Temporary ungroup

[m-d-e]

Is it possible to temporarily ungroup a group of features if you want to add a feature? This is when it's not possible to drag a feature into the group. It's annoying to ungroup --> add feature using insert mode --> re-group and rename. It's the rename part that would be nice not to have to do.

My first post!

 

[kirancitd]

I didn't understand why it is not possible with drag & drop? Can you explain where you are getting this problem

 

[csusie]

m-d-e,


I dont think there is an easy way to do that except for what you are already doing.


Update:


I dont know what I tried whenI replied, but you should be able to drag and drop the feature into and out of the group. I tried on both WF2.0 and WF3.0. If you want to move the feature out of the group and just below the group you will have to either drag it 2 down and then pull the above feature down below the feature you wanted to reorder, if that is a dependent feature and you can drag out of the group below the next feature, then you have to create a dummy feature (csys on top of default csys). and drag the feature below that. then delete the dummy csys.
Edited by: csusie

 

[mjcole_ptc]

Are you seeing any error messages like Feature must be --- Group head etc.?

I can try to find a workaround if you can post a picture of your model tree including the features you want to add to the group and the Group including Feat Id or an Exported Model tree text file.

Also post a text file with how you want the Model Tree to look.

For rename just F2 Copy text and paste on regroup.

One solution right now might be to create a Group prior to the one you are having problems with and drag the Group and the feature you want to add into the temp group and try doing a drag within the temp group.

If you have a patterned group this may not be possible.

Michael


Edited by: mjcole_ptc

 

[kirancitd]

Kiran,


Obviously you have never used groups and tried to do this.

Wonder

how you came to know that i never used groups.

 

[m-d-e]

I simplified the problem a bit. Picture
I would like to merge 'Extrude 3' to the rest of the part before the solidify feature. As you can see it's a second merge that would need insert mode.
I could of course drag solidify out of the group and insert a merge before it but since I can't drag features to the bottom of a group it doesn't really help. I would have to re-group and rename, which is what I'm trying to avoid.
Why isn't it possible to drag features to the bottom of a group?

 

[mjcole_ptc]

Yeah PTC used to have great tree drag capability in 2001 but I don't believe they know that there is a space between the end of a group and the space before the next feature.

SOLUTION. Create an offset CSYS point that is unparametric and name it some thing like MOVE, you can create others like MV2 etc. later to help out.

If you dragged this point below the group, you would have a feature that you could drag your solidify or merge feature out of the group and below the feature.
When moving features around groups I usually close the group to prevent the Features from being sucked into the Group by a Black Hole effect. It is sometimes easier to move a Group before a Feature than moving a Feature after a Group.

You could use Feature Reorder but you'd have to enter the Menu Manager's neighborhood which can be a scary place at times.

By using a Move Point like I described you will find your life with groups a little easier but by no means a walk in the park.

Michael

 

[m-d-e]

Thanks!

Is it at all possible to write a script or something that adds a point to the end of a group when creating it?

 

[Zestje]

Groups can be very annoying an impractical for many reasons. Especially when making a change in a feature which affects a feature inside a group. It can get quite complicated to figure out exactly which feature is causing the other one to fail, because you can't check the group by going through it feature by feature. Once ProE goes into error solving mode, you must already know which feature causes the group to fail or else you'll probably won't get out of the error menu

. E.g. suppressing the failed feature will suppress the entire group.

I suggest that if you have to or want to use groups the best way is to group the features only when you are 'certain' that you won't make any more changes in the group.

If you're not adding features to a group or removing from a group, but want to edit a feature inside a group I consider ungrouping it first to be the most practical way. (Copying the group name before ungrouping let's you simply paste the name back after regrouping).

If only ProE had a real branched model tree like in I-DEAS...

 

[m-d-e]

You can go through the group feature by feature. Most of the time you can see it if you view the features in the group by pressing the + next to the group icon. Sometimes it does not show and you have to use the Menu Manager: "Fix model" --> "feature" --> "redefine".
If it gets boring: "Fix model --> "feature" --> "group" --> "ungroup". And then "quick fix" --> "clip suppress"

I'm sure there are better ways to do this.

One more thing. How does "insert mode" in menu manager work (fix model, feature, insert mode). I've never gotten it to work.