About Exchanging Validation Properties
STEP supports the exchange of geometric and assembly validation properties. The validation properties for assemblies include geometric data with the product structure. You can assign a numerical property to an assembly node to define the number of child components of the assembly node. That is, each parent node has a validation property that is attached to it and you can verify the number of child components of each assembly node. The details of the exchange of the assembly validation properties are written to the export and import log files.
Geometric and assembly validation properties are translated when you set the Application protocol export profile option to the following values:
• ap203_is_ext
• ap203_e2
• ap214_is
• ap242
You must explicitly configure the export of assembly validation properties to the STEP application protocols by selecting the Assembly validation information option in the export profile for STEP.
Exporting Validation Properties
Surface area, volume, and centroid validation properties are translated when you export solid models to STEP. Multiple instances of a component in an assembly for centroid are supported. The centroid value is the location of an instance with respect to its parent assembly. Surface area validation properties are translated when you export surface models to STEP. The export of the validation properties of assembly models includes the recursive export of the validation properties of the sub-models and components.
To include AP203 extensions by default in the file you are exporting to STEP, set the Application protocol export profile option to ap203_is_ext. When you set Application protocol to ap203_is_ext, the export to STEP conforms to the international standard for STEP with the following extensions:
• cla–Colors and layers
• gvp–Geometric Validation
• ast–Associative Text
Set Application protocol to ap203_e2 to export non-geometric data to STEP.
Importing Validation Properties
If validation properties exist in a STEP file, they are translated during import. Information about the validation properties is automatically written to the .xml log file. Creo automatically calculates the validation property values, compares the calculated values with the validation property values of the imported models, and reports the differences in values in the log file. You can view the validation data details of the log file in the Creo browser.