Similar to iParts in Inventor, Intent does not use adopted part files directly in assemblies. Instead, Intent uses these adopted part files as factory files. It creates copies of them called member files, one for every unique combination of parameters. They are created as required, and are stored in a folder called Member Files that generates automatically as a subfolder of the Inventor project workspace.
Names for member files
Member files are assigned unique names. When Intent instantiates an Inventor part child, it calculates the expected name of the member file based on the supplied parameters, including:
- Time and date of the factory file.
- Inventor version of the factory file.
Then it looks in the member files folder to see if the file exists. If the file exists, then the existing file is used. If it does not exist, the member file is created.
Out of sync member files
Occasionally, a member file that becomes out of sync causes odd errors and behavior. To correct odd errors and any unexpected behavior, delete the member files. This problem is not typical for deployed solutions, but is more common when developing ETO solutions.
Note: Since all of the parameters are calculated, Intent can create new member files at any time. Therefore, it is not necessary to include the member files folder (which are often large) when sharing projects with others.