Parameter internal ID?

[klaas.oudejans]

All, 

I have automated a design in which I use the API commands to switch out skeletons in part files..

So a generic "template A" would start with "skeleton 1", but after I configure it, "template A" would be loaded with "skeleton 2".

When I want to add a parameter to these skeletons, I can add it in both. Give it the same name. If I then exchange the skeleton, the parameter will not be linked up. Even though it has the same name.

When I go into "skeleton 1", add the parameter, make a copy of "skeleton 1" (overwrite "skeleton 2") and then configure the part, the parameter will link up at exchanging.

That makes me feel like Inventor figures out if it allows you to link up parameters not by name, but by internal ID of some sort.

Is that really the case? And if so, is there a workaround? I would really like it if Inventor would accept the paramter name as ID so I can develop my skeletons simulateously!

Thanks,

/Klaas 

[MegaJerk]

I think that you may be getting mixed up in the Document vs. Component problem.

A Document is a unique file that exists on the file system as an actual file. The most common depiction of this is a part (.ipt) file. If you have PartA.ipt and PartB.ipt, they can have the same exact parameters, but because they are different documents, they are totally independent from one another.

A Component is an instance of a Document. The most typical context for this would be what happens when you place a part into an assembly. While you may have several duplicate components inside of your Assembly, they will all typically (with a few exceptions) link back to a unique Document.

So using the part filenames above, let’s assume that we have a fresh new Assembly named MyAssembly.iam. Inside of it, we will place two instances of PartA, which will show up inside of the Browser as PartA:1, and PartA:2. Because they are both pointing back to the same Document, if I edit either instance (Component), all other sibling instances will change with it! On the other hand if I place a single instance of PartB, because it’s from a totally different root Document, it will remain unchanged if I make any alterations to the components PartA:1, PartA:2.

Despite this behavior, there are several methods for linking parameters from one entity to another by using one of the several available tools provided with Inventor. It really comes down to what sort of workflow you have and how we can alter it to get where you want to be. If you could please perhaps provide a more in detail description of your workflow, how you’re using the api, and what you’d like the overall outcome to be, we can work on creating a full solution to your problem.