Save Copy As - Assy/Weldment template?

[ebuckner]

Possibly corrected with a setting change but I can't seem to locate the setting.

Background - We have an embedded module in our Assembly and Weldment templates which updates mass properties and publishes them to a couple of custom properties upon saving. This is handy information that we then publish on our drawings.

The issue is that when a user uses "SAVE COPY AS" to make a new assembly/weldment Inventor uses some other template or (less likely) strips this module from the new copy. Interestingly, "SAVE AS" does not strip the module or replace templates.

Is there a setting somewhere that dictates which template set is used inside of SAVE COPY AS?

Thanks!

Eric

Inventor 2012 Pro 64bit
Vault 2012 Pro Admin
Windows 7 Ultimate 64bit
Intel Xeon E5-2643 @ 3.30GHz
32GB RAM
Nvidia Quadro K5000

[mdavis22569]

I don't know of a way to do a saveas and use it as selected template ... however:

I'm betting you could have an Ilogic rule that you could do this with ...

Say 1 rule is save copy as and depending on the rule you pick has various options of templates that you would choose from.

[ebuckner]

Thanks Michael I'll take a look at an iLogic workaround however, I think it's still worth investigating the reason that SAVECOPYAS strips VBmodules from the host.

Eric

[Curtis_Waguespack]

Hi ebuckner,

This is purely a guess, but I wonder if Save Copy As is referencing the Weldment.iam template located at the root of your templates folder. Recall that your templates folder is specified in one of two places.

1. Tools tab > Application Options button > File tab > Default Templates setting
2. Get Started tab > Projects button > Folder Options setting > Templates settting

And recall that if you have both of these set, the Projects setting takes precedence.

I suggest going to this templates location and temporarily renaming the Weldment.iam to something like xWeldment.iam and adding the template you want to use to this location and naming it Weldment.iam, and then restarting Inventor (just for good measure) and then testing the Save Copy As to see if that does anyting.

I hope this helps.
Best of luck to you in all of your Inventor pursuits,
Curtis
http://inventortrenches.blogspot.com

[ebuckner]

Thanks Chris, previously checked/replaced/renamed all instances of weldment and assembly templates from users/public up to and including the two active template locations, no OEM version exists on this machine without the module inserted, module still gets striped. Great idea and my first as well.

[ebuckner]

Little update. I recreated the Mass Properties code in the template using iLogic which appears imune to the Save Copy As module stripping effect. Now for the difficult part, injecting this code into 500,000 assemblies and weldments or I take the easy way out and create a tool for the user to add it when desired.

[mdavis22569]

See if can do it in a migrate or using Ilogic and Task Scheduler ...

[ebuckner]

I can do it but since we're 100% vaulted the process is a PITA, thanks for the suggestions!

[mdavis22569]

I'm betting it can still be done even in the vault. 

If you set up a few different times to do it, and do it over night ..

[ebuckner]

We've tried before to use task scheduler to migrate files and it's always failed and failed miserably, we end up doing it manually every time we upgrade.

On another note, it turns out it's not the SAVE COPY AS command that's swiping the module, it's the simple act of activating a component within the assembly that's causing it. Trying to round up a screen recorder to get proof.

[mdavis22569]

try Jing ...it's free

[ebuckner]

Mike, can you trial this for me..

See attached.

What I have here is an assembly containing two identical weldments. Using VB I inserted 4 new modules (Module 1-4) to the existing modules AMCP and Functions. (this DocProj is marked with O)

After clicking back into the Inventor window I save, yes to all. Then I simply double click one of the two weldment instances.

What happens is a new DocumentProject instance appears (marked with X) that has none of the new modules, it seems to have been reset to "stock".

It'd be interesting if you can reproduce this effect.

If I close without saving at this point I get my modules back, if I save, yes to all, the modules are gone.

[ebuckner]

I'm going to start a new thread in Inventor proper since this no longer appears to be related to any customization.