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Proxy path question

9 REPLIES 9
Reply
Message 1 of 10
Anonymous
1747 Views, 9 Replies

Proxy path question

I think I generally understand the concept of a proxy path (i.e., a path
name that begins with an underscore), but I'm having difficulty
understanding its benefit. All I can see is that a proxy path is not
displayed in the Open or Save dialog boxes.

Then I read about using them when iParts are used in a library. Ok, this
made sense to me... keep the iPart factories in the read-only library, but
locate the child iParts elsewhere, because the factory may have to create
new children but can't because of the read-only nature of a library. So, I
put an iPart factory in a library location (it was the handle.ipt from the
samples), and tried to insert it into an assembly. It was my assumption
that it would not be able to create the child iPart because it's in a
library, but it did! Now, I cannot CHANGE the iPart factory or its
children, but I can create new ones at will, even though they're in a
library.

So what benefit is there to placing the iPart children in a proxy path (like
Sean Dotson's project file posted 12/11/2002, 7:58am)? Can someone please
straighten this out for me?
9 REPLIES 9
Message 2 of 10
Anonymous
in reply to: Anonymous

There is a built in function that allows iPart children to be created in
library paths. (It's one of those things I just attribute to magic and
don't focus on too much )

As for "why use a proxy path". Basically you use a proxy path if you want
the children to be generated anywhere OTHER than in the same directory as
the factory. If you have your factories in x:\path\ipart factories and the
children to be generated in x:\path\ipart children you'll need a proxy
pointing to this second directory. It's also useful if you use ipart on a
per project basis as opposed to a global basis.

"All I can see is that a proxy path is not displayed in the Open or Save
dialog boxes."

Actually it the Beta it was but they took it out. I found it useful and
would like to see it put back in....


Did that explain it?

--
Sean Dotson, PE
http://www.sdotson.com
Check the Inventor FAQ for most common questions
http://www.sdotson.com/faq.html
-----------------------------------------
"DJSpaceMouse" wrote in message
news:CA917F79680842948455614DD9D8256C@in.WebX.maYIadrTaRb...
> I think I generally understand the concept of a proxy path (i.e., a path
> name that begins with an underscore), but I'm having difficulty
> understanding its benefit. All I can see is that a proxy path is not
> displayed in the Open or Save dialog boxes.
>
> Then I read about using them when iParts are used in a library. Ok, this
> made sense to me... keep the iPart factories in the read-only library, but
> locate the child iParts elsewhere, because the factory may have to create
> new children but can't because of the read-only nature of a library. So,
I
> put an iPart factory in a library location (it was the handle.ipt from the
> samples), and tried to insert it into an assembly. It was my assumption
> that it would not be able to create the child iPart because it's in a
> library, but it did! Now, I cannot CHANGE the iPart factory or its
> children, but I can create new ones at will, even though they're in a
> library.
>
> So what benefit is there to placing the iPart children in a proxy path
(like
> Sean Dotson's project file posted 12/11/2002, 7:58am)? Can someone please
> straighten this out for me?
>
>
Message 3 of 10
Anonymous
in reply to: Anonymous

I see both benefits and disadvantages of doing it that way. I am far from perfect and
occasionally will need to change something in the iParts Parent either to fix a mistake or
to add more info.

In some ways I like that without proxy paths this will migrate into old projects when I
revisit them, but on the other hand as often as I loose constraints (see below), and
occasionally having the new info in a old project just causes more problems than good.

I have a case right now where half of the children of one iPart have the filename I want
and the rest have the parent name with the key values. Not sure how or when I did this,
even looking in the folder and sorting by date the styles are intermixed. Apparently
somewhere along the line the filename column's attribute got messed up. I didn't notice
it until I started making drawings and the Bom was messed up. Now every one I have to
change is going to loose its constraints even though it is from the same parent.

On the other hand with proxy paths I can't hardly imagine having 1000's of duplicate PEM
parts scattered all through my projects.

