Component/Shape
Associations 
Assembly Design Tool Bar
Use these commands to extract, link and unlink components from their shape associations. Extracting a component means that a base shape within the active part will become a new component. Linking a component to a base shape will force the component to update if the shape changes. Unlinking a component reverses the link command. Refer to the commands below.
When a component is merged into the active part using the Base option during the Merge Component command, it becomes a stand-alone shape in the part. The new shape is associated with the component from which it was created. The original component remains in the Assembly Tree but is shown as disabled (i.e. low-lighted). If the new shape is erased, the original component is removed from the Assembly Tree.
This command (Extract Merged Components) searches for shapes that were created from merged components. Each merged shape is moved into a new part. The new part is assigned to the component from which the shape was originally merged. The component is re-activated on the Assembly Tree.
Things to Consider
when Extracting Components
You can choose to place each
component part in a separate file rather than place them in the active
file. The file name is the same as the part name.
If Multi-object mode is not enabled
on the General Tab of the VX
Configuration Form, each component part is placed in a separate file
automatically.
The new parts overwrite any existing
parts with the same names within their corresponding object files. The
user is prompted for confirmation before this is done. Also
refer to the Notes section below.
This function provides the tools
for editing geometry in an assembly context using the following procedure:
1. Create shapes from instanced parts using the Base option during
the Merge Component command.
2. Modify the shapes as desired.
3. Convert the shapes back to components using this command.
This strategy keeps the original
component geometry intact, which allows the you to regenerate the entire
modeling process -- re-importing the original component geometry, reapplying
modeling operations to it, then updating the original components to reference
the modified geometry.
The modified components will be listed in the bill of materials using
the names of the original parts from which they were derived. An
extracted part is linked to the original merged part by putting the name
of the original part in the extracted part's "Derived
From" attribute field (see Attributes
>Part...).
Required Inputs
Shape - Select the shape to extract.
Frame - Select the default reference frame for the newly created component.
Name - Enter a name for the newly created component.
Optional
Inputs 
Extract to external files - By default, the newly created components are created in the currently active file. Select this box to create new VX files for each component and enter a File prefix (see below).
File prefix - Enter an optional prefix for the external files.
Template - The external files can be created based on a defined VX template. If you have a part templates defined, you can enter its name here.
Use this command to link a shape to a component so that the Extract Components From Shapes command will treat the specified shape as if it had been merged from the specified component using the Merge Component command. Linking the shapes to components allows the components to be updated with the shape geometry on demand.
Required Inputs
Shape - Select the shape to link.
Component - Select the parent to link the shape to.
Use this command to unlink a shape from a component that was previous linked using the Link Shape to Component command. By unlinking the shape, the Extract Components From Shapes command will not treat the specified shape as if it had been merged from the specified component. By unlinking the shape from the component, the component will not be updated by the shape geometry.
