Get assembly name from part

[amitnkukanur]

Hello,

I am in Inventor customization using VB.net as development language. 

There is one issue which is troubling me from some time. 

Is it possible to identify the name of parent  assembly of part/sub-assembly.

For Instance there is a Sub-Assembly/Part, how can i identify the parent assembly using VB.net without opening that assembly.

rgds

Amit

[philippe.leefsma]

There is no way to do that if the parent assembly is not loaded. If loaded you can use "Document.ReferencingDocuments" property.

I hope it helps.

Regards,

Philippe.

[Anonymous]

I don’t know about using VB to get the information but you can use the Design Assistant.  Just right on your part in the explorer window and click Design Assistant.  When open there is a manage button in the left window (click it).  The bottom window has a find files button (make sure you have all the file included types you want to search for). 

If this is able to find all the links to this part then you would think there is a way to pull the information into VB.  

I hope some of this helps.  

[adam.nagy]

Hi Amit,

What do you mean by "without opening"?

Were you hoping that each part and sub assembly had a back reference to the documents which use it? 🙂

Not that I'm aware of.

You could create your own tracking system if it's important for you or your customers.

Otherwsie you'll need to check each assembly of interest if they are using the given parts or assemblies.

You do not have to open the files visibly in the user interface, they could be hidden and the follow what Philippe said.

You could even use Apprentice Server to check the files without starting Inventor: http://modthemachine.typepad.com/my_weblog/2010/03/iproperties-without-inventor-apprentice.html

Cheers, 

[amitnkukanur]

Hello, 

Thanks for all replies, what i am trying to do is when the user selects a part, am trying to access the part details such as when the part was created and to which assembly it belongs to. 

rgds

Amit

[Anonymous]

Do you use Autodesk Vault to control your Inventor files? 

[amitnkukanur]

Hello,

No i am not using Vault to control files

regards

Amit

[Anonymous]

You might want to look into using Vault. Vault track who made the part (also date made) and who changed the part (also date changed). It tracks the whole history of your files. As you can see in the attached picture of Vaults interface there is a where used section (bottom center window). You can also attach comments to the files and see all the properties.

Hope this helps.