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Please publish your high-quality custom features!

ilya_baran
ilya_baran Onshape Employees, Developers, HDM Posts: 1,273 image
in FeatureScript
In the release last November, we added the ability to "publish" versions with custom features (https://forum.onshape.com/discussion/22395/improvements-to-onshape-november-28th-2023/p1#featurescript).  Our goal was to make it easier to find the "authoritative" version of a custom feature, rather than just "Copy of Spur Gear", by elevating published features higher in the public search rankings and making it possible to search for them explicitly.  But for the plan to work, we rely on FeatureScript authors to judiciously use this "publish" functionality.

The rule I would suggest is: if a feature is good enough for you to write a forum post about, you should also publish it in the product.

Internally, we at Onshape have published many of the custom features we've developed (that have not been obsoleted by built-in functionality since) and a number of our users have published their custom features as well.  But there are a number of popular, high-quality custom features that have not been published and I would encourage the authors to do that.  The list below is not meant to be exhaustive, just some popular custom features that I think should be published:

@antlu65
https://cad.onshape.com/documents/5c0528b62c1fbb13a2a0e739/v/f86229e7f586f8517a2068a9/e/7cbb452d4d5e963a034ce616

@dave_cowden
https://cad.onshape.com/documents/6b640a407d78066bd5e41c7a/v/845d049782179b9faee8b6e6/e/197ed76423f98702e0d8e7db
https://cad.onshape.com/documents/2d7e0a6b68c2039da4221ebc/v/380dd981eb12974a5280b8eb/e/b92e2707bc8e8165e208a55e
https://cad.onshape.com/documents/cfec40e2b66bb4ddb2f3414b/v/3f1bcca2812d650a51c9960d/e/1ac9d45620418b8d1e3154f5
https://cad.onshape.com/documents/0de04acb5bac92ca16796edf/v/685026de2603b19fd2c6003d/e/680f0565e919e6e39a06f4df

@Evan_Reese
https://cad.onshape.com/documents/28ce556560feca48059476f9/v/00d5dea652480e57966bd42d/e/56708624b09fbbd5f0398d78
https://cad.onshape.com/documents/309e817bcaf616677a834985/v/2a5b0d5c7243e2a8e6a93479/e/76d8abc457676e82f84a3ece
https://cad.onshape.com/documents/f4d470584fdeef9603415532/v/7d0c0b30a8b73bbd6ed13b01/e/acddbbed81af3772a07adf21
https://cad.onshape.com/documents/d997b0ffc30f659113b10c00/v/a9e4f209775174dbb9f2b5fa/e/a59f52547080e509330b02f7
https://cad.onshape.com/documents/cd51f29c6937305f86a9df95/v/f84a5282d4d42e13b923e492/e/44de484ba0acba52f99fcfc5

@robert_morris
https://cad.onshape.com/documents/2972a375d9fd3b741d7cc02a/v/02335aee238a71f9c1b0b383/e/403280a8c811319478bddf50

@MBartlett21
https://cad.onshape.com/documents/3ca261a95938af152088fca8/v/2c155879c31e3f9495b86759/e/82151ac6fb25c86ba23d7f85
https://cad.onshape.com/documents/84d939daceef6a928b8abcba/v/cc61d2dc258bf444bbef75a5/e/3f830335f32af139a2f26b8f

@darren_13
https://cad.onshape.com/documents/4bf18c75321ea2c8c2ea770d/v/bd6d5eed825fa5757b52e03e/e/b319e7a87bba701e3e02a0fa

@Alex_Kempen
https://cad.onshape.com/documents/9cffa92db8b62219498f89af/v/d1389fa34235160533671706/e/99672d1e329b38e647d90146

Thanks and happy CADding!
Ilya Baran \ VP, Architecture and FeatureScript \ Onshape Inc

Comments

  • EvanReese
    EvanReese Member, Mentor Posts: 3,059 PRO
    Thanks, @ilya_baran! This is on my list, but it's been a wild couple of months.
    Evan Reese
    The Onsherpa | Reach peak Onshape productivity
    www.theonsherpa.com
  • Matt_Shields
    Matt_Shields Member, Onshape Employees Posts: 984 PRO
    @ilya_baran, thoughts on multiple custom features in one document?

  • ilya_baran
    ilya_baran Onshape Employees, Developers, HDM Posts: 1,273 image
    @Matt_Shields I would say definitely fine if they work together (e.g. Neil's excellent mold tools and wiring tools), but if it's just a bundle of separate custom features, separate documents are best (so that for example, when you update one feature and make a new version, other features don't show up as out-of-date).
    Ilya Baran \ VP, Architecture and FeatureScript \ Onshape Inc
  • robert_morris
    robert_morris OS Professional, Developers Posts: 176 PRO
    Thanks for the reminder @ilya_baran.

