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MK_126986274-Participant
4-Participant
April 25, 2025
Question

Drawing dimension symbolic name issue

  • April 25, 2025
  • 2 replies
  • 1236 views

Using Creo 8.0.9

 

I'm working on a drawing that has a large table of dimensional values that directly reference dimensions created on views in a later sheet. When I create the dimensions on the drawing view, I enter a symbolic name (like 'H4', see image below) that corresponds with the name of the value on the first page. This way if the model changes in the future, the table automatically updates instead of needing to manually type in the new value. So, the table on sheet one has the value &H4, but displays the dimension named 'H4'.

MK_12698627_0-1745595015401.png

The issue I'm running into is that sometimes when I enter the name I want, it brings up a pop-up that says "This symbol is reserved or exists already". When I look through the annotations dropdown in the drawing tree, the dimension name I want isn't found under any of the views so there shouldn't be a conflict.

MK_12698627_1-1745595373796.png

Is there a way to see a list of all created dimensions on a drawing? I've also tried looking in "Show Model Annotations", but don't see the names I want there either. Is it possible there are hidden dimensions somewhere that I'm not looking, or is this a bug?

 

Thanks for any help you can provide!

 

2 replies

tbraxton
22-Sapphire II
tbraxton22-Sapphire II
22-Sapphire II
April 25, 2025

One possible cause is that a drawing user (using create_drawing_dims_only no) made a driven dimension in drawing mode that lives in the solid model, and named it using the name you are attempting to use. If this is the issue, then when in drawing mode you should be able to find the driven dim with the name in question.

M
MK_126986274-ParticipantAuthor
4-Participant
April 25, 2025

That would make sense. In response to your below comment, I don't think it's a naming issue, as it works sometimes in other drawings with the same symbolic name.

 

How do I access drawing mode within an assembly? I'm not familiar with anything but the standard 2D drawing in Creo. Is there an advantage to this over a regular drawing?

tbraxton
22-Sapphire II
tbraxton22-Sapphire II
22-Sapphire II
April 25, 2025

When you have a 2D drawing as the active window in Creo Parametric, that is drawing mode.

https://support.ptc.com/help/creo/creo_pma/r11.0/usascii/index.html#page/detail/About_the_Drawing_Modes.html 

 

If you are using an assembly as the model to create a drawing if any of the parts/components within the assembly may use the parameter name, then that could be an issue causing the error. I am not positive about that, but it conceivably could be an issue in the context of a drawing. If you have a dimension named "H4" in more than one part/component in an assembly then when you try to assign that name to a new dimension, it could be a problem.

tbraxton
22-Sapphire II
tbraxton22-Sapphire II
22-Sapphire II
April 25, 2025

This is a list from PTC but without a declaration that it is inclusive of all reserved names.

 

  • Some parameter names are reserved and cannot be used:
    • A symbol that had been used by another dimension
    • Yes, No
    • d#, kd#, rd#, tm#, tp#, or tpm#
    • pi - names with mathematical operators or the reserved words
    • C1, C2, C3 or C4 - they are constants that have the values of 1, 2, 3, and 4 respectively
    • G (gravity)
    • Gxx where xx is any numerical value (Geometric Tolerances)
    • Pxx where xx is any numerical value (Pattern Instances)
    • SF1 (reserved for surface finish with ID 1)
    • User parameter names must begin with a letter
    • User parameter names cannot contain nonalphanumeric characters such as !, @, #, and $, -, but only _ (underscore) can be used
    • User parameter names cannot be starting with PTC_*
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