Robert McAnany 2023
Contributors: @farfilli (aka @Fiorini), @daysanduski, @mmtrebuchet
Beta Testers: @JayJay101, @Cimarian_RMP, @n0minus38, @xenia.turon, @MonkTheOCD_Engie, @HIL
Helpful feedback and bug reports: @Satyen, @n0minus38, @wku, @aredderson, @bshand, @TeeVar, @SeanCresswell, @Jean-Louis, @Jan_Bos, @MonkTheOCD_Engie, @[mike miller], @Fiorini, @[Martin Bernhard], @[Derek G], @Chris42, @Jason1607436093479, @Bob Henry, @JayJay101, @nate.arinta5649, @DaveG, @tempod, @64Pacific, @ben.steele6044, @KennyG, @Alex_H, @Nosybottle, @Seva, @HIL
Notice: Portions adapted from code by Jason Newell, Tushar Suradkar, Greg Chasteen, and others. Most of the rest copied verbatim from Jason's repo or Tushar's blog.
Solid Edge Housekeeper helps you find annoying little errors in your project. It can identify failed features in 3D models, detached dimensions in drawings, missing parts in assemblies, and more. It can also update certain individual file settings to match those in a template you specify.
Feedback from users
This is the Michael Jordan of macros! I've tried lots of them. This is on a whole other level. Thank you!
This is going to save me SO MUCH TIME! Thank you for sharing!
Thank you for all your time and effort (...) Also thanks a lot for making it open source. I constantly reference your code for my own macros, which motivates me to make my projects open source as well.
Awesome. It looks like you are still overachieving with this app, and I thank you for it. If they ever figure out how to automate me running Housekeeper, I will be out of a job!
Rad, this saves a mountain of time for me. Thanks!
Responding to the prompt "Heard any good jokes about Solid Edge Housekeeper?", Google's Bard said:
Why did the Solid Edge Housekeeper get a promotion?
She was the only one who could clean up the mess that Solid Edge users make.
Start with the Readme. To quickly navigate, use the Table of Contents
by clicking
as shown in the image below.
Ask questions, report bugs, or suggest improvements on the Solid Edge Forum
If you want to make Housekeeper better, join us as a beta tester! Beta testing is nothing more than conducting your own workflow on your own files and telling me if you run into problems. It isn't meant to be a lot of work. The big idea is to make the program better for you and me and everyone else!
To sign up, message me, RobertMcAnany, on the forum.
(The Messages button is hidden under your profile picture,
at the very top right of the page).
Unsubscribe the same way.
To combat bots and spam, I will probably
ignore requests from User16612341234....
(Change you nickname in My Profile,
also under your profile picture).
If you know .NET, or want to learn, there's more to do! To get started on GitHub collaboration, head over to ToyProject. There are instructions and links to get you up to speed.
There is no installation per se. The preferred method is to download or clone the project and compile it yourself.
The other option is to use the Latest Release. It will be the top entry on the page.
Click the
file SolidEdgeHousekeeper-VYYYY.N.zip
(sometimes hidden under the Assets dropdown).
It should prompt you to save it.
Choose a convenient location on your machine.
Extract the zip file (probably by right-clicking and selecting Extract All).
Double-click the .exe file to run.
The first time you run it, you may encounter the following dialog. You can click
More Info followed by Run Anyway to launch the program.
If you are upgrading from a previous release, you should be able to copy
the settings files from the old version to the new.
The files are defaults.txt, property_filters.txt, and filename_charmap.txt.
If you haven't used Property Filter, property_filters.txt won't be there.
Versions prior to 0.1.10 won't have filename_charmap.txt either.
On each file type's tab, select which tasks to perform. On the Home tab, select which files to process. You can select files by folder, subfolder, top-level assembly, top-level folder, list, or drag-and-drop. There can be any number of each, in any combination. You can refine the search using a property filter, a wildcard filter, or both. See FILE SELECTION AND FILTERING below for details.
If any errors are found, a log file will be written to your temp folder. It will identify each error and the file in which it occurred. When processing is complete, the log file is opened in Notepad for review.
