Refresh file from Workspace

[florian_baillifard]

In Inventor, the Vault add-in has this function " Refresh File". For Vault Basic, this command retrieves the latest version currently stored in the vault. ( picture:1_Refresh.png)

Please add a default Inventor function " Refresh from Workspace" that retrieves the saved file from local workspace. So, this feature can work on Inventor with or without Vault because it only re-read the file on the hard drive. (Picture: 2_Refresh_From_Workspace.png)

Some customer request this since long time:

https://forums.autodesk.com/t5/inventor-forum/revert-part-to-last-saved-close-and-discard-changes/td...

[CStilesCARE]

I'm not really sure what the intent behind this request is. The workspace copy is your local copy, so if you've made any saves to the file (or files), it would not be able to regress back before the save was made.

Is the intent to be able to use a "refresh from workspace" as a super-undo button - to undo every change made to the file since it was last saved (assuming there are more than the "undo" list can remember)? I could see this being useful in certain situations, where you want to wipe more than undo will let you.

It could get a little dicey when used with assemblies though, since there'd need to be added control for the extent of the refresh. Should it include all components, some, or none? What about related documents? Etc.

BTW, for those who don't already know, you can increase the amount of "undo's" you can do by increasing the undo file size in Inventor's general options. Unless it changed with 2024 release, the maximum size allowed is 8191 MB. If you have the space, I highly recommend maxing out this field. 😁

[florian_baillifard]

Thank you @CStilesCARE  for your reply.

I'm not really sure what the intent behind this request is. The workspace copy is your local copy, so if you've made any saves to the file (or files), it would not be able to regress back before the save was made.

It is not my request.

Is the intent to be able to use a "refresh from workspace" as a super-undo button - to undo every change made to the file since it was last saved.

Yep, it is exactly my request.

What is needed is a way to reload a file from disk in order to discard any changes that the user has made to the copy in RAM. This function exist in Creo/Wildfire/ProE and SolidWorks.

It could get a little dicey when used with assemblies though, since there'd need to be added control for the extent of the refresh. Should it include all components, some, or none? What about related documents? Etc.

No, I don’t ask the refresh include all components, only the file that I click on it "refresh from workspace"

you can increase the amount of "undo's"

The "Undo" is not useable if you edit several files in the same time and only want to refresh one.

Like a user has written on this forum: https://forums.autodesk.com/t5/inventor-forum/revert-part-to-last-saved-close-and-discard-changes/td...

The workflow is this:

1 Open a 10k instance assembly with 6 levels of subassemblies.

2 Drill down to a file at the bottom of the assembly tree by opening each successive subassembly.

This give the user 5-20 tabs open, each showing a different part of the top-level assembly.

3 Modify the file.

4 Make several changes to other files.

5 Switch to the top-level assembly and regen to see the changes propagate through the structure.

6 Realise that the change in Step 3 does not work, but the ones from Step 4 are worth keeping.

How does a user discard the changes in Step 3 but keep the others?

Closing and reopening all the open tabs that reference the file in Step 3 is a significant time sink.

Undo is not helpful because there is not a different buffer for each open tab.

[CStilesCARE]

Ah-hah, now I see where you're going with the request!

Yes, you're right. It can be very tedious to undo the changes to just a file that is being referenced by other open files.

Using your example, one could argue that it's "poor practice" to do step 4 (changing other files) before seeing how step 3 looks (you should do step 3 then step 5, and only continue modifying other files if it's good). However, while the argument has merit, I don't think it's always realistic (nor most cost-effective) to always make and check 1 change at a time. 

I agree that it'd be nice to have a way to "revert all changes" on an open file in a way that would push that through to all open files that reference it as well.

You have my vote sir and/or madam!

[thoroth]

Diese Funktion aktualisiert Dateien aus dem Arbeitsbereich (mit oder ohne Vault).

[florian_baillifard]

@thoroth Thank you for your suggestion but the "Refresh" button you show dont do what request. I have tested on Inventor 2023.2.1 English and French. Maybe with Inventor auf Deutsch it work better.

[thoroth]

@florian_baillifardDiese Funktion arbeitet im Hintergrund und aktualisiert alle geöffneten Dateien, wenn im Arbeitsbereich eine neuere Version gespeichert ist als die, die im Inventor aktuell geöffnet ist. Sofern es im Inventor ungespeicherte Änderungen gibt, kommt eine Abfrage, ob die betreffenden Komponenten in einem neuen Fenster geöffnet werden sollen.

Daher ist hier nicht immer etwas zu sehen.

[florian_baillifard]

@thoroth Yes but my request is to have a function that retrieves the saved file from local workspace no matter if the local file is newer or older than the cash file.