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What’s new with Connector 3.0?

The following is a summary of the new features introduced with Connector 3.0. For a complete description please refer to the Connector 3.0 Release Notes.

New SofTech CADRA Connector

  • Direct connection between Aras Innovator and CADRA
  • Control CADRA Drawings that are project specific
  • Register, Store and Retrieve operations to manage your CADRA Drawings within Aras as Aras CAD Documents and Parts
  • Bi-directional CADRA Property to Aras Property Mapping for Aras CAD Documents and Parts

Updated Icons and Tooltips

The Connector has been updated with new icons to indicate “Not Latest”, “Released and Locked” and “Registered but not Stored” for a CAD Document or Part. The Connector 3.0 Release Notes documents all of the Connector icons along with the tooltip that will be displayed when the mouse hovers over the icon.

Specifying the Revision for a new Part or CAD Document

The Connector has been updated to allow the user to select the Revision value when creating a new Part or CAD Document during the Register and Store Document operations or when storing a modified released CAD Document during the Store Document BOM operation.

Setting File Permission Downloaded Files

When the Connector downloads a checked-out or locked file then these file permissions will be set to “write” and all “copied” files will have their file permissions set to “read-only”. This applies to files downloaded to the user’s work folder, to the SolidWorks Design Library or to the Inventor Project Library.

Manage your Local Work Environment – Workspace Explorer

The Workspace Explorer dialog provides the ability to manage your local work environment with operations to Open, Get Copy, Checkout, Lock, Unlock, Return Unmodified, Retrieve Selected and Retrieve by Search. The dialog will open to the user’s work folder to present the list of files along with Windows File System and Aras Innovator information.

Updated Search Results Filter

In the 3.0 release, the Search Results will display all part numbers related to a specific CAD Document which will result in duplicate entries for the related CAD Document.

Storing Thumbnail Images

The Connector now has the ability to extract a thumbnail image during the Store Document operation and to store the thumbnail as the Thumbnail property for the related CAD Document.

Updates for Register and Store Property Value Validation

The Connector now has the ability to validate Property Values when you complete the Register, Store Document and Store BOM operations. The Connector uses the Aras Item Type definition for Data Type, Length and Required settings to validate property values for all Parts and CAD Documents being stored.

Unlock operation added to Aras menu

The Aras menu has been updated with a new Unlock operation.

Updates for Store Document Operation Validation

With the Connector 3.0 release, the “modified copies” and “unmodified checkouts” conditions will generate new dialogs during the Store Document operations.

Detecting Lock Error Conditions

The Connector will now display the Lock Error dialog when you attempt to lock a document that is non-latest or when a document is locked by another user.

New Property Mapping “Method” Keyword

The Connector now includes a new “Method” keyword for situations when you want to use Aras Method Code to generate part numbers during the Register Generate Part Number operation. The format of the keyword will be “Method.<your-method> where <your-method> is the name of your Aras method code.

Updated Part and CAD Document to CAD File Property Mapping

For situations where the Part or CAD Document property values might be updated outside the context of the Connector such as by using the Aras Client, the Connector needs to ensure that these changed property values are mapped back to the CAD File.

The Connector will update CAD File properties whenever the user indicates that the CAD File will be checked out or locked based on specific set of conditions documented in the Connector 3.0 Release Notes.

Updated Current Settings Operation

If the administrator makes changes to the Resource Settings or Property Mappings for a specific Connector Project then any user with an active CAD session would need to invoke the Change Project to realize those changes. With the 3.0 release, the Current Settings operation has been updated to refresh the Connector Project settings.

Include Drawings Resource Setting in the Inventor Connector

The “Include Drawings” Resource Setting for Register and Store Document functionality within the Inventor Connector had always searched the current in-memory session for associated Inventor Drawings and Presentations but the Inventor Connector has now been updated to also search the user’s work folder to find associated Drawings and Presentations. With this product change, if you have the Include Drawings resource settings enabled, if you only open the Inventor assembly and invoke the Register or Store operations then the Connector will search in-memory and in your work folder for any associated Inventor Drawing or Presentation to any model in the current hierarchy.

Customizing the Connector Window Layouts

When the Connector opens the Register, Store or Workspace Explorer windows, as an example, the Connector will open these windows in a pre-defined location with a pre-defined size. These windows will display information using a pre-defined ordering of columns to display the various CAD Document and/or Part properties.

If you make changes to the window position, or window size or column layout then these changes will be saved for each Connector window so that when you return to that window during the current session or when you logout and log back into the Connector then your window customizations will be used. If you decide that you want to reset the column layouts to the Connector defined layout then select the Reset operation in the column header context menu.

Expanded availability of Retrieve Hierarchy from the Aras Client

You now have the ability to customize the Aras Client to invoke the Connector Retrieve Hierarchy operation from the Affected Items tab when working with any Change Management items.

Language Localization

The Connector has been architected to support any language through the creation and usage of language specific resource files. The Connector Development Team will maintain and manage the English language resource files and SofTech will work with language-specific experts to create and maintain the non-English language resource files.

With the 3.0 release the Connector has been localized for:

  • Italian
  • German
  • Japanese
  • French
  • Spanish

If you need the Connector localized for a specific language or you have any corrections for a specific language then please contact connector@softech.com.

Connector Documentation

Please refer to the Connector 3.0 Release Notes for the documentation changes included in this latest release. The following is the list of available Connector documentation:

  • Release Notes – This document is designed to provide an overview of the new features and changes with the new Connector release.
  • Installation Guide – This document is designed to assist the administrator with installing the Connector Server Packages and Client Software.
  • SolidWorks User Guide – This document is design to assist the SolidWorks user with the features, functionality and usage of the Connector.
  • SolidWorks Primer – This document is designed to assist the administrator with validating that the SolidWorks Connector was properly installed and functions as intended. This document can also be used as a quick tutorial for the new SolidWorks Connector user.
  • Inventor User Guide – This document is design to assist the Inventor user with the features, functionality and usage of the Connector.
  • Inventor Primer – This document is designed to assist the administrator with validating that the Inventor Connector was properly installed and functions as intended. This document can also be used as a quick tutorial for the new Inventor Connector user.
  • CADRA User Guide – This document is design to assist the CADRA user with the features, functionality and usage of the Connector.
  • CADRA Primer – This document is designed to assist the administrator with validating that the CADRA Connector was properly installed and functions as intended. This document can also be used as a quick tutorial for the new CADRA Connector user.
  • Administrator Guide – This document is designed to assist the administrator with customizing the Connector Projects, Resource Settings and Property Mappings.