Sporkman
Mechanical
- Sep 28, 2001
- 19
I was just today successful in Importing new data into a new Toolbox "Standard" from a spreadsheet. Earlier I had posted a question indicating that I could not get this functionality to work. To digress momentarily, this allows one to edit a Toolbox part type definition en masse, using a spreadsheet to drive the data, so that any new part created will carry the correct Part Number and Part Description that you would like it to have. What it apparently does is to modify the database itself, rather than the Parts in the Toolbox . . . you'll find that for each TYPE part that exists (e.g., "Basic-5100" series external retaining rings in the "Truarc" standard, or the "Socket Head Cap Screws" series in the "Ansi Inch" standard) you can edit the information used to create the Toolbox parts when you insert them for the first time. Imagine how powerful this should be!!
You've probably seen and wondered about the option to Edit Standards Data under Tools > Options > Data Options. Maybe you've looked at it and tried to get Help on the subject (not very helpful). Take a look at it now and you'll note that the list of Standards (like "Ansi Inch") in the left frame (Edit Data tab) all have plus signs that you can click on to expand the selection. Drill down to a kind of part that you might like to modify a bit to reflect a more useful part number or description (there are probably a lot of those). If you select the "All Configurations" tab then SolidWorks will generate and list all possible configurations (at least those that exist in the Standard database) in a matrix giving the data for those configurations (dimensions and configuration names included). If it's a large database like that for Socket Head Cap Screws it might take a while to generate the configurations so you can view it. This does NOT (at least apparently) automatically CREATE parts, which of course would increase the size of the Part files. You'll notice that there are Part Number and Part Description columns out the right side of the matrix, and you can fill those in for the configurations that you'd like to use. Again, this does not seem to automatically increase the size of the Part files associated with the Standard.
You'll also note that there are Export and Import buttons at the bottom of the "All Configurations" screen below the matrix. These allow you to export to Excel format and re-import modified data. I've had trouble in Importing that modified data, but the trick is (again, APPARENTLY) you cannot edit the Configuration Name. Perhaps you can add configurations (duplicate if necessary) and then delete the original configurations manually, but I'm not sure about that yet. There is an additional trick in that you must have a Part Number entry (and it must be a unique entry) for every Part Description. The part descriptions can be the same (e.g. "EXTERNAL RETAINING RING"). And you must not modify the information in the header of the spreadsheet.
SO FAR, I've only been able to do this modification with new (user) Standards data created FROM the Standards provided with SolidWorks Toolbox. Creating a new Standard is accomplished from the initial dialog box for Tools > Options > Data Options > Edit Standards Data.
Now, how this affects a multi-user environment, or especially an environment in which PDM has been implemented is still a mystery to me. I had suspected that you would be editing a file with a .mdb file extension which exists in your \Program Files\SolidWorks\Toolbox\lang\English folder (you'll find your Standards database files there), except that such a thing would mean that only the person who had modified the file would see the changes when creating a BOM from parts in a common Toolbox (on a server), which does not seem to be the case. Can't test this out, however, since I'm the only user here where I work. I don't see that there is anything in File Locations or in the toolbox.ini file which is helpful (mine are all set to server shared locations). It may be that only user-created Standards data can be modified in the way described above BECAUSE it otherwise would cause a problem in multiple user environments to be able to modifify the SolidWorks-provided Toolbox database parts. I'll do a little more experimentation and see what falls out, although I won't even be able to experiment with PDM (we don't use it). Will probably post more later to expand on the subject. Anyone with more insight please DO post.
Mark Stapleton
Watermark Design, LLC
Charlotte, NC
You've probably seen and wondered about the option to Edit Standards Data under Tools > Options > Data Options. Maybe you've looked at it and tried to get Help on the subject (not very helpful). Take a look at it now and you'll note that the list of Standards (like "Ansi Inch") in the left frame (Edit Data tab) all have plus signs that you can click on to expand the selection. Drill down to a kind of part that you might like to modify a bit to reflect a more useful part number or description (there are probably a lot of those). If you select the "All Configurations" tab then SolidWorks will generate and list all possible configurations (at least those that exist in the Standard database) in a matrix giving the data for those configurations (dimensions and configuration names included). If it's a large database like that for Socket Head Cap Screws it might take a while to generate the configurations so you can view it. This does NOT (at least apparently) automatically CREATE parts, which of course would increase the size of the Part files. You'll notice that there are Part Number and Part Description columns out the right side of the matrix, and you can fill those in for the configurations that you'd like to use. Again, this does not seem to automatically increase the size of the Part files associated with the Standard.
You'll also note that there are Export and Import buttons at the bottom of the "All Configurations" screen below the matrix. These allow you to export to Excel format and re-import modified data. I've had trouble in Importing that modified data, but the trick is (again, APPARENTLY) you cannot edit the Configuration Name. Perhaps you can add configurations (duplicate if necessary) and then delete the original configurations manually, but I'm not sure about that yet. There is an additional trick in that you must have a Part Number entry (and it must be a unique entry) for every Part Description. The part descriptions can be the same (e.g. "EXTERNAL RETAINING RING"). And you must not modify the information in the header of the spreadsheet.
SO FAR, I've only been able to do this modification with new (user) Standards data created FROM the Standards provided with SolidWorks Toolbox. Creating a new Standard is accomplished from the initial dialog box for Tools > Options > Data Options > Edit Standards Data.
Now, how this affects a multi-user environment, or especially an environment in which PDM has been implemented is still a mystery to me. I had suspected that you would be editing a file with a .mdb file extension which exists in your \Program Files\SolidWorks\Toolbox\lang\English folder (you'll find your Standards database files there), except that such a thing would mean that only the person who had modified the file would see the changes when creating a BOM from parts in a common Toolbox (on a server), which does not seem to be the case. Can't test this out, however, since I'm the only user here where I work. I don't see that there is anything in File Locations or in the toolbox.ini file which is helpful (mine are all set to server shared locations). It may be that only user-created Standards data can be modified in the way described above BECAUSE it otherwise would cause a problem in multiple user environments to be able to modifify the SolidWorks-provided Toolbox database parts. I'll do a little more experimentation and see what falls out, although I won't even be able to experiment with PDM (we don't use it). Will probably post more later to expand on the subject. Anyone with more insight please DO post.
Mark Stapleton
Watermark Design, LLC
Charlotte, NC
![[pc2]](/data/assets/smilies/pc2.gif "[pc2] [pc2]")
