About the SolidWorks link

The TeamWork application link for SolidWorks provides similar functionality to the other CAD application links:

• Property data exchange
• Assembly/subassembly/part structure management

These features are important because they can affect the data integrity of your drawings. Assembly structure management is automatic and doesn’t require any action on your part. Property data exchange is also automatic or it can be activated at your discretion.

Besides these features, the SolidWorks link is unique in that it shows a TeamWork vault browser inside SolidWorks that you can use to find and work with SolidWorks files that reside in a vault. For information about using this browser, see Working with the TeamWork browser.

Property data exchange between SolidWorks and TeamWork occurs by a link between TeamWork properties and SolidWorks properties. If your SolidWorks files contain properties that are used in title blocks, for example, that text can be synchronized with properties in a TeamWork vault. Normal SolidWorks text cannot be linked with TeamWork. TeamWork can support multiple property sets simultaneously. Property data exchange is configured by a system administrator and described in the BlueCielo TeamWork Configuration Guide .

Assembly/subassembly/part management by TeamWork entails automatically detecting and tracking SolidWorks files regardless of where the files may reside in a vault, including Local Workspace. This means that TeamWork can maintain the referential integrity of SolidWorks files as you import them into a vault, move them, create revisions, and even exchange them with other parties using briefcases. When you open a file in SolidWorks that has references to other files, the SolidWorks link finds the current location of the reference files in the vault and updates the locations of the reference files in the current file. The link will even detect if the reference files have been renamed in the vault and will resolve them correctly in SolidWorks.

The SolidWorks link automatically creates and maintains TeamWork references between assemblies, subassemblies, and parts. These links can be used to view files that might be effected by changes to a different file and for other uses.

Together with the basic integration provided by Application Integration, any file created or used by SolidWorks can be managed in a TeamWork vault. Conversely, SolidWorks commands that request a file can access TeamWork vaults for document selection.

The commands for using the SolidWorks link features can be found on the BlueCielo menu and in the BlueCielo toolbar in SolidWorks. Some commands are also available within the TeamWork application.

Tip

• The easiest way to correctly import SolidWorks assemblies while maintaining their references is described in About the Assembly Import Tool.
• For viewing SolidWorks files in TeamWork, we recommend that system administrators integrate the SolidWorks eDrawings viewer as described in the BlueCielo TeamWork Configuration Guide . By default, only the thumbnail image stored in SolidWorks files is shown in the BlueCielo viewer. The resolution of this image is usually too low for adequate viewing and cannot be manipulated in 3D.

Note

• SolidWorks note annotations that are linked to SolidWorks properties will also show the value of TeamWork properties if the properties are mapped to one another. However, this synchronization is only in one direction from the SolidWorks property to the annotation. Manual changes to the annotation will not be synchronized to the TeamWork property.
• Property and reference synchronization does not work in SolidWorks lightweight mode because external references are not resolved by SolidWorks.
• The functionality provided in SolidWorks by Application Integration is subject to the general limitations of Application Integration described in About Application Integration.
• Do not copy references in TeamWork while any of the files to which the references refer are open in SolidWorks. The references might not be updated correctly due to files being held open by SolidWorks. For more information about copying references and the configurable options, see Duplicating references.

The following topics describe each feature.