When in an AutoCAD drawing and it is connected to Windchill with the WGM it is extremely desirable to insert an AutoCAD drawing from Windchill into the current open drawing. This example with AutoCAD is very similarly and effectively done in Creo. Currently, AutoCAD users are required to open WGM, Search for drawing, either download or add to their workspace, then further navigate to where it was placed and then finally use the insert command in AutoCAD. This is a very cumber set of steps when attempting to insert either a Library component or even another project drawing into the current drawing.
We have gone to a third party programmer in attempt to solve this problematic situation. We have built an AutoCAD macro that runs a custom WGM program. This goes into Windchill, finds the drawing record (if exists) and then passes a link to the file back to an insert command macro in AutoCAD. This though well intended currently has some draw backs. It doesn’t have a search capability other than yes it’s there or no it’s not. Security access and drawing states are not tested. Having capability in AutoCAD like what is available in Creo will improve performance but also encourage efficient and secure part library usage.
