Display of part state on drawing

[ptc-842757]

Hi,

Our drawing formats have a field to display the state of the model (PTC_WM_LIFECYCLE_STATE). When we promote a part to released, this field displays "Released". This looks funny as all other text on the format and in the drawings is all caps. Is there a way to change the way this parameter is displayed in the released state from "Released" to "RELEASED"?

Thanks.

[BenLoosli]

Do you republish your drawings after you promote them? That is the only way to get the drawing state to show correctly.

How is the state defined in your configuration (rbinfo) file? That may determine which case the word is in.

[ptc-842757]

We are new to windchill, and are using it really for the first time on a new project we are currently desiging parts for. We are considering changing the state to released as the final step prior to officially releasing the drawings to suppliers and manufacturing. We have only a few parts ready for promotion as of now and are just trying to resolve this issue before we start releasing them.

Could you explain where to find the rbinfo file?

[MikeLockwood]

Helpful for discussion (we did this) to use this analogy or something similar (probably can think of a much better analogy):

- Fill up a box with all needed stuff for some purpose; have all check and agree done.

- Use some special tape to close up the box

- Then, put the tape inside the box

- Oops - can't do this

The state change is the electronic control point that the company has to ensure that the data is ready for use. It has to be done after all the changes content changes (iterations via Check out / Check in) have been made. So - Doesn't make sense to include STATE as part of drawing content (but absolutely does make sense to include version).

[dschenken]

I always thought that this information should be embedded into PDF or other format out output at the time any output was generated: Drawing state, when it got that status, who extracted it, when it was extracted.

It's complicated to set up for conditions where no one will approve until they see the final drawing, then have to create a new version of the drawing with their signatures typed in with the chance for making changes that weren't expected. So what their signatures are on is not what they looked at before they approved it.

Personal favorite - drawing incorporation for a change to 'clarify drawing' is approved, but when the approvals are entered into the Rev history block, drafter fails to note the 'Follow Environment' setting for views and that he's now in Wireframe mode. Blocks of spaghetti where views once were.

[MikeLockwood]

Completely agree - but the mechanism to dispay state has to be different - can't include via Check out / Check In. Fortunately, visualization provides what is needed if you set it up to either republish after state change or dynamically apply a different watermark based on the current state.

Example

Someone prints a Rev B Drawing on Tuesday as it is being reviewed on a change and the watermark shows "Production Change - Not Yet Released."

On Wednesday after the change has been completed, that same Rev B Drawing has a watermark that says "Released."

[DarrenStorey]

windchill shell

enumcustomize

navigate to /wt/lifecycle/StatesRB.RB.ser

Edit state names as required

cd C:\ptc\Windchill\ant\bin

ant -f C:\ptc\Windchill\codebase\MakeJar.xml custUpdate

ant -f C:\ptc\Windchill\bin\tools.xml bundle_custom -Dbundle.input=registry

restart Windchill

We have a little custom expression in the promotion workflow which republishes any drawings in the promotion baseline automatically once they are approved. This is because we report state as a CAD parameter within the drawing. Dynamically adding state to the publshed viewable is perhaps more elegant, but only if you actually do business using the actual published reps.

Message was edited by: DARREN STOREY