Pro/E with Mathcad (part 1)

Finally I get round to posting some knowledge gained from my struggles with Mathcad <-> Pro/E integration... It has been a struggle, since there's still no smooth join between the 2 applications (even though I envisioned it in April 2006!).  The information here is a mix of what you find in the user manuals + what you pick up as you go along... suggestions included in [square brackets].  Please add your own input in the comments.

To begin with, let's look at adding calculations to geometry:

• Mathcad sheet prep: variables to inherit Pro/E values should be tagged proe2mc - and variables to feedback to Pro/E tagged mc2proe (right-click - properties - tag).  This is the neatest part of the integration - the simplest and least intrusive...
  
• Pro/E model prep: add your Mathcad Analysis feature, load your worksheet (or create one on the fly, though I always tend to have the worksheet ready + waiting) - and begin joining Pro/E dimensions/parameters with Mathcad variables.  [I have an Enh Req on this one: tolerance values cannot be passed between apps, you need to go via parameters, more in a later post]
• From initial testing, I'd recommend you minimise the number of mathcad files used by each Pro/E model - since Mathcad gets opened in the background each time a feature is regenerated.  I started with a lot of little sheets for individual calcs, but now have just a few sheets, each combining a logical series of calcs.  [It would be useful to somehow group all the mathcad features requiring regen together - and just open Mathcad once to cover them all]
• Bringing the outputs back to Pro/E: I recommend clicking the Info button to get a list, noting the feature ID, then editing for notes, etc... eg:

  Variable      Value    Units (feature ID:2184)
  Area_WINDOW   1.556    in^2
  
  becomes:
  
  Area of Window : &MC_Area_WINDOW:FID_2184 in^2

  The prefix MC_ is added to all variables, and the suffix :FID_??? is also required.

Here are some things to look out for (I found them out the hard way!):

• Don't use decimals in your Mathcad variable subscript - Pro/E doesn't recognise these (eg: instead of OD.BODY.NOM type OD.BODY_NOM)
• Watch length of variables - Pro/E will truncate Mathcad variable names above 31 characters
• Don't remove or rename variables in the Mathcad sheet that are used by Pro/E - it won't open the file...
• Sometimes Mathcad features will fail during regen - and sometimes if you suppress and resume them, they're OK!  (Failing that, close + re-open often does the trick, but it still feels pretty unstable...)
  

I think that'll do for now... I have a few other topics, but this is looking long enough for one post, and I've got to drive to work now!