Managing Attachments in SolidWorks
Manually Attaching Files Using Edit Attachments
From an information page, you can access and edit attachments (secondary content files) of CAD documents or dynamic documents. Typically, you use Edit Attachments to remove any stale secondary content, or, in the case of CAD documents, to attach an additional file (of a type recognized by the CAD application), that cannot be added in a CAD session.
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The CAD document or dynamic document must be checked out, or be an uploaded or local cache object for you to be able to edit the attachments.
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On the information page for a checked out CAD document or dynamic document, select Edit Attachments from the Actions menu. The Edit Attachments page appears, listing the current attachments of the object in an Attachments table displaying the following information:
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Column
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Description
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File Name
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Displays the name of the attachment file
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Status
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Displays whether the content is up-to-date with the attributes, links, and primary content of the CAD document or dynamic document
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Download Automatically
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Displays the current setting of whether to download the attachment file when the primary content file is downloaded (not applicable for dynamic documents)
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Category
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Displays the category of the attachment content, and decides the behavior of the file as the primary content moves through the stages of development
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File Size
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Displays the size of the attachment file
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Last Modified
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Displays the time and date at which the attachment file was updated
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Modifier
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Displays the username of the last user to modify the attachment file
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Deleting an Attachment
To delete an attachment, select the check box for its row and click Delete.
The attachment is removed from the Attachments table.
Adding an Attachment
To add an attachment, perform the following steps:
1. Click Add Attachment.
The Add Attachment page appears.
2. For the File field, enter the path to the file you want to attach.
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Drag and drop the attachment over the upload window.
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Click Browse to use the Open window to navigate to the attachment and click Open.
The path to the attachment appears in the textbox.
3. In the Category field, select a category type for the attachment. If you do not select a category, the default category is assigned.
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The category assigned to an attachment is important for determining the following:
• Whether the attachment becomes outdated or not when primary content or attributes are modified
• Whether the attachment content is downloaded or not when the primary content is downloaded
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4. Click Apply to add the attachment and remain on the Add Attachments page
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Click OK to add the attachment and return to the information page with your newly attached file listed in the Attachments table.
Automatically Attaching Files Using Auto-Attach Rules
An administrator can specify files that the system automatically attaches to a supported model’s CAD document. This functionality assumes that the name of these related files is not random, and is based on the main model’s file name. The following file specifications are defined:
• Extension of the file to be automatically attached
• Existing category for the file
• New category:
◦ Behavior for downloading attachments of this type
◦ Validity of the attachment after the primary content is modified is also defined by the attachment
• A pattern-matching string to find the name of the additional content.
By default, no automatic attachment settings are defined; these settings are set by the user. Automatic attachment preferences can be set in the Windchill Preference Management utility from all locations – Sites, Products, Projects, or Organizations – and in the wgmclient.ini file. Use the following process to define the automatic attachment settings:
1. In > , configure the autoattach preference, Upload CAD/Dynamic Document and Attachment Filter. You can also set this preference using wgm.autoattach in the wgmclient.ini file.
The Upload CAD/Dynamic Document and Attachment Filter preference allows you to configure the content that is uploaded as additional content of a model. Using this preference, you specify the triplets which are used to determine what to autoattach. The elements of each triplet are:
◦ CAD/Dynamic Document Type – the name pattern used to find the CAD / Dynamic Document to autoattach to on upload
◦ Attachment file type – The file name pattern for the file to autoattach
◦ Content Category - the category with which to autoattach
The value of this preference is a string created by concatenating a series of the above triplets in the form:
[CAD/Dynamic Document Type],[Attachment file type],[Content Category];
[CAD/Dynamic Document Type],[Attachment file type],[Content Category];...
[CAD/Dynamic Document Type],[Attachment file type],[Content Category];...
The upload parameters are case sensitive. Wildcards can be used in the [CAD/Dynamic Document Type] pattern to specify which CAD / Dynamic Document(s) to autoattach. The same wildcards can be put in the[Attachment file type] pattern to use similar name(s) to specify the file(s) to autoattach. Valid wildcard characters are: *, ? and &.
In an environment where multiple authoring applications are used, it is recommended to specify this preference value for particular authoring applications, not the general value, e.g., *.CATProduct,*.CATProcess,MANUFACTURING;*.CATPart,*.CATAnalysis,ANALYSIS_INPUT This string specifies that any CATProduct or CATPart found in the CAD Document upload list should be autoattached to any CATProcess or CATAnalysis found with same name as the CAD document in the upload.autoattach.searchpath preference (see below). Any CATProcess or CATAnalysis thus found are attached with the MANUFACTURING or ANALYSIS_INPUT content category to CATProduct or CATPart, respectively. The content category name must be a name recognized by Windchill.
2. In > , configure the search path preference, Search Path for Automatically Attach Files on Upload. You can also set this preference using upload.autoattach.searchpath in the wgmclient.ini file. This preference specifies paths on disk, separated by a semicolon (;).
◦ Defines attachments to be searched for that are to be automatically added to a CAD/Dynamic Document upon upload.
◦ The order of the paths in the preference determines the order in which the directories are searched.
◦ You can use environment variables in the search path, specifying the environment variable as ${environment variable name}.