Let’s face it, there are some repetitive tasks with Inventor and Vault that are tedious, time consuming and potentially error prone when they are performed frequently back to back. For example, you have just revised 15 component files and now need to update all of the associated assemblies/sub-assemblies as well as the detail drawings. Let’s not forget that in a Vault environment we need to check out the files and then check them back in after the updates. In this scenario, we could have at least 1 assembly and 16 detail drawings that need to be updated.
The basic workflow looks like this:
- Find and open each file with Inventor
- Check out the file from Vault
- Update the file
- Save the file
- Check the file back in to Vault
- Close the file
- Repeat
It’s not difficult, it’s just tedious.
The Inventor Task Scheduler has a solution for you with the Sequential Task that we can use to check the file out of Vault, update in Inventor, and check the file back into Vault.
Preparation:
You will need two Inventor Project files:
Vault enabled – for Vault tasks
Single user – For Inventor Tasks
As this task will involve working with Vault, you will need to log into Vault.
Here is the workflow:
From the Create Task pull down, select “Sequential Task”.
For this example, we are going to presume that you already have local copies of the files that are impacted by the revised files.
The first step of our Sequence is to check the files out of Vault. (Note: if you are using Vault Lifecycles, make sure your files are in an editable state such as “Work in Progress”.)
From the “Add” pull down, select “Check out from Vault”
- Verify that you are using a Vault Project file
- Determine the source for the files to be checked out (in this example we are using a folder and will check out all files)
- Navigate to the location of the folder or files and select accordingly.
When selecting a folder, you have the option to choose the Inventor file type to check out.
When checking out the files pay attention to the various settings on the Check-out dialog.
Get Latest will download the latest version to your workspace.
From the listed files you can select/deselect the files to be checked out.
Review the settings and adjust as needed.
Create the Update Design Task
From the “Add” pull down, select “Update Design"
- Verify that you are using a Single User Project file
- Determine the source for the files to be checked out (in this example we are using a folder and will check out all files)
- Navigate to the location of the folder or files and select accordingly.
Create the Check In Task
From the “Add” pull down, select "Check in to Vault"
- Verify that you are using a Vault Project file
- Determine the source for the files to be checked out (in this example we are using a folder and will check out all files)
- Navigate to the location of the folder or files and select accordingly.
Completed Sequence Task
Add additional tasks if needed. When you are ready to run the task, set the desired schedule or select immediately and let Inventor Task Scheduler do the tedious work.
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