SolidWorks 2010 Bible

Part IV: Creating and Using Libraries

I was skeptical of this originally and had to test it thoroughly to ensure that deleting the training

assembly would not cause any data to be lost, so I can assure you that it works. Go ahead and

delete the assembly.

Editing Smart Components

Expanding somewhat on the discussion about whether or not to keep the training assembly file, here

is a little exercise that you can try. Make a Smart Component by going through the preceding steps,

using the following tutorial or creating one of your own. Just make a simple one with perhaps one

associated component and an in-context feature. Then go ahead and delete the training assembly.

With the defining assembly gone, there appears to be no way to edit the setup of the Smart

Component. Right mouse button (RMB)-click the Smart Feature folder in the FeatureManager of the

Smart Component and select Edit in Defining Assembly, as shown in Figure 19.16. What happens

next is that SolidWorks re-creates the defining assembly from the data that is stored in the Smart

Component. This assembly is saved in a system temp folder using the name <Smart Component

name>_ta.sldasm. If the Smart Component uses an in-context feature, it is saved to the temp

directory as a library feature file using the name of the dummy part and appending _lf to the file-

name; for example, Dummy_lf.sldlfp.

FIGURE 19.16

Selecting the Edit in Defining Assembly command

The Edit Definition button appears in the upper-right corner of the graphics window. The Edit

Definition button is shown to the right in Figure 19.16. If you click this button, the Smart Component

PropertyManager interface appears again, enabling you to change the selection of associated compo-

nents and in-context features, to change the auto-size setting or edit the configurator table.

Thus, all the settings are preserved, and the training assembly exists only as a phantom in a temp

directory. Although this appears to be counterintuitive, it works.