The first time you use the program, some site-specific information is needed. This includes the location of your templates, material table, etc. These are populated on the Configuration Tab.
To start execution, click the Process button. The status
bar provides feedback to help you monitor progress.
You can also stop execution if desired.
See STARTING, STOPPING, AND MONITORING EXECUTION for details.
The Home Tab is where you select which files to process. As mentioned above, using the Selection Toolbar, you can select by folder, subfolder, top-level assembly, top-level folder, or list. There can be any number of each, in any combination.
Another option is to drag and drop files from Windows File Explorer. You can use drag and drop and the toolbar in combination.
An alternative method is to select files with errors from a previous run.
Choose this option to select files within a single folder,
or a folder and its subfolders.
Referring to the diagram,
click 
to select a single folder,
click 
for a folder and sub folders.
Choose this option to select files linked to an assembly.
Click 
to choose the assembly,
click 
to choose the search path for where used files.
You would be asking for trouble specifying more than one top-level assembly. However, you can have any number of folders. Note the program always includes subfolders for where used files.
A top level assembly search can optionally report files with no links to the assembly. Set this option on the Configuration Tab.
When selecting a top-level assembly, you can
automatically include the folder in which it resides.
This auto include option in on by default.
Set it on the Configuration Tab.
If auto include is turned off,
you do not have to specify any folders.
In that case, Housekeeper simply finds
files directly linked to the specified assembly and subassemblies.
Note this means that no draft files will be found.
For that reason, a warning is displayed.
Disable the warning on the Configuration Tab.
If you do specify one or more folders, there are two options for performing where used, Top Down or Bottom Up (see next). Make this selection on the Configuration Tab. Guidelines are given below, however it's not a bad idea to try both methods to see which works best for you.
Bottom Up
Bottom up is meant for general purpose (hopefully indexed) directories
(e.g., \\BIG_SERVER\all_parts\), where the number of files
in the folder(s) far exceed the number of files in the assembly.
The program gets links by recursion, then
finds draft files with where used.
If your draft files have the same name as the model they depict,
you can bypass where used. Set this option on the Configuration Tab.
A bottom up search requires a valid Fast Search Scope filename,
(e.g., C:\Program Files\...\Preferences\FastSearchScope.txt),
which tells the program if the specified folder is on an indexed drive.
Set the Fast Search Scope filename on the Configuration Tab.
Top Down
Top down is meant for self-contained project directories
(e.g., C:\Projects\Project123\), where most of the files
in the folder(s) are related to the assembly.
The program launches Design Manager to open every file within and below the
top-level assembly folder(s).
As it does, it creates a graph of the links.
The graph is subsequently traversed to find related files.
I don't know how it works; my son did that part.
Include parents of part copies option
This option may be confusing. Referring to the diagram,
note that C.par is a parent of B.par. B.par is in top.asm,
while C.par is not.
Enabling the option means that
C.par would be included in the search results.
Referring to the diagram,
click 
to import a list,
click 
to export one.
If you are importing a list from another source, be aware that the
file names must contain the full path. E.g.,
D:\Projects\Project123\Partxyz.par, not just Project123\Partxyz.par.
Select files with errors from the previous run
Click 
to select only files that encountered an error.
All other files will be removed from the list. To reproduce the
TODO list functionality from previous versions, you can export the
resultant list if desired.
Remove all
Click 
to remove all folders and files from the list.
Shortcut menu
If you select one or more files on the list, you can click the right mouse button for more options.
- Open: Opens the files in Solid Edge.
- Open folder: Opens the files in Windows File Explorer.
- Find linked files: Populates the list with files linked to a top-level assembly. Similar to Update but no other File Sources are processed.
- Process selected: Runs selected Tasks on the selected files. Same as clicking Process at the bottom of the Home Tab.
- Remove from list: Moves the files to the Excluded files section of the list.
The update button
populates the file list from the File Sources and Filters.
