REAR WHEEL instead of 332/D1532_1
The only way we can get it to work effectively is by manually entering the component name in the component name column which is extra work and leaves it wide open to user input error.
Therefore, is there any way that we can do either of the following things?
1. Force NX to take into account the text in the db_part_name column when executing a By Name search
2. Change the type of information that is displayed in the Part Name column (blue box) so that it picks up the name as entered in the TCEng attributes when the part is created, rather than displaying the part number e.g. REAR WHEEL instead of 332/D1532_1





RE: Find Component and ANT columns
If you're regularly search by this same attribute, you should only have to type it in once per session. I'll leave you to work out what all the operators do the default is = but >= is probably more useful. Remember also that with components unloaded you're looking at the last saved memory of the assembly which may not be correct until the components are loaded.
Best Regards
Hudson
RE: Find Component and ANT columns
I've tried that, but the search results are not accurate enough, look at the attached jpg. I used DB_PART_NAME and the operator you suggested (and tried all the others) but he search results said there were 14 matching components even though I know there are only 2 components with hose in the name.
We are attempting to ensure all our product structures are updated daily to ensure that what you see when the assembly is loaded with no components is the same as when you open each level as we want to fully utilise the power of open by proximity with true shape filtering and unless your product structur is fully up to date, the result you get will be inaccurate.
Thank you for your help, it's greatly appreciated.
RE: Find Component and ANT columns
In NX-5.0.3.2 I'm finding that other search operators work as expected but that the attribute search finds the correct parts and highlights them in the graphics window, but does not select them in the ANT. This looks like it may be a bug I'll get is checked out and have our administrator report it if we can reproduce it. You should probably do likewise.
What version are you running? Your results and mine appear to differ. In my NX-3 testing I was initially having a similar problem and found that I just have to clear some previously selected parts in the ANT and start over, then it came good. It may just be that.
Best regards
Hudson
RE: Find Component and ANT columns
Simon
RE: Find Component and ANT columns
I've been using one of the screen capture sites that nkwheel guy suggested I think, so here is a link showing you whayt I'm doing. I'm very impressed with the image capture software (jing)
Regards
Simon
http://screencast.com/t/Jjtt2t7h
RE: Find Component and ANT columns
John R. Baker, P.E.
Product 'Evangelist'
NX Design
Siemens PLM Software Inc.
Cypress, CA
http://www.siemens.com/plm
http://www.plmworld.org/museum/
RE: Find Component and ANT columns
NX-5.0.4.1 is available when?
Are we using >= wrongly. It seemed to work okay in NX-3. I'd prefer to see it work more like a web search rather than using the mathematical operators they don't seem to relate all that well to text.
Checked today under 5.0.2.2 with no result whatsoever duplicating other comments. As I said last time it works a little better in NX-5.0.3.2 on a second look it appears to be working but only with exact syntax and case. Using the >= is still not performing as expected.
Simon,
Love the Jing
Best regards
Hudson
RE: Find Component and ANT columns
As for NX 5.0.4.x, it will be released in April.
John R. Baker, P.E.
Product 'Evangelist'
NX Design
Siemens PLM Software Inc.
Cypress, CA
http://www.siemens.com/plm
http://www.plmworld.org/museum/
RE: Find Component and ANT columns
Just try DB_PART_NAME == HOSE* if it works.
RE: Find Component and ANT columns
== does not even appear to be a valid search operator under the attributes tab. How and where are you typing this in? I tried the results were the same.
John,
Check under gateway and modeling separately I think it is giving me different results sometimes highlighting just the components sometimes getting the items of the ANT. I'm bemused with it I must say. I don't think that the other search operators apart from = appear to work and yet when I first tried in NX-3 it appeared to be giving the result that I was hoping for.
Simon,
If all else fails the best workaround that occurs to me is to expand the ANT and send it to excel. At least find in excel can find what you're looking for. Frankly it isn't much of a solution I know but what can I say.
Best regards
Hudson
RE: Find Component and ANT columns
If component is to be searched by its name, then u could have well used the "By name" tab in the same dialog, and select "Regular expression" radio button and enter hose*, it will work fine, just now I checked it.
RE: Find Component and ANT columns
It doesn't work for me, with the assembly open with no components loaded, if I use search by name tab and regular expression and hose* it returns a big fat zero. This is so frustrating as it is the key to us being able to fully utilize the functionality of open by proximity with TSF, but the find component command is about as much use as chocolate coffee cup. Search by name will not look in the DB_PART_NAME column, only the COMPONENT NAME and PART NAME columns, well for us any way. We are using NX4.0.4.2 MP4
Doooom!
RE: Find Component and ANT columns
One more thing, u should invoke the command everytime u want to give new search, I mean to say if a search fails (or succeeds) then close the dialog and again invoke command! Otherwise the search will accumulate the results.
RE: Find Component and ANT columns
Which ANT column is your search interogating? DB_PART_NAME? or one of the others?
Regards
Simon
RE: Find Component and ANT columns
The question was can you search the contents of a particular attribute as the example DB_PART_NAME recommends. Working in a small and simple one leveled assembly I have been testing the various responses as they are posted. I was almost at the point of believing yours when I realized that I had given the part file similar generic names to the detail that I had added to the DB_PART_NAME attribute, when I changed that content to a series of primary colors the response was predictably as useless as ever. Only a complete syntactic match will do. But that won't do at all I'm afraid as I read the feeling in the forum is that NX ought to be able to search at least as well as excel can.
Let me explain something else that I discovered through testing so that you'll better understand the way this works. I may have been fooled when I posted earlier that it appeared to work in NX-3. Something of and explanation derives from the fact that all the searching operators =,<>,>=<=< etc are mathematical operators. So when working with text the characters in the word that you are typing appear to be assigned a mathematical value (perhaps according to the ASCII sum of the letters or something similar). By varying the values and the search inputs using operators like >= you get some interesting variations as to what is found to match, apart from the exact syntax which would assign a mathematical equivalent and therefore match (provided that case matches also ASCII upper and lower case have different values). So I re-tested with numbers and found things worked pretty much as expected 100% accurate results. The only thing that bugged me about all this is that while the capacity seems to be there to add other than string attributes it appeared to be inoperative, grayed out. Now there are a few system attributes $MASS,$AREA,$VOLUME that will be numeric by their nature which are listed in the find dialog, but apart from that if you can't even make a numeric attribute yourself why then do we have mathematical operators as opposed to a proper string based searching tool.
BTW the second paragraph started with the intent of helping other posters better diagnose their results if they are experimenting as I have done to try and come up with some better answers. Expecting as I did that such functions ought to produce usable results somehow I became increasingly frustrated as I got further into trying to sort it out, I have to report thus far without satisfaction.
Best Regards
Hudson
RE: Find Component and ANT columns
As u can see in the 3rd post of this thread (find.jpg), ug gave correct search results only! Because, h (first letter of "hose")<w , p, s, r (first letter of the DB_PART_NAME of the other selected components) etc. As u are assuming, it is not the sum of letters.
I feel that the "Regular Expression" option that is there for "By Name" tab, should have been for "By Attribute" also. By introducing symbols like >=, = etc in the dialog, the capacity of search has got restricted!