Is there such a macro - rename part files by adding prefix.

Does anyone know of a Macro that will do the following either in SolidWorks
or PDMWorks. Also willing to pay someone to write one.

I have inherited number of files with a descriptive filename, I wish to add
an alphanumeric prefix (that automatically increments sequentially) to all
the part files within a given subassembly.

e.g. With the main assembly and a specific subassembly open rename part
files as below.

Main Assembly
---Subassembly one
------Partfiles (add Prefix to all part files in this subassembly beginning
with CW06-10-2001 incrementing sequentially)
---Subassembly two
------Partfiles (add Prefix to all part files in this subassembly beginning
with CW06-10-5001 incrementing sequentially)
etc

John Layne
www.solidengineering.co.nz

 

Have a look at my blog at http://mountain-wave.blogspot.com/ and
download this movie
http://www.archive.org/download/Batch_Rename_in_Solidworks/BatchRename01.m4v

It will get you part way...

You can use wild cards to help rename such as "*" to retain the original
name, but how to get the sequential numbering I am not sure what the
characters to use are, anyone out there that can fill in the blank here?

So to start, adding the "CW06-10-2001" prefix have a look at my vid and
then use this for renaming
CW06-10-2001-*.*

Again I am sure there is some way to sequentially number these I just am
not sure how.

Ben

 

I think this program can help you.
Oscar's Renamer...Just Google it.
Will show you a folder as text file which you can copy it in a text editor
with find/replace feauteres, and when you are done just copy back and you
are done...

Oz

 

I have exceeded my bandwidth cap this month, so can't view your movie
without waiting for it download for a couple of hours at dial-up speeds.

Though without the ability to sequentially increment the numbers I not
sure I would be that much better off.

I do appreciate the reply though.


John Layne
www.solidengineering.co.nz

 

If I did this the SolidWorks assembly would no longer no know where to
look for the files.

Thanks for the suggestion.

John Layne
www.solidengineering.co.nz

 

Can you provide more information on your situation and what you need
done? There are several important questions you need to answer.

As you describe what you want I see a number of potential conflicts.

1. What if an assembly contains multiple instances of the same part?
You would need a macro smart enough to know when it reached a duplicate
instance and to not rename it.

Are you changing multiple top-level assemblies?
2. If so do any of them share common parts/subassemblies? If so how do
you resolve naming conflicts between those two?

If you just have a few unique subassemblies containing unique parts
then updating would be easy. You write a macro that checks to make
certain Tools -> Options -> System Options Tab -> External References
-> Update Component Names when documents are replaced is UNChecked.
Then have a macro iterate through all subassemblies and parts and
rename them according to your schema. However if you have either of
the scenarios outlined above then it gets more complicated. For
question 1 you could put in a check to see if the component name
already contains your prefix. If so then ignore changing it. For
question 2 you could probably use PDM/Works auto-update other
referenced assemblies and also use the solution from question 1 to make
sure you don't stomp on the naming schema.

You can use the Component2::Name2 API to rename your documents
according to your needs. I have some code for iterating through
assembly components if you need it.

Mr. Who

 

Thanks for your valuable input, someone is currently writing a Macro for me
I'll pass along your well thought through comments.

John Layne
www.solidengineering.co.nz