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In-context techniques are all about external references. External in-context references in an assembly occur when one part in the assembly has some sort of geometrical reference to another, such as offsetting an edge of a part, using a vertex of a part with a coincident sketch relation, or using a face of another part as a sketch plane. All of these references are saved in Update Holders that reside in the assembly FeatureManager, but SolidWorks hides them by default. Figure 1.9 shows a simple assembly FeatureManager with a single Update Holder. You can show the Update Holders in an assembly by right-clicking the top level name of the assembly in the FeatureManager and selecting Show Update Holders.

FIGURE 1.9

Displaying an Update Holder that keeps external reference information

To view the contents of the Update Holder, right-click the Holder or any part or feature that contains external references, and select List External References from the menu. The information stored in the Update Holder shown in Figure 1.9 is shown in Figure 1.10.

FIGURE 1.10

Showing the contents of the Update Holder

In the example shown in Figure 1.9, four edges of Part1 are offset into Part2. Also, the Part2 sketch into which the edges are offset uses a face of Part1 as the sketch plane.

Note

The Insert the features of the original part(s) if references are broken option in the External References For dialog box does not apply to assembly in-context situations. It only applies to inserted parts (what the Help system calls “derived parts”). Inserted parts are also external references where references can be broken. You will find more information on this topic in the next section.

Each Update Holder holds the external reference information for a single feature. If a sketch and a feature have different external references (for example, the sketch might reference face edges, while the feature might reference a vertex in the other model for an Up To Vertex end condition), there will be a different Update Holder for each. The external reference information has several components:

• The name of the assembly where references are made

• The configuration of the assembly where references are made

• The feature where the reference was created

• The type of entity that was referenced, and which part it is in

• The part from which the reference was created

Referencing external files from a part

Chapter 19 is all about referencing external files from a part. As a preview of what you will see in that chapter, you can insert one part into another part to use in a number of ways, such as the following:

• A starting point, for example, adding secondary operations to a cast part

• A tool, for example, using the Indent feature to create a clearance for an interfering part

• A Boolean operator, for example, to subtract one part from another

• A set of reference geometry, for example, inserting the surface of a car door to create the outer skin of the door

To create these external references, SolidWorks provides four different features or functions:

• Insert Part

• Insert Into New Part

• Split

• Save Bodies

External references within parts can be broken in the same way that in-context relations can be broken. External references in parts have just one fewer component compared to assemblies — parts obviously do not list an assembly where the reference was created.

For parts, two different kinds of external references exist: inserted parts (on the left in Figure 1.11) and stock parts (on the right in Figure 1.11). Figure 1.11 shows these two types of references inserted at the top of different part FeatureManagers. Notice that they both have the in-context external reference symbol (->) after the first feature.

FIGURE 1.11

Two kinds of external references in SolidWorks parts

The inserted part allows you to bring across planes, sketches, features, and even the entire part if you want, but on the down side, it forces you to bring all bodies to the new part (you can select solid or surface, but