Variable Mapping - Autodesk Inventor Files (For SOLIDWORKS PDM Professional only)

You can map variables to both predefined properties (such as Part Number and Description) and custom named properties in Inventor files.

The full Inventor application or Design Assistant must be installed to read and write Inventor properties in SOLIDWORKS PDM. However, neither application needs to be running.
Common Extensions IAM, IPT, IDW
Property Mappings
Block name Attribute name
DTProperties PartNumber, StockNumber, Project, DateCreated, DateChecked, DateEngrApproved, CostCenter, CheckedBy, EngrApprovedBy, UserStatus, Material, PartPropRevId, CatalogWebLink, Description, Vendor, DocSubType, ProxyRefreshDate (read-only), DateMfgApproved, DocSubTypeName, MfgApprovedBy, PartIcon, Cost, Standard, Designer, Engineer, DesignStatus, Authority
Summary Title, Subject, Author, Keywords, Comments, Revision Number
DocSummary Category, Manager, Company
CustomProperty The attribute names are custom defined.

Variable Mapping for Autodesk Inventor Example: Mapping to an Inventor Drawing Property

This example describes how to map the variable Drawing number to the Inventor property Part Number.

Other possible mappings are:
Variable name Inventor property name Block name Attribute name
Designed by Author Summary Author
Drawing number Part Number DTProperties PartNumber
Stock number Stock Number DTProperties StockNumber
Description Description DTProperties Description
Revision Revision Summary Revision Number
Date Creation Date DTProperties DateCreated
Drawing status Status DTProperties UserStatus
Checked by Checked By DTProperties CheckedBy
Checked date Checked Date DTProperties DateChecked
Approved by Eng. Approved By DTProperties EngrApprovedBy
Approved date Eng. Approved Date DTProperties DateEngrApproved

To map to an Inventor drawing property:

  1. In Inventor, view the property information for the file to identify the drawing property to which to map.
  2. In the Administration tool, right-click Variables and select New Variable.
  3. In the Edit Variable dialog box, create a variable named Drawing number.
  4. Click New Attribute.
  5. Under Selected attribute:
    1. For Block name, select dtproperties.
    2. For Attribute name, type PartNumber.
    3. Type the Inventor file extensions that contain the property, separated by commas.

      For example: idw, ipt, iam, ipn, idv, ide.

  6. Click OK.
  7. In the Card Editor, open the Inventor file data card that is linked to the idw extension.
  8. Add an edit box and select the new Drawing number variable as the Variable name.
  9. Save the card and close the Card Editor.
When a user adds an Inventor drawing to the SOLIDWORKS PDM vault, the .idw file data card shows the Inventor part number.