Using external iLogic rules with vault

[insomnix]

I'm trying to centralize my common iLogic Rules. I've done some reading, but have not found a definitive answer to my question. Some articles state that the design data folder is the best place to store the external rules. This doesn't work well because our company has multiple sites and not all sites have a good internet connection to pull data over the intranet.

If the iLogic rules are stored in a folder within the vault, will the rules automatically check in and out like Linked Parameters? For example, if I check out an ipt file that has a linked parameter excel spreadsheet, that excel file will automatically download with the ipt. Is this even a good solution? 

What is the best solution for storing external iLogic rules?

[johnsonshiue]

Hi! This is a very interesting topic. Based on my testing, it seems that iLogic looks for absolute path, not relative project path. I will need to work with the project team to confirm the behavior.

Many thanks!

[insomnix]

Any new information?

[MjDeck]

@insomnix , do you have only one Inventor project?

[insomnix]

yes, we only have one project.

[MjDeck]

You could put the external rules in a subfolder under your project folder. Then you can check them into Vault, and download them from Vault. It's true that Vault and Inventor don't know about the links between the documents and the rules. That's a limitation.
How many rules do you have? How often do you change them? Would it be easy to inform people when rules are changed, and ask them to download the new versions?

[insomnix]

It is not ideal, but I've been doing this for a few months and so far so good. I'm still waiting for the day someone makes a change to an external rule and forgets to upload or someone doesn't maintain the latest version of external iLogic rules on their machine and things stop working correctly.