topic Re: iPart members won't update, other iPart issues in Inventor Forum

iPart members won't update, other iPart issues

DRoam — Tue, 06 Dec 2016 15:47:56 GMT

iPart members won't update
Can't modify iProperties of an iPart from the BOM
Can't link to an iPart's feature pattern from an assembly
iPart work features (planes, axes, etc.) not available in Assembly
Changed a regular part to an iPart, now can't choose member in parent assembly / all constraints are broken.
Too many iPart member files to manage

If you've ever experienced any of the issues above, you're not doing anything wrong. The poor design of iParts is to blame.

If you want all of those headaches to go away, please vote for the following request in the Autodesk Ideas forum to fix the cause of those issues:

Vote here: Make iParts function as a single file (kill the spawn files & "Generate Files")

Thank you for your support, let's finally get iParts functioning the way they should.

Re: iPart members won't update, other iPart issues

DRoam — Tue, 06 Dec 2016 16:58:37 GMT

In the meantime, for anyone experiencing pain from those issues, here are some remedies you can try:

Problem 1 - iPart members won't update

Go to your iPart, expand the Table node, select each member (select first, hold down Shift key, select last), right-click, and click "Generate Files".
If that doesn't work, find the folder that all of the member files are stored in (should be in the same location as the iPart itself), delete all of the member files, then repeat Step 1.
If that still doesn't work, close every file you have open except the iPart itself, then repeat Step 2 followed by Step 1.

Problem 2 - Can't modify iProperties of an iPart from the BOM

There is no solution to this. iParts are "Derived" files, so their iProperties cannot be modified from the Assembly BOM. If the suggested Idea is implemented, this will be possible.

Problem 3 - Can't link to an iPart's feature pattern from an assembly

There is no way to accomplish this such that the pattern will be linked to any given desired member. If the pattern is the same for every member, you can use Linked Parameters to accomplish this. But if the pattern is not the same for each member, you cannot specify which member's values to use for the Linked Parameters. If the suggested Idea is implemented, you could simply select the actual feature pattern on the instance you want to link to.

Problem 4 - iPart Work Features (planes, axes, etc.) not available in Assembly

Open your iPart Table and go to the "Work Features" tab
Double-click each work feature you might want to appear in an iPart member (this adds the work feature to the iPart table).
Go through each member's row, and type "Include" for the work features you want or "Exclude" for the work features you don't want in that specific member. You can use Copy and Paste to speed this up.
Say "OK" to the iPart table.
Re-generate your member files.
You'll have to repeat Steps 1-5 any time you create a new Work Feature.

Problem 5 - Changed a regular part to an iPart, now can't choose member in parent assembly / all constraints are broken

After changing a normal part to an iPart, do this in any assemblies which contained the Part:

Workflow A: To replace all instances with the same member, select an instance of the part, and under the Assemble tab --> Component panel, click the little dropdown arrow to the right of the "Replace" command, and click "Replace All". Workflow B: To selectively replace certain instances with a certain member, first select all instances that you want to replace with the same Member, and under the Assemble tab --> Component panel, click "Replace".
Choose the master iPart file and click "Open".
Choose the iPart member you want to replace all selected instances with.
If a warning box pops up with errors, select "Accept"
If you chose Workflow B in Step 1, repeat Steps 1-4 until you've replaced all instances of your original normal Part.
You'll now have to manually go through and repair (re-associate) any and all constraint references to any faces or features on every instance of your iPart. (You can vote here for a global, assembly-wide constraint reference replacer: Assembly Component Replacement and Fixing Broken Constraints)

Problem 6 - Too many iPart member files to manage

There is no solution to this. This can be especially painful for Vault users, but is unavoidable until the suggested idea is implemented.

Or.... you can do your future self a favor, and eliminate the need for all of those painful workarounds, by voting for this suggestion to fix the single cause of all those issues:

Vote here: Make iParts function as a single file (kill the spawn files & "Generate Files")

Re: iPart members won't update, other iPart issues

ThomasB44 — Wed, 07 Dec 2016 08:23:29 GMT

Thanks a lot for these tips !

