SolidWorks:HEARD!

DriveWorks, Ltd., a design automation gold partner inside of SolidWorks, has had a plugin archtecture allowing developers to build tools to further the automation procedure downstream.  This extensibility has commonly been used to allow DriveWorks to talk to PDM, automating the procedure of creating projects and checking in specification data as well as the 3D CAD outputs.

With the introduction of DriveWorks 7, the plugin for SolidWorks Enterprise PDM was built into the default installation.  This "out of the box" integration to EPDM is very easy to setup and delivers a full-circle automation loop from specification to check-in!

This can be configured in just a few steps:

1. Launch DriveWorks Administrator or turn on the SolidWorks addin and click on "Settings . 
2. Select on "Plugin Settings", scroll to the bottom, select on "SolidWorks Enterprise PDM" and click "Settings" (fill out vault name, user name, user password and what outputs to check in)
    DriveWorks 7 - SolidWorks Enterprise PDM Plugin
3. Select on "General Settings" and set the "Default Specification Folder" destination to point to the local vault view, selecting the top level folder where the clone specifications are to be sent.
   
   DriveWorks 7 - Specification Destination
4. Specify a new clone in a project, release it to SolidWorks, run the model generation and watch the models get pushed into the vault.
   
   DriveWorks 7 - Model GenerationThe setup is further outlined in the help file of DriveWorks 7 Pro, which was one of the many aspects the development group at DriveWorks enhanced in this version.  Setup is easy and it makes design automation adoption much easier for those who have already integrated EPDM into their design process.  ~Lou