Managing Configuration Data

For part and assembly models containing configurations, new options help you to manage the size of files and the time needed to save them. You can specify and identify which configurations to always keep up to date. You can purge cached configuration data every time you save the model.

As in previous releases:

If a configuration has never been activated (such as one defined in a design table), only essential defining data about the configuration is carried in the model. When you activate a configuration for the first time, the full definition of the configuration’s model data is generated. This full data set is updated and saved every time you save the document. By default, once the full data set is generated, it remains available every time you open the model. Having this full data set readily available for a configuration can save a significant amount of time when switching to that configuration from another. However, for each configuration that you activate, the file size of the model increases, as does the time required to rebuild and save the file.

Generating Configuration Data

To generate full data sets for one or more configurations without activating each configuration individually, do one of the following:

• In the ConfigurationManager, right-click one or more configurations and click Add Rebuild/Save Mark.
• At the top of the ConfigurationManager or FeatureManager design tree, right-click the model name, click Rebuild/Save Mark, and click one of the following:

  Add Mark for This Configuration	Marks the active configuration to have its full data set generated the next time you save the document. Subsequently, the data is rebuilt and saved every time you save the document.
  Add Mark for All Configurations	Marks all configurations to have full data sets generated the next time you save the document. Subsequently, the data is rebuilt and saved every time you save the document.
  Add Mark for Specified Configurations	Opens the Rebuild and Save Settings dialog box, where you select configurations to mark to have full data sets generated the next time you save the document. Subsequently, the data is rebuilt and saved every time you save the document. Also, removes the Rebuild/Save mark from all other configurations, and changes their icons to or (depending on the current state of their configuration data).
  Remove Mark and Purge Data for All Configurations	Removes the Rebuild/Save mark from all configurations including the active configuration, and purges the data for all configurations except the active one.

The following icons appear beside the configurations in the ConfigurationManager:

Active Configuration	Inactive Configurations	Description
		Indicates a configuration for which a full up-to-date data set exists.
		Rebuild/Save Mark. Indicates a configuration that will have its full data set generated the next time you save the document. Subsequently, the data is rebuilt and saved every time you save the document. To unmark a configuration, right-click it and select Remove Rebuild/Save Mark. Its icon changes to or (depending on the current state of its configuration data).
		Indicates a configuration for which a full data set is out of date or does not exist.