I would add an other way to solve the Problem 1 with doing this :

Click the "rebuild all" command
"Generate Files" like explained at your step 1

Or, if you have a lot of iPart / iAssy members, you can run this code to avoid the saving pop-up messages :

SyntaxEditor Code Snippet

ThisDoc.Document.Rebuild()
InventorVb.DocumentUpdate()
'If it Is an iPart
If ThisDoc.Document.DocumentType = kPartDocumentObject Then
    Dim oDoc As PartDocument = ThisDoc.Document
    Dim oDef As PartComponentDefinition = oDoc.ComponentDefinition
    Dim oFactory As iPartFactory = oDef.iPartFactory
    Dim oRow As iPartTableRow  
    For Each oRow In oFactory.TableRows
        oFactory.CreateMember(oRow)
    Next
End If
'If it is an iAssembly
If ThisDoc.Document.DocumentType = kAssemblyDocumentObject Then
    Dim oDoc As AssemblyDocument = ThisDoc.Document
    Dim oDef As AssemblyComponentDefinition = oDoc.ComponentDefinition
    Dim oFactory As iAssemblyFactory = oDef.iAssemblyFactory
    Dim oRow As iAssemblyTableRow   
    For Each oRow In oFactory.TableRows
        oFactory.CreateMember(oRow)
    Next
End If
iLogicVb.UpdateWhenDone = True

Re: iPart members won't update, other iPart issues

DRoam — Fri, 09 Dec 2016 14:24:44 GMT

Thanks for the tips, @ThomasB44! I'll update my post to reflect your suggestions.

Hopefully Autodesk fixes iPart architecture soon so all of this investigation and workarounds on our parts isn't necessary 🙂

Re: iPart members won't update, other iPart issues

DRoam — Fri, 09 Dec 2016 14:28:20 GMT

In the meantime, for anyone experiencing pain from those issues, here are some remedies you can try:

Problem 1 - iPart members won't update

Go to your iPart, go to the Manage tab --> Update panel and click "Rebuild All". Then, expand the Table node, select each member (select first, hold down Shift key, select last), right-click, and click "Generate Files". Alternatively, you can use the iLogic code provided by @ThomasB44 in this post to quickly perform both those steps by simply running the iLogic rule.
If that doesn't work, find the folder that all of the member files are stored in (should be in the same location as the iPart itself), delete all of the member files, then repeat Step 1.
If that still doesn't work, close every file you have open except the iPart itself, then repeat Step 2 followed by Step 1.

Problem 2 - Can't modify iProperties of an iPart from the BOM

There is no solution to this. iParts are "Derived" files, so their iProperties cannot be modified from the Assembly BOM. If the suggested Idea is implemented, this will be possible.

Problem 3 - Can't link to an iPart's feature pattern from an assembly

Problem 4 - iPart Work Features (planes, axes, etc.) not available in Assembly

Open your iPart Table and go to the "Work Features" tab
Double-click each work feature you might want to appear in an iPart member (this adds the work feature to the iPart table).
Go through each member's row, and type "Include" for the work features you want or "Exclude" for the work features you don't want in that specific member. You can use Copy and Paste to speed this up.
Say "OK" to the iPart table.
Re-generate your member files.
You'll have to repeat Steps 1-5 any time you create a new Work Feature.

Problem 5 - Changed a regular part to an iPart, now can't choose member in parent assembly / all constraints are broken

After changing a normal part to an iPart, do this in any assemblies which contained the Part:

Workflow A: To replace all instances with the same member, select an instance of the part, and under the Assemble tab --> Component panel, click the little dropdown arrow to the right of the "Replace" command, and click "Replace All". Workflow B: To selectively replace certain instances with a certain member, first select all instances that you want to replace with the same Member, and under the Assemble tab --> Component panel, click "Replace".
Choose the master iPart file and click "Open".
Choose the iPart member you want to replace all selected instances with.
If a warning box pops up with errors, select "Accept"
If you chose Workflow B in Step 1, repeat Steps 1-4 until you've replaced all instances of your original normal Part.
You'll now have to manually go through and repair (re-associate) any and all constraint references to any faces or features on every instance of your iPart. (You can vote here for a global, assembly-wide constraint reference replacer: Assembly Component Replacement and Fixing Broken Constraints)

Problem 6 - Too many iPart member files to manage

There is no solution to this. This can be especially painful for Vault users, but is unavoidable until the suggested idea is implemented.

