opening a .pha file downloaded from Windchill with standalone browser should open the model

[N-Pyn]

Initially posted in this topic

Sorry for digging up a really old discussion, but this issue is still relevant.

Windchill Help still claims that opening a .pha file downloaded from Windchill with standalone browser should open the model in an existing session if one is open, but it's not working like that for me:

I tried with associating the .pha to parametric.exe and to parametric.bat, but both just start a new Creo session. My Creo version is 7.0.10.0.

Has anyone ever got this working properly?

[avillanueva]

I do not think we were able to use this as we use an elaborate startup batch script to start Creo (to ensure that company specific standards are applied and to set environment variables properly). We've never supported its use.  Obviously, if it starts a second Creo session, that would only create a mess. Most users open Creo and then download from there.

[dnordin]

N-Pyn,

Check in the Creo Parametric load point area under <LP>\Creo #.#.#.#\InstallManager for a registry file called "CommonCreated.reg". You can view the file with any text editor. This will give you an idea of what registry HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT keys were set at installation time. Look at \HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\phaFile\Shell\Open\Command to see what command is being used to open the files by default. You can use regedit.exe as either admin or yourself to verify the settings. OOTB the startup is "parametric.exe %1". You (if you're an admin) can update the key to use any custom startup command you have for Creo Parametric. You can also copy the CommonCreated.reg file, update all the commands, and then import the .reg file into your system.

I'm not sure what modification you'd need to use to get the file to open in an existing session versus launching a new session. It always launches a new session for me. If nothing else, at least you can have it launch a new session with your custom startup script.

Regards,

Dan N.

[N-Pyn]

Hi,

Thanks for this tip.

I did the same by just right clicking the .pha file, Open with > Choose another app > More apps > Look for another app and then browsing the .bat file. (And tick Always use this app to open .pha files).

But that .reg trick is great if I want to set this in order for all our CAD users.

Too bad that the open in existing session feature is just not working at all. And weird that it's still mentioned in the help files even though I don't remember it ever working (been using Creo since 5.0).

[N-Pyn]

A moderator moved this to Windchill forum for some reason even though this is a Creo Parametric issue. 🤷🏻