Creating export packages "PackageElement... Already exists"

I'm creating a demo environment and want to export the new Part definitions and Forms that I have created. When I try to add Part or Form to my new package, I get

   Unable to add item Form PackageElement (PackageElement) with Element Id '47573682FB7549F59ADECD4BFE04F1DE' already exists. 

Both part and form already exist in com.aras.innovator.solution.PLM, which I would have expected to use in the "Depends on" section.

I can use this PLM package and remove all the other item types and then export, but it would be more convenient to just use my custom package. This seems to be possible as seen in the packages for the aras training here. This includes what I want and more:

How do I achieve this?

Follow-on question: is it possible to filter what is exported? For example to only export members a certain part classification?

Thank you!

Parents
  • Hi Tim,

    I'd recommend taking a look at this blog. It goes over how you can export/import changes to existing ItemTypes. In general, it's best to export just the changes you've made, and not the entire package. This does require a pretty intense amount of keeping track of your changes, but it's the easiest way to make sure your changes transfer easily and cleanly. 

    If you don't want to do that, my next recommendation would be to export the entire PLM package and remove the files from the result. It's slightly easier than removing all other references within Innovator.

    AJ

Reply
  • Hi Tim,

    I'd recommend taking a look at this blog. It goes over how you can export/import changes to existing ItemTypes. In general, it's best to export just the changes you've made, and not the entire package. This does require a pretty intense amount of keeping track of your changes, but it's the easiest way to make sure your changes transfer easily and cleanly. 

    If you don't want to do that, my next recommendation would be to export the entire PLM package and remove the files from the result. It's slightly easier than removing all other references within Innovator.

    AJ

Children
  • Thank you AJ, I'll work my way through that.

    Out of interest, how does one also export the items themselves (e.g. parts?) The Aras training package on the partner portal also includes sample data, i.e. xml files with a bunch of part add commands.

    Can this be done with the export tool as well or do I need to start getting into AML and / or use the Visual Studio?

    Tim

  • オフライン in reply to Tim_Beard

    While you can use the export tool to export individual pieces of data (parts), from my experience, it's better to load data through AML queries. Subscribers have access to our Batchloader tool, which makes loading larger amounts of data much easier. With the batchloader you can create an AML template and create spreadsheets with the relevant data you want loaded into your system. 

  • Thank you AJ,

    I've been having a go with those and Innovator Admin (once I worked out that this had replaced AML Studio). Looks like a good place to start learning AML! It's a pain to get it to connect, though. Still working on that.

    I've also learnt an important lesson when preparing spreadsheets for importing via the batch loader: Create tab-delimited files, not comma-delimited. I had some text fields with commas and that really made things difficult!

    I haven't worked out yet if the import tool merges new data to existing items, but I'll work that out with further experimentation.

    Cheers,

    Tim

  • OK AJ, you've got me! How do i export items via the export tool (or any other tool for that matter)? I can't work it out from the package. The only method where I get anywhere at all is listing parts, then exporting to excel from the Share icon. The exported data isn't clean, however, and in any case, this method is only suitable for a small number of items.

    I've also tried creating a package with parts using Innovator Admin, but I can't get past the point where it asks for an export type without giving me the option to select one.

    Once I've been able to create a spreadsheet for mass entry of data, the Batchloader works really well. I'm just struggling to find an easy and reliably method of exporting a starter set of parts to use as a reference for my spreadsheet.

    Or does one simply have to learn AML to get further?