Or.... you can do your future self a favor, and eliminate the need for all of those painful workarounds, by voting for this suggestion to fix the single cause of all those issues:

Vote here: Make iParts function as a single file (kill the spawn files & "Generate Files")

Re: iPart members won't update, other iPart issues

autodesk-MM — Tue, 09 May 2017 08:07:20 GMT

Iparts are poor and if you dont need to, you should not use it. If you still want to use it, you have to learn how to:

Problem 1: deleting your factory is not a good idea especially when members are used in other assy.

steps:

close and open inventor (sometimes is choking and even though everything is ok, you wont do it-I blame this stupid/waste of resources home view). Go to vault and work in progress all members(if you have vault). Close all higher level assy. Now, open the ipart/iassy, open table, go to properties and add at least one to your factory , then generate. The wheel need to spin for a while. Adding a column will make it think all members been changed and need generating. You can also open your factory and see by date and time if all where generated.

Problem2: imagine a mirror or a shrinkwrap. you wont change that part without changing mother file. in ipart case is the same. you need to open the factory, update and generate to make a change to a member

Problem3: you can link a pattern to a member building and iassy or constraining member directly from the factory folder(the last one doesnt give full functionality of the ipart). I can advice do not use patterns when working with iassy- when you have to change something or something is broken, patterns wont update until all errors are fixed, that is a pain

Problem 4: work features in iassy- open table go to parameters or exclusions. I can advise here, never base your iparts on work features, always build the part from separate commands (plane, hole, radius, etc etc) based on origin planes only.

Problem 5: you have changed/replaced one part with the shrinkwrap of the part, what did you expected? - build your models based on origin planes/axis and constrain to those only. its easier like that and if something is broken you always go to origin first

Re: iPart members won't update, other iPart issues

forbillian — Fri, 01 Jun 2018 01:43:04 GMT

Thankyou ThomasB44!

Godsend piece of code

I have been searching for an ilogic solution for this function for 2 years.

The ipart & Iassemby features in Inventor is one of the best features i have seen - however

I hope Autodesk sorts out how Vault handles them - that could be a game changer.

Anywho - thankyou for your post.

Much appreciated

Re: iPart members won't update, other iPart issues

forbillian — Fri, 01 Jun 2018 02:52:50 GMT

Hi there Thomas

I have a weird issue that has recently happened & I have never seen before when adding a new member to any of my existing ipart factories. (I use Inventor 2017)

(Note: this doesn't occur with my iAssemblies - only iparts & only on new members; existing member generate fine)

When I right click (or use your code) to 'Generate File' on the newly created member I see (bottom left corner of the

screen) the 'Executing Save Member' indication

But................ then in the bottom right corner the save progress bar just loops & number of instances keeps raising - then Inventor crashes or just keeps looped in this process.

Instance number (e.g. 79) keeps going up

Any ideas?

Re: iPart members won't update, other iPart issues

ThomasB44 — Fri, 01 Jun 2018 06:44:34 GMT

Hi @forbillian

I can't reproduce this behavior, and never seen this kind of error, even if I create a new member

But I suspect a problem with your iPart, because the code is only doing a" rebuild all" and "generate" commands.

If you launch these commands manually, this behavior should also happen ? Right ?

Re: iPart members won't update, other iPart issues

forbillian — Fri, 01 Jun 2018 09:55:38 GMT

That's exactly right.

I was hoping if I ran this function programatically (i.e. using your ilogic code) it may work - but it gets stuck in a loop when it reaches the new member.

- Even if i create a new ipart from scratch it has the same result.

- If I open the same ifactory in 2018 version on my work's inventor it is fine

I am stumped - I am thinking I might have to try re-installing inventor - which hurts my pride slightly.

I have never experienced this issue & I have been working with iparts & iassemblies extensively coupled with ilogic enhancements for four years.

What version are you running?

Re: iPart members won't update, other iPart issues

ThomasB44 — Fri, 01 Jun 2018 12:19:04 GMT

I'm still using the 2014 version...

You said it "get stucks in a loop when it reaches the new member", but perhaps there is a window message that is hide from your screen ?

Use the command "generate members" or the ilogic rule, wait the loop, then Alt + space, then M ? in french it's D for Déplacer (Move), then use the arrows to move the window.

