A friend has a project to sell a customizable product on the Internet.
In your opinion, is it possible, based on a generic plan, and personalized dimensions provided by the customer, to generate a personalized plan and send it to the customer?
It seems to me to go very far compared to the use I make of SW, but I wouldn't be surprised if in PDM tools or other, this possibility is accessible.
Maybe Solidworks is not the most suitable for this kind of work, especially since the final goal is 2D.
If you have other leads, even very vague, do yourself a favor:D
The main problem will be the interface between the web page and the part resizing software.
This interface must generate the file that is good (EXCEL, VBA or a macro that would be much better).
So the website WEB sends a formatted file (very easy for any computer scientist) After receipt a batch process is either triggered manually or automatically. It is the computer program and the level of security you want that will define whether you have a real-time batch or a deferred batch.
For the question of transforming customer data into a 3D model and then a 2D model, I recommend DRIVEWORKS (already included for free in the license for the basic version) which is almost made for that. After that, depending on the complexity of the parts, see if it's parallelepiped, it works very well for everything metal. For wood, there is another SolidWorks software called SWood. It all depends on the variability of the dimensions and the assemblies because otherwise configurations could surely do the trick too.
We would have to say more to get more relevant opinions from our expert colleagues in different fields (macro, VBA, configurations) of our favorite forum.
1) a web application that sends the information provided by the client to a queue on the server. The server uses Solidworks to update the model and plan, then converts them to the desired format and updates the client's web page with a download link. Benefits: - no constraint for the complexity of the part because Solidworks takes care of the design (dimensioning, projections, etc...) - Wide choice of export formats (PDF, DWG, STEP, eDrawing...) - optionally: 3D visualization by the customer - optionally: collection of information in a database Disadvantages: - SolidWorks must be installed on the server, which requires a dedicated SolidWorks server and license, as (to my knowledge) there is no online service that offers this option. - The number of requests (number of concurrent users) is limited by the time it takes for the server to process them. This depends on the complexity of the room and the power of the server. Common application: website of large and medium-sized companies for complex parts.
2) a web page that processes the request internally and generates a PDF, DXF or STEP file Benefits: - Simple to implement. Possibility of using an online hosting site. - no containtes on the number of requests, because the calculations are done by the customer's PC. - Fast because there is no transfer time or queue. Disadvantages: - the complexity of the part is limited, because each line of the drawing must be calculated and written in the chosen export format(s). In addition , each export format has a different encoding. Common application: small business website for simple parts (furniture, houses, diagrams...)
3) a web page that generates a SWB file (Solidworks macro in text format), the customer must then open the file with Solidworks. Benefits: - as case #2 - The customer can export in the format of their choice. Disadvantages: - complex because all the design of the model (and possibly the plan) must be coded - the customer must have Solidworks Common application: website of a large company to generate the relatively simple commercial parts model, to then be integrated into the customer's design. (pneumatic cylinders and accessories...)
In short, if the room is not too complicated, 2 is best.
DriveWorks Pro has a module that allows you to receive online requests. The operation is similar to 1, and simplifies implementation. Personally I use ASP.NET for the client page and VB.NET for the processing program on the server. But in any case, there's a lot of coding to do.
This is because Solution 2 does not need SolidWorks. Only html and javascript are used.
In the case of pdf generation, you will first have to draw each line of the part on a canvas. See here for an example.
Maybe that's enough for the customer to get an idea of the product. Especially since the customer can print the page directly with chrome. Otherwise export in pdf with a Pdf library like jsPDF