OLE allows you to link or embed data created in other applications, such as spreadsheets, word processor documents, graphic images, sound bites, and video clips, into a Solid Edge document. For example, you can have a document that contains a drawing created in Solid Edge, notes created in Microsoft Word and spreadsheets created in Microsoft Excel.
To link or embed a document in any Solid Edge environment, use the Binder command on the Edit menu. In the Draft environment, you can also use the Object command on the Insert menu to link or embed a document.
In the Draft environment, you can copy and paste or drag and drop to link or embed a document. You can use the Object command to define a rectangular clipping boundary to limit the view of the contents of the referenced document. This type of reference is called an object. You can use drag and drop to link or embed an entire referenced document without a clipping boundary. This type of reference is called a symbol.
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To display large Excel files correctly in Draft, Microsoft Office XP is recommended.
Because Solid Edge functions as an OLE server as well as an OLE container, you can link and embed Solid Edge documents into documents created by other applications. For example, you can embed a detailed drawing created in Solid Edge Draft in purchase orders or product catalogs.
When you link data, it is not copied into the Solid Edge document, but is simply displayed there, in the position and scale defined by the source document. When you create a link to another document, Solid Edge stores a link that indicates the source of the data.
For example, you can use spreadsheet created in Microsoft Excel to drive the dimensions in a Solid Edge model. You can link the spreadsheet to the Solid Edge document. As you make changes to the spreadsheet, you can easily update the changes in the Solid Edge document by updating the link stored in the Solid Edge document.
You should create a link if you want updates to the source document to appear in your Solid Edge Draft document. A link is also appropriate if you want to insert a large document, because only the link is stored in the Solid Edge document, not a complete copy of the inserted data.
When a document is linked into Solid Edge, you can edit it from within Solid Edge or directly from the hard disk. Because they are linked, changing the document in one place affects all occurrences. To edit the document from within Solid Edge, use the Binder command on the Application menu when you point to Manage. You can also open the document by selecting it through Windows Explorer, Solid Edge Find Files, or the application's Open command. If the application used to create the document supports OLE for D&M and in-place editing, then you can edit the graphics of the linked document while in the Solid Edge document that references it.
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In the Draft environment, you can also open the document by double-clicking it or by selecting the Open or Edit commands on the shortcut menu when you point to Worksheet.
When you create a file from a template, you do not establish an updateable link. For example, suppose your template contains a title block that you want to appear in all draft files. If you link from the template file, you will get the correct title block in the new file without automatic update. Any changes made to the title block in the template file will not affect the files created from the template. However if you link from each new draft file, updates will occur every time the block file changes.
When you embed data, it is copied to a specified location in the Solid Edge document. Unlike with linking, embedded data is no longer connected to its source, and changes in one copy do not affect the other. The embedded data is not translated; it remains in the foreign data format.
For example, you can insert notes created in a word processing application such as Microsoft Word into a Solid Edge document. When you embed the notes in the design document, they become part of the Solid Edge document. You can make changes to the notes while you have the Solid Edge document open. Simply double-click on the embedded notes and they are opened in the application used to create them.
You should embed data in your Solid Edge document if you want the data to become part of the document and you want to make only a single reference to the embedded data. Since an embedded document is no longer connected to the source document, you can change the data in your Solid Edge document without affecting the source. On the other hand, embedded documents are not updated when you update the source document. Also, once embedded, the data becomes part of the Solid Edge document, increasing its size.
Another reason to embed is that a document containing only embedded data (no links) is portable you can send the single document to someone who does not have access to the source documents.
In addition to linking and embedding, Solid Edge Draft also supports shared embedding for OLE for D&M documents. The shared embed allows multiple references in a graphic document to point to the same embedded document. This helps reduce document size while keeping the advantages of embedding.
You should share embed data in your Solid Edge Draft document if you want the data to reside in the draft document and you want to make multiple references to same embedded data. When you edit the embedded data, the changes are seen in the display of the data by each of the multiple references.
Editing an embedded or share embedded document is much like editing a linked document. However, an embedded document must be edited from within Solid Edge because it is not linked to any copy of the document that might exist on your hard disk. To edit the document from within Solid Edge, use the Binder command on the Application menu when you point to Manage.
Note:
In the Draft environment, you can also open the document by double-clicking it or by selecting the Open or Edit commands on the shortcut menu when you point to Worksheet.