I hope there is an error message, it could be useful to understand the problem.

Re: iPart members won't update, other iPart issues

forbillian — Fri, 01 Jun 2018 12:51:38 GMT

That is a good point - but I have checked that & sadly there was no hidden error message.

You are french?

je suis intrigué

Re: iPart members won't update, other iPart issues

ThomasB44 — Fri, 01 Jun 2018 12:56:50 GMT

Yes I am

What a pity ! No error message...

I've tested it on my side, I can't reproduce this behavior.

So, need to understand why you have this kind of error with new members...I can't explain more at this time...

Re: iPart members won't update, other iPart issues

johnsonshiue — Fri, 01 Jun 2018 18:32:06 GMT

Hi! Please share an example exhibiting the behavior. The issue you encounter may not be the same as the original thread. Please feel free to start a new thread.

Many thanks!

Re: iPart members won't update, other iPart issues

forbillian — Sat, 02 Jun 2018 05:58:06 GMT

Hi Guys,

We finally have a win for this issue!

I wish it was something more amazing that caused this:

I had recently updated all our Part Templates, Sheet Metal, Std etc & had an idea that maybe one of the new templates was corrupt.

Turn out it was.

I Replaced my Standard.ipt template with the original one (which the ipart factory part uses when they generate a new member) & they save perfectly fine now. Relief!

So after investigating it I had used an ipart template I created but saved over the Standard.ipt Template & so

any new members were using a part template which was actually an ipart & not a standard part!

Thankyou for the help along the way.

Re: iPart members won't update, other iPart issues

Anonymous — Wed, 05 Sep 2018 15:39:50 GMT

This software is absolutely terrible. Capabilities...important and normal engineering capabilities...are missing or require in depth solutions. In solidworks they were a right click away.

Case in point, I changed a part to an ipart to make a cast version and a machined version. This was not easy and took several hours. Today I added a feature, it wouldn't draft (who knows why, the error messages are uninformative), I tried to delete the feature. It added it to the ipart table instead. I remove the feature from the ipart table. I delete the feature. It adds the feature back to the ipart table and doesn't delete it. Is this a joke? Did this software ever get tested by actual product design engineers? And don't give me 'you have to do this this and this...' I should only have to select and delete.

I am ready to leave this job just because of the software. I cannot get my work done in a timely manner. After 8 months with this software an hour a day is spent looking up how to trick it into doing the simplest things.

Re: iPart members won't update, other iPart issues

johnsonshiue — Wed, 05 Sep 2018 16:38:23 GMT

Hi Alex,

I am sorry for the trouble you are having. I guess you are trying to do SWX Configuration workflows using Inventor iPart, right? If yes, I don't think Inventor iPart is the right choice here. iAssembly/iPart are meant to create library components driven by tables.

Strictly speaking, Inventor does not have the same Config workflows in SWX. If you want to show a part in different geometric state, you may want to use Derive workflow. You can derive the part to another part and then add new features or use Delete Face/Heal to remove features.

Many thanks!

Re: iPart members won't update, other iPart issues

forbillian — Wed, 05 Sep 2018 16:41:56 GMT

Hi Asinton,

I feel your pain & have been through many years of ipart/iassembly frustration using Inventor, but have learnt

some good tricks over that time to taming the seemingly untameable features.

My first thought is that you have "Edit Member Scope" selected instead of "Edit Factory Scope" see attached image.

This selection is used when you want to only apply changes to the current ipart member currently selected, & it also means you cant delete items or features that apply to the whole factory member.

I hope this helps in this instance however if not please feel free to upload an example of the ipart or a snapshot of what you are being prevented from doing.

Re: iPart members won't update, other iPart issues

Anonymous — Wed, 05 Sep 2018 16:51:36 GMT

Thank you Johnson. I suppose this would be easier if I didn't have preconceived workflows from prior CAD systems. I like to avoid derived parts for reasons I can't even remember now. But I'll do it for these secondary ops.

Re: iPart members won't update, other iPart issues

Anonymous — Wed, 05 Sep 2018 16:53:49 GMT

Thank you Forbillian. I will try it.

Part of the frustration, I think, comes from the use of words like 'factory' which may mean something to a software engineer, but seem wildly inaccurate to describe anything but a place of manufacturing.