Saving Family Tables Objects as New Objects
You can create a copy of any Family Table member (generic or instance) in your workspace by using the Save As command. Moreover, depending on how you select the family members, you can use the Save As command to do the following:
• Copy the entire set of instances.
• Copy the generic object only (as a standalone object).
• Copy a partial set of instances
• Copy a single instance object (as a new instance of existing table, not as a standalone object).
The Save as action can be initiated from several places in Windchill, for example:
• An actions menu on the Folders page that contains the object you want to copy
• An actions menu on the information page of the object
• The toolbar of a CAD document’s Structure tab
The following sections provide details on the various ways to copy Family Table members using Save As.
Copying the Generic Object Only
You can use Save as to copy only the generic
of a Family Table. When you have entered the Save As action on a generic object, use the following procedure to copy the generic object only:
1. In the Save As table, enter a name for the new generic in the New Name field.
| The system automatically generates a name for the new object. Enter a name for the new object only if you want to override the automatic naming. |
2. Enter a folder location in the Location field or accept the default value.
3. Click Ok, the system creates a copy of the generic as a standalone object and saves it with the specified name in the specified location.
Copying the Entire Set of Instances
To copy an entire set of instances, you can initiate Save As for a single instance
of a Family Table and proceed as follows:
1. On the
Save As page, select the instance and collect family (
) CAD documents.
| The generic is included in the family collection. |
2. The Save As table refreshes to include all Family Table members.
3. For each Family Table member, enter a name in the New Name field.
| The system automatically generates a name for each new object. Enter a name for an object only if you want to override the automatic naming. |
4. For each Family Table member, enter a folder location in the Location field or accept the default value.
5. Click Ok. The system creates a copy of the entire Family Table and saves it with the specified name in the specified location.
Copying a Partial Set of Instances
You can copy a partial set of instances of a Family Table by initiating Save As on a single instance and proceeding as follows:
1. On the
Save As page, select the instance and collect family
CAD documents.
| The generic is included in the family collection. |
2. For each Family Table member, enter a name in the New Name field.
| The system automatically generates a name for each new object. Enter a name for an object only if you want to override the automatic naming. |
3. For each Family Table member, enter a folder location in the Location field or accept the default value.
4. Exclude any instance that you do not want to copy from the
Save As list by selecting its row and clicking the reuse icon
.
5. Click Ok, the system creates a copy of the selected instances along with required generics as a Family Table and saves it with the specified name in the specified location.
| Objects saved to Windchill in releases prior to Wildfire 2.0 and Windchill 8.0 have a more restricted set of metadata in the database. Partial copy of a Family Table requires the richer meta data that is created by saving the objects to Windchill 8.0 (and above) with Wildfire 2.0 (and above). Once the meta-data has been upgraded, partial copy is then available on these objects. |
Copying a Single Instance Only
You can copy a single instance of a Family Table and save it as a new instance of that table. Initiate Save As on the instance and proceed as follows:
1. The generic is also brought into the
Save As table. Select it, and click the reuse icon
to not copy the generic.
2. Enter a name for the instance copy in the New Name field.
| The system automatically generates a name for the new object. Enter a name for an object only if you want to override the automatic naming. |
3. Enter a folder location in the Location field or accept the default value.
4. Click Ok. The system creates a copy instance as a new instance of the existing family and saves it with the specified name in the specified location.