backing up a large assembly

[mekaneck]

I couldn't find a better topic area for this, so here goes:


Is there a good way to backup a large assembly without loading it up in ProE? Are there any freeware programs that would allow me to do this, or is there a way to get ProE to back up the entire assembly even if I only load up the empty rep?

 

[kvision]

Pull up the master rep and suppress all the components then do file>backup.


Not perfect, but will work.

 

[mekaneck]

but then I have to load up the entire assembly before I can suppress the parts, right?


I am resorting to writing a batch file that will do the backup for me, rather than using proe. That way I can tell it to back up the drawings as well.

 

[EddyVE]

I once wrote a program that allows you to select an assemblys '.inf' file (menu "Info/Model").


Then you can check if every part in the assembly has a matching .drw or .rep file (with the same name as the part).
You can also copy all the parts in the assembly to a directory of your choice.
You can also purge the target directory.


Don't know if this is what you're looking for...


Kind regards
Eddy

 

[mekaneck]

I ended up writing the batch file to do what I needed.



What I was looking for was one which I can type "backup myassem.asm
c:\newfolder" and it will do everything just like pro/e would, except
that it will also optionally backup any drawings that have the same
first 6 characters as the part or asm.



I wanted it to parse assemblies and drawings for subassemblies and
parts so it would include everything. Sometimes I have drawings that
use fake parts to make the drawing look good (usually hose assemblies),
and I would have to open up each drawing and back it up if I wanted to
copy all the fake parts too.



Out of curiosity, what language did you write your program in? Since I
don't really know any assembly languages, I had to resort to good ol'
ms-dos batch scripting.

 

[Brian_Adkins]

Wouldanyone here mind if I moved this thread to the CAD Administration forum? No need to reply unless this would bug you.


...moved... thanks.


-Brian
Edited by: Brian_Adkins

 

[EddyVE]

This program (as are all my programs for the last 3 years) was written in PowerBASIC.

Don't let the 'BASIC' in PowerBASIC fool you. The PowerBASIC compiler
produces very fast and small executable programs that do not need
run-time dll's.



Kind regards

Eddy

www.devotechs.com

 

[jnoval]

It is also possible to use ProE in no graphic mode. The it is much
faster, and must could be call from some kind og script
(Program/batch/vba/Intralink java macro...)

I have never try.

 

[Brian_Adkins]

If the file formats change and paring them manually ceases to work, a simple solution would be to kick off Pro/E without graphics (as jnoval suggests), spit out a bill of materials to a text file, and then close Pro/E.


This would happen much faster than opening the assembly in regular Pro/E and would had the added benefit of processing all subassemblies as well. Using the 'parse-a-text-file' method requires that each subassembly be parsed separately.

1. 
   <LI>Batch file takes file name as input</LI>
   <LI>batch file creates a Pro/E trail file based on #1</LI>
   <LI>batch file launches Pro/E w/no graphics and trail file from #2</LI>
   <LI>Pro/E trail file loads assembly and exports custom BOM to text file</LI>
   <LI>Pro/E exists are control returns to batch file</LI>
   <LI>Batch file parses BOM and does whatever is needed.</LI>

-Brian

 

[EddyVE]

Brian,


I never knew that Pro/E could be launched without graphics. How do you do that? Is that a command line parameter?


Kind regards
Eddy

 

[proed]

To launch Pro/E with no graphics: <proecommand> -g:no_graphics


As mentioned, this is handy for running trail files, & runs MUCH faster...
Edited by: proed

 

[mekaneck]

i got this to worl:


proe2001.bat "u:\trailfile.txt" -g:no_graphics


and this seems quite handy, but is there anything more I can do other than run trail files?


or are there other command line extensions suppported? I would like to export a BOM of an assembly (recursive, so I get all parts in all subassemblies too). Is there a way to do this other than loading in a trail file that expands the model tree and saves as text? (plus, the model tree doesn't help when it showsan instance, because I need toknow the file name)


Thanks for any help you can offer.

 

[mekaneck]

I was able to get it to do what I wanted. I got the time to backup my
assembly down from 40 min to 7.5 thanks to a trail file using the no
graphics option. Thanks for the tip.