Hello all,

A question about smart components.

I've noticed a little problem now that I'm using more and more Smart Components.  Here's the conditions (fyi, we have Workgroup PDM in place for our vault):

1. I have an assembly that includes a part with Smart Components that i do not have ownership of.
2. If I open the Smart Component part, it shows as Read-Only (of course) because I do not have ownership of it.
3. With the part open, I can right-click the "Smart Feature" folder and select "Edit in Defining Assembly".  That will open an assembly  called "the part name-ta.sldasm" that defines the Smart Components.  Note: it does NOT show as Read-Only.

Now I can make changes to the defining assembly and Solidworks will let me save the Smart Component defining assembly.  It will even update the changes in the parent assembly if I choose to, so long as the part is still open in memory.

But once I close the part, the assembly changes I saved are lost.  I'm guessing this because I never owned the actual part, and I'm suspicious that the "-ta.sldasm" behaves like an internal assembly of the part.

So the question is, does this seem like expected behavior?

Obviously, it's not a big deal to take ownership of the part before redefining the assembly.  It just seems like the assembly should also show as Read-Only as well.