Inventor Add-in: Pre-requisites for Publishing a Product
In order to publish a product from the Informed Design Add-in for Inventor, certain prerequisites are required in the product definition, BIM definition, and Inventor model. By building automated checks and reminders into the Publish workflow, we aim to expose and prevent common causes of publish failures.
In the Inventor data set, we recommend addressing these requirements before starting the Publish process:
Run Inventor Design Doctor analysis to check for any model update issues or errors.
- If any are diagnosed, these should be treated before publishing. A model that fails to update without issues in Inventor on the desktop will also fail on Inventor (server) running in the cloud, which is what Informed Design uses to generate variants from a published product.
- To learn more, see Use Design Doctor to Repair Relationship Errors
Check for any unsupported code in the iLogic rules.
- Inventor Design Automation (Inventor Server running in the cloud on Autodesk Platform) does not support API calls to user interface elements (eg. calls to dialog, message or input boxes.) Inventor Server also does not recognize calls to the ThisApplication object (a reference to Inventor Desktop Application) but rather, requires a call to the ThisServer object (a reference to the Inventor Server Application running in the cloud.) Any unsupported calls in your iLogic rules must be disabled, or conditionally not called before publishing.
- To learn more, see Best Practices: iLogic.
Specify Behavior Type, Category, and Family in the BIM Definition.
Previously, the Category and Family for BIM classification were set in the Category and Family fields found in the product definition’s Outputs tab. Now, these are defined in the BIM Definition Add-in’s BIM Properties panel, which then populates the Category and Family fields in the product definition's Outputs tab. To access the BIM Definition Add-in, install the latest version of the Informed Design Add-in for Inventor and ensure that the 'Informed Design' as well as the 'BIM Definition for Inventor' add-ins are loaded in your Inventor session. Doing so adds the BIM Definition tab to the Inventor ribbon.
To learn more, see BIM Definition Add-In Overview.
In the product definition, the following requirements must be satisfied or the Publish process will be interrupted and prevented from completing until they are.
Values in form controls are valid according to the rules
The current Input values in the form preview on the Input Rules tab must be valid according to the input rules expressed by the codeblocks. For example, there may be an issue where the "Error" property on a Parameter block is actively enforcing an error state on an input parameter, or if you've made changes in the input rules workspace and have not updated the form preview using the "Update form" button. In order to publish, you must make sure none of the form preview controls show an active error state. Click on the "Update form" button above the form preview to ensure that the latest Input Rules workspace changes are synced to the form and to determine if there are error states to resolve with respect to the current Input values.
To learn more, see Best Practices: Codeblocks.
Product definition's default values are equal to the form's current values
The product definition's default parameter values (listed in the Value column on the Parameters tab) must be the same as the Input (parameter) values in the Rules tab's form preview. This may not be the case if you have not reset the input values using the "Reset to defaults" button after testing various input values against the current codeblock rules. To resolve this, return to the Rules tab's input rules workspace and click on the "Reset to defaults" button above the form preview or, if the values in the form are what you want, click on "Set Model Values" to ensure the Inventor Model has these values and then click "Get Model Values" to reset the product definition default parameter values to be the same as the values in the Inventor model.
To learn more, see Parameter Adoption.
Inventor model values are equal to the product definition's default values
The Inventor model must reflect the current default parameter values in the product definition (listed in the Value column on the Parameters tab). This may not be the case if you’ve been testing the model against the rules with various input values using the "Set model values" button or if you have edited the Inventor parameter values directly in Inventor. To resolve this, return to the Rules tab's input rules workspace and click on the "Set model values" button to apply the product definition default parameter values to the Inventor model, save and close the product definition, re-save the Inventor data set, and then reopen the product definition to proceed to Publish.
To learn more, see Syncing & Saving the Product Definition and Base Model.
Inventor data set is saved
- After making the necessary adjustments to satisfy all other Publish prerequisites, the Inventor data set must be saved in order to proceed with Publish. To save any pending changes to the Inventor model, first save and close the product definition, then use the Save command in Inventor. Once the Inventor model is saved, reopen the product definition and proceed to Publish.