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BPapp7-Bedrock
7-Bedrock
May 24, 2012
Question

a way to date / time stamp a drawing?

  • May 24, 2012
  • 3 replies
  • 15747 views

In our small company (6 designers) we have found it beneficial to date and time stamp the lower right corner of drawing format just outside the border. Years ago we had a CAD system that when you entered the text #date, #time, etc it would enter the system date and time. We have been using Pro/E since Rev 18 or so and gotten away from it, but now management would like to look into bringing it back. Does anyone know of a way in Creo to do this? It would be even better if it were totally automatic when you save the file. Thanks.

Bruce


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3 replies

B
BPapp7-BedrockAuthor
7-Bedrock
May 24, 2012

I searched before I posted and came up empty, after I entered my post I saw "similar posts" which helped a little. In annotation, entering "&todays_date" does cause a text entry of the system date. So that is a step in the right direction. Is there a way to get the sytem time also? And also, any way to get the system to automatically enter this upon saving?

Thanks again.

Bruce

Patriot_1776
Patriot_177622-Sapphire II
22-Sapphire II
May 24, 2012

You can use: "&todays_date", but that works only when you insert it, and doesn't update. You can put that as variable text in a symbol, and then when you do a "properties" on the symbol, it will update without you actually having to change it.

You can use: &PTC_WM_MODIFIED_ON:D, but since that is a parameter created by windchill, you have to save the dwg, check it in, then do and "update" to get it to change. This parameter can also be used as variable text in a symbol.

What I did was created a symbol that had "&todays_date" and a parameter I created in the dwg: "&DWG_TODAYS_DATE" which I manually changed, but then after an update automatically changed all the occurrances on all the sheets.

Good luck.

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BrianMartin13-Aquamarine
13-Aquamarine
May 24, 2012

Honestly Bruce I think you can do this when you export to PDF. I think you can add the timestamp but I haven't tried it myself. I've seen the option though.

Also... how are you creating your prints. Are you just printing manually or through some sort of script. Are you printing directly to the printer or are you generating PDF's?

I am short on time for the next two weeks but I think there are several options here.

Thanks!

-Brian

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BrianMartin13-Aquamarine
13-Aquamarine
May 24, 2012

Hi Bruce...

The Label function in the printer panel still works well- even at Creo 2. But, from my understanding, you want this stamp every time you SAVE the drawing?

While I'm confident you can do this... I think it's overkill. In the past you could do this during a print operation... and you indeed still can. But during a SAVE operation? Egad.

Multiple people have suggested the "todays_date" variable. There are no other good variables other than the ones Frank and others have already given. However, you can always pull data from your operating system. If you needed to, you could put your username, workstation/computer name, date, time, timezone, and a million opther pieces of information on the drawing. You just need to pull them from the OPERATING system, not from Creo.

I can think of a couple of ways to do this... but I need to think on the easiest method to do it. You need to execute a system command and then capture the output so you can use it in Creo. I can do it with a small script but I'd like something easier. Either way, if you want this to update at each save, you're probably going to have to do one of two things:

  • turn on the switch that automatically regenerates the model before a save is executed (so the variables update... that's *IF* I can get them to work at all)
  • Create a mapkey to replace the default SAVE key. The mapkey would execute the script to grab all the necessary system data and update the Creo variables... then save.

This sounds like a very long way around the barn. Can you live with the built-in print date stamp function... or do we need to dig into a more complex solution?

Thanks!

-Brian

Patriot_1776
Patriot_177622-Sapphire II
22-Sapphire II
May 25, 2012

Interesting Brian, I didn't know there was a time stamp for the PDF. I'll have to check that out, thanks!

For us, I want the date on the deg itself so that anyone pulling the dwg knows when it was created. I made a "PRELIMINARY" symbol, and put all 3 of the parameters i mentioned in it so the user can choose. I actually just thought of using the: "&PTC_WM_MODIFIED_ON:D" instead of the: "&todays_date" after seeing this thread. I knew the parameter existed, just never played with it. I don't like that you have to save first then check in, then update, but, it DOES automatically change all the sheets and adds the time, and is always correct vs. using the created parameter: "&DWG_TODAYS_DATE" which I have to manually add, though it changes all the sheets.

So, it looks like Bruce now has a bunch of options.

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