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Export All Data

MilesIn3DMilesIn3D Member Posts: 6 PRO
For company purposes, they want to archive all finished projects on a separate internal hard drive. Is it possible to export an entire document (.zip for example). Preferably convert all of the 3D geometry into IGES/STEP/etc (or Solidworks if possible). All other files stay the same (jpeg, pdf, etc). Even if it takes a long time, I don't mind, I'm just hoping that I don't have to export each "file" individually. I do understand that I will lose the design tree, etc. but the purpose is just to have an additional copy for archive records within the company. Let me know your thoughts and if there is a better way of going about this. Thanks!
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Comments

  • lougallolougallo Member, Moderator, Onshape Employees, Developers, csevp Posts: 2,005
    Currently the only format we cannot export via the api is drawings but it in in the plan. The rest can be done with the api. 
    Lou Gallo / PD/UX - Support - Community / Onshape, Inc.
  • MilesIn3DMilesIn3D Member Posts: 6 PRO
    In a general sense, I know what an API is, but I'm not sure what you mean by API, to export a document. Is there a way to export an entire document, or at least multiple tabs at the same time? The only way I know how to export data from Onshape, is to select a single tab and right click it and click "Export". 
  • Jake_RosenfeldJake_Rosenfeld Moderator, Onshape Employees, Developers Posts: 1,646
    @MilesIn3D

    Here's a help page that describes our API better than I can:
    https://dev-portal.onshape.com/help

    This is the easiest way to batch-export things from Onshape, and you could even write a program that automatically grabs all your parts/assemblies from Onshape, zips them up, and stores them in your vault by document! (No manual work for you in the long run)

    As far as the UI goes, there is no current way to export an entire document as a .zip file.
    Jake Rosenfeld - Modeling Team
  • JacobInglisJacobInglis Member Posts: 3 PRO
    Has anyone writen a program that can do this?
  • johannes_dillingerjohannes_dillinger Member Posts: 5 PRO
    Hello,
    are there maybe news on this topic? I would like to do just that: export the entire content to STEP, PDF, whatever is in the single files. Maybe someone has figured out how to do that with the API...
    Thanks already in advance..
    Best regards,
    Johannes

  • Lucas_KuhnsLucas_Kuhns Member, csevp Posts: 96 PRO
    I don't recall exactly when the feature was released but there is now a batch export tool in Onshape. This will be enough for some people. Unfortunately, it does not follow the company export rules. Not a deal breaker for everyone but that was for us.

    What we did is paid CADSharpcaden_armstrong) to develop a tool that exports all the PDFs and STEPs upon release approval. They get ingested directly into our Dropbox account (following the company export rules to name the files).
  • johannes_dillingerjohannes_dillinger Member Posts: 5 PRO
    I don't recall exactly when the feature was released but there is now a batch export tool in Onshape. This will be enough for some people. Unfortunately, it does not follow the company export rules. Not a deal breaker for everyone but that was for us.

    What we did is paid CADSharpcaden_armstrong) to develop a tool that exports all the PDFs and STEPs upon release approval. They get ingested directly into our Dropbox account (following the company export rules to name the files).
    Thanks for the info! I can't find the batch export tool, do you maybe have a hint where to find? Thanks!
  • Lucas_KuhnsLucas_Kuhns Member, csevp Posts: 96 PRO
    You just select multiple parts and right-click then select export. Or you can do multiple drawings at the same time.

    Here’s the post that Onshape did when it was released.

    https://forum.onshape.com/discussion/17752/improvements-to-onshape-february-18th-2022/p1
  • johannes_dillingerjohannes_dillinger Member Posts: 5 PRO
    You just select multiple parts and right-click then select export. Or you can do multiple drawings at the same time.

    Here’s the post that Onshape did when it was released.

    https://forum.onshape.com/discussion/17752/improvements-to-onshape-february-18th-2022/p1

    Ah ok, thanks. Unfortuantely I need to export STEP from multiple documents, rather than parts within one document..
  • caden_armstrong2caden_armstrong2 Member, User Group Leader Posts: 127 ✭✭✭
    @johannes_dillinger
    As I had done for Lucas, a custom onshape app can export from Onshape in pretty much any form you want.
    Manually select documents, or export referenced documents (ie assemblies and components), or any document when release or versions get made, etc.
    You could export to local drives, dropbox, one drive, browser downloads.

