Draggin n droppin.....

Anyone remember the option that allows a drag n dropped part
onto a window with an assembly to open the part in a new window
instead of being assembled?
TIA

 

This is from PTC Technical Support Knowledge Base...

About Automatic Placement of Components
Components are often assembled using the same constraint types and
references. Automatic placement allows you to constrain components faster
and allows simultaneous placement of multiple instances of one component.
You can place components in an assembly by automatically matching component
information to geometry existing in the assembly.

Automatic placement operates by searching for geometry that matches the
interface of a component. You can set a default interface to use when
assembling a component or manually select an interface to assemble a
component. The following methods can be used to automatically place
components in your model:

Drag-and-Drop Automatic Placement
You can drag-and-drop components in your assembly from a file browser.
Preselect references before assembling a component, or select a drop
location within Pro/ENGINEER to help find the closest matching geometry to
the drop point. Set the following configuration option to drag-and-drop
components for automatic placement:

autoplace_single_comp yes

Automatic Placement from the Insert Menu
You can define component constraint interfaces by using the Interface
Definition dialog box or define interfaces while placing components. To
create component interfaces and automatically place a component in an
assembly, set the following configuration options:

enable_component_interface

use_auto_interface

 

autoplace_single_component no

 

I know you asked this a while ago, maybe you figured it out already. But, in case
you haven't, I'm throwing in my 2 cents. In reading through the responses, it
didn't seem that people understood what you were asking. Or perhaps it was open to
interpretation because you were really asking two different questions which you
thought were connected. Anyway, my interpretation, once I got past the 'draggin n
droppin' red herring, was that you wanted to work in two windows ~ one for the
main assembly and a separate one for the component you're assembling. If this is
the correct interpretation, the config option that governs this is
comp_assemble_start. Setting it to 'constrain_in_window' gives you the separate
window slopped over the main window. The other value for this is 'package' which
puts the component in the window with the main assembly, my preference, actually.
Although, sometimes, for example, when assembling a small component to a big
assembly, that separate window comes in handy. However, now with WF2 (at least in
my setup), components come in attached to the tip of the pointer. The interface
screen is set to the Move page and Motion Type is set to Translate. If you are
zoomed so you can see the hole you where you wish to insert a screw, working with
small components in a big assembly is now possible. One click and the part is
dropped in the vicinity of where you want to assemble it. Then you switch to the
Place page and pick your constraining features. Pretty slick! I just wish I could
figure out how to get it to default to Place instead of the Move page.

David Janes

 

Thanks all for the tips, and what I was looking for was the following.
While working in an assembly somebody from the floor would ask me to
look at a part , or another assembly for dimensions, info etc.
So, I'd use my windoze explorer and drag the file onto any active Pro
session. no directory change, no window closes etc within Pro
The problem was that that dragged part would automatically want to be
assembled into my current job . the option autoplace_single_comp no
is what I needed to have those dropped files open in their own window.