--
Kent
Member of the Autodesk Discussion Forum Moderator Program


"Sean Dotson" wrote in message
news:1E62E2E38ECE07576F224BF27C0D4FB8@in.WebX.maYIadrTaRb...
> There is a built in function that allows iPart children to be created in
> library paths. (It's one of those things I just attribute to magic and
> don't focus on too much )
>
> As for "why use a proxy path". Basically you use a proxy path if you want
> the children to be generated anywhere OTHER than in the same directory as
> the factory. If you have your factories in x:\path\ipart factories and the
> children to be generated in x:\path\ipart children you'll need a proxy
> pointing to this second directory. It's also useful if you use ipart on a
> per project basis as opposed to a global basis.
>
> "All I can see is that a proxy path is not displayed in the Open or Save
> dialog boxes."
>
> Actually it the Beta it was but they took it out. I found it useful and
> would like to see it put back in....
>
>
> Did that explain it?
>
> --
> Sean Dotson, PE
> http://www.sdotson.com
> Check the Inventor FAQ for most common questions
> http://www.sdotson.com/faq.html
Message 4 of 10
Anonymous
in reply to: Anonymous

Kent,

Proxy paths do not dictate if you use iparts on a project basis or globally.
They just dictate the folder where they are created.

Instead of having the children stored under the factories (hope the format
sticks):

|c:\ipartfactories
|-----|c:\ipartfactories\fasteners (contains the factory Hex Nut
English.ipt)
| -----|c:\ipartfactories\fasteners\hex nut english (created when you
place the first child)
| -----|c:\ipartfactories\fasteners\hex nut english\1_4-20
Hex Nut.ipt (a child)
| -----|c:\ipartfactories\fasteners\hex nut english\15_16-18
Hex Nut.ipt (a child)
|-----|c:\ipartfactories\hardware
|-----|c:\ipartfactories\pneumatics
etc...

you can have the children in their own directory (but still a global
scheme):

|c:\ipartfactories (all factories store under here seperated by folders)
|c:\ipartchildren
|-----|c:\ipartchildren\fasteners
| -----|c:\ipartchildren\fasteners\hex nut english
| -----|c:\ipartchildren\fasteners\hex nut english\1_4-20 Hex
Nut.ipt
| -----|c:\ipartchildren\fasteners\hex nut english\15_16-18
Hex Nut.ipt
|-----|c:\ipartchildren\hardware
|-----|c:\ipartchildren\pneumatics
etc...

BTW I have stated using the global scheme on some projects as a transition
into using it. With the changes to DA and Pack & Go it was more of a case
of old habits die hard.






--
Sean Dotson, PE
http://www.sdotson.com
Check the Inventor FAQ for most common questions
http://www.sdotson.com/faq.html
-----------------------------------------
"Kent Keller" wrote in message
news:FC9664BCDCEFC9565E65A2315C7A0636@in.WebX.maYIadrTaRb...
> I see both benefits and disadvantages of doing it that way. I am far from
perfect and
> occasionally will need to change something in the iParts Parent either to
fix a mistake or
> to add more info.
>
> In some ways I like that without proxy paths this will migrate into old
projects when I
> revisit them, but on the other hand as often as I loose constraints (see
below), and
> occasionally having the new info in a old project just causes more
problems than good.
>
> I have a case right now where half of the children of one iPart have the
filename I want
> and the rest have the parent name with the key values. Not sure how or
when I did this,
> even looking in the folder and sorting by date the styles are intermixed.
Apparently
> somewhere along the line the filename column's attribute got messed up. I
didn't notice
> it until I started making drawings and the Bom was messed up. Now every
one I have to
> change is going to loose its constraints even though it is from the same
parent.
>
> On the other hand with proxy paths I can't hardly imagine having 1000's of
duplicate PEM
> parts scattered all through my projects.
>
> --
> Kent
> Member of the Autodesk Discussion Forum Moderator Program
>
>
> "Sean Dotson" wrote in message
> news:1E62E2E38ECE07576F224BF27C0D4FB8@in.WebX.maYIadrTaRb...
> > There is a built in function that allows iPart children to be created in
> > library paths. (It's one of those things I just attribute to magic and
> > don't focus on too much )
> >
> > As for "why use a proxy path". Basically you use a proxy path if you
want
> > the children to be generated anywhere OTHER than in the same directory
as
> > the factory. If you have your factories in x:\path\ipart factories and
the
> > children to be generated in x:\path\ipart children you'll need a proxy
> > pointing to this second directory. It's also useful if you use ipart on
a
> > per project basis as opposed to a global basis.
> >
> > "All I can see is that a proxy path is not displayed in the Open or Save
> > dialog boxes."
> >
> > Actually it the Beta it was but they took it out. I found it useful and
> > would like to see it put back in....
> >
> >
> > Did that explain it?
> >
> > --
> > Sean Dotson, PE
> > http://www.sdotson.com
> > Check the Inventor FAQ for most common questions
> > http://www.sdotson.com/faq.html
>
>
Message 5 of 10
Anonymous
in reply to: Anonymous

Hmmm guess I get it. For some reason I had always thought the proxy stuff was used to put
the children in with the project so they weren't global. That sounds like a pretty good
way to go, because one of the things I don't like is that I have to scroll past all the
children's folders to get to where I can pick a iPart to add.

