Indicate Drawing Available

[leblanc2024]

Hello,

I would like to see an idicator showing weather a drawing is available for a specific part in an assembly bill of material.

Also I would like to see an indicator showing weather it is an IDW or DWG.

This would help on larger projects ensuring that all the detail drawing are complete prior to releasing to production.

Regards,

Ivon

[LT.Rusty]

Not sure that would be really practical.

For instance, the way that the "open drawing" feature works right now, your drawing and your part must have the same file name in order to work.  If this gets added, it would likely have the same requirement.  Right now I've got multiple different types of drawings: manufacturing, customer format, QC, concept, assembly, etc.  These all have to have different file names (obviously). 

[leblanc2024]

Hello LT.Rusty,

This would be a great oppertunity for AutoDESK to add the feature to link multiple drawings to a model.

I would like to see that as an added feature.

Regards,

Ivon

[jtylerbc]

You might be able to set up something like this yourself with iLogic, by adding a rule (in the drawing) that fills out a custom iProperty for parts with views in that drawing.  I already have a rule that does most of what you're looking for, which can probably be modified for what you need.

This rule fills out a custom iProperty called "SK" for every part that has a view in the drawing.  You would probably want to change the property name to something that makes sense for you.  If you rewrote the code to use the filename of the drawing instead of just some text, you would be able to get the file type designation you want as well.  Obviously this won't work very well in the multiple-drawing scenario LT Rusty describes.

Also, you may want to add an If/Then statement to the portion of the code that actually fills out the property.  I've been meaning to for a while, but haven't gotten to it yet.  As it is currently written, the code causes Inventor to think the assembly needs an update every time you save the part drawing, since technically it's changing the part each time (by rewriting the property).  This gets a little annoying if you are working in both the assembly and part drawings at the same time.

oDoc = ThisDoc.Document

For Each oView In oDoc.ActiveSheet.DrawingViews
	' Retrieve the name of the model referenced by the view.
	ModelDoc = ActiveSheet.View(oView.Name).ModelDocument
	
	'MsgBox(ModelDoc.displayName)
	If ModelDoc.DocumentType = kPartDocumentObject Then
		' Fill in the SK property for the referenced model if the property exists
		Try		
			ModelDoc.PropertySets("{D5CDD505-2E9C-101B-9397-08002B2CF9AE}")("SK").Expression = "(SK)"
			
		Catch
			MsgBox(ModelDoc.displayName & " is missing the SK custom iProperty.")
		End Try
		
	End If
Next

iLogicVb.UpdateWhenDone = True

[kevinb]

Unless you do what jtylerbc said and make it so that the drawing makes a change to the part/assembly/presentation file that is referencing it (and it seems like it would be a nightmare if you've got a bunch of references to the same part), I don't see how this would be viable.

The way Inventor drawings seems to work, it just looks at the part/assembly file and generates lines from there (it takes pictures of the model and annotates them) so you'd need the parts to actually go out and look for references to it in anything higher level.  This would seem to lead to problems if you've got multiple of the same files (base plate.ipt in a half dozen folders for each of the files).  And it would have to roll through a lot of files just to check.  Or it would have to attach the drawings to the part/assembly files (which lead to some pretty rapid file size bloat).  The only other way I can think of that doesn't involve Autodesk mastering wizardry would be if you individually modified parts/assemblies to point to a specific drawing file.

Well, I suppose you could make one absolutely massive drawing that had all of the sub assemblies and everything else detailed out.

We're currently in the middle of a sprawling project ourselves.  I've found that organizing through Windows Explorer is easier to some degree.  A folder contains one or two assemblies (usually a "structural assembly" and a "final assembly", more if the assemblies are simple) and then all of the parts for that assembly.  Then there's one or two drawings (depending on various factors) in that level.  Next level up has that assembly put together with other assemblies with a drawing or two there.  So when you're done, you should have a bunch of nested folder each of which contains a dozen or so parts, an assembly or two, a presentation if desired and a couple of drawings (sometimes, you need them at different stages) and then a couple of pdfs for the drawings.

[DRoam]

The following is an idea relating to the fundamental dilemma behind implementing this: Make file references bi-directional (allow Parts to know about their Parents). Feedback, critique, or alternative suggestions are welcome at that thread.