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SolidWorks Enterprise PDM Tips and Tricks - Faster Browsing with a Preview

How can you make EPDM (SolidWorks Enterprise PDM) browsing seem faster?  Simple, just turn on the bitmap preview for SolidWorks files. Why would you do this? You still want to be able to zoom and rotate in the preview (eDrawings), and you’re not about to give that up right?  Here’s the good news you don’t have to give up your full eDrawing preview.  All you need to do is click on the bitmap preview and wait a few seconds for eDrawings to load.  When you enable bitmap preview for SolidWorks it is much faster than having the eDrawings preview because every time you change the selected file a new eDrawing doesn’t have to load inthe preview window(assuming you have the preview tab selected).  This means that you can now flip through dozens of SolidWorks files in seconds see a quick preview of each one, and then when you find the one you want, just click on it wait a few seconds and there’s your eDrawing ready for you to zoom, pan and rotate to your heart's content.

To enable this option  you will need to right click in the explorer window’s right pane(not the folder view) and you must not be right clicking on a file either.  The white space below the files is good or in the checked out by column is also a good option.  Find “View” in the list and as you guessed make sure “Show bitmap for SolidWorks files.” is checked.

While we’re at it, a few more suggestions are to enable the same option for dwg files and also to enable the full eDrawings UI… if you’ve been using enterprise for a long time don’t worry the UI buttons in the preview are really tiny now not like older versions so they are actually very useful. 

One other minor detail to this trick it must be done per computer per user.  There is no global place to set this by default.  It is a viewing option and each person has to decide if it is right for them.

My Favorite Features & Benifits of EPDM

Secure Access
 
Secures your product design data with managed access to authorized individuals over a network or via the web.

Revision Control & Full Document Preview
Ensures your design team avoids overwriting files. EPDM can assist purchasing and manufacturing to order and produce the correct parts. Provides the capability to view or print over 250 different file types. This includes SolidWorks, PDF, Microsoft Office, images, animations, movie files and 2D CAD files.

Built as a Shell Extension of Windows Explorer
Supports common Windows commands such as rename, copy, and paste.

Find & Reuse Design Data
Locates documents quickly by predefining, saving and sharing searches. Find documents based on their name, contained data, workflow state, and many other parameters.

Customizable & Scalable
Configures to work effectively by applying your business rules for your unique team structure, design process, and industry. EPDM easily expands as your design organization grows to ensure you will work with the same high level of speed.

Distributed Design Teams
Supports document vault replication for multisite environments. This makes current design information immediately available wherever needed.

Process Automation
Customizable workflow diagrams allow you to model the path which product design-related information must follow through. EPDM’s built-in notifications guarantee that the right personnel review and approve product designs, changes, and production releases.

Audit Trail
Quickly obtain product development history to meet internal and external compliance reporting requirements such as ISO and FDA requirements. Highlight process issues and drive continual improvement to maintain a competitive advantage.
 

SolidWorks Workgroup PDM: “Yellow” Warning Sign

Suddenly your local view displays a warning icon. What does this indicator mean? Workgroup PDM is letting you know that the document in the vault was modified by another user and this document should not be checked in. This warning is initiated when two users “open” the same document. Remember Workgroup PDM will not allow two users to “check-out” the same document.

For example, let’s say my co-worker Matt and I are using Workgroup PDM. I find a part that is located in the vault. It is also in my working directory and I release ownership. I open the part file and save it in SolidWorks. When I look at my local view I notice a green up arrow icon next to the part. Matt opens the same part file from his computer, saves the part in SolidWorks, and he also notices a green up arrow icon in his local view. Matt then "checks-in" the part to the vault as the next revision. I will now see from my local view a yellow warning icon.

EPDM 2010: Toolbox is in the Vault !

The Toolbox source data, including the database, is now all kept inside the EPDM vault. You can have a single source for your Toolbox data that can be replicated to multiple sites.

EPDM for 2010 automatically checks the source files out when an administrator makes changes. The Enterprise Toolbox Administrator gives you the option to set user permissions for when accessing the source files. It will also let you set the path of the source file root folder.

The Toolbox files are now cached locally automatically.  If a user tries to clear their cache that contains Toolbox components, a dialog appears asking if they would like to remove the Toolbox files.

EPDM for 2010 has another option to search sub folders under the Toolbox root folder. Now when new assemblies are migrated into the vault or assemblies that were referencing Toolbox files outside the vault Enterprise Search can find their references.

Finally, you are given the option in EPDM 2010 to either use the copied part or create configuration option.  In previous releases only the create configuration option was supported.

EPDM Local View Desktop Shortcut

I use a desktop Shortcut for my Enterprise demos and I thought it would be beneficial to share.

First you need to find out where your local view of the file vault is located. For this example my local view is called EnterprisePDM and it’s kept under the root directory C: on my workstation.

Right-click your desktop and select New then Shortcut.
 

You need to start the location for this Shortcut with %windir%\explorer.exe /e, /select, then inside quotes enter the directory of your local view with any location to a particular project folder from inside your vault.  

Select Next, type a name for the Shortcut and click Finish.

The screen shot below shows a Shortcut using the following location: %windir%\explorer.exe /e, /select, "C:\EnterprisePDM\Engineering\Project #2009\Design Data"

What you end up with is a “clever” shortcut. It sends you to a nicely formatted window with all your folder lists. It also takes you directly to the folder you specified in your Shortcut.

