Solidworks 3 character extension????

Is there any way to have solidworks save it's files in a 3 digit file
extension, ie *.SLDASM = ASW: *.SLDPRT= *.PSW ; *.SLDDRW=*.DSW

I started with a new company that bought an EDM System called IFS. They
were told that It would work with Solidworks but it turns out to be a huge
amount of money to have them enable it to work with 6 digit file
extensions.

I can have an easy solution if I can get SW to save the files as above or
some other 3 character extension.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Steve

 

Original file names for SW were .asm, .prt & .drw then they changed to the
current 6 digit system a few years ago.

Merry

 

HA HA HA!!! Sorry, but I can't help laughing at things like this. How
much do you suppose a system like this costs? I'm sure it's outrageous
money. And it gets tripped up by file extensions longer than three
characters? For cryin' out loud, this hasn't been a Windows limitation
since Windows 95.

It's like how BobCAD still (as of ver 17, anyway) can't deal with anything
other than 8.3 filenames. How sad and pathetic.

Anyway, I think your only solution is to manually strip the "SLD" from the
extension when saving Solidworks files. You can do it right in the dialog
box. Even if someone forgets to do that it can easily be changed later.

I notice that Solidworks already includes .PRT, .ASM, and .DRW in the
filters when opening and saving files. However, it doesn't associate
itself with those file extensions so you'd have to do it manually through
Windows.

Also, keep in mind that some 3rd party SW tools may not be written to deal
with the older extensions.

A better solution would be to scold the EDM vendor and mention to them how
embarassing it is that their over-priced and under-featured software can't
deal with something that a $50 database program wouldn't even blink at.
Really, I would consider this a bug in their software and they should be
obliged to fix it for free.

 

Joel:
The EDM system is in the past and that's the way it is. I just want to
find solutions.

You are correct is observing that solidworks has filters for *.prt etc but
when it saves the extension that is automatically applied is *.SDLPRT.

I did not make the rules, I just need to live in them.

Thanks,
Steve

 

Steve,

This isn't an automated solution however, you can open a command
prompt window and then use DOS commands to:

1. navigate to the directory where the files reside

2. rename *.sldasm *.asw
3. rename *.sldprt *.psw
4. rename *.slddrw *.dsw

The process could be tedious (especially if you have many directory
locations), but it works and can of course be used with the rename
commands in the reverse when you want to revert the files to native
SolidWorks recognition.

To work with the files on both SolidWorks and IFS simultaneously,
you'll need to have duplicates.

Per O. Hoel
___________________________________________________________________

 

MANMAN....ugh....been in the same situation. Now I struggle with an equally
cruddy software called Pointman. At least its windoze based so I can copy
and paste meaningless data at will or export to a useless excel spreadsheet.
Can't someone come up with a decent ERP system that is less expensive per
seat than my house!?! I've been thinking about using Parts&Vendors!

 

That's what I'm using now. It's not an ERP system, though. It's really
just a BOM maintenance/part ordering/ECO tracking database. And it has
it's own problems as well. I'm more often disappointed than pleasantly
surprised by its interface.

But it IS quite affordable.

Damn, I wish I had the time to write my own system.

 

ERP-SB.
It is the most inexpensive, complete, ERP system available.

 

(Merlin) wrote in

http://www.vansomeren.com/erp/index.htm

Do you use it? If so, what are your thoughts? Can you compare it to other
systems?

Sounds interesting. I'm definitely going to give it a look.

 

Gotta say their website is a disorganized mess. No demo, either.