Controlling read-only status of parts/assemblies

Overview

Since SolidDesigner 3.0 parts/assemblies/workplanes can be read-only, that is, modifications on such an object are rejected by Creo Elements/Direct Modeling. However, this functionality was mainly used in conjunction with a database-integration product, e.g. WorkManager.

Activation

Enter into command line

   (load "dbdialog")

Or add this line to your customization file.

Loading this file will create a button in the toolbox.

Description

Creo Elements/Direct Modeling offers a dialog which enables non-database users to easily inquire/set/change the read-only status of any 'object' that can be stored/loaded into Creo Elements/Direct Modeling.

screen shot of ui

The new dialog (terminate action) is:

OBJFLAGS -+- <select object>----+-- :Q_CONTENTS --+----+
          |                     |                 |    |
          |                     +-- :Q_INSTANCE --+    |
          |                                            |
          |       +--------------<---------------------+
          |       |
          |       V
          |       |
          |       +->-+--- :Q_DBRO  ---+-----+-- :ON ---+---+-- COMPLETE -->
          |       |   |                |     |          |   |
          |       |   +--- :Q_DBMOD ---+     +-- :OFF --+   |
          |       |   |                |                    |
          |       ^   +--- :Q_SDRO  ---+                    V
          |       |   |                |                    |
          |       |   +--- :Q_SDMOD ---+                    |
          |       |                                         |
          |       +------------------<----------------------+
          |                                                 |
          +---<---+------------------<----------------------+

<select object>: is any (single) object that is suitable for filing (see SAVE_SD command), e.g. part, assembly, workplane, workplane set.
:Q_CONTENTS: selects the 'contents' portion of the object for inquiry/modification of flags. This is the default when the dialog is entered.
:Q_INSTANCE: selects the 'instance' portion of the object for inquiry/modification of flags.

Flags to be inquired/set by the dialog:

After the user has selected an object (part, assembly etc.) the dialog will display the current 'flag' settings of the object and can therefore be used as a visual inquiry function.

However the dialog also allows to set/reset each of the 4 following flags by entering the flags 'type' followed by either :ON to set the flag or :OFF to reset the flag.

The following flags can be controlled:

:Q_SDRO Creo Elements/Direct Modeling Read-Only Flag: Setting this flag to :ON will make the object read-only. Creo Elements/Direct Modeling will disallow modifications of this object. Setting this flag to :OFF will make the object modifiable.
NOTE: This flag controls the read-only/modifiable status of an object 'inside' a single Creo Elements/Direct Modeling session. If an object is saved with any of the SAVE_SD, SAVE_SD_MODIFIED and SAVE_PACKAGE commands, the read-only status will not be contained in the file. When an object is loaded into a different Creo Elements/Direct Modeling session, it will no longer be read-only. Setting this flag to :ON is therefore intended for users who want to temporarily disable changes to an object. For setting a 'non-volatile' read-only status of an object, refer to the :Q_DBRO flag described below.
:Q_SDMOD Creo Elements/Direct Modeling Modified Flag: Setting this flag to :ON marks the object as modified. This flag is used by the command SAVE_SD_MODIFIED which stores only modified objects.
NOTE: This flag can only be reset by the SAVE_SD and SAVE_SD_MODIFIED commands. It is not possible to set this flag to :OFF by this dialog.
:Q_DBRO Data Base Read-Only Flag: Setting of this flag to :ON makes the object read-only. But in contrast to the :Q_SDRO mentioned above, the :Q_DBRO flag is a persistent flag which is contained in the file when the object is saved. This means that the object will be read-only when it is loaded from disk.
:Q_DBMOD Data Base Modified Flag: Setting of this flag to :ON marks this object as modified from the database point of view. This is used by database integrations (e.g. WorkManager) to decide if an object needs to be saved into the database. This behavior is similar to the SAVE_SD_MODIFIED command, which uses the :Q_SDMOD flag to decide which objects need to be saved.

Notes

There are several interdependencies between the flags described above:

Any change to any of the flags sets the Q_SDMOD flag to :ON . As mentioned above, this flag cannot be reset with this dialog.
Setting the Q_DBRO to :ON automatically sets the Q_SDRO flag to :ON as well.
When the Q_DBRO flag is set, the Q_SDRO cannot be changed. You first have to reset the Q_DBRO to :OFF before you can change the Q_SDRO flag.
When Q_DBRO is not set, but the Q_SDRO flag is set to :ON, the object is read-only inside the Creo Elements/Direct Modeling session, but when the object is saved and loaded into another Creo Elements/Direct Modeling, it will not be read-only. The Q_SDRO flag can therefore be used to temporarily prevent modifications of the object, whereas the Q_DBRO must be used to keep the read-only status between different Creo Elements/Direct Modeling sessions.

Warnings

You shouldn't modify any of the flags when you use MODELING_NAME together with a database integration product (e.g. WorkManager), since these products heavily depend on the correct settings of the flags mentioned above. In this case you should use the dialog only for inquiry purposes. Changing the flags while you are using WorkManager and/or other database products may result in data loss, database corruption or any other kind of nasty problem.
Usage of this dialog is recommended for customers who want to implement their own 'small' database solution which makes use of Creo Elements/Direct Modeling's read-only capabilities.
You should also be prepared that the name of this dialog may be changed in the future. However, since Creo Elements/Direct Modeling always guarantees upwards-compatibility for the loading of old data files, you can expect that data files containing read-only flags (the Q_DBRO flag) will continue to produce read-only objects when they are loaded into future Creo Elements/Direct Modeling versions.