using configurations, . 2-3 month conclusion.

steven_van_luchene848

allthough, to me, one of the strategic most important features of cloud CAD (more on that maybe later),  I still bumped into a lot of limitations with configurations these last few weeks. 
(which to me are very hard to grasp even ) 
 
I could be wrong/ using it the wrong way. (I'm glad to admit, I hope to be, even) 
but some issues I just can't resolve  (for the specific products im designing now are mainly frame/ rack  configurations with repeating parts  in assembly).  Assembly/BOM export being crucial for integration with PLM/ ERP. 
as I don't like to be negative and dwell to much in the limitations, I tried to think about which features would allow for super powerfull configurations instead;
I'd like to bring it into 1 discussion on the topic of configurations and hope to find people who are using this feature frequently as well (and maybe found solutions to some of the issues?)  
what I would like to see in Onshape: 

1. skeleton modelling --> an assembly top down model in which assembly parts, its position, dimensions and instancing (maybe instance specific configuration?) are driven by a simplified dummy model (eg a simplified floor plan or sketch/ part studioin solid, sketch of face or combination of ) this could work similar to "replicate" but accepting different inputs , driving the amount of, position, orientation of part instances. 
   Creo and Inventor hold this type of functionality and possiblilities are shear endless.
2. being able to change the configuration of individual items in a pattern? 
3. measured variables in assembly --> better yet, using (driven) sketch dimensions as variables.
4. assinging a value to (assembly) variable studio variables by assembly configuration variables 
5. more flexiblity/ wildcards in naming configured assembly propperties. 
6. please explain me why there is no feature script in assemblies- let the community build the tools they need ;-) 

I really like to help out to improve this aspect of Onshape. To me (and manufacturing company leaders  i worked with last few years) this is the aspect that will drive the most value from Onshape / cloud CAD. 
being able to publish, Sync and integrate with CPQ and product configurators from CAD would radically change the way a lot of these companies work (and spent millions by doing so) nowadays. This is also the main reason I got so heavily invested in researching Onshape as a platform. I hope Onshape product development has a focus on this aspect, as productizing this aspect could prove very lucrative ;-). 

any thoughts? 

Kind Regrads, 
Steven 

MichaelPascoe

Great feedback. I agree with these.

1. I don't quite understand this one. More examples?
2. Replicate has the ability to "Dissolve", but then it is no longer replicating. Absolutely, this is needed. For some reason I thought it was already offered but it is not. Change configurations of patterned instances improvement request here.
3. Measured variables in assembly, yes. Improvement request here
4. Assigning a value to (assembly) variable studio variables by assembly configuration variables would be great to have.
5. More flexibility/ wildcards in naming configured assembly properties, yes. Improvement request here.
6. FeatureScript for assemblies, must have. Improvement request here.

steven_van_luchene848

thanks 
voted them all up! 

I'm sure all these will get resolved sooner or later as most of them seem rather obvious. 
Encountered yet another issue when using assembly configuration variables. When I set up a list configuration input, is there a way to retrieve the values set in this list? (I'm using list here to only have specific length values available to the user. 
 

MichaelPascoe

Perhaps it is possible through the API, but I'm not sure how to get the individual values from a configuration list.

Here is something that is possible: storing arrays and maps (these are basically lists) within a studio variable, then accessing those values from the list with an integer or string in the assembly. Map values are accessed with a string "testA" and array values are accessed with an element number.