If any Sources are added or removed, or a change is made to a Filter (see Filtering below),
an update is required.
You can limit the search to return only selected types of Solid Edge files.
To do so, check/uncheck the appropriate File Type
You can choose sorting options of Unsorted, Alphabetic,
Dependency, or Random sample. These options are set on the
Configuration Tab.
The Unsorted option is primarily
intended to preserve the order of imported lists.
The Dependency option is useful in conjunction with
the Update part copy commands. It is intended to help eliminate
the tedious model out-of-date (dark gray corners) on drawings.
The dependency ordering is not fool proof. It has trouble with mutual dependencies, such as Interpart copies. I've had some luck simply running the process two times in a row.
The Random sample option randomly selects and shuffles
a fraction of the total files found. The Sample fraction
is a decimal number between 0.0 and 1.0.
This option is primarily intended for software testing, but can be used for any purpose.
Filters are a way to refine the list of files to process. You can filter on file properties, or filenames (with a wildcard search). They can be used alone or in combination.
The property filter allows you to select files by their property values.
To configure a property filter,
click the tool icon 
to the right of
the Property filter checkbox.
The Property Filter checks Draft files, but they often don't have properties of their own. So for those files, Housekeeper also searches any models in the drawing for the specified properties.
This is a powerful tool with a lot of options. These are detailed below.
Composing a Filter
Compose a filter by defining one or more Conditions, and adding them
one-by-one to the list.
A Condition consists of a Property, a Comparison, and a Value.
For example, Material contains Steel, where Material is the Property,
contains is the Comparison, and Steel is the Value.
Up to six Conditions are allowed for a filter. The filters can be named, saved, modified, and deleted as desired.
Property Set
In addition to entering the Property name, you must also
select the Property set, either System or Custom.
System properties are in every Solid Edge file.
They include Material, Project, etc.
Note, at this time, they must be in English.
Custom properties are ones that you create, probably in a template.
Solid Edge also creates some Custom properties for you.
These include Exposed Variables and output from
the Inspect > Physical Properties command.
The custom property names can be in any language.
(In theory, at least -- not tested at this time.
Not sure about the Solid Edge entries either.)
Comparison
Select the Comparison from its dropdown box.
The choices are contains, is_exactly, is_not,
wildcard_match, regex_match, >, or <.
The options is_exactly, is_not, >, and < are hopefully
self explanatory.
Contains means the Value can appear anywhere in the property.
For example, if you specify Aluminum and a part file has
Aluminum 6061-T6, you will get a match.
Note, at this time, all Values (except see below for dates and numbers)
are converted to lower case text before comparison.
So ALUMINUM, Aluminum, and aluminum would all match.
Wildcard_match searches for a match with a wildcard pattern.
For example [bfj]ake would match bake, fake, and jake.
A more familiar example might be Aluminum*,
which would match Aluminum 6061-T6, Aluminum 2023, etc.
Unlike with contains, in this example,
Cast Aluminum Jigplate would not match.
Internally the VB Like Operator is used to make the wildcard comparison. Visit the link for details and examples.
Regex_match uses Regular Expressions. They are flexible and powerful, but explaining them is beyond the scope of this document.
For more information see
REGEX in .NET
Default Filter Formula
Each Condition is assigned a variable name, (A, B, ...).
The default filter formula is to match all conditions (e.g., A AND B AND C).
In the image above,
the default formula means you will get all parts in project 7481
made out of Stainless and engineered by Fred,
i.e., A AND B AND C.
Editing the Formula
You can optionally change the formula.
Click the Edit button and type the desired expression.
For example, if you wanted all parts from Project 7481,
either made out of Stainless,
or engineered by Fred, you would enter the formula shown,
i.e., A AND (B OR C).
Dates and Numbers
Dates and numbers are converted to their native format when possible.
This is done to obtain commonsense results for < and >.
Note the conversion is attempted even if the property type is
TEXT, rather than NUMBER, DATE, or YES/NO.
Dates take the form YYYYMMDD when converted.
This is the format that must be used in the Value field.
