Configuring SolidWorks property synchronization

Before you begin

Compile a list of the SolidWorks property names used by your organization. Determine the Meridian property name (and property set name) that corresponds to each SolidWorks property that you want to synchronize. Also for each SolidWorks property, determine whether it should be read or written, or both. In effect, determine which application should control the value of that attribute, Meridian or SolidWorks. When doing so, consider where the documents will originate from, imported from outside the vault (SolidWorks properties should be read), or created inside the vault with the aid of a wizard that prompts the user for title block properties (SolidWorks properties should be written).

To configure SolidWorks property synchronization:

1. In Configurator, expand Environment in the configuration tree and select Application Link Settings. The settings for each link appear in property pages in the right pane.
2. Click the SolidWorks tab. The SolidWorks link’s settings page appears in the right pane.
3. Click the Edit button to modify the settings.

Tip    To export the settings file to your computer, click the Export button. This can be useful if you would rather edit the file in your favorite text editor. You can then copy your changes to the Clipboard and paste them into Configurator.

4. Locate the setting for each SolidWorks property within its property set section.

Note    The property set section names are defined in the [PropertySets] section using the following syntax:

<COMPropertySetName>/<FMTID >=<PropertySetName>, <ProgID>

Under normal circumstances, the definition should not be edited. If necessary, only <PropertySetName>and its corresponding property set section name may be changed. For example, changing both occurrences of SWCustom to SolidWorksCustom.

5. Edit the value of each SolidWorks property setting to include the corresponding Meridian property set and property name that you want to synchronize. You can delete any unused property settings to simplify editing and increase synchronization performance. You can type comments in the file by beginning each line with a semicolon (;). Use the default property settings in the file as examples.

Note    The numbers shown following the document property names are IDs that resolve the property mapping when the property name is localized into multiple languages.

Tip    You can find the names of property sets and properties on the Properties page of each document type, as described in Creating and editing document types.

Also specify a flag if the property should be read-only (RO) or write-only (WO). By default, properties are read/write. Use the following format for each property:

<SolidWorksPropertyName>=<BlueCieloPropertySet.BlueCieloPropertyName>,<Flag>

The following example maps the document property Title to the Meridian property Title such that the document property is written from Meridian and not vice versa:

Title=Custom.Title, RO

Note    Although Meridian internal properties can be synchronized to SolidWorks properties, you should never attempt to update internal properties or Access denied errors can occur. Flag all properties linked to Meridian internal properties as write-only (WO). Only write to Meridian properties in the Custom property set.

If you want to synchronize a property to a parent folder (routed) property, you must specify the folder type name from which to get the folder property as in the following example.

<SolidWorksPropertyName>=<FolderTypeName:PropertySetName.PropertyName>,<Flag>

And if you want to synchronize one property to one of several possible routed properties, you must specify a unique identifier for each of the property on the left side of the setting as in the following example.

<SolidWorksPropertyName,ID>=<FolderTypeName:PropertySetName.PropertyName>,<Flag>

The value of ID is insignificant but must be unique among all of the lines. Using this syntax, you can map the same SolidWorks property to multiple project folder types and the value will depend on the document’s parent folder. The following example uses three different folder types NewProject, UpgradeProject, and RepairProject.

ProjectNum,new = NewProject:PSProject.ProjectNum,WO      
ProjectNum,upgrade = UpgradeProject:PSProject.ProjectNum,WO      
ProjectNum,repair = RepairProject:PSProject.ProjectNum,WO      

6. Click OK to save your changes.
7. Test the link thoroughly by synchronizing each SolidWorks property. You can do this by changing the Meridian property values for a drawing in the vault and SolidWorks property values in the same drawing and confirming that the synchronization occurs in the way that you expect. You can manually synchronize properties with the Meridian client applications as described in the BlueCielo Meridian Enterprise User’s Guide.