How to Search for Variables That Have Been Left Blank in SOLIDWORKS PDM Data Cards

Having blank SOLIDWORKS PDM data card variable values can cause trouble for some PDM vaults. For instance, if your process requires exporting PDM metadata to an ERP system. This tutorial provides the steps to identify, remediate, and safeguard your vault from blank data card variables. 

Identify Blank Variable Values in a PDM Vault

For this step, the Complete Search card, which natively comes with any PDM system, is required, as well as the permissions to this card. View our complete guide regarding the PDM Complete Search card here. 

After launching the Complete Search card:

• Click on the Variables tab
• Select the variable from the drop list or leave <Any Variable>
• Select the Text Equal To comparison
• Leave the Value blank

Figure 1: Searching the vault for blank data card variables

Note: If one or more configurations of a file have a value, the variable is not considered empty. To list files where some configurations have an empty value, contact technical support, who can provide an SQL query you can run. 

Also, if the Search in all versions option is checked in the Name and Location tab, the search results will include blank variables from all versions. To only search the latest versions, leave this option off.

Figure 2: To search only the latest version, uncheck this box

Mitigating Blank Variable Values in a SOLIDWORKS PDM Vault

Check out the file and fill in the data card variables. This is a manual process, and depending on the amount of blank variables you find, it can be time-consuming. (Figure 3)

Figure 3: To mitigate, simply check out and fill in the value(s)

Safeguarding Your PDM Vault from Blank Variable Values

To prevent this from happening again, this requires workflow actions to disallow items with blanks to be transitioned. Below is a detailed breakdown of how to set that up.

• How to Make SOLIDWORKS PDM Variables Required

I hope this article helped explain how to search for variables that have been left blank in PDM data cards. Check out more tips and tricks listed below. Additionally, join the GoEngineer Community to participate in the conversation, create forum posts, and answer questions from other SOLIDWORKS users. 

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