So if you wanted all files dated before January 1, 2022, your condition would be
Custom.Date < 20220101.
The conversion is supposed to be locale-aware, however this has not been tested.
Please ask on the Solid Edge Forum if it is not working correctly for you.
Numbers are converted to floating point decimals.
In Solid Edge many numbers, in particular those from the variable table,
include units.
These must be stripped off by the program to make comparisons.
Currently only distance and mass units are checked (in, mm, lbm, kg).
It`s easy to add more, so please ask on the Forum if you need others.
Saved Settings
The filters are saved in property_filters.txt in the same directory as
Housekeeper.exe.
If desired, you can create a master copy of the file and share it with others.
You can manually edit the file,
however, note that the field delimiter is the TAB character.
This was done so that the property name and value fields could contain
spaces.
The wildcard filter operates on file names.
Simply enter the wildcard pattern in the
provided combobox. Wildcard patterns are automatically saved for
future use. Delete a pattern that is no longer needed by selecting it
and clicking 
.
As suggested above, see VB Like Operator for details and examples.
Press the Process button to start executing the chosen tasks. If one or more files on the list were selected, only those are processed. Otherwise, all files are processed.
A checkbox
to the left of
the file name indicates it has yet to be processed. Afterwards, if no errors were
detected, a checkmark
is shown.
Otherwise, an error indicator
is displayed.
You can monitor progress on the status bar. It shows the number of files processed, the current file, and an estimate of time remaining.
You can also interrupt the program before it finishes. As shown above, while processing, the Cancel button changes to a Stop button. Just click that to halt execution. It may take several seconds to register the request. It doesn't hurt to click it a couple of times.
Since the program can process a large number of files in a short amount of time, it can be very taxing on Solid Edge. To maintain a clean environment, the program restarts Solid Edge periodically. (Set the frequency on the Configuration Tab.) This is by design and does not necessarily indicate a problem.
However, problems can arise.
Those cases will be reported in the log file with the message
Error processing file.
A stack trace will be included, which may help debugging.
If four of these errors are detected in a run, the programs halts with the
Status Bar message Processing aborted.
Please note this is not a perfect program. It is not guaranteed not to mess up your work. Back up any files before using it.
Does not support managed files
Cause: Unknown.
Possible workaround: Process the files in an unmanaged workspace.
Update 10/10/2021 Some users have reported success with BiDM managed files.
Update 1/25/2022 One user has reported success with Teamcenter 'cached' files.
Older Solid Edge versions
Some tasks cannot be run on older versions.
Cause: Probably an API call not available in previous versions.
Possible workaround: Use the latest version, or avoid use of the
task causing problems.
May not support multiple installed Solid Edge versions
Cause: Unknown.
Possible workaround: Use the version that was 'silently' installed.
Printer settings
Does not support all printer settings, e.g., duplexing, collating, etc.
Cause: Not exposed in the DraftPrintUtility() API.
Possible workaround: Create a new Windows printer with the desired settings.
Refer to the Draft Tasks -- Print Topic below for more details.
Pathfinder sometimes blank during Interactive Edit
Cause: Unknown.
Possible workaround: Refresh the screen by minimizing and maximizing the
Solid Edge window.
Open a document and save in the current version.
Loads all assembly occurrences' geometry into memory and does an update. Used mainly to eliminate the gray corners on assembly drawings.
Can run out of memory for very large assemblies.
Searches for text in a specified property and replaces it if found. The property, search text, and replacement text are entered on the Task Tab, below the task list.
A Property set, either System or Custom, is required. For more information, see the Property Filter section above.
There are three search modes, PT, WC, and RX.
PTstands for 'Plain Text'. It is simple to use, but finds literal matches only.WCstands for 'Wild Card'. You use*,?[charlist], and[!charlist]according to the VB Like syntax.RXstands for 'Regex'. It is a more comprehensive (and notoriously cryptic) method of matching text. Check the .NET Regex Guide for more information.
