Part file read only status when in use

[BOPdesigner]

NX 6 or 7 or 7.5. Is there setting, a swich that you can flip, etc. that would make is such that when you are working in native mode and user 1 has a file open, and then user 2 tries to open that same part file that it gives him a read only status message and continues to let him open in read only? Like other Windoze applications do. I know, I know, the answer is Teamcenter. But we are not there yet and I am hoping that there is something simple we could do in the meantime.

 

[cowski]

File permissions.

If you are the owner of the file (whether you have it open or not) and someone else opens the file it will display 'read-only' in the title bar after the part name (and prevent that user from saving over the file).

 

[MickyV007]

Cowski,

could you please explain this issue a little more? Do you mean you can set the file premission in NX itself or do you do this by hand in Windows explorer, or somewhere else...?

Thanks in advance.

Best regards,

Michäël.

NX4.0.4.2 MP10 / TCE 9.1.3.8_build_0711 / NX6.0.2.8 / NX7.0.0.9

Belgium

 

[hudson888]

Look up the Creator Owner setting for Windows. The file ownership provisions are actually more enduring than just the current setting but I think appropriate, unless that is you like other users being able to change your designs whether inadvertently or deliberately without asking!

Best Regards

Hudson

www.jamb.com.au

Nil Desperandum illegitimi non carborundum

 

[rg006]

I believe what he wants is just a simple trick so that two people cannot be in the same file at the same time. Otherwise, say person A saves the file, but person B has the file open. Now person B saves the file with no changes and it will override everything person A changes. An example of what he wants would be if person A had an excel file open, and when person B tries to open the file, it would give him a message that says the file is in use by another user and can only be view "read only". This would need to happen independent of who created the part file.

 

[cowski]

Our workstations are windows based, but the server that holds our files is Unix based. We use a little tool called 'Webmin' to change file permissions (through our web browsers). You can set permissions at the user or group level; to keep others from overwriting your files they need to be set at the user level. Permissions allow only the owner to save the file, but anyone can open it, view it, import/export geometry, make changes, do a 'save as', etc etc. The title bar will indicate if the file is read only and you will get a warning message (in NX6) when you open the file telling you that it is read only and you will get a similar error message if/when you try to save the file.

This approach works best with a small local team. If you have a large team or are spread out across multiple locations then this solution will not work so well.

 

[BOPdesigner]

rg006 has summarized our problem. Except that I want both people to be able to have the file open at the same time, but only one person can write changes to the file (the part owner). We have two people on the same project, dividing up the design work to take ownership of various parts of the assembly. But each of them needs to access the others data when working at the assembly level. We will investigate the locking the file permissions in Windoze.

 

[ingallspw]

I've also wondered why two people can open the same file in Native mode.

This sounds like a case where the sales teams overrides common since in an effort to push Teamless Center. If Team Center could run as good as native NX, man it'd be worth the 250,000 plus 30k a year for a cad vault!

Ummm well sorta... not really.

Keegan

 

[JohnRBaker]

This is what PDM systems are for, such as 'NX Manager' or 'TeamCenter'. Granted, as stated, limited support can be provided using the OS, but in the end, if you really need to provide this sort of working environment for your users, then you will need to invest in the tools that are available and designed to do just that.

John R. Baker, P.E.
Product 'Evangelist'
Product Design Solutions
Siemens PLM Software Inc.
Industry Sector
Cypress, CA

http://www.siemens.com/plm

http://www.plmworld.org/museum/

To an Engineer, the glass is twice as big as it needs to be.

 

[hudson888]

Cowski,

I agree that Linux servers where possible are still one of the more effective ways to manage a networked file system. Interestingly and depending on the way things are set up I don't know that while running under windows from a client that you're any better able to lock the files while in use and only while in use than if you had only windows machines in the same equation. What you can do in either case that I am aware of is to set up ownership restrictions as I mentioned earlier using creator owner for example in windows.

BOPdesigner & Others,

Despite the consideration that Teamcenter and variants thereof may be superior NX does have some tool which provide for working in a disciplined manner with file ownerships in the form of Part Name Versions. We have made good use the Military System and require that instead of sharing ownership users may supersede earlier versions of a file if necessary. The military system takes the form of <filename>.01.02.03 as is familiar to most for software releases, it allows that the major numbers are drawing releases and the minor numbers are used to manage superseding files for the internal file management purposes above mentioned. From an office management and work flow management perspective this can be a most desirable system because it was felt by most that it reflected the right amount of responsibility and discipline. Native systems instituted prior to that time allowed that he who saves first saves longest and created many disputes over the journey.

Best Regards

Hudson

www.jamb.com.au

Nil Desperandum illegitimi non carborundum

 

[rg006]

Bob, to try and answer your question, we deal with this as well, there is no way to "lock out" the second person trying to open a part file. We use a slightly different system. It requires all users to be located in the same office within, say 10 ft., of each other. That way when person A opens a file he simple says, "part A open!" and then everyone else knows not to open it. That works good. But other than that, we have our server set up so that all files are archieved on the server. If we need to work on a part file we move it to our individual computer and work on it. If someone is looking for a file and they find it on someone's computer, they just know that it should not be edited at that time. The only gray area is part family and component part files. But we are small enough that I can just tell everyone not to mess with them while I update something.
Sorry, no good answer this time,
Rick
PS- I know excel will lockout everyone except the first user opening a file, maybe if you know some programing you could see how excel does this and implement it somehow?

 

[cowski]

there is no way to "lock out" the second person trying to open a part file

As I mentioned in an earlier post, properly set up file permissions will allow the file to be opened by other users, but only the owner will be able to save it.

 

[ingallspw]

Can't Lynx emulate Windows security? If so make the folder you are storing it in only readable to the person doing the changes and allow "read only" access to everyone else.

Unless your cooperation is huge I think purchasing TeamCenter may only slow things down and cause you to hire more people to tame it. In a smaller environment, procedures, security settings, etc can do just as much as a PLM without the hefty price tag.

Just an opinion.

Keegan

 

[uwam2ie]

... oing big mess together ;-)
Teamcenter is nice to big companys, there a light solution for NX doing those things look at:

http://www.oases.ch/web/index.php?lang=en

 

[ingallspw]

What is the difference between NX Manager and TeamCenter? I tried to search NX Manager but I think I only found a news link.