Update External Reference: Help finding the component that needs an update

[tookemtoni]

Updating external references is not updating external references.  The update warning still shows.  Is there a way to find the name of the component that needs the updating? 

[sutherland-]

Hi @tookemtoni 

If a component doesn't show a yellow warning icon next to its name and you suspect it needs updating, you can try the following:

1. Check the "Timeline" for the design, which is located at the bottom of the screen. This will show you a history of all the changes made to the design, including when components were added or modified.

2. Look for any broken references in the design, which may indicate that a component needs updating. You can check for broken references by going to the "Manage" menu and selecting "References".

3. Double-check all your design's configurations and make sure none of the components are suppressed or hidden.

4. If you are unsure which component needs updating, you can try updating all the components in the design by right-clicking on the design name in the "Data Panel" and selecting "Update All Components".

If none of these options work, you can try to contact Autodesk Support, they will be able to assist you.

[sutherland-]

I do believe that the yellow icon shows only external components that need to be updated, therefore you can also try manually checking if the 4 components are outdated by looking into the version number and comparing it with the imported file.

Just click on one of the files and Open it up

Then you will see the name of the opened file as well as the version. Compare that with the assembly design.

[tookemtoni]

Good Advice @sutherland-   I have done that....I even found that you need to unsuppress features to expose the reference that needs updating.  But still no luck!

The warning knows something, right? Just give me a clue...I was hoping for a text command at the least. 😍

[sutherland-]

That is quite weird. Have you tried to contact support directly?

[TrippyLighting]

@sutherland- this looks like a bug to me. You can always tag an AD employee to look into it.

@Phil.E , for example.

[Phil.E]

Is there a model I can look at?

[tookemtoni]

Here you go: https://a360.co/3Csgaet (for future readers, this link will expire Feb 1 2023) 

[TrippyLighting]

I downloaded the design and observed the same behavior.

However, I then ran a "modify->compute all" and thar returned a circular dependency error:

Do you need that assembly context ?

Unfortunately, I don't have the time right now to check this in more detail.

[Phil.E]

Thanks for the model. I have to send this to the team for their analysis. If you find any other examples like this please let me know by responding to this post. 

[tookemtoni]

Hi Peter, Thanks for looking into this. Yes I need context 13. Best, TT

[TrippyLighting]

I've not been able to find out what the problem is. One of the reason is that the Fusion 360 team has built tools to create all sorts of complexity, but has not built any tools whatsoever to manage that complexity.

As sad as that is, we can help ourselves at least a little my manually naming things

For example:

You have derived a Sketch named "default"  into this assembly AAR ....

However for me and everyone who did not build this it is very time consuming to find what component that sketch is located in.

So perhaps give that sketch the same name as the component or use the component name as a prefix so the sketch in question can be located. 

Edit: I "think" I found the source design for the "default" sketch.  It looks to me that when the sketch name is updated in the originating design, the name is NOT updated in the target design. That is particularly disappointing as there is no other way to determine the source design.

I should be able to find the derive feature in the timeline, but that function also does not return a result!

[TrippyLighting]

When I delete all the cabinet assemblies and are only left with this, 

The out of date notification vanishes.

However, if I try to save this under a new name I am presented with this waring:

So when Fusion 360 knows that changes to "an edit in place" have been made, then it also knows which one. But to heighten a users enjoyment of the software and making debugging of more complex designs completely   unproductive, keeps that secret to itself.

That same "concept" applies to this message in the same design:

Or to this one:

This isn't new and users have  asked for better warning and error message many years ago!

Disappointing!

[TrippyLighting]

So I have to take back some of what I said above ..

By right-clicking on the derived sketch in the browser and selecting "History" we can actually see where what file the derived object originates from.

The update problems really are located in some of your cabinet assemblies.

[tookemtoni]

Thanks Peter, I had similar results recreating your diagnostics.

I hope for some insights from @Phil.E.

[Phil.E]

To set expectations: Don't expect any insights any time soon. This is not widely reported, and it's not clear what causes this, or what exactly the problem is. Thanks for the model, it allowed me to log FUS-120814 for this issue, but this does not imply that we are taking actions at this moment to solve the problem you posted here.

As I said previously, if you, or anyone else, have more examples of this it will be added to the case and draw more attention. 

Thanks!

[Phil.E]

The developers are saying that any suppressed features, or rolled back timelines, will block GAL workflows. Can you confirm that 100% of the features are unsuppressed in the designs?

[tookemtoni]

There are suppressed external components that need to be unsuppressed and then I am sure they can be updated as expected. But which component ones?  I have several suppressed xrefs in this design. 

If the warning for example stated the xref in question....this would be a big help.