The search is not case sensitive, the replacement is. For example, say the search is aluminum, the replacement is ALUMINUM, and the property value is Aluminum 6061-T6. Then the new value would be ALUMINUM 6061-T6.
In addition to plain text and pattern matching, you can also use a property formula. The formula has the same syntax as the Callout command, except preceeded with 'System.' or 'Custom.' as above.
Checks to see if all the variables listed in Variables to expose are present in the document.
Exposes entries from the variable table, making them available as a Custom property. Enter the names as a comma-delimited list in the Variables to expose textbox. Optionally include a different Expose Name, set off by the colon : character.
For example var1, var2, var3
Or var1: Length, var2: Width, var3: Height
Or a combination var1: Length, var2, var3
Note: You cannot use either a comma , or a colon : in the Expose Name. Actually there's nothing stopping you, but it will not do what you want.
Face style overrides change a part's appearance in the assembly. This command causes the part to appear the same in the part file and the assembly.
Updates the file with face and view styles from a file you specify on the Configuration Tab.
Note, the view style must be a named style. Overrides are ignored. To create a named style from an override, open the template in Solid Edge, activate the View Overrides dialog, and click Save As.
Hides all non-model elements such as reference planes, PMI dimensions, etc.
Maximizes the window, sets the view orientation, and does a fit. Select the desired orientation on the Configuration Tab.
Checks if a file property, that you specify on the Configuration Tab, matches the file name.
Assumes drawing has the same name as the model, and is in the same directory
Checks to see if any assembly occurrence is pointing to a file not found on disk.
Checks to see if any assembly occurrence resides outside the top level directories specified on the Home Tab.
Checks if any assembly occurrences have conflicting or otherwise broken relationships.
Checks if any assembly occurrences have missing relationships.
Runs an \*.exe or \*.vbs file. Select the program with the Browse button. It is located on the Task Tab below the task list.
If you are writing your own program, be aware several interoperability rules apply. See HousekeeperExternalPrograms for details and examples.
Brings up files one at a time for manual processing. A dialog box lets you tell Housekeeper when you are done.
Some rules for interactive editing apply. It is important to leave Solid Edge in the state you found it when the file was opened. For example, if you open another file, such as a drawing, you need to close it. If you add or modify a feature, you need to click Finish.
Also, do not Close the file or do a Save As on it. Housekeeper maintains a reference to the file. Those two commands cause the reference to be lost, resulting in an exception.
Exports the file to either a non-Solid Edge format, or the same format in a different directory.
Select the file type using the Save As combobox. Select the directory using the Browse button, or check the Original Directory checkbox. These controls are on the Task Tab below the task list.
Images can be saved with the aspect ratio of the model, rather than the window. The option is called Save as image -- crop to model size. It is located on the Configuration Tab.
You can optionally create subdirectories using a formula similar to the Property Text Callout. For example Material %{System.Material} Thickness %{Custom.Material Thickness}.
A Property set, either System or Custom, is required. For more information, see the Property Filter section above.
It is possible that a property contains a character that cannot be used in a file name. If that happens, a replacement is read from filename_charmap.txt in the same directory as Housekeeper.exe. You can/should edit it to change the replacement characters to your preference. The file is created the first time you run Housekeeper. For details, see the header comments in that file.
Same as the Assembly command of the same name.
Same as the Assembly command of the same name.
Same as the Assembly command of the same name.
Same as the Assembly command of the same name.
Same as the Assembly command of the same name.
Checks to see if the part's material name and properties match any material in a file you specify on the Configuration Tab.
If the names match, but their properties (e.g., face style) do not, the material is updated. If the names do not match, or no material is assigned, it is reported in the log file.
Same as the Assembly command of the same name.
Same as the Assembly command of the same name.
In conjuction with Assembly Activate and update all, used mainly to eliminate the gray corners on assembly drawings. You can optionally update the parent files recursively. That option is on the Configuration Tab -- Miscellaneous Group.
Same as the Assembly command of the same name.
Same as the Assembly command of the same name.
Same as the Assembly command of the same name.
Checks if any features of the model are in the Failed or Warned status.
