Fixed issues and new features in Upchain 22.4

Overview

This topic describes fixes provided in the Upchain 22.4 major service update.

In between major service updates, Upchain deploys weekly, minor updates to address any critical issues reported by our customers.

Upgrading the CAD Plugin

You may upgrade your CAD Plugin to 22.4 to receive the newest capabilities. Upchain Web 22.4 is backward compatible with the CAD Plugin version 22.2.

The latest version of the Upchain CAD Connector is available for download on the Plugins page immediately following the service update made to the maintenance window.

Fixed Issues and new features

CAD plugin

• Windows 11 is now supported (Intel processors only).

• Improved support for SOLIDWORKS suppressed files:

  • When suppressed files are missing from their original location, the SOLIDWORKS plugin will show a list of the missing files and prompt to continue with the checkin process.
  • The SOLIDWORKS plugin now reads the structure of suppressed files and imports the whole structure.
  • The structure of suppressed components will not be visible in the cBOM after refresh, but in the BOM wizard view during checkin.
  • Removed the dialog indicating that there are suppressed files in the assembly that is being checked in.
  • Suppressed components are no longer supported by the generic plugin / CAD Importer, You will be notified if an assembly contains suppressed components on checkin.

• Improved support for SOLIDWORKS derived parts:

  • Multiple levels of derived parts are now supported (derived part inside a derived part).
  • Derived parts renaming has been fixed.
  • Fixed the case where the plugin wouldn't read the configuration name of a derived part because it wasn't loaded in a SOLIDWORKS session.
  • Derived parts are imported as phantoms (they will not show up in the eBOM tree).

• Support for Inventor derived files:

  • After refreshing, the structure of Inventor derived parts and assemblies can be recognized and managed.

    Note: Derived part/assembly will be deemed phantom items when creating items on target components. They will only be assigned as items when derived parts or assemblies are opened separately and then created as normal items.

  • Upchain now supports Copy, clone. replace, save, checkin and checkout of derived parts and assemblies.

• Copy, clone, replace, save, checkin, and checkout of phantom items are supported.

• When building the cBOM tree of a part that contains a derived assembly, the structure of the derived assembly is now recognized.

• Cloned or copied phantom items are now assigned a Plm_is_replaced value of 0 so that they will continue to be recognized as phantom items.

Workflow

• A warning is now given when trying to release a Change Request (CR) that contains items with multiple revisions. Previously, the CR would simply not work.

• A warning is given when trying to check in an assembly that contains out-of-date configurations.

• Fixed an issue where clearing locks would not unlock items in the plugin or in the design dashboard.

• When downloading files, if a file is locked by an external process, a notification tooltip will be visible, file selection will be disabled, and file download will be skipped.

• When a new version of an item is created in a project, the new version is added only to that project and not other projects that contain the same item.

• If you create a new item using an existing file and attempt to check it in with a different name, Upchain now detects this and prompts you to restore the original name first.

• When a workflow cannot be started due to missing data or other issues, the web application now reflects this properly.

• Added a window with information about translations that could not be generated.

• When exporting from SOLIDWORKS or with CAD to PDF, you can now download translations even if the visualization indicator is false.

• Improved the behavior for locked Change Notices (CNs). The lock now stays in place consistently, and you can see who has locked the CN.

• Fixed an issue where multiple item attributes mapped to the same CAD property could cause the check-in error, “An item with the same key has already been added.“

• Bulk export fixes:

  • PDF files are now generated from AutoCAD
  • Selecting translations no longer causes an error
  • Corrected an error message that was displaying when exporting a child item

• Phantom items are now supported for actions such as refresh, save, checkin, and checkout.

• Various lock fixes:

  • Improved lock generation that gracefully handles failed checkins and enables users to successfully release CRs.
  • You can now successfully release items containing DWG files that have been modified by Draftsight.
  • API users will now receive a correct error message when trying to remove a lock ID that does not exist.
  • SOLIDWORKS configuration users will be able to use items from removed configurations without lock restrictions.

• Fixed the inability to check in file names containing the character " } ".

• Visualizations can now be generated for parts with configuration names containing a backslash.

• Improved the usability and stability of the Change Request (CR) business process and its respective workflows.

  • A workflow will now continue if quorum decision is satisfied.
  • When a workflow is closed, its project status no longer remains set to “Update.”
  • Inactive users will no longer be assigned to quorum tasks.
  • Translations now stay attached to the initial part upon release.
  • If an item name is left blank, Upchain will alert you and the details tab will stay in edit mode.
  • Error messages include the item number causing the error.
  • STEP files are now on the list of file types that a primitive will check.
  • End items will not be missing after they are released in other projects.
  • Removed an unnecessary validation to allow Investigation Requests (IRs) for non-related items and Change Requests.
  • Could not Open/Check/Add now works for a new CR release item.

Interface

• Tooltips have been added to the Project menu to show long project names.
• A tooltip and icon now indicate when system parameters are not editable (for tenant administrators).
• Linked documents on items no longer show outdated versions of the documents.
• Improved the readability of warning messages when there were connection or other issues preventing Upchain from reading data.
• In Advanced Search, you can now right-click items, business processes (CR, CN), and projects to open them in a new tab.
• Upchain now prevents use of forbidden characters when naming objects; these could lead to unexpected behavior.
• Tenant Administrators can now add values and descriptions for the picklist items Item.Maturity, Item.Finish, Item.Material, Item.Shapes, and Item.Heattreat.

BOM

• You can no longer select items in a Change Notice BOM if they don’t match entries in the eBOM.
• Duplicate items in an eBOM were not being detected during import. A warning message is now given on checkin.
• Fixed an issue where the BOM comparison window was not loading.
• Fixed BOM report download issue when item names contained mathematical symbols.
• Performance improvements for cBOM and eBOM.

Drawings

• Releasing an item with two or more imported drawings would result in and unexpected tree structure for the drawings.