Onshape 'Copy Hell' for documents and FeatureScript

brett_sutton

Note: I've resubmitted this as a 'New Idea'.
https://forum.onshape.com/discussion/8792/onshape-copy-hell-for-documents-and-featurescript-or-we-need-pull-requests#latest

So I just went looking for a feature script that I had read about (Pocket Holes).

I did a search for pocket hole and came up with more than 20 results.

There is no way to identify the script by the original author, nor to work out which might be the definitive edition.

For reference this page helps a bit: https://www.onshape.com/featurescript

I've had this problem before and to be honest it makes feature script close to useless as its almost impossible to find the 'working' version of a script.

There are couple of things that need to be done to
1) improve the current situation
2) fix the problem permanently.

1) add the following to (mini) search window when adding feature scripts
Display the author name of the script.
Display the no. of Documents using the script (this looks like its now a thing).
Display the date the script was last updated.


When using the main search page:
 provide an option to just such for feature scripts (i.e. exclude workspaces).
provide a method to add a feature script to a workspace once you have found it via the main search page.

It would also be a good idea to make the author name searchable.

2) The real fix here is to support the 'forking' and 'pull request' features that github utilises.

With github its always easy to determine what is the definitive version of a project. Even if there are competing versions its pretty clear what the major versions do and how active they are.

The forking and pull request idea also fixes your current problem with public documents. Again we are seeing dozens (hundreds) of copies of a document with no way to see which is the definitive edition.

Pull/forking also allows the whole community to collectively improve a feature script which will benefit everyone.

Feature script and public documents are both powerful features of onshape but unless you fix the core problem of 'copy hell' they will be only marginally useful.

lemon1324

In addition to the official page, there's also https://github.com/dcowden/featurescript

Which I believe @dave_cowden plans on eventually adding images/voting to to make it a more helpful resource.

dave_cowden

Indeed, I'd love to hear what you think about our featurescFeat catalog page. I say we because it is a community effort, with at least 5 contributors

We plan to add voting, pictures, and author.  It is currently the most comprehensive list, with 90 Featurescripts, all verified to be working and recommended by at least one person.

As a bonus, most of the active Featurescript authors hang out there.. so if you have a problem, chances are pretty good that if you post an issue, the author will be listening  

MBartlett21

If you are looking for sheet metal featurescript , I have set an icon as the default image on each document.
I made all the current sheet metal featurescripts.

Jake_Rosenfeld

@brett_sutton

It is possible to add a FS to your toolbar by searching on the main documents page.  First, search for the FS you are interested in.  Once you find it, click on it to enter the document.  Once you're in the document containing the FS, there will be a {+} button at the top which you can use to add that script to your toolbar.

Sorry that this has become such an issue, we're definitely aware of the difficulty it causes. I noticed that you've submitted an Improvement Request for this as well, thanks for helping us prioritize this work.

dave_cowden

@Jake_Rosenfeld what's really needed is a FeatureScript store-- with the ability for users to rate scripts, easily add them from the store ( just like the Onshape app store works), and for authors to charge for them and bill to the user's OnShape account.


Please feel free to PM me for more discussion.