Skip to main content
L
lkerila1-Visitor
1-Visitor
March 2, 2012
Question

Using Windchill to Manage Drawing Symbols & Material Files

  • March 2, 2012
  • 2 replies
  • 1632 views

Can anyone explain how to use Windchill to manage (more importantly, to store) data such as drawing symbols and material files? My users are asking me to place these files in Windchill, so they have easy access to retreieve them while using Pro/E. In theory, it seems very logical, since it can manage the revision history of these files (or lock them from being inadvertently modified), plus... it acts as a common server, especially nice, since we don't have one for our group.As it is now, every user has to have a copy of these files local on their machine.



I've had no luck in trying to find info on how to use Windchill to accomplish this. I thought it would be simple. Can anyone help?





This thread is inactive and closed by the PTC Community Management Team. If you would like to provide a reply and re-open this thread, please notify the moderator and reference the thread. You may also use "Start a topic" button to ask a new question. Please be sure to include what version of the PTC product you are using so another community member knowledgeable about your version may be able to assist.

2 replies

B
bfrandsen10-Marble
10-Marble
March 5, 2012
Set these config.pro options:
pro_symbol_dir
pro_material_dir

by browsing to the folder location in Windchill from the options dialog in ProE.
Here the result looks like this: pro_material_dir wtpub://Windchill9/Libraries/System/Materials

/Bjarne
L
lkerila1-VisitorAuthor
1-Visitor
March 5, 2012

First of all, hats off to Steven G. Smith for sharing some of the secrets of Windchill with me regarding this topic. Apparently, Steven has a Windchill 9.1 Admin book out on the market. I'll have to buy a copy and suggest you all do the same.


Here is what I did to add my symbols to Windchill:



1 - Create a directory in Windchill named "Symbols"


2 - Copy the directory path (ie: wtpub://<your.server.com>/Library/Symbols)


3 - Launch Pro/E and create a new workspace


4 - Create a new empty drawing


5 - Add desired symbols to new empty drawing (all of them you want to add to Windchill)


6 - Pick "Format/Symbol Gallery/Symbol Dir" and browse to the directory in Windchill


7 - Pick "Write/Name/(pick name from list)" for each symbol (repeat for entire list)


8 - Open your workspace browser and refresh the window


9 - You should see the list of symbols you just wrote (saved)


10 - Tick the box for each symbol and then check them in


11 - Be sure to change the directory location as appropriate during the check-in process



Materials were added to Windchill in essentially the same manner. I did have a hiccup when I tested this, however. I found that Pro/E was not reading my paths correctly for some reason. When I entered it in config.pro from scratch, it worked perfectly (after restarting Pro).



Hope this helps!



In Reply to Lar Kerila:



Can anyone explain how to use Windchill to manage (more importantly, to store) data such as drawing symbols and material files? My users are asking me to place these files in Windchill, so they have easy access to retreieve them while using Pro/E. In theory, it seems very logical, since it can manage the revision history of these files (or lock them from being inadvertently modified), plus... it acts as a common server, especially nice, since we don't have one for our group.As it is now, every user has to have a copy of these files local on their machine.



I've had no luck in trying to find info on how to use Windchill to accomplish this. I thought it would be simple. Can anyone help?









A
alouw11-Garnet
11-Garnet
June 8, 2015

Hi Everyone, I know this is a very old post.

I just want to know if anyone experienced any problems with speed on large assemblies after, setting your materials libraries up in Windchill, as explained above.

We've been warned against doing this because of potential speed problems, but we would really like to have revision control on our Material libraries.

(After all, the functionality is available.)

However I have to be cautious, as this is a rather big change to make for the large amount of users that I support. 

Has anyone experienced any problems after setting up the material libraries in Windchill at all?

    Terms & ConditionsCookie settingsAccessibility statement