IsKey Functionality Not Working with Factory Utilities 2017

[petestrycharske]

All,

Good morning!  I'm working on a project in Inventor 2017 where I wish to control the parameter lists that are available for users when certain configurations are selected in a given factory asset.  In the past I've used iLogic and the IsKey functionality to accomplish this.  However, it just doesn't seem to work with Inventor 2017.  I've knocked out a video below and am wondering if there is a setting that I'm not aware of or if there is another way to update the assets?  Really appreciate any assistance, as I'm kind of in a bind without it.  If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me.  Hope all is well and have a most blessed day!

Peace,

Pete

[XuesongBai]

Hi Pete,

The issue can be reproduced in my machine.

Will the issue be impacting the user workflow?

Thanks,

-Xuesong

[petestrycharske]

Xuesong, yes this will likely cause some workflow issues. I may be able to build the assets differently, but will likely have to make 3 or 4 assets instead of 1. Do you know why the functionality has changed? Can it be reversed? Thanks for taking a look at this for me and have a most blessed night!

Sent from my iPhone

[petestrycharske]

Xuesong, yes this will likely cause some workflow issues. I may be able to build the assets differently, but will likely have to make 3 or 4 assets instead of 1. Do you know why the functionality has changed? Can it be reversed? Thanks for taking a look at this for me and have a most blessed night!

Sent from my iPhone

[olegd.prod]

Hi Pete, I replied to this yesterday via email, but looks like didn't come through - sorry about the delay. In fact, the list of parameters is hard-coded into the asset upon publishing. Previous behavior was effectively a bug, and there is no reasonable way we can bring it back. What you might be able to do is mark them all as "key" and then use iLogic to control the values of the ones that do not apply to the "current" scenario Thanks, Oleg

[petestrycharske]

Oleg,

Thanks for filling me in, but I'm not going to lie, that's a real bummer.  Part of my problem is that I've already built assets for others that used this functionality.  As soon as they migrate to 2017 or newer, that functionality will disappear, requiring new coding or new assets being built.  I'm not sure why this was considered a bug, because I thought the functionality was excellent and allowed for some pretty flexible assets and prevented confusion for non-technical users (think sales people who may benefit from limited choices).  Is the Idea Station the best way to formally request that this get changed back?

I'll try the methodology that you're recommending, but I'll likely have to build several assets in order to minimize confusion.  Again, I would really like the development team to take a look at adding this functionality back in.  Sorry for my mini-rant, but this is pretty disappointing.  Hope all else is well and have a most blessed day!

Peace,

Pete

[olegd.prod]

Yup, I figured you'd be bummed. Sorry about that.

I can definitely see how this "bug" was useful.
I think your description here is perfect: "sales people who may benefit from limited choices." To me, this screams "ETO/C360" - these are products explicitly designed to support sales people and related workflows...

Yes, Idea Station is the place for these types of requests. To be 100% open about this: it would be nearly impossible to bring this specific behavior back.

But my gut feel is that you probably don't care about this specific behavior (using iLogic to flip the IsKey bits, etc) - this is just how you solved the problem you were trying to solve. You probably care about getting the functionality of context-sensitive set of editable parameters - something along the lines of "when user sets Param1 to X, Param2 and Param3 should remain editable, while Param4 should not be editable, and maybe not even visible." I think wording this as a requirement ("I want behavior XYZ") as opposed to a solution ("allow for per-instance flipping of IsKey bits") is the way to go on Idea Station.

Thanks,

Oleg

[petestrycharske]

Oleg,

You are correct, I'm not as concerned about the exact methodology as much as I'm looking for the desired result.  That being said, I've tried using iLogic Forms and Message Boxes, but can't get those to work either.  Will I be running into a similar limitation with these?  Otherwise, I can post those to a new thread.  Thanks for your patience, hope all is well and have a most blessed day!

Peace,
Pete

[olegd.prod]

Factory functionality is driven by Factory metadata, not the contents of a particular Inventor file.
So anything that relies on manipulating the file will not produce the desired results (from Factory's point of view).

The other thing to think about is the fact that users also interact with Factory assets in ACAD, and there are no iLogic forms (or even Inventor files) there.

Oleg

[mk92]

So you say there will be no way to recover this "bug" ? Nearly all of our Assets are using this "bug". Using a Asset with over 20 Parameter is a mess and as we aren't able to bring them in any categories or anything the loss of the IsKey feature is a huge depreciation of user friendliness.

[olegd.prod]

I am sorry to be the bearer of bad new, but yes, that is what I am saying.
This was a bug, and, more importantly, this functionality only "worked" in Inventor, and we need to support Factory workflows in ACAD as well.
I recognize that there is a need to group/categorize parameters, and that is something we are thinking about.

Oleg

[mk92]

We do not blame you personally, hope that is clear. We only would like to make sure that you see the importance of a feature like this. Imagin buying a car or even better a electronic device where your knowledge isn't really the best. And the configurator on the website shows you a huge list of things you can add and parameters to change, and the half of them is without any use on your special case and additionally the parameters are in an order which doesn't make any sense because its alphabetical. I think enrage is the word we need there.

[olegd.prod]

Yup, that is clear - don't worry about it.

Your metaphor is spot-on! And I would be enraged too.

It would be great if you could post your requirements to Idea Station. Not solutions (IsKey, etc), but requirements - "I would like to have a way to ..."

Oleg

[mk92]

I will take a look into the Idea Station and create an Idea. I think I have saved some ideas I found already in the idea station, so I can combine them, with links, with my requirements.

[petestrycharske]

mk92,

Good morning!  I haven't had a chance to create an idea on the Idea Station and would love it if you could!  If you could please respond with a link to your idea in this post and another forum post (here), I would like to drive as much traffic to it as possible.  Losing this functionality is a big problem and I'd like some resolution as soon as possible.  If you'd rather have me post the idea, let me know and you can comment on things that I've missed.  Hope all is well and have a most blessed day!

Peace,
Pete

[mk92]

No problem I can create the Idea and I will post a link to it in both threads. I will post it later this day, so I can combine my notes, saved ideas an threads to an detailed Idea. Also if I miss something feel free to comment on it!

[mk92 · Accepted solution]

Link to the Idea Station: Here

[David-Truyens]

I would like to add support to this topic as well.

A big FDU customer of ours is now in the transition from 2016 to 2018 and they run into the same issue. They use the .iskey a lot to show or hide parameters from the property panel.

Regards,

David

[mk92]

Hi David, and maybe also @petestrycharske:

We had this discussion over the last few days in this thread: Forum Link

Maybe you will add your thoughts as well.

[ederson.balbinot]

Hello @petestrycharske

how to show the button highlighted below???

Thanks!!