Old Alibre User but new to Vault

[jwknecht]

OK. First I am sorry if these are questions that have been addressed on the forum already.

Second, Hi to all my old Alibre user group friends. Hopefully I will be active in this forum again soon.

I have not been working in Alibre for awhile. I converted over from the Respository to the Vault. I really, really liked the repository and am sad to see it gone... but if this is progress than so be it.

I need a couple of hints.

1. What is the easiest way to copy files in the Vault (to new names - not just a part file, but with an assy and BOM and drawings)? I can't seem to get it to work right. The references from renamed files seem to go back to the files in the folder previous to renaming.

2. I have not found a way to do a save as to the Windows File System.

My work around for the above was to export files, import them, save as, delete duplicate part files that happen due to importing the part drawing and the assy, and then rename.

BTW I have not converted to latest Alibre version. I am on Expert 11.1. Will load the new version soon.

Thanks in Advance for your help.

John

 

[DavidJ]

John,

Perhaps you could give some idea of what you are trying to achieve - I'm not quite sure why you'd want to copy so extensively within the vault. It's capabilites are designed to eliminate that need.

If you want to Save As to WFS - just uncheck 'use vault' on the options tab from the Alibre home window, then you can work with WFS.

There is a 'Make Copy' command within vault, and re-naming is straightforward.

The Save As, Save All As commands are still available from within Alibre (which can take care of all the linkages) - The Vault will give a warning that duplicates are being created (if 'use vault' is checked).

 

[jhiker]

The Vault will give a warning that duplicates are being created (if 'use vault' is checked).

What form does the warning take - I can't remember seeing that..

 

[DavidJ]

You got me there Jeff ! I think I got confused with something else.

If you try to 'Save as' to the Vault something that is in WFS you get a warning about duplication.

My apologies for misleading on this point!

 

[jhiker]

No problem - thanks.

 

[NateLiquidGravity]

Please see this chart I made for the new save operations.



If you want an entire new project based on an existing one open the top most item (usually a drawing of the assembly) and Save All As. When the dialog pops up you can rename the files and change their location/properties.

If I have more than one top most item (multiple drawing files or assemblies) that you want to make copies of then the following is what I do:
Open each top level item one at a time and Save All As. When the dialog pops up you can rename the files and change their location/properties. This will cause duplicates. Then you have to go into the Vault and delete all the duplicate parts. Usually I arrange them by name and leave only the ones with the lowest Vault ID. Next you get even more fun of getting to tell the assemblies and drawings what parts to replace the missing ones with.

I'm hoping to come up with some kinda "project" format file that Alibre can use to completely simplify this process. Mater of fact I think I will start the discussion now. https://www.alibreforum.com/forum/index.php?threads/alibre-design-project-files.10538/

 

[DavidJ]

Where I could, I'd simply modify the metadata to associate all the parts with the new project as well as the old, then I can use views effectively to look at each project witout generating duplicate parts. I might well 'Save As' the top level item and have that associated just with the new project (assuming I was going to make some changes).

Like all things, there are many ways to tackle depending upon exactly what you wish to achieve.

 

[jhiker]

If I have more than one top most item (multiple drawing files or assemblies) that you want to make copies of then the following is what I do:
Open each top level item one at a time and Save All As. When the dialog pops up you can rename the files and change their location/properties. This will cause duplicates. Then you have to go into the Vault and delete all the duplicate parts. Usually I arrange them by name and leave only the ones with the lowest Vault ID. Next you get even more fun of getting to tell the assemblies and drawings what parts to replace the missing ones with.

Something's not clicking with me here... I can't quite put my finger on why this seems so wrong, but isn't this at odds with the concept of a 'standard part library' with a single item used in several assemblies. I've got lots of duplicates of many of my standard parts (washers, nuts, screws, etc.) in the same 'standard parts' folder - I'm not sure how or why that should be and I really feel this is n't the way I should be working.

 

[DavidJ]

I'd agree Jeff - you can have a Standard Parts (either project or product) and use items from that in other assemblies. The relationships feature within vault should allow you to track either way both what parts are used in an assembly (same as 'components' command) or the other way (where is this standard part used?). You should only need one file for each part.

However I don't rule out that others may have good reason to tackle things a different way.

 

[NateLiquidGravity]

At the place I work we have "standard design templates" that gets modified each time differently to fit each customers needs. For me I find it much easier to do it this way since I know most of our "standard" parts will be modified eventually in some way. Having duplicate "standard" parts are not really a problem since disk space is so cheap. If a project does use actual standard parts and I want to keep them connected to only that standard part then I will delete the one duplicate in that project and replace the missing one with the actual standard. It may sound complicated but it is the easiest way for us to avoid making many drawing files and assemblies from scratch.