Data Structures:

Array:

An array is represented by a variable of type "Any". The array values are comma-separated and enclosed within square brackets, such as:
[ 4, 8, 20, 5, 3 ]

To access the elements of the array, use the variable name followed by square brackets containing the index number:
variableName[0]

Map:

A map is stored as a variable of type "Any". It associates values with keys for efficient retrieval:
{ "testA": 4, "testB": 8, "testC": 20 }

To retrieve values from the map, use the variable name followed by square brackets containing the key string:
variableName["testA"]

https://cad.onshape.com/documents/8784a82ce14d25a74d49a789/w/80dfa7213ced0d03187bedda/e/331f741907a21d6bd94cce3...

billy2

@stvnvl_8501 @MichaelPascoe

A long time ago I grabbed the configuration list from an assembly using the api and rebuilt the assembly in a webpage.

web page

I'm not aware of any limitations to working with assemblies with the api. When I was exploring this, I wanted the majority of the work to be done by CAD operators using configurations vs. programmers writing code. I didn't feel any limitations with onshape. You can easily ask for the configurations, manipulate them, and put them back.

I'm still waiting for a supplier to take full advantage of the API & featurescript to create something amazing on their website. Seems like it should be time for this to be happening.

steven_van_luchene848

billy2 said:

@stvnvl_8501 @MichaelPascoe

A long time ago I grabbed the configuration list from an assembly using the api and rebuilt the assembly in a webpage.

web page

I'm not aware of any limitations to working with assemblies with the api. When I was exploring this, I wanted the majority of the work to be done by CAD operators using configurations vs. programmers writing code. I didn't feel any limitations with onshape. You can easily ask for the configurations, manipulate them, and put them back.

I'm still waiting for a supplier to take full advantage of the API & featurescript to create something amazing on their website. Seems like it should be time for this to be happening.

Nice! indeed custom products and shorter  leadtimes are reason a lot of companies invest heavily in IT/ CAD / OT infrastructure. they are also the reason production is coming back (at least to our region) as these are typically feats that still offer real value over and are hard to deliver upon from mass production plants overseas.(full) automation is absolutely essential however as wages are too costly. 
Leveraging the power of a platform as onshape would revolutionize and streamline this process as the configuration posibilities are shear endless, updated realtime, revision mangaed by default... and it can also be linked directly to ERP and other back end apps. I imagine being able to add a rule engine and calculator linked to generated BOM elements, that check validity and calculates prices directly from the model and having this available as a plugin on a commercial website.
For now Onshape is still mainly focussed on engineers, but I feel the platform is ideally where engineering, product management, sales, installers, purchase  and aftersales meet on anything product(-data) related; Translating and feeding it back into other systems usually is waistfull and error prone. 
One can dream... ;-) 

steven_van_luchene848

MichaelPascoe said:

Perhaps it is possible through the API, but I'm not sure how to get the individual values from a configuration list.

Here is something that is possible: storing arrays and maps (these are basically lists) within a studio variable, then accessing those values from the list with an integer or string in the assembly. Map values are accessed with a string "testA" and array values are accessed with an element number.

Data Structures:

Array:

An array is represented by a variable of type "Any". The array values are comma-separated and enclosed within square brackets, such as:
[ 4, 8, 20, 5, 3 ]

To access the elements of the array, use the variable name followed by square brackets containing the index number:
variableName[0]

Map:

A map is stored as a variable of type "Any". It associates values with keys for efficient retrieval:
{ "testA": 4, "testB": 8, "testC": 20 }

To retrieve values from the map, use the variable name followed by square brackets containing the key string:
variableName["testA"]

https://cad.onshape.com/documents/8784a82ce14d25a74d49a789/w/80dfa7213ced0d03187bedda/e/331f741907a21d6bd94cce3...

wow! not sure how this would solve this specific problem. But a very neat trick! . So basically the idea would be to go the other way around? define all of the listed values of a configuration in an array in a variable studio, then use only a mapkey in a configuration list to envoke that array. Like that all values can be obtained to use in the different part features or assembly mates etc? 
Seems a bit counter-intuitive imho, as I thought configuration list were there just to keep a good overview on and flexibility over the specific values/configs.
Don't really have any other solution to it though. I imagined something similar can be done to retrieve values from a configuration list? first calling the row by configuration name and then the column by column header? 

Thanks for the help (again) !