Windchill: Objects and Types

[MR_12404533]

Reply to ask for help or share what you have learned.

[BF_13811900]

Hi. The Windchill out-of-the-box install provides the user with the ability to add various new objects into a folder via the "Actions" menu (such as creating a "New Document", "New Part", "New Note" etc...). Windchill makes use of many more object types outside of the objects listed in the "Actions" menu I've referred to above. Is it possible, via the GUI, to add other object types in?

A bit of background to this question:

I am looking to add a new object type in to Windchill that will be used to represent warehouse locations that parts are stored at. These warehouse locations are likely to be associated with its own attribute set and it's possible they will need to be assigned to their own lifecycle to manage changes to the locations. Consequently, I may have to represent them by a custom object type and associate these location object to the parts they contain. It would be nice to create a new object type to represent my "locations" and to be able to add these into Windchill via the GUI. However, I can't see a way of doing this unless I make the new type a sub-type of a part, document or a note for example. Is this the case?

[AdamM.Levine]

Yes, this can be done, but creating an entirely new object type is usually not the best approach. Defining a brand-new type (derived from WTObject) requires Java development and is significantly more complex.

A much simpler and more common approach is to create a subtype of an existing object, such as Part or Document, depending on your use case. With subtypes, you can:

• Hide unwanted attributes. If some attributes are required, you can prepopulate them using Object Initialization Rules (OIRs) and then hide them from the UI.
• Customize the user interface by creating new layouts for create, view, and info pages. For example, if your use case doesn't need files or viewables, you can hide those features.

This approach avoids the complexity of coding and is far easier to maintain.

If you want your new type to appear in toolbars or action menus, you’ll need to use the Action Framework. Here’s a good starting point in the PTC Help Center:
Action Framework for Windchill Client Architecture

Alternatively, you can skip modifying the action framework entirely by having users create a new Part or new Document, then select the appropriate subtype from the list.

[BF_13811900]

Thank you very much Adam. I think I'll create a sub-type of the objects mentioned to achieve what I'm looking for and explore the "Action Framework" to see if I can include this directly in the action menu.

[jendageorge]

There are a few simple options via the GUI that you could use to represent your warehouse/distribution centers:

• Add a new attribute set to the Part object that includes the warehouse name and other attributes, then modify the Part layout to group the set.
• If you use the Supplier Management module, you can create a subtype of Supplier (e.g., Warehouse). The parent type uses a life cycle template. The image included here has its own attribute set to track supplier-related details (similar to the first bullet item).
  
• If you use MPMLink to manage your mBOMs, you can create the warehouses as Plants. They would appear in the Resources list. 

[jendageorge]

Another option that will involve more coding and less GUI is to create a custom task in Windchill Navigate (Windchill + ThingWorx). If you currently store all of the inventory data in a system like SAP, you can use ThingWorx and/or REST to create a dashboard of parts stored at a warehouse (and maybe a lookup) and integrate that task into a tab in Windchill.

[BF_13811900]

Thank you very much, that's really helpful.