    Its part of the challenge of making a one size fits all solution, not every company has the same workflow. But the Onshape API is great and gives enough options that you can find a solution that will work for you.
  • johannes_dillingerjohannes_dillinger Member Posts: 5 PRO
    This sounds really interesting. In my current application I lately exported most of the files "by hand", but will keep in mind that an API solution exists. Will save me a lot of time next time.
  • shawn_crockershawn_crocker Member, OS Professional Posts: 861 PRO
    @johannes_dillinger
    If you haven't already, I would check out a web application called retool.  It allows making api calls to anything.  It has a huge selection of components like tables, buttons and other things you can drag and drop onto a canvas allowing users to interact easily with the data collected from the api calls.  All you need to learn is a little bit of basic JavaScript so you can process the incoming JSON data from the api calls.  I currently use it to process and archive everything we send to MFG.  I'm using it to pull in product BOM data and reprocess it into a more palatable format and user experience.  for example, a BOM view that automatically shows a total of all materials used rather then a total of all the individual parts.  It allows users to assign drawings to items right within the BOM layout and then click a button to generate a single PDF document that contains the production BOM with images and all the required drawings for all the items in the BOM in one go.  I have found retool extremely flexible and powerful.  Have yet to encounter a desire to automate something and not been able to craft something in retool to make it happen.  And, you get five users for free with no time limit so no stress while trying to learn the system effectively.
  • S1monS1mon Member Posts: 2,910 PRO
    @shawn_crocker
    Very interesting. My company uses Retool to glue together a bunch of other parts of our business. It hadn't occurred to me to use it for anything connected to Onshape.

    Is there some reason that you aren't able to do what you need with something like Arena or one of the other PLM tools that are integrated with Onshape?
  • johannes_dillingerjohannes_dillinger Member Posts: 5 PRO
    Great, thanks for the hint!
  • shawn_crockershawn_crocker Member, OS Professional Posts: 861 PRO
    @S1mon
    The other solutions may have filled our need.  Where I work, many of the people needing to interact with a productivity system like this are, shall I say, much less then computer savvy.  I gently broached the subject years ago and it was clear people simply were not going to be receptive or understand what all the benefits could be.  I went with retool because it allowed me to immediately provide productivity to the people in my direct sphere and at the same time, sneak in a few extra easy to use abilities that the skepticals would immediately find useful.  Like totaling materials making it very simple for sales to cost out projects.  I find with these "build it your self" type systems, your able to create something that is right to the point, right off the top.  Where there are not a bunch of other possibly confusing abilities that get in the way of computer sensitive individuals sense of usefulness.  When people are immediately confused by a computer system they immediately get grumpy and feel like someone is trying to stuff something down there throat.
  • billy2billy2 Member, OS Professional, Mentor, Developers, User Group Leader Posts: 2,062 PRO
    edited March 2023
    @shawn_crocker I believe systems like retool are going to become more prevalent and sharing engineering data will become more common. I looked at retool and really like what they offer and how well they're integrating with the cloud. They're deeply rooted in react and other trending technologies which is a good thing. 

    I searched on "onshape" on their site and didn't find any hooks so I'm wondering how you get OS into reboot? Can you share this process?

    I too have had problems with downstream processes in organizations. In my last job, when they were converting to agile cloud, I attended a meeting to discuss the rest protocols. They called me a linux lover and never invited me back. I was able to make friends with the VP of web development and he helped a lot. They set me up with a server on google when everyone else was mysql and running locally. 

    They say the cloud is here, but it's taking a long time to adapt.



  • shawn_crockershawn_crocker Member, OS Professional Posts: 861 PRO
    @billy2
    First step for me was discovering I had to login to the onshape developer portal using an admin enabled account.  From there, I created a new app and started out by creating an API key and a secret key.  It was simpler at the start to use keys for authenticating with the onshape API.  Thing to note when using keys, the keys are registered to the account that created them so if you intend to interact with the API to create or modify things, onshape will register that the change was made by that account.  Meaning, even if another user is using the retool app, the changes they make will not be recorded in onshape as them having made them.  I have not had the need yet because our app is mainly pulling data out of onshape but you can enable an oAuth2 authentication which by my understanding, will allow onshape to record which user made the change even though the change came through the retool app.  I can share more on how our process is setup if you need.  I am just not positive in what areas you are struggling right now.
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