DPM : Domain Specific Building Blocks

[sk_sk]

Hey there,

is there any documentation on use case and functional logic for domain specific building blocks (Shift, Job order etc), other than what's available on PTC Support?. (https://support.ptc.com/help/building_blocks/r1.1/en/)

Its not very clear on how the different services would gel in to create a functional use case and UX if mashups are planned to be added.

Thanks,

Sunil

[ptcwbowman]

Hello Sunil,

  For documentation, I don't believe so.  There are some UI enablers that are coming along.

  I assume you mean a way to show a calendar or a Kanban board (showing work assigned by shift), or showing holidays or crew schedules.

  Can you give me an example of what you were thinking?

[sk_sk]

yup, thanks for the reply though!

I was thinking on the similar lines, that you've said.

Like giving users UI to configure their own shifts and then visualizations on top of that. Also, not just shift, how the Manufacturing Model Building Block or Job Order Building block can be used to visually add hierarchy or to track an order/project/ticket through its lifecycle. 

Couple of more questions  

 is there any example of customizing/extending the data model of the OOTB blocks? We have similar use cases, but the data is entirely different, only we are implementing the philosophy of a given block. (PTC support has mentioned options, but looking for a specific example)

is going with custom Managers is good way or entirely creating a custom block would be good, keeping in mind that some customers may want both custom and existing building blocks on the same environment for different sites. 

Also, if there is anything with the PTC enablement, please let me know that.

Thanks for reading out, this far!! 

BR,

Sunil

[ptcwbowman · Accepted solution]

Hello Sunil,

  I am not sure that PTC enablement has anything on the building blocks yet.   The BB are relatively new.

>Like giving users UI to configure their own shifts and then visualizations on top of that. Also, not just shift, how the Manufacturing Model Building Block or Job Order Building block can be used to visually add hierarchy or to track an order/project/ticket through its lifecycle. 

   100% make sense.  Showing the order from WC to work center (bottleneck analysis) is a key feature.  

> is there any example of customizing/extending the data model of the OOTB blocks? We have similar use cases, but the data is entirely different, only we are implementing the philosophy of a given block. (PTC support has mentioned options, but looking for a specific example)

  Yes, the OA building blocks show how to extend them. But for DPM (I am assuming you are using the latest) the database schema has changed, and we need to update this. 

    i.e. the 3 options

    1) Using the scheme as is but adding fields (_aa fields)

https://support.ptc.com/help/building_blocks/r1.1/en/#page/bb/building_blocks/building_blocks_overview/extending_the_data_model.html#

    2) Using the building block logic (i.e. replacing what we have with your own)

https://support.ptc.com/help/building_blocks/r1.1/en/#page/bb/building_blocks/building_blocks_overview/customizing_services.html#

    3) Extending the BB

This one is a bit tougher, and really means you are deriving a _TT from the building block and extending it.  This is really just standard inheritance, though we want to make sure .

  >is going with custom Managers is good way or entirely creating a custom block would be good, keeping in mind that some customers may want both custom and existing building blocks on the same environment for different sites. 

  A bit of both is what we have found.

I will reach out to you through DM to set up a meeting to go over what you are trying to do.