## Attaching an External Part Program

The Insert | Attach Part Program class opens the Attach External Part Program dialog box. You can use this dialog box to attach a part program to the current part program. This does not mean that PC-DMIS will actually attach and execute all the command in the specified part program. Instead, it attaches a pointer to the part program, allowing you to access its dimensional and feature data. See "Using a Pointer to Reference Data".

Attach External Part Program dialog box

This dialog box contains the following options:

Option | Description
External part program file name | This box allows you to type the pathway for the part program you are going to attach. If you prefer, you can use the Browse button which will also place the filename pathway into the box.
Equate Program Alignments | This area allows you to share alignments between two part programs by selecting them from the available lists. See "Equating an Alignment" in the "Creating and Using Alignments" section for additional information.

The Attach Part Program menu option is especially useful when working in multiple arm mode. With this option you can attach a part program from the Arm2 system onto the Arm1 part program. Attaching the part program allows the sharing of data so that both arms can run off the same alignment, pass feature data from one part program to another for calculations, and generally work in a cooperative manner. (See the "Using Multiple Arm Mode" section, for more information on multiple arm mode.)

More:

Using a Pointer to Reference Data