PDMWorks Workgroup 2008 Web Viewer Upgrade

If you have the PDMWorks Workgroup Web Viewer,  make sure you contact us so we can get your new 2008 license key generated before you upgrade!

What to Do When PDMWorks Workgroup Gets Spooky

PDMWorks Workgroup is a great tool for keeping your team working together. It can, at times, get a little bit strange in it's behavior. This time of year, one might be tempted to blame ghosts or the supernatural, but there are a couple of more rational things to check before blaming the phase of the moon.

The first trick has been discussed here before. It is a good practice to stop and start the vault on a regular basis. When the PDMWorks vault has been running for an extended period of time, it can become less reliable and less responsive.  Check the link above on how to set up your system to do this automatically. You will be rewarded with the treat of better performance and reliability.

Another issue that can cause PDMWorks to act as if it has bats in it's belfry is when the client and server are on different service packs. This can happen when testing new service packs of SolidWorks.

When you are ready to deploy the new service pack to everyone, you should always update the server first. This way, even if you don't  get around to updating all the workstations at the same time, PDMWorks will download the latest client next time the user connects to the server.

The fastest way to check for this problem while in SolidWorks is to go to the Help/About PDMWorks Work group ... menu. It will display something similar to the image at the left. As long as both are  the same version, everything is great. If the Vault is older, talk to the person in charge of the Vault and get an upgrade scheduled, BEFORE ITS TOO LATE! 

SolidWorks Releases PDMWorks Enterprise 2008

This is a release  we at InFlow have been looking forward to for a while. SolidWorks Corporation today unveiled PDMWorks Enterprise 2008. SolidWorks has done a great job of listening to what is going on in the field and improving an already strong product. We  will be talking about the specifics as time goes on, but to give you a taste of whats new ...

Improved support of SolidWorks Configurations

This has gone from a weak spot for PDMWE to a true strength. The new version allows access to the structure of each configuration without launching SolidWorks. This information can also be used to create reports and BOMs.

Better control and management of Bills Of Materials(BOMs)

Multiple BOMs now be created for for an assembly. For example, you can have a separate BOM for as designed, as Manufactured, as Serviced, etc.

BOMs can be routed through work flow. This allows you to route them for approvals or distribution and more.

Using the PDMWE, multiple people can review and edit BOMs without installing SolidWorks. This allows non CAD users contribute to the BOM creation process.

BOMs can now include units of measure.

Improved Connectivity to External Systems

Many companies we talk to put integration to external business systems (ERP) high on the list of priorities. PDMWE 2008 makes a bigger piece of this task a configurable tool rather than a customization. Communication can be triggered manually, or via a work flow. Communication is done via XML files. This process is bi-directional. As an example, this capability can be used to send BOM information to your ERP system and get costing information pushed back into PDMWE.

Improved replication across multiple sites

PDMWorks Enterprise 2008 features faster, more powerful replication of design files across distributed organizations. It optionally replicates only the latest version of design files for faster, less processing-intensive downloads. New capabilities enable design engineers to easily find the current version of any part or project, eliminating confusion and errors.

Other improvements:

• Improved foreign language support
• Performance improvements

There is a lot more to discuss. More to come.

Installing SolidWorks Explorer without PDMWorks Workgroup

By Kevin Schmitt - Inflow Technology

With the increased functionality of the free SolidWorks Explorer download in SolidWorks 2007, it’s use is becoming much more prevalent.  Even though it replaces the PDMWorks Workgroup stand alone client, not everyone will choose to use it for this purpose.  The problem is that sometimes when SolidWorks Explorer is installed without the PDMWorks Workgroup add-in, it will show that the PDMWorks Workgroup add-in is active.  The add-in check box will be checked, yet grayed out and unchangeable.

Despite the fact the box is checked, none of the PDMWorks Workgroup functionality will be available within SolidWorks Explorer.  This problem should only occur on machines that are currently or have in the past used a SolidWorks Network License or had SolidWorks License Manager software installed on them.  For machines currently using a SolidWorks Network License, there is no current fix, however SolidWorks Explorer functionality should not be impacted.  If a machine is not currently using a SolidWorks Network License, then a certain registry key will need to be deleted in order to remedy the issue.

REMEMBER TO CREATE A BACK UP COPY OF ANY REGISTRY FILE BEFORE DELETING.

From the Run command under the Start menu, the Registry Editor can be run be typing in /regedit

By Browsing to the to the “My Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\FLEXlm License Manager” registry folder, the SW_D_LISCENSE_FILE can be found.  Right click on the “FLEXlm License Manager” folder, and select export to save the registry at a secure location first.  Then delete only SW_D_LICENSE_FILE from that registry folder.

This will help ensure that your SolidWorks Explorer will not give you any errors by attempting to use nonexistent PDMWorks Workgroup functionality.

PDMWorks Workgroup - Vault Cycle

It has been found that after long periods of uptime, the PDMWorks Server process can become less reliable and less responsive. Starting and Stopping the process, and allowing it to rebuild its internal tables has been shown to improve this situation. The following process will allow you to set this up on a recurring basis. The example below has been created on Windows XP, a similar procedure will also work for any host OS supported by PDMWorks.
The following procedure must be done by an IT administrator on the computer that is host to the PDMWorks Server process.

Step 1 – Create a command file
In the example the file is called Cycle_pdmwvault.cmd and is saved to the c:\bin directory. This command file is created in notepad and contains:
    net stop "pdmworks workgroup server"
    net start "pdmworks workgroup server"

You should validate this command file by running it from the Windows command line. Be careful to test it at a time it will not interfere with any user logged into PDMWorks.

Step 2 - Set up a Windows Scheduled task to run this command file
Use the Scheduled tasks tool to create a new scheduled task. It is found in Windows XP under Start/All Programs/Accessories/System Tools/Scheduled Tasks

1. Double click on the “Add Scheduled Task” entry.
2. Hit Next
3. Select Browse
4. Select the Cycle_pdmwvault.cmd file created in the previous step and hit Open
5. Select Daily and hit Next
6. Set the time for the process to run. This should be in a low activity time in the middle of the night. Be careful to assure the time does not conflict with scheduled backup times.
7. Enter the administrator login and password under which this process will run.
8. Select next and the process should be complete.

Be sure to check in the event viewer the next day to make sure the process ran correctly.

Displaying Quantity in a PDMWorks Workgroup Report

One of the most common questions on PDMWorks Workgroup and reporting is: Why is the quantity always blank in reports?

As you can see in the report, the quantity always appears to be blank. This, it turns out, is one of those cases of a computer doing exactly what you are asking for, instead of what you want.

The issue is that PDMWorks native mode is to give you information on the files themselves. The quantity can vary depending on the revision of the files and the specific configuration. So until you specify both Revision and Specification, the quantity field will be blank.

To specify Revision and Configuration, simply select from the pull down boxes in the report dialog. Make sure you update the report or set update to automatic to see the effects of your changes.

Once you have fully specified what you want, the quantity appears. It will also be output to a file if you choose to do so.