Support using links to drawings instead of just uploading them

[brettle]

This would simplify Onshape integration. When drawings have been created, the designer can create a version in the doc corresponding to the project, switch to it, and then open each drawing tab, copy the URL, and paste it into DBP.

[brettle]

I'm about to start working on this. My plan is to add a "Link to Drawing" button which prompts for the URL. URLs would then be stored in files with an extension other than .pdf so they can be distinguished from the uploaded drawings. Each uploaded or linked drawing would count as a drawing rev and would be accessible as such. If the current rev drawing is a link, it would be displayed as a simple link and maybe in an iframe.

Speak up if any of this sounds like a bad idea.

[mm-52tFd]

I'm not knowledgeable in how onshape stores drawings or how they are accessed. For future orienting the platform without losing historical data, the most straightforward approach is probably to add a field to the project type denoting what software the project is associated with. When the project is edited or created, select "OnShape" as the type and use that property to format the part detail page and associated behavior. Add an "onshape_link" varchar field to the part model, and put the link there. If the project type is "SOLIDWORKS", then the onshape link field would be ignored when the part is displayed or edited. If the project type is "OnShape", on edit the user can input the link into the field and the drawing file upload would be hidden. This would also allow for a project to simultaneously exist in OnShape and using the legacy SOLIDWORKS method, and enable us to cleanly switch old projects to OnShape when they are migrated while preserving all existing data. This would look something like:

• Add a string field to part db model, used to store the onshape link
• Add a string field to project db model to store which CAD platform should be used
• Update new and edit project views to support a SOLIDWORKS or OnShape dropdown
• Update part and part edit views to compare the parent project's type, and conditionally format based on this
• Re-rake the databases

Using an iframe embed sounds like a reasonable first pass at how to preview the drawing. That might have a tendency to cause compatibility problems in the future.

[mm-52tFd]

Using this approach would similarly allow us to link the onshape part directly from the DBP page by turning this field into a clickable link. Image attached. I think this is probably a better way to start transitioning DBP to be CAD-agnostic. There are potentially many more OnShape features that will be easier to integrate if it's configured this way instead of hacking around the file upload system.

I also don't think there should be any concern about using DBP to track revisions to drawings. OnShape does this natively with its version control, correct? This feature was originally added to DBP as a form of easily accessible version-controlled drawings for people in the shop to reference, and with OnShape that should not be needed in the first place.

[brettle]

I think OnShape provides the desired version control functionality, but I don't understand the use cases that DBP's version control is trying to address. Under what circumstances would someone want to set the drawing rev to a previous version?

[mm-52tFd]

Someone probably asked for it years ago and I just accepted the FR because it was easy to do. I don't know that it has ever been necessary.