Create a configurator and connect a model — gull system handbook

Creating a configurator, picking an assembly or part in the SOLIDWORKS panel, an unsaved model, the model path in Properties and what happens after a file moves.

Create a configurator and connect a model

A configurator is created in the Configurators list; it gets its model when you pick one in the SOLIDWORKS panel. The model must be saved on disk.

Procedure

1. In the main menu open Configurators and click Create a new configurator. It opens on step 1 Capture parameters.
2. In Properties give it a Name. The name must be unique in the company — the app compares regardless of case.
3. In SOLIDWORKS open the assembly or part you are building the configurator from. If SOLIDWORKS is not running, the ribbon's CAD → Open starts it.
4. In the gull system panel in SOLIDWORKS pick the model. The panel reads "Pick the assembly or part you want to configure" with one button per open document. Picking reads the assembly structure and captures its configuration.
5. Check in Properties → CAD model that the file path is stored. From then on CAD → Open opens this model directly.

The model must be saved on disk. The panel refuses an unsaved document with "The model is not saved on disk yet … Save it now?" — the configurator needs a file path, or an order could not open it.

The model path

The path is stored once and everything else — captured items, rules, drawings, exports — refers to it. It can only be re-pointed (Browse…), never cleared.

• When you move or rename the file. The app first tries the stored path, then asks SOLIDWORKS where the file went, and only then asks you: "The model was not found at its saved path … Find file…". One answer fixes every path that shared the old folder.
• When the file is missing. A warning triangle appears next to the configurator in the list. An order skips such a configurator with "Skipped — the model could not be found".

Where the configurator lives

The Where this configurator lives row in Properties is read-only: This computer only, or Online for the company when it is part of a workflow shared with the company. Sharing is switched on the workflow, not the configurator — see Share a workflow with the company.