What is the easiest way to publish a STEP from a Pro/E part?

[MikeFoster]

When we release a drawing of a Pro/E part our document control group must open the part in Pro/E and run a mapkey to create a STEP file that we can then give to suppliers such as machine shops for NC programming. This is time consuming, requires training, and an appropriate workstation for people in that group.

Much better would be if there existed a tool like the ProductView Adapter that could open the part in a Background Pro/E session on a separate Worker machine and create a STEP file upon request. Does PTC have any such tool? Is it part of any Windchill module? Is Pro/Batch our best bet?

Thanks,

Mike Foster
ATK

(Sorry for the double post)

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[MikeFoster]

Thanks everyone,

Distributed Pro/Batch was the leading contender for a PTC solution (see replies below). Other suggestions included Fishbowl Solutions' linkAccess Trigger and Spekan Batch (free) available from USG Innotiv.

The following vendors replied offering their products:
- www.tweatherford.com
- Plot Service (PSW) application from Etrage (www.etrage.com)
- NajaNaja Ltd (najanaja.com)

Thanks again,

Mike Foster
ATK

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Pro/Batch can export STEP files in a batch. The problem may be in telling it what to process, but you can run it on a worker machine and it will run till all the files are converted then shutdown Pro. You may be force to duplicate your files in a secondary folder or something like that, but if you want them processed at night or something off-line, that's what I would try.

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Probably not what you want to hear, but why not create the STEP file in your group when releasing the part/file?
I'm not aware of any tools for doing this outside of Pro/E, but then we create all our exported files for vendors within the Eng group. Good Luck

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Take a look at Pro/E Distributed Batch (pro/batch replacement as of wildfire4
It requires a pro/e license to run.
You can set it up to handle files you specify or set it up to monitor a folder and process all file that are placed in the folder.
Hope this helps

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Distributed Pro/BATCH can do it. It's the replacement for Pro/BATCH. You can create a set of machines that run the service and locally you will run c:\ptc\pro\bin\ptc_dbatch.bat. There is a STEP export job type and you can even hook it up to Windchill. Do a google search on Distributed Pro/BATCH and you will find a Pro/Files article by Matt Meadows explaining the software.

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The problem is more one of having someone that can bring the tech together.

You need an internal web server. (Any windows box running proe can be configured act as a web server.)
A webpage (form) and a cgi script to create a simple trailfile, call proe and run that trail, which would open the file and run the mapkey needed to save the step file. When that completes the cgi continues and sends a new page to the user with a link to download the file.

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