Checks if any features of the model are in the Suppressed or Rolledback status.
Checks if any profiles are not fully constrained.
If the file has any insert part copies, checks if they are up to date.
Checks the file's material against the material table. The material table is chosen on the Configuration Tab.
Same as the Assembly command of the same name.
Same as the Assembly command of the same name.
Same as the Assembly command of the same name.
Same as the Assembly command of the same name.
Same as the Assembly command of the same name.
Same as the Assembly command of the same name.
Same as the Assembly command of the same name.
Same as the Part command of the same name.
Same as the Part command of the same name.
Same as the Assembly command of the same name.
Same as the Assembly command of the same name.
Same as the Part command of the same name.
Updates DesignForCost and saves the document.
An annoyance of this command is that it opens the DesignForCost Edgebar pane, but is not able to close it. The user must manually close the pane in an interactive Sheetmetal session. The state of the pane is system-wide, not per-document, so closing it is a one-time action.
Same as the Assembly command of the same name.
Same as the Part command of the same name.
Same as the Assembly command of the same name.
Same as the Part command of the same name.
Same as the Part command of the same name.
Same as the Part command of the same name.
Same as the Part command of the same name.
Checks for the existence of a flat pattern. If one is found, checks if it is up to date.
Same as the Part command of the same name.
Same as the Assembly command of the same name.
Same as the Assembly command of the same name.
Same as the Assembly command of the same name, except two additional options -- DXF Flat (\*.dxf) and PDF Drawing (\*.pdf).
The DXF Flat option saves the flat pattern of the sheet metal file.
The PDF Drawing option saves the drawing of the sheet metal file. The drawing must have the same name as the model, and be in the same directory. A more flexible option may be to use the Draft Save As, using a Property Filter if needed.
Same as the Assembly command of the same name.
Same as the Assembly command of the same name.
Checks drawing views one by one, and updates them if needed.
Updates styles and background sheets from a template you specify on the Configuration Tab.
These styles are processed: DimensionStyles, DrawingViewStyles, LinearStyles, TableStyles, TextCharStyles, TextStyles. These are not: FillStyles, HatchPatternStyles, SmartFrame2dStyles. The latter group encountered errors with the current implementation. The errors were not thoroughtly investigated. If you need one or more of those styles updated, please ask on the Forum.
Replaces the background border with that of the Draft template specified on the Configuration Tab.
In contrast to UpdateStylesFromTemplate, this command only replaces the border. It does not attempt to update styles or anything else.
Checks background sheets for the presence of drawing views.
Same as the Assembly command of the same name.
Same as the Assembly command of the same name.
Same as the Assembly command of the same name.
Checks if drawing views are not up to date.
Checks that dimensions, balloons, callouts, etc. are attached to geometry in the drawing.
Checks is there are any parts list in the drawing and if they are all up to date.
Same as the Assembly command of the same name.
Same as the Assembly command of the same name.
Print settings are accessed on the Configuration Tab.
Note, the presence of the Printer Settings dialog is somewhat misleading. The only settings taken from it are the printer name, page height and width, and the number of copies. Any other selections revert back to the Windows defaults when printing. A workaround is to create a new Windows printer with the desired defaults.
Another quirk is that, no matter the selection, the page width is always listed as greater than or equal to the page height. In most cases, checking Auto orient should provide the desired result.
Same as the Assembly command of the same name, except as follows.
Optionally includes a watermark image on the output. For the watermark, set X/W and Y/H to position the image, and Scale to change its size. The X/W and Y/H values are fractions of the sheet's width and height, respectively. So, (0,0) means lower left, (0.5,0.5) means centered, etc. Note some file formats may not support bitmap output.
The option Use subdirectory formula can use an Index Reference designator to select a model file contained in the draft file. This is similar to Property Text in a Callout, for example, %{System.Material|R1}. To refer to properties of the draft file itself, do not specify a designator, for example, %{Custom.Last Revision Date}.
Processing starts in Form1.vb. A short description of the code's organization can be found there.