Many times the data that comprises projects consists of individual documents that exist in an unmanaged environment. There are a few things you should do before you add unmanaged documents to SharePoint.
To prepare your unmanaged documents for SharePoint, you should:
When you add a folder to the library, every document in the folder is added to the library, regardless of whether or not you want to manage them. You should remove any documents that you do not want to manage before adding the folder to the library. These documents might include text or log files that reside in the folder you want to import.
You can add duplicate documents to a managed library, but duplicate document names cannot exist in the same folder. If duplicate document names are found, you should ensure that you are adding the correct document to the library.
SharePoint supports the same conventions that the file system supports for naming folders and documents. Folder names, document names, document numbers, and revision numbers can consist of all Unicode characters except the following characters: # : \ ? * < > % / | " ~ & { }
In addition to the invalid characters listed, you cannot use a period (.) :
to start a file name. Example: .123.par
consecutively in a file name. Example: 123..45.par
at the end of a file name. Example: 123..par
When these characters are encountered during the Add to Insight XT process, the invalid characters are replaced using a character your choose. The replacement character is determined by the Insight XT preference, SolidEdge_AddtoIXT_Replace_Character. Comments are added to the log file indicating the old and new filenames, or old and new document number or revision number.
Search your local folder for invalid document names before adding them to SharePoint.
The datapreputilitiestemplate.xlsm includes the worksheet, Content Types-Insight XT. This worksheet provides the mapping information for document type versus default content type. You can edit the values in the table, and you can add new rows of information when you need to.
Document Extension |
Part Content Type |
Revision |
Default |
par |
Part |
Part-Revision |
SE-Part |
dft |
Part |
Part-Revision |
SE-Draft |
psm |
Part |
Part-Revision |
SE-Sheetmetal |
asm |
Part |
Part-Revision |
SE-Assembly |
pwd |
Part |
Part-Revision |
SE-Weldment |
dwg |
Part |
Part-Revision |
Insight XT-Document |
dxf |
Part |
Part-Revision |
Insight XT-Document |
You can create custom Solid Edge properties to define which object the property goes to. For example, you can create custom properties to define the Item Revision for non-Solid Edge documents including image files, .pdf documents, and Microsoft Office documents (MS Word, MS Excel, MS PowerPoint). You can also create custom properties to define the properties for non-graphic parts.
There are three basic steps to creating custom properties:
Provide a name for the custom property.
Select the type of property you are creating.
Type a value for the property.
Tip:
Refer to the Solid Edge Help topic Create custom document properties for instructions.
Custom properties should also be added to the columns of the analysis spreadsheet datapreputilitiestemplate.xlsm explained in the Fine Tune Your Data section.
You can use the Add to Insight XT program to perform a dry run to accomplish many of the document preparation tasks.
As the dry run scans the list of documents to be added to SharePoint, it checks for file name length, invalid characters, and identifies files that contain broken links. In the event duplicate document numbers are discovered, the dry run erases the document number of one of the parts in preparation for adding the documents to the managed environment. The dry run builds an ordered list of your files and produces the list in .xmlm format ready for use with the Analyze files program.
During the dry run, you have the opportunity to view log files and suspend the Add to Insight XT process to fix the broken links. If no broken links were found, you can add the documents to SharePoint and update the status of the documents to Checked In.
To learn more about using Add to Insight XT, see the Solid Edge Help topic, Adding documents to an Insight XT managed environment.
To make the task of preparing unmanaged files easier, a few programs designed to assist you with preparing and importing large batches of unmanaged data are made available to you in Start→Programs→Solid Edge ST5→Data Preparation when you install Insight XT.
Analyze
Link Fixup
Modify
Add to Insight XT
Note:
Microsoft Office Professional 2007 must be installed on the client to run the programs. The input file must be in .xlsm document format.
The Analyze program provides an automated set of tools for evaluating your unmanaged files. The program:
Evaluates Solid Edge files for duplicate document number values, duplicate file names, empty revision entries, empty project names, and broken links.
Performs a file name length analysis.
Fine-tune the data generated by the analysis through the use of the analysis spreadsheet, datapreputilitiestemplate.xlsm, so that it correctly represents the data that will be imported into SharePoint.
Caution:
It is imperative for your unmanaged data to be evaluated and corrected prior to import so you can have a correctly populated SharePoint database from the start and minimize future efforts.
If you use custom Solid Edge data properties, you must define the custom properties for use in SharePoint using the spreadsheet datapreputilitiestemplate.xlsm located in \Program Files\Solid Edge ST5 \Program. See the Help file Define custom properties prior to analysis for instructions.
The Link Fixup program locates the Excel spreadsheet produced from the file analysis process and defines the parameters used for repairing broken links before you import them into SharePoint.
The Modify program updates unmanaged Solid Edge files based on entries in the spreadsheet that is produced as the output of file analysis. New property values are saved in the unmanaged Solid Edge files.