Deleting latest iterations with WTPart Content associations

[DanWolf]

Version: Windchill 13.0

Use Case: Unable to delete latest iteration of CAD documents and WTPart when WTPart has a Content association to a CAD document in Windchill 13.0.2.

Description:

A few weeks ago, I opened a support case with PTC for an issue where we cannot delete the latest iterations of CAD documents and WTPart when the WTPart has a Content association to one or more of the CAD documents.  The case was closed as "works to product specification for Windchill PDMLink" (related article: Article - CS456009 - Unable to delete latest iteration of CAD Document due to referential integrity error in Windchill PDMLink).

Here's a scenario:

1. Check in Creo model (asm or prt) and drawing, generating WTPart either during checkin or afterward, or use existing objects.
2. WTPart is associated to Creo model as Owner and associated to Creo drawing as Content.  All objects are version A.1.
3. Check out the model and drawing in Creo workspace, open (or modify otherwise), save, check in.  All objects now show version A.2 (WTPart was automatically iterated when the Owner CAD document was checked in).
4. Attempt to delete the latest iterations of the WTPart and CAD documents.

In the scenario above, both of the WTPart versions (A.1 and A.2) Related Objects tab shows a Content association to the latest Creo drawing, A.2.  In Windchill 13.0.2, this prevents me from deleting the latest iterations (if I want to remove the A.2 versions of the WTPart and Creo files).  The error is "Cannot delete described by "xxxxx.drw, A.2" that describes following versions : xxxxx, A.1 (Design)"

I could swear I've been able to delete latest iterations with Content associations in the past, maybe before we upgraded from Windchill 12 to 13.  Can someone out there using a Windchill version prior to 13 do a quick test to see if you have the same issue?

Thanks!

[DanWolf · Accepted solution]

Maybe I'm thinking too hard about this... I just tried again, this time deleting the latest iteration of the CAD model and WTPart and that was successful, then I was able to delete the latest iteration of the CAD drawing by itself.  

I'll delete this post if I'm able to, or maybe a moderator can remove it.

[DanWolf]

Further testing... that's not really a solution.  When I have a WTPart, CAD model, CAD drawing, I can delete the latest iteration of the CAD model and WTPart, then delete the latest iteration of the drawing.

There's still a problem with family tables.  We have a lot of sheetmetal parts with family table instances for flat patterns and the instances are associated as Content to the WTPart.  In this case, it's impossible to delete the latest iterations because I cannot delete the latest generic iteration without including the instance.

[BenLoosli]

Why would you want to delete the generic without deleting the associated instance(s)? As far as actual files are concerned, the generic and all instances are in a single file. Do a backup of an instance or a generic of a family table to disk and you will only have 1 file being created.

[DanWolf]

Sorry, it didn't come out in writing like my brain was thinking.  My issue is trying to delete a latest iteration of objects when a WTPart has a Content association to one or more CAD documents.  PTC stated that when the WTPart has a Content association to an EPMDocument or WTDocument, that WTPart version always references the latest EPMDoc/WTDoc version.  Consider the simple scenario of a WTPart, Creo model, and Creo drawing where the WTPart has an Owner association to the Creo model and Content association to the Creo drawing.  All exist at version A.1.  The Creo files are modified and checked in again (iterating the WTPart) so now all objects are version A.2.  I cannot collect all objects (WTPart, model, drawing) and delete the latest iteration because Windchill says the drawing A.2 describes the WTPart A.1 (because of that Content association).  In that case, I found I can delete the latest iterations of the WTPart and CAD model, then delete the latest iteration of the drawing.

Now consider the same scenario except the model is a family table with an instance.  The WTPart is associated as Owner to the generic model and as Content to the instance.  Now I'm stuck - cannot delete the latest iterations because in addition to the drawing A.2 describing the WTPart A.1, the family table instance A.2 also describes the WTPart A.1.  What I was trying to say is I can't work around it by deleting the latest iteration of the generic and WTPart, like I did with the WTPart and non-family table CAD model.  In this case, with generic/instance, I don't see a way to delete the latest iterations (which I thought I've done in past Windchill versions).