Hello all!
I work for an engineering firm and we send out all our manufacturing to vendors, they all require different file sets. Commonly we send the .prt, asm, ,pdf and .dxf of drawings and IGS (vendor preferred) for our sheet metal parts. Sometimes some silk screen art files. Then we pack and go them. I was able to (but NOT WITHOUT THE HELP from the good souls here!) create a macro that creates and saves the pdf and dxf to the design binder and will also copy the igs file there as well. The P&G is done from the drawing (of the part) file as that is the only file that has the full filename and revision, that assures the igs, pdf and dxf file also do as well. We use configurations extensively.
I understand that SW (2010) at least partially loads the component files into memory with the drawing. I was wondering if, using the API, I can also save out the igs file using the same filename as the drawing, without opening the actual part file? In the worst case and quite possibly the best case, I would select the part from the tree and then click the (igs save) macro button.
As it stands now, I search for the part drawing and before opening it I copy the filename to the clipboard. With the drawing open I open the part file and save as igs, pasting in the filename and save.Then I run the macro (create pdf, dxf and save to design binder) and then the P&G. A complete fileset with no forgetting or errors in filenames or inclusions. I was doing the P&G, then adding the files to the zip file.
Feel free to post your questions and advice, I'll be glad to share the macro as it stands now and at completion, it's a real time and frustration saver!
SolidworksApi macros