Youâ’ve been working on a 13,000 part mega-assembly with the most well thought out top-down assembly structure ever devised by man. The next morning, you gingerly sip your coffee as the model ooooopens, and then… something doesn’t look right. Suddenly, that pastry looses it’s sweetness as you come to grips that all your parts are… Out of Context?
It’s hard to figure out why or how this happened sometimes, but, never fear, there are ways to fix those out-of-context parts.
What’s Out-of-Context?
There’s this thing that happens when parts that are linked to assemblies become unlinked. You may hear something like, ‘That part had sketch relations driven by a top-down assembly, but now they’re out-of-context, so it’s not resolving correctly.‘ That is just fancy speak for… your parts lost a reference.
The Perfect Situation
I’m going to approach this problem from one angle that is a perfect situation for this tip and makes me look like I know everything about dealing with out-of-context stuff. This might not be the exact situation you have, but it’s quick and shows you an option for fixing your problem. Sally forth, or sumthin’.
Attention: the assembly has been renamed
The most common situation I see components go out of context is when the assembly they were created in has been renamed. If you rename an assembly that has parts built in the assembly you’ll get a very big message that say,‘There are parts that have features defined in the context of…if you select OK…’ you’re parts will be hosed.
Well, if this happens or you think it may have happened, here’s how to fix it.
- Open SolidWorks Explorer
Go to Tools, SolidWorks Explorer… and navigate to where your assembly is. - Rename the Assembly
Click the assembly and select the third circular icon over, SolidWorks Rename. You’ll see something like below. You may notice an absence of parts in the Update Where Used section. Rename the assembly to what it was named.Note: to find out what it was named you can edit an out-of-context assembly. You’ll get a pop-up that says, this part has featured defined in the context of another assembly [your_assy.sldasm]. That is what you rename it to.
- Rename one more time
If you need to change it back to what it was renamed to, just do the operation over again. Make sure the Update where used box is checked and you’ll notice this time, that there’s a nice group of parts that have found their way back home.
Other situations
This can come in handy for a number of situations
- Dissolving sub-assemblies
- Bringing in parts defined in another assembly
- Helping parts rebuild
- Correcting dangling relations in a part
I’m sure there are others. Have you used this before to fix problems?
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{ 15 comments }
Congratualtions Josh-
Excellent!
You’re now an offical member of the SolidWorks Explorer Club! Please see your Den Mom for your patch.
Even more fun is this: slash and burn all references all the way to the sketch level. Too bad the “Cavity” external reference cannot be removed, same with some Sketch Planes created a dimensioned distance from the Face of an external reference.
Devon
Thanks Devon, I feel an overwhelming sense of accomplishment. I love breaking references on other peoples models. good training method that build endurance. break, redo, break, redo, FASTER!!
Thanks Devon, I feel an overwhelming sense of accomplishment. I love breaking references on other peoples models. good training method that build endurance. break, redo, break, redo, FASTER!!
Another method is my “shock and awe” process. I take someone’s carefully crafted Part and Save As a dumb solid. “No more pesky External References now, Herman!”
“Oh Lily, darn, darn, darn!”
Devon
Don’t worry herman, external references are just too tempting for little Eddie.
I just try to avoid doing things in context at all. Just more stuff to get out of whack while I issue a multitude of 4 letter expletives while fixing it.
I just try to avoid doing things in context at all. Just more stuff to get out of whack while I issue a multitude of 4 letter expletives while fixing it.
Gardening Tips…
Thanks for the helpful post. I have visited many sites that have been a complete waste of time. It is good to come across a site that actually helps and informs the users… I have included another really good site at the bottom that also helps me ou…
I have a pop up saying “this part has features defined in the context of another assy VX6_Board Assy_AC_eSATA.SADASM. you can edit the part, but cannot create any external reference to the components of correct assy”.
It doesn't aloow me to do convert in order to edit the the sketch of a part. So i tried to rename the assy to
VX6_Board Assy_AC_eSATA_001.SLDASM (added _001)and checked “update where used” but the same message poped up again.
Can anyone give me an advise? Thanks in advance.
Margaret
I have a pop up saying “this part has features defined in the context of another assy VX6_Board Assy_AC_eSATA.SADASM. you can edit the part, but cannot create any external reference to the components of correct assy”.
It doesn’t aloow me to do convert in order to edit the the sketch of a part. So i tried to rename the assy to
VX6_Board Assy_AC_eSATA_001.SLDASM (added _001)and checked “update where used” but the same message poped up again.
Can anyone give me an advise? Thanks in advance.
Margaret
Here is the way: go to the Tools-Opertions-System Opertions-External References, “allow multiple contexts for parts when editing in assembly”. and I would think I'll setup this way normally operator.
Margaret
Here is the way: go to the Tools-Opertions-System Opertions-External References, “allow multiple contexts for parts when editing in assembly”. and I would think I’ll setup this way normally operator.
Margaret
This is daft. OK I have of had I should say, every version of Solid works all the way back to the 2000 version. Many of them I hated and refused to use so would remove them and use older versions.
Sorry I am referring to Solidworks explorer in this case.
About every 18 months or so, I need to toss my computer in the trash just to be able to have a machine powerful enough to keep up with everyone's goofy program changes.
While I will admit many are nice others are just extra lettuce in the salad to fill you up and muck up the taste.
When I buy a new box to house these programs before I can do anything I have to load the older programs in order to get this or that before I can load my latest version. Also if I do not remove the program itself just leaving the extras I will have issues later. never mind about that, I have modified enough code in other programs to know that the platform needs to change from time to time to function in whoever's OS you happen to be running.
But now let us just say I am a new user for what ever reason maybe I am a young undergraduate or I am an older person who has just now discovered Solidworks.. Ok now maybe I am a user who works under the licensee and I may not have his member account that enables me to receive support from Solidworks unless I am connected to the company’s network.
Maybe he or they only installed the latest version of Solidworks in my machine. Now I'm maybe at home doing work recovering from a roller blade or skiing accident, whatever. My boss needs me to do this or that and now I find I desperately need say Solidworks Explorer but I cannot use it because the 2007 version was not installed. How does this person acquire what he needs? More to the point why he should need to
This is daft. OK I have of had I should say, every version of Solid works all the way back to the 2000 version. Many of them I hated and refused to use so would remove them and use older versions.
Sorry I am referring to Solidworks explorer in this case.
About every 18 months or so, I need to toss my computer in the trash just to be able to have a machine powerful enough to keep up with everyone's goofy program changes.
While I will admit many are nice others are just extra lettuce in the salad to fill you up and muck up the taste.
When I buy a new box to house these programs before I can do anything I have to load the older programs in order to get this or that before I can load my latest version. Also if I do not remove the program itself just leaving the extras I will have issues later. never mind about that, I have modified enough code in other programs to know that the platform needs to change from time to time to function in whoever's OS you happen to be running.
But now let us just say I am a new user for what ever reason maybe I am a young undergraduate or I am an older person who has just now discovered Solidworks.. Ok now maybe I am a user who works under the licensee and I may not have his member account that enables me to receive support from Solidworks unless I am connected to the company’s network.
Maybe he or they only installed the latest version of Solidworks in my machine. Now I'm maybe at home doing work recovering from a roller blade or skiing accident, whatever. My boss needs me to do this or that and now I find I desperately need say Solidworks Explorer but I cannot use it because the 2007 version was not installed. How does this person acquire what he needs? More to the point why he should need to
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