jackk-
The reason for my suggested approach was as ferdo noted. With a product composed of one or two parts with several fasteners installed in holes in the parts, you normally want to constrain the fastener to the part. I do heartily agree with your suggestion to publish the fastener features to be used for assembly constraints, and this is common practice in industry. For example, a bolt would usually have the body axis and underhead face features published. But as ferdo noted, if the point copied into the main part model was linked back to the fastener part model, the only way to modify the position of the point in the main part model would be to modify the position constraints of the particular fastener instance in the product the point is linked to, and then go to the main part model and update it. While this is possible, it is backwards from how CATIAV5 is designed to be used and how most PDM systems function.
Another thing to consider is why CATIAV5 has the published feature function. In large engineering departments that use CATIAV5, the designer responsible for producing and releasing the CAD model of the part, the fastener, and the product are usually not the same person, and the models are often released at different times. Due to configuration management requirements, once a part or fastener model is released that model file is locked down, and often the only features of a part or fastener that can be selected for applying positional constraints in a product are published features.
While this approach is not the only way to accomplish what was asked about in the OP, it is industry practice, so it would seem like a good idea to use it.
Regards,
Terry