    I got busy and forgot about publishing the mounting boss feature.
    It is published now.
  • EvanReese
    EvanReese Member, Mentor Posts: 3,059 PRO
    @ilya_baran
    I'm creating custom tables in my Wires feature and Freeform Spline feature, which gives a warning I've been ignoring about it impacting performance, because I like that the table is just there for anyone using the feature (am I right to think that people would need to also add the table otherwise?). I can't publish those features since this is flagged as an error. Thoughts on the best solution? Should I just move the tables to another Feature Studio?

    I'm also finding the pdf requirement a hinderance for some I've made. I know the real solution is to make a pdf, but my time is constrained such that I probably won't get to that, and I'd like to publish them anyway. I understand that the pdf requirement is meant to act as a filter for quality and completeness though, so maybe I'm just proving that it's working.
    Evan Reese
    The Onsherpa | Reach peak Onshape productivity
    www.theonsherpa.com
  • ilya_baran
    ilya_baran Onshape Employees, Developers, HDM Posts: 1,273 image
    @Evan_Reese
    On the geometry.fs warning, the thing to do is to remove the geometry.fs import and replace it with imports of specific modules actually needed.  For example, in freeform spline, you just need
    export import(path : "onshape/std/blendcontroltype.gen.fs", version : "1746.0");
    and that way you can keep the feature and table in the same part studio.

    On the pdf requirement, the perfect is the enemy of the good -- at minimum just have some text explaining what the purpose of the feature is and any caveats -- it doesn't have to be pretty.

    Thanks!
    Ilya Baran \ VP, Architecture and FeatureScript \ Onshape Inc
  • joshtargo
    joshtargo Member Posts: 648 EDU
    edited January 2024
    It my not be up to your quality standards, but it's my first featurescript, and for people making FRC robots I think it will be quite useful!

    Hex Rod will draw a 1/2" hex rod between two parallel mate connectors. It allows offsets at the start and end, a rotation angle, and naming.

    I'm not a programmer, so it took me half a day of struggle, but it's an accomplishment!

    https://cad.onshape.com/documents/68cc6e7f44c7d45ead2a1b38/w/5c67626b11109a69231f9606/e/f5a54e138097299817bb6f7b

  • S1mon
    S1mon Member Posts: 4,511 PRO
    With the emphasis on publishing custom features, can we get this page updated? 
    https://www.onshape.com/en/features/custom-features

    It still has links to Beams and other obsolete or unnecessary custom features.

    Simon Gatrall | Product Development, Engineering, Design, Onshape | Ex- IDEO, PCH, Unagi, Carbon | LinkedIn

  • NeilCooke
    NeilCooke Moderator, Onshape Employees Posts: 6,099 image
    S1mon said:
    With the emphasis on publishing custom features, can we get this page updated? 
    https://www.onshape.com/en/features/custom-features

    It still has links to Beams and other obsolete or unnecessary custom features.
    On it.
    Senior Director, Technical Services, EMEA
  • Andre_Comella
    Andre_Comella Member Posts: 72 PRO
    Is there a template or design guide for the pdfs? I know it's not necessary for it to be pretty, but I'd like to have something that matches the others and looks nice, but graphic design is one more skill than I have time to learn right now
  • NeilCooke
    NeilCooke Moderator, Onshape Employees Posts: 6,099 image
    Link to original template: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1i3SkgQDkU6agkvp3TDhOryWAhPL73LFbZ-2Y-iVnl90/copy
    Senior Director, Technical Services, EMEA
  • kenn_sebesta167
    kenn_sebesta167 Member Posts: 121 ✭✭✭
    edited November 2024

    In general, it took me too long to 1) find the template and 2) find out where to set the `Feature Type Description` (see below screenshot for where I ultimately had to stick it in order to publish).

    Screenshot 2024-11-28 at 12.38.45 PM.png

    I applaud the pursuit of high quality entires, and I think this is the right approach. That being said, please, please, please don't just give me a failure message when I try to publish, make sure that there is a useful link to how to resolve the problem! Having high quality publishing instructions will result in high quality outputs. Esp. re the PDF, where making it easy to find the suggested template will result in lots of us using it.

  • jason_ryan337
    jason_ryan337 Member Posts: 91 ✭

    Hi all. Can anyone please let me know what this error message means and how to resolve? I have added descriptions in six specific different locations and non have worked. Thank you.

    cad error.png
  • EvanReese
    EvanReese Member, Mentor Posts: 3,059 PRO

    I think it's the feature description itself here

    image.png
    Evan Reese
    The Onsherpa | Reach peak Onshape productivity
    www.theonsherpa.com

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