How to use SolidWorks Task Scheduler to create PDFs - Part II

In my last post, I discussed how to create PDFs automatically through SolidWorks Task Scheduler using the print function.  This post discusses how to use the export functionality to create PDFs.  A potentially significant advantage of this method over the first method is that you are using Adobe Acrobat's version of the PDF generator without having to purchase Adobe Acrobat.  Also, the generated PDF provides the following options:

• Export PDF in color
• Embed fonts
• High quality
• Print header / footer
• Use specified printer line weights

In order to export the documents, please do the following:

• Open up SolidWorks Task Scheduler.
• Select Export Files.  The Export Files dialog box comes up.
• Select Adobe Portable Document Format (*.pdf) under Export file type
• Select the files or folders. 

Please note that SolidWorks Task Scheduler only exports SolidWorks drawings to PDFs.  You cannot create PDFs of SolidWorks models automatically through this method.

Also, make sure that you go into the Advanced Options and indicate a task working folder and ensure that you're running this task from a SolidWorks seat.

PDM Document Status Icons

SolidWorks 2009 Enterprise and Workgroup PDM use icons to display a documents status inside their local views. This provides a real-time visual update on the document(s) you may be currently working on. Copy these handy references to further enjoy the benefits of using SolidWorks Enterprise or Workgroup PDM.

 

How to use SolidWorks Task Scheduler to automatically create PDFs

Whenever I train my students, I always ask them if they've used SolidWorks Task Scheduler.  Based on anecdotal surveys, I have noticed that very few people use this feature.  Thus, I've decided to devote several blog posts in discussing the underappreciated and underutilized Task Scheduler.

As we all know, PDFs are a ubiquitous requirement in daily engineering life.  You typically have purchasing or sales asking you to send out PDFs of drawings for a vendor for quote or to a customer for approval.  Wouldn't it be nice to set a procedure that would automatically create PDFs for you?

There are two ways to perform this task.

1. Run the Task Scheduler as if you were performing a batch print job, or;
2. Run the Task Scheduler as if you were executing a batch export files job.

For this post, we will focus on the first method.

To perform the PDF creation automatically, you need the following:

• SolidWorks Professional - SolidWorks Standard will not have Task Scheduler.
• A PDF printer - The best one out there is Adobe but you may also use free PDF printing software such as PrimoPDF, CutePDF or PDFCreator. 
• Ensure that you have a SolidWorks license while the task scheduler is running.

The procedure is as follows:

1. Install the PDF printer and let it create a PDF print driver.
2. Open up SolidWorks Task Scheduler (Start... All Programs... SolidWorks 2009 SPx... SolidWorks Tools... SolidWorks Task Scheduler).
3. Select Print Files as the task.  A "Print Files" dialog box will come up.
4. You have the option to either Add File or Add Folder and select the files or folders that you want to create a PDF of.
5. Click on Options... and select your PDF printer.
6. Select what date and time you would like to run the task.  You also have the option to select the frequency of the task, meaning that you can run this task automatically every night if you prefer.

SolidWorks will generate the PDF through the following process:

• The created task will generate a list of subtasks for each document.
• Run the first subtask.
• Open up SolidWorks. 
• Open up the document.
• Print the PDF.
• Close the document.
• Close SolidWorks.
• Run the next subtask and go through the cycle again.

Several things to be aware of:

1. If you have any SolidWorks add-ons that require you to log on a username and password (such as in PDM systems), please set SolidWorks not to turn on the add-ons at startup.
2. If you are using a floating license of SolidWorks, you may either opt to run your tasks when nobody else is around or set your licenses to not expire immediately after closing SolidWorks.
3. If you do run your tasks at night, make sure that your IT doesn't have a setting which either logs you out or turns off your machine when the task is scheduled to run.  Otherwise, the task will start running when you come back in the morning.  
4. If you use PDM, please consult your SolidWorks reseller first before running these tasks.

I hope that this helps you become more productive. 

Thank you and have a great summer!

How do I access my Enterprise PDM guides?

SolidWorks Enterprise PDM has several comprehensive guides (about 450 pages).  These administrator-level guides are as follows:

• Administration Guide
• Replication Guide
• Web Server Guide

These guides can be very useful, however, SolidWorks did not create an easy to find link to this location.  This post shows you where to access these files.

The easiest method would be to open up SolidWorks Enterprise PDM Administration... Help.  The three most important guides appear as shown below.

Another method to access the above help guides and other help files is to go to the following directory:

C:\Program Files\SolidWorks Enterprise PDM\Lang\GB directory.  

This directory presumes that you are using English.  If you use a different language, you may go back to the Lang directory and select your specific language subdirectory from there. 

To be or not to be ... a Toolbox Part

Did you know that you have the power to control a Toolbox part as a standard SolidWorks part or vis-versa? Solidworks provides us with an executable program called sldsetdocprop.exe that allows us to change the internal flag of a Toolbox part.

This internal flag holds two possible states:  [Yes] Toolbox part or [No] standard SolidWorks part.

Once a file has been added and the property state selected, you can click the Update Staus to apply the changes.

                                            ...\SolidWorks\Toolbox\data utilities\sldsetdocprop.exe

This utiltiy is most commonly used when altering ToolBox parts so that PDMWorkgroup no longer treats the parts as Toolbox parts.

"To be or not to be" may be one of the most well-know quotations in world literature, but by applying this knowledge at the workplace you too can be famous.