Create Data Package containing only viewables

[ArjenBlok]

We are working on a setup of Windchill to support collaboration with customers and suppliers. To share data we would like to use data packages containing only viewables and not the native documents. We are not able to find a way to apply package filters to select only these viewable.

Who has experience solving this issue? Please reply.

[Wayne_Beck]

Did you every get an answer to this question.  We are looking to do the same thing.

[ArjenBlok]

I never received a proper answer. We discovered that you have to exclude all file extensions to receive only viewables.

In the mean time we developed some customizations to improve the OOTB package functionality. The OOTB functionality doesn't support automated filtering of content based on values of attributes and a lot of user interaction is required. (Windchill 10.1) Our requirement is to have a predefined filter per package subtype that is applied automatically and packages can be created with a minimum of user interactions.

We made the following customizations:

• functionality to define custom default settings per package subtype to predefine the package creation;
• custom filter by package subtype based on object attributes and object attributes values. E.g. only documents with attribute DocType = IRS, VDD, SOW
• automation of manual steps in the package creation, like lock package, create zip, create delivery and share to project
• calculation of security labels at package level based on the most severe security labels of the package content

We still have some wishes for improvement:

• Automatically share delivery to project
• Where used functionality shall also show packages

Our conclusion is that customization is required to make it easy for user. The OOTB functionality in Windchill 10.1 is not mature yet

[slapha · Accepted solution]

When locking the package you can set which file types get included/excluded. The downside is you have to perform this each time and know all the extensions.

What I've been looking into is customizing the Package Types. In 10.0+ there is an XML file you can customize with various Package Type Properties. It's listed under "Package Type-Based Properties" in the Help files. http://www.ptc.com/cs/help/windchill_hc/wc100_hc/index.jspx?id=WCCG_BusLogicCust_WorkPackTypes&action=show

The Type drop down shows up and lets you pick from the types detailed out in the XML file. These types allow you to control Included and excluded types of data.

See also:

https://support.ptc.com/appserver/cs/view/solution.jsp?n=CS101199

Unfortunately I haven't had a chance to fully test it out, but it looks like the functionality you want can be configured through this method. I'm hopeful that it does, because that's the exact same use case we have.