_AP tables in FSU App's

[pshashipreetham]

Hi,

In CWC, I see '_ap' tables in the database. I remember back in 2021, I could add the custom columns _ap in manufacturing apps, and there was documentation of steps to add customer fields/columns from thingworx composer in _ap tables.

Can someone share the importance of _ap tables? Why and how are they used?

Thanks,

[mstarnaud]

Hi Shashi

First, most tables (like Equipment) have a duplicate _ap table (Equipment_ap). The _ap table usually just has 1 column, Uid, and it's the same value as the original table. So if Equipment has a record with Uid=5, then you should get an _ap record with Uid=5. However I know some tables get the records and some tables don't and I'm not sure what causes this.

The goal of the _ap tables is to allow customization. Modifying the original table (Equipment) is not supported, but you can add columns in the _ap table (Equipment_ap). So if for example you want to add the Colour or Manufacturer of your machines into the database, you could add those as columns in Equipment_ap and you could get them by joining on the Uid column.

For the most part (there is 1 exception, see below), the _ap tables only contain the Uid and the logic doesn't look in those tables for information. I don't think they have any "importance", except for 1 detail : if you delete the _ap table or records, then maybe the code that creates the _ap records would throw an error. So I strongly suggest to not delete the tables and records.

There is one big exception : Joborder_ap. This table is used by RTPPM and CWC. It contains half of the information of the Joborders, including the Path/Route, Planned Quantity and Product. This table contains important information that is constantly being read & modified by the software's code. This stems from the first version of the software, it used to be integrated with another software (Manufacturing Apps) which already had a Joborder table, so the new necessary columns were added in Joborder_ap instead of modifying the original table.

Conclusion : So the _ap tables should not require any intervention unless you want to add custom code & data. You can add custom columns in them and you read & update the data by joining on the Uid column. The Joborder_ap table is the only one I know of where the original software actually stores & updates & reads data.

Let us know if you have further questions on this.

[pshashipreetham]

Hi @mstarnaud ,

Thanks for replying. As you concluded, _ap are only for customization. Yes, as far as I have worked with customers, all the CWC customers are out there permanently as a use case for customizing the CWC.

There used to be a couple of steps to add the columns in _ap tables. I remember seeing the Article in 2021 when working on Manufacturing Apps. Do you have it handy @mstarnaud  or is the documentation deprecated, because I am not able to find it anymore

Thanks,

[mstarnaud · Accepted solution]

Hi Shashi

I had a quick look and found this documentation page for DPM. I'm guessing it will mostly working the same way for us, except that instead of going on PTC.Base.Manager I think we use PTC.FSU.CORE.LaunchPoint.LaunchPoint_TG.

I also found this old Article for Manufacturing Apps, I think the is the one you were talking about. Based on a quick look, I think it's almost the same as the DPM documentation. With the main difference being that here there's a section about adding the information in an existing Manufacturing Apps Mashup, I'm pretty sure this will not work for us : we cannot modify Mashups and Utils Things. Also, in "Adding Custom Data Shapes", when it says to modify the Manager Thing, we would again have to use the DPM method with the LaunchPoint Thing as I explained above.

I expect it will take me some days before I have time to test this. If you try it before me, please let me know what you find.

[pshashipreetham]

Hi @mstarnaud ,

THANK YOU.

Thanks,