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MarcosSuarez1-Visitor
1-Visitor
February 14, 2014
Question

Manage design directory

  • February 14, 2014
  • 3 replies
  • 3356 views

Hi guys,

We try to create a template for our ECAD engineers.

We use the ECAD Neutral WGM and "ECAD Generic non-separable Design".

For that we use the "save as" operation as described in document CS550692.

Then we save the new design in our workspace.

Next step is to check out the files.

But windchill change the design directory by himself.

In our template is the design directory set to H:\Windchill\template\Designname <= H: is a network directory

The design created over "save as" has a directory set to C;\Users\suarezm\ecad_ws\srvpdm01_46companyname_46local\wsname\designname

We can change the design directory over "manage design directory" but i think is not how it should work.

bug or feature?

greetings Marcos


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3 replies

ptc-46390201-Visitor
1-Visitor
February 14, 2014

Marco

This Reply may be lengthy.

The behavior is as expected, and some customers have raised this as a real issue.

It is unfortunate this behavior was not detected earlier but that is because I didn’t apply the Template in my use case.

Let me explain what is going on:

When the Design Object is added /checked out to WorkSpace and the WGM detects content associated to the Design Object the content target location is going to be the WLD (Workspace Local Directory). Some User prefer to use the WLD and other prefer to use their own design directory.

For the user that prefer to work out of their design directory ( d:projects/designs/123/) then you would think applying the “Manage Design Directory” action would be the next logical step, to move the design data from WLD to the user preferred design directory.

Once the “Manage Design Directory” action is completed the designated design directory is mapped as the new working directory.

But the users applied the “Advance ECAD Check In” as the next logical step and in the setup form the user did not have any way to browse to the location of their design but instead the location was set to the WLD.

All of this is fine if the user is starting the design activity from the content in the template, however many designers preform the added /checked out to WorkSpace action after they have invested many hours/days/weeks of time on designing and have decided it is time to check the design data into Windchill. So applying the “Manage Design Directory” action would possibly overwrite the design data. This causes the user to move data applying the “Manage Design Directory” action then move data back. Another solution could have been to apply the “Input Data” action from the working directory. "Input Data" and "Generate Data" actions are no longer available in the 10.2 ECAD WGM.

My Takeaways:

  • We learned that the users intention is to Check-in design data, requires “Add /Checked out to WorkSpace”, “Manage Design Directory” and then “Advance ECAD Check In” as the steps to get there, they just want to check in.
  • We Learned that the users applies “Add /Checked out to WorkSpace”, at the time of check in not at the beginning of the design.
  • We also learned that the users still consider the design data on their flat file system as the golden data and not the Windchill data.

In the short term I can’t expect that to change, however I would hope to eventually see the ECAD community to adjust their way of thinking.

All this came to light after 10.2 M010 was released, and we applied a solution in 10.2 M020.

Solution:

In the 10.2 M020 “ECAD Check In” action will always allow the user to browse to a location, so the user does not have to use the WLD location.

    MarcosSuarez1-VisitorAuthor
    1-Visitor
    February 17, 2014

    Hi David,

    Thank you for your explication; I can understand your Takeaways.

    For my point of sight I can say, I see it like you.

    Maybe a lot of people see their local data as the golden data, but... well, I think also that's not the right way to use a centralized PDM System.

    Our engineer's understand how they should use the WGM. The other part is just process design.

    We will use the ECAD Neutral as you described.

    1.) Create a new ECAD design from template and use a workfolder and not the workspace. (I will explain later why not)

    2.) If they need to check in an old design (or in work status) then create first a new design in windchill and copy the date inside the workfolder.

    Once the data is checked in, the local data is worthless.

    But there are 2 things I really miss in the WGM.

    1.) A preference where the wcadmin can set where the ECAD workspace is, actually he is set to something like "C:\Users\suarezm\ecad_ws\srvpdm01_46ACME_46local\123".

    2.) A preference where I can change the name of the auto generated folder in workspace.

    Actually the folder name is automatically set to the number of the document (Example =0000000478.dir). An option to use the number OR the name of the document would be nice).

    I think if you give the admin a chance (preference) to set a workfolder for the whole organization or project or whatever and also to set the name of the folder inside the workspace, maybe the users don't need the feature "manage design directory" anymore because, well it think that don't do anything more than the 2 preferences above.

    Example, "Manage design directory" to D:\projects\designs\123 could be the same as %workspace_Path%\%foldername%

    Preferences:

    %workspace_Path% = D:\projects\designs\

    %foldername% = 123

    Maybe I don't get the whole picture or I don't have all the information, but maybe you could use my input for something.

    Another thing I miss is an equivalent to a "preupdate hook"

    As I mention before, after the first design data check-in, I don't see because you need the local data in your design directory. If you need to change the data, then check-out the design data and have fun, after your finish and check-in the design data again, you don't need the local data anymore.

    It just can generate errors because you can work on data u don't have write rights (not checked out by you).

    I don't know if the WLD delete data automatically after the check-in, but the workfolder set by "manage design data" does not. There is where I could see a hook that runs after the check-in, maybe u want to do something more than just delete the design data, maybe delete also temporary data or kick some other command line actions.

    Like the preupdate hoot, they don't need to have "builtIN" functionality. The user can decide by himself if he wants to set the hook or not.

    Yeah, well... this reply was also lengthy.

    Hope u can use it or something.

    greetings Marcos

    sclaes1-Visitor
    1-Visitor
    February 17, 2014
    Marcos,

    You can set the location of the WLD as mentioned in the Windchill Workgroup Manager for ECAD User's and Administrators Guede", from Pg. 156 (v10.1 M040) -

    If desired, the location of the ecad_ws directory can be changed by setting the environment PTC_WLD_ROOT to the required location.

    I have seen several companies do this either directly in their environment settings, or in a batch file ALWAYS used to start the WGM.
    As a side note, the WGM document is a pretty tough read, but it's a good idea to go through it a piece at a time until you have consumed it all. Several Engineers I have worked with found the information on how the workspace is set up very useful.


    Regards,Scott Claes

    info@claes.biz www.claes.biz

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