Visit to "Hardcore Pawn"

My wife and I were in Detroit last week and we decided to stop into Detroit Silver and Loan.....Hardcore Pawn, from Tru TV.

It's not in the best part of town, 8 mile and Greenfield, but at 2pm it wasn't a problem. When we walked in Les and Seth were there talking to customers and taking pictures, etc. They were very friendly guys. There were no cameras rolling that day, so the volume of clients was down, and we didn't witness any drama.

The place isn't as big as they make it seem on TV, but still it was cool just to go and check the place out.

~Corey Hinman, CEPA

Annoying 2011 SP 5 Issue

I just finished upgrading to 2011 SP 5.0 to fix a decimal truncation issue, and now my users are seeing "no rights to change state". This is a known issue according to solidworks

After upgrade to 2011 SP5 or 2012 SP0, some users with restricted workflow state access for earlier versions now see warning "No rights to get latest or attached version" using Get Latest Version or Change state. Issue happens when logged in user lacks read permission in the state where revision is assigned to version of file. Can be reproduced in default vault as follows: 1. Create a user or group and assign full folder permissions. Assign full transition permission. Assign read and check out permissions to all states except 'Approved'. 2. As Admin, log into vault. Add and check in assembly and references. 3. Change state to 'Approved' via 'No approval required' transition. This should assign revision A to version 2/2. 4. Change state to 'Under Change' via 'Request change'. The history now shows that revision A was assigned to previous state 'Approved'. 5. Log in as the other user in step 1. - Get latest version and check out fails with 'No rights to get latest or attached version'. - Change state fails with 'No rights to change state'. - If user is given read permission in "Approved" state it works.

So what I had to do was ensure that the Designers and Engineers had Read File Contents checked on any state, and any workflow that an item has gone through. sigh....

~Corey Hinman, CEPA

After Service Pack Upgrade

You will also need to update the Solidworks addin and convert tool. This is from the knowledge base, but here are the steps:

If using an old version, upgrade the existing task add-in in the vault:
1. Open administration tool on an upgraded client log in as administrator
2. File > open > browse to c:\program files\solidworks enterprise pdm\default data\
3. Load the "Convert_GB.cex" file
4. Drag-and-drop SWTaskAddIn  to the add-ins node (not the convert task).  Select Yes to update the existing add-in. (see attached UpdateTaskAddin.jpg)
5. Verify via the task host configuration that the updated add-in is loaded
6. On clients that act as task host it is recommended to exit Enterprise and log in again to the view to ensure the updated add-in is loaded.

Once the add-in is upgraded you may need to update the actual task script as well. Refer to KB solution S-057908 for more details.

Note that this also applies to other add-ins in an upgraded vault, such as Dispatch. Those can be updated using the add-in node.


This is an easy task to do, don't sweat it!

~Corey Hinman, CEPA

ePDM Service Pack Upgrade

For anyone looking to do a service pack upgrade, it's not nearly as involved as upgrading to a new major revision. Here are the basic steps

• Download SP files to folder accessible to both Archive and Database server
• Check in all documents
• Make sure everyone is out of Enterprise
• Back up the SQL Database 
• Back up the Archive server's "vault data" folder
• Upgrade the Archive server installation (requires reboot)
• Upgrade Database server, you'll need name of server, ex: (local) and sa password (requires reboot)
• From Database server, open Upgrade/Upgrade.exe from SP folder location
• In the admin tool, if your vault shows a red plus, right click and select upgrade.
• Upgrade client installs

That's it!

~Corey Hinman, CEPA

Design Best Practices

Time to start working on Solidworks' Best Practices for my new company, after all PDM doesn't exist without Solidworks and vice - versa.

~Corey Hinman, CEPA

Annoying Decimal Place Issue

When exporting a computed BOM to CSV format, if the QTY (reference count) shows more than two digits, it is truncated upon export.

I've manually edited some quantities to 6 decimal places, so obviously this is an issue. It's deceptive though, because the quantity is green until you hit save, then it gets truncated. However, if you export to XML, the values are correct. Strange.

Luckily this is resolved in 2011 sp 5, we are currently sp 4.

~Corey Hinman, CEPA

The River

I missed the first couple episodes of the River, and caught a portion of one today, which was intriguing.

I don't think it can supplant my affection for "The Walking Dead" series, but I may have to check it out.

~Corey Hinman, CEPA

ePDM Enhancements for 2013

Today at Solidworks World 2012, as usual they reveal the highlights of upcoming enhancements in the next version of Solidworks.

When they touched on Enterprise PDM, they touted one thing. Social networking with other users within the interface.

What? How about generating email lists based on card variables, or any other of a dozen practical enhancements?

~Corey Hinman, CEPA

Opening Older Versions of Files

Be careful when opening older versions of files. Of course you'll first need to "get version" for the older version you're interested in. Your version tab will let you know you've got it into your local cache.

Now comes the confusing part. When you open this in Solidworks you'll be prompted with this screen

The first check box is simple, do you want to check this out. 

The second check box "GET" would lead you to believe it's getting you version of the file listed, but it's not. It's getting the latest version of the vault. DESELECT this option to get an older version.

Then just for added confusion, the "OK" button says "Checkout", but at this point it won't check the file out.

An easy way to remember this is take this form's checkboxes from left to right, and ask yourself:

1- Do I want to Check it Out?

2- Do I want to Get the latest Version from the vault?

3- Do I want the older version  shown?

~Corey Hinman, CEPA

Creating Accurate Indented BOMs in Enterprise PDM

I've been faced with a problem of creating an indented BOM that shows all items, both inside Solidworks Assembly files, and those "copy-pasted as reference".

Our problem was this. We have assemblies with a large number of files include. Normally we suppress instances of repeating parts to improve performance, and have a more clear display. So if I ran an Indented BOM from the top level, I would not see ALL the parts that are supposed to be in the BOM. I would basically see the display configuration BOM.

So my solution is this: Use the "default" configuration of each assembly to include ALL items. **an important note is that copy-paste as reference pastes the default BOM, so that's good!**.

Other configurations can be made for display purposes.

Every Assembly's "default" configuration will use each child's "default" configuration. Different configs can be made for the drawings.

If you follow this logic all the way up the chain, if you look at the Default BOM for the top level as indented, you'll see all items included.

Chinman

CEPA Certification

I'm proud to say that I'm one of the first 10 users in the world to hold this Soldiworks accreditation, there were 9 of us testing, and six of us passed. I thought it was a little easy, I'm already waiting for the next level exam!


Congratulations Corey,

You have been issued a certificate in SolidWorks® Certification Center indicating that you have successfully completed the requirements for Certified Enterprise PDM Administrator.

Solidworks World 2012

Live and underway...check out the Hot Rod Baby Buggy....designed in Solidworks.