Can you use GitHub as a way of storing and sharing Creo Parametric/Illustrate files?

[rrzink91]

I am working on a team, so it's only natural that we would want to make it easier to work as a team. So having some semblance of version control would be great. I've done some searching and I haven't found much of anything yet. Even if GitHub turns out not being possible, would there be any alternatives? Let me know! Thank you and take care. 

[KenFarley]

I can't see how this would work, maybe someone who uses GitHub extensively knows some way it would. The problem I see is that every time you save a Creo file, it creates a new version file. I.e. mypart.prt.1 is now saved as mypart.prt.2, the next time I save it's mypart.prt.3, etc. If a bunch of people are using the same files and saving them, the last one to save "wins". The next time the part or assembly is opened, it brings in the latest version. I think GitHub is meant to be used to keep track of files with the same name, the situation one has with software design, which is GitHub's intended purpose. Creo's file serialization isn't really compatible.

There is already a means of doing version control for Creo stuff, it's Windchill. Unfortunately, it costs a lot of time and money to set up, and more money to keep going.

[DanielReid]

I agree with Ken here.  To make GitHub or similar work, you'd have to be sure all users strip off the version number extension on the files before checking into the repository.

There are still other limitations if not using Windchill PDMLink or Pro/INTRALINK.  A couple big ones are:

• The repository will not understand the relationship between .prt, .asm, and .drw files.  You would have to manually deal with these relationships and pay attention to this during check-ins.
• If you end up wanting to rename any of the files, you will have to manually deal with renaming through Creo for assemblies to see the name change of components (or if there are part to part references or drawing references) and then renaming through the repository.  Old versions prior to the update of the name in Creo would also have to be fixed in Creo, if you wanted to go back to an older version.

If you can manage the limitations, GitHub or other basic file repository systems can work (been there, done that many years ago).  Much better to have a tool that's meant for the job of managing Creo Parametric data though.

[Mat]

DanielReid listed the side effects of not using a Windchill - like tool quite good.

I 've been down that road some years ago. With only two engineers in our department, it was possible to use Subversion for the job. But only if both engineers works on different projects / project folders.

The workflow was like:

1. "Checkout" project to local folder
2. make changes to local copy
3. run script, that purges folder and renames all files to .prt.1, .drw.1 & .asm.1
4. "Commit" changes to subversion

Otherwise, since You cannot lock / unlock files in explorer (at least to my knowledge), You would end up in a mess, where You cannot figure out who changed what file for what reason. Creo easily creates changes, e.g. if You regenerate an assembly. If You pay not attention carefully, there is a big chance, that You get to point of "last save wins".

And it gets even more complex, if You want to reuse components.

I solved or better circumvented that by creating a huge "search.pro" by a script.

But if there is a better solution to use subversion or git for creo files, I would love to hear that.