improve behavior for local modified files

[SonicFlow]

When an item is locked by a user Upchain should check that the local file is current. Sync or warn.

Lock an item, start changing the CAD and save it locally, change mind and cancel the lock.  The modified file is sitting there on your computer. If you start working on it again later, maybe a totally different detail, you may forget that it is modified. 

There is no warning or indicator that you have a modified file, which is one of responsibilities of a PDM system.

Similarly, if I lock a bunch of files, a subassembly, and start modifying some of them. There is no warning if I Cancel Checkout on the the bunch. Upchain cancels immediately and with no awareness that some were modified.

This creates a risk of using the wrong files, or the risk of lost work.

Not sure what it does if you overwrite the home folder copy with a different file with the same filename. If you then cancel the lock, does it notice?

I don't think there are tenant properties that help with this (update or check local copy when item is locked).

Correction - GTerbrack pointed out "redownload.files.to.home.folder" will help with at least making sure checked-out files start with the vaulted version.

[imckenzieY7CGY]

Really there should be an option for any file you have open to just pull the latest file from Upchain. A quirk of upchain's plugin is that if you don't even check out a file, but you edit it in readonly and then click refresh, Upchain will save the changes to the file (it toggles it out of readonly, saves, and toggles readonly back on). We need a quick way to just get the current latest version from PLM. 

Furthermore, there ought to be a marker of some sort that the file you have could be in a condition like this - If upchain knows it's canceled a checkout on an item or if it's saved over a readonly file, it should be able to warn the user. Perhaps this is asking too much of it though. 

[GTerbrack]

Maybe you should try the tenant property "redownload.files.to.home.folder"?

Just checked and the correct version was downloaded and the local file was overwritten.

I had to close the file in Inventor and reopen it via plugin.

best regards

Guido

[SonicFlow]

imckenzieY7CGY -

Woah! Plugin Refresh causing a save is a quirk worthy of being called a serious flaw.  I didn't notice this. Are you sure? Should make some more noise on that one - email your Upchain contacts.

Most PDM systems, including Autodesk Vault, will warn (or have a marker or icon change) if the local file isn't current, so it's definitely not expecting too much.  It's no exaggeration to say this is a feature of any good PDM system.

[GTerbrack]

Not sure, what you mean by "Plugin Refresh causing a save is a quirk".

The mentioned setting is doing, what you asked for (as far as I understand): Refreshing the local files, if they are different from the checked-in version.

I just noticed, that the download wasn't started, if I was still in the same CAD session. If I reopened the file from PDM (as always recommended with all PDM systems...) everything was OK for me.

A reminder or icon in the cBom would be a nice addition of course.

[SonicFlow]

Guido - Excellent find!

https://knowledge.autodesk.com/support/upchain/learn-explore/caas/CloudHelp/cloudhelp/ENU/UC-Mechani...

Brilliant, that's exactly what I was looking for. "redownload.files.to.home.folder. If this property is enabled, then when you select Open from the Project BOM, the CAD plugin checks if the file already exists in your home folder and whether any changes have occured to the file. If there are any differences between the file in Upchain and the file in your home folder, the Download window opens to re-download the file and overwrite the existing files in the home folder."  

More could be done to improve some of the details (like canceling checkout, and markers), but that seems to solve the main issue I raised.   Thanks!

[imckenzieY7CGY]

@SonicFlow Perhaps I should clarify that the "save" I'm referring to is saving to the windows file system, not an Upchain "save" but yes, this is known behavior for us with the Solidworks Upchain CAD plugin and has been for as long as I've been using it (a couple years now) - either refresh button will locally save changes to the readonly file you have open. I was definitely taken aback by this kind of behavior from a PLM software, but a lot of designers in our company actually tend to use it to test out changes without pushing them to PLM. 

And also for that reason, we probably wouldn't want to be forced to redownload the latest version, but I'd definitely want an indicator of differences and the option to manually pull the latest version of any modified part. 

Just checked and on our setup, clicking 'open' from the plugin does not download latest from Upchain if the file exists in the home folder. Good to know that's an option that exists though.