Trouble is, I know if I tried to change now I would end up goofing up lots of assemblies




--
Kent
Member of the Autodesk Discussion Forum Moderator Program


"Sean Dotson" wrote in message
news:72431E48620AD15F1E7702925608442D@in.WebX.maYIadrTaRb...
> Kent,
>
> Proxy paths do not dictate if you use iparts on a project basis or globally.
> They just dictate the folder where they are created.
Message 6 of 10
Anonymous
in reply to: Anonymous

Sean -

I think, for the most part, you answered my question. But I still don't
understand what advantage there is to storing the child iParts in a location
other than the library. If it's a library, the intent is to reuse the same
components over and over again in multiple projects, correct? Then why
locate the child iParts within the project? This means every project would
contain a copy of the same child iPart (if it is used). Just doesn't make
sense to me. Kent touched on this a little. I'm not arguing with you
here - I'm really think there is some sort of advantage to locating them
within the project, but I'm just not seeing it.

Now, unless we're misunderstanding each other, proxy paths are NOT listed on
the left-hand pane of the Open and Save dialog boxes. Or were you agreeing
with me that they are NOT visible in SP1 but they WERE still visible in the
beta?
Message 7 of 10
Anonymous
in reply to: Anonymous

Note that the above message was posted AFTER your last reply at 1:33pm,
where you described locating iPart children in a folder other than a folder
under its factory.
Message 8 of 10
Anonymous
in reply to: Anonymous

So it makes sense now?

If you want to know why you'd store them under a non library path then you
can see my tutorial on iParts and Project paths. I explain the pros and
cons. I used to do it one way (per project) (before we had Pack & Go and
such and now I do it the other (global)

And yes, I DO NOT see the proxy path in R6 RTM or SP1. It was visible in
one of the betas however..
--
Sean Dotson, PE
http://www.sdotson.com
Check the Inventor FAQ for most common questions
http://www.sdotson.com/faq.html
-----------------------------------------
"DJSpaceMouse" wrote in message
news:F4F5283F79DC8F00CA6D796247BBDFF3@in.WebX.maYIadrTaRb...
> Note that the above message was posted AFTER your last reply at 1:33pm,
> where you described locating iPart children in a folder other than a
folder
> under its factory.
>
>
Message 9 of 10
Anonymous
in reply to: Anonymous

Sean,
What changes (improvements) were made to the DA and Pack and Go?
Thanks,
Bill

>
> BTW I have stated using the global scheme on some projects as a transition
> into using it. With the changes to DA and Pack & Go it was more of a case
> of old habits die hard.
>
>
>
>
>
>
> --
> Sean Dotson, PE
> http://www.sdotson.com
> Check the Inventor FAQ for most common questions
> http://www.sdotson.com/faq.html
> -----------------------------------------
Message 10 of 10
Anonymous
in reply to: Anonymous

You have to remember I'm talking about several revs back so Pack & Go was
introduced (that made it much easier to move projects) Overall I feel that
DA became a bit more stable. We had some issues back in R4 & 5 with it
blowing up when trying to copy and move large amounts of files.

--
Sean Dotson, PE
http://www.sdotson.com
Check the Inventor FAQ for most common questions
http://www.sdotson.com/faq.html
-----------------------------------------
"BP" wrote in message
news:67E2E60FCD8A33548E1D0F5747C7180B@in.WebX.maYIadrTaRb...
> Sean,
> What changes (improvements) were made to the DA and Pack and Go?
> Thanks,
> Bill
>
> >
> > BTW I have stated using the global scheme on some projects as a
transition
> > into using it. With the changes to DA and Pack & Go it was more of a
case
> > of old habits die hard.
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > --
> > Sean Dotson, PE
> > http://www.sdotson.com
> > Check the Inventor FAQ for most common questions
> > http://www.sdotson.com/faq.html
> > -----------------------------------------
>
>
>

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