Part locking mechanism

Locking a part means performing the same operation as locking a layer, and the result you obtain is also the same.

When a part is locked, the geometries it contains cannot be modified in any way. This mechanism is very useful to avoid modifying geometries belonging to parts that you do not intend to modify.

The TOP application automatically manages  the locking  of parts:  through the Global command  it is possible to choose between two operating modes of this mechanism. In particular, when this option is active, the unlocking of parts occurs for both the active part and any children, while when it is deactivated, only the active part will be unlocked, while all the other parts of the drawing will be locked.

In addition to the automatic locking mechanism, the user is provided with arbitrary locking / unlocking commands  for parts, which allow certain parts to be set as locked.

 Non-Modifiable Parts

In addition to part locking management, the user is provided with the ability to define a part as non-editable. 

A part set in this way cannot have any type of modification  at the geometry, master data and part structure level .

When a part is defined as non-editable , the entities that compose it cannot be modified, moved or rotated as if they were on a locked layer. Furthermore, it will not be possible to add further entities either by drawing them directly or by aggregating them.

When a part is made unmodifiable, its state is automatically reflected in all its sub-parts, as they are considered as an integral part of it. These parts have a different behavior than the parts from which they inherit the property: from now on, for clarity, we will call them reflexively unmodifiable parts, or recursively unmodifiable parts .

Difference between Locked Parts and Non-Editable Parts

  • A non-editable part always maintains this characteristic  regardless of navigation through the parts.
    So even if the part is activated it remains non-editable. On the other hand, the concept of an active part cannot coexist with the concept of a locked part since the part is always unlocked when it is activated.
  • A non-editable part cannot undergo any type of modification to its contents: it is not possible to add  or remove geometries  from a part of this type with the aggregate command , while these operations are possible on locked parts.
  • A non-editable part cannot undergo changes to the part structure derived from it, so it is not possible to create new child parts of a non-editable part, or aggregate other parts to a non-editable part through the aggregate part  commands .
  • As already mentioned, a part set as non-editable also transmits this characteristic to any child parts, which then become  non-editable parts by reflection .
  • When a part is not editable it is automatically  considered a portion of the part at a higher level that keeps it locked, so it is not possible to act on it even with the part editing commands that are available both on locked parts and on directly non-editable parts.
  • The non-editable state  is saved within the part, so unlike locking,  a part remains non-editable  even when it is copied to another location, loaded into another drawing or saved using the appropriate command.
  • A non-editable part, either directly or indirectly, is represented by a dedicated symbol in the parts tree:
    In the figure below:
    • The TESTED part has been set as non-editable: we can recognize it by the prohibition symbol superimposed on the QS parts icon.
    • The parts below it are not editable by reflection, and are distinguished by the padlock symbol  superimposed on the part icon.