SolidWorks 2010 Bible

Part III: Working with Assemblies

Multiple contexts

Multiple contexts occur when a part has references that are created in multiple assemblies. By

default, multiple contexts are prevented from happening. If you place a part that already has exter-

nal references into a different assembly, a warning appears, as shown in Figure 16.10.

FIGURE 16.10

The warning message that appears about multiple contexts

Although SolidWorks displays many warnings about multiple contexts, you may still run into situ-

ations where you need to use them. For example, you may have a subassembly where a part, such

as a top plate of a stand, has in-context references to locate a set of mounting holes for legs of the

stand. When you place the subassembly into the top-level assembly and mount another assembly

to the top plate, another set of in-context holes is required in the top plate.

Figure 16.11, at the top, shows the first table and points out the in-context relations. At the bot-

tom, the large bracket appears for the machine that is mounted to the table top using more in-con-

text relations. The External References dialog boxes for the two different in-context features appear

in Figure 16.12. Notice that the Assembly fields at the top of the External References dialog boxes

are different. You can only achieve this by selecting the Allow multiple contexts for parts when

editing in assembly option shown in Figure 16.9.

Note
The Tools ➪ Options setting for multiple contexts is a system option. This means that this option is either on or
off for every document on a single machine, but when the assembly is used on another machine, the option
may be off. n

Multiple context modeling is something that should be the exception rather than standard practice.

If you do not have all the assemblies open where the in-context references were created, then you

will have some out-of-context references. This can make for a troubleshooting nightmare if some-

one ever has to try to reconstruct how the assembly is driven.

Best Practice
The best practice is to avoid creating multiple-context references. If you need to do this, then be very careful
about naming files, and remember to turn off the multiple-context option when you have finished creating the
reference. n