Solved: Download CAD content directly from Windchill

cpedersen · ‎Sep 15, 2014

We have Windchill users who are not familiar with Creo, but who need to access Creo data. They are really missing the option that was available in previous releases to download e.g. a part file directly from the details page of an Windchill object. It worked well with sending a URL, pointing to a particular Windchill object, to these users. These guys are working with simulation and running applications foreign to PTC, it is actually an export functionality that they are missing. Todays trend in the CAD business is to be able to open objects from other vendors.

With Windchill it seems like you can only access data today through a WGM. A WGM for all the applications that might make use of a CAD file would be a massive overkill for us.

Has anyone found a clever workaround for this or would you also like to have the direct download option back.

TomU · ‎Sep 15, 2014

PTC has taken the approach that anything that can be managed by a workgroup manager cannot be downloaded directly. The stated reason was to minimize discrepancies in the data. If you download a file directly you will not get changes that may be been made outside the cad system (state change, attribute changes, etc.). These values are pushed to the CAD application the next time the file is opened and are missed if downloading directly. There are also issues with attempting to directly download family table members since these don't truly exist outside of the generic.

You can purchase (or custom build) 3rd party applications to directly access and download the data, but you do so at your own risk.

Here is the relevant tech support article: CS27313

Title	The "Download content" option is not available for "Workgroup Manager CAD Documents" from the standalone browser in Windchill PDMLink 9.1 M060
Description	The Download content option is not available for Workgroup Manager CAD Documents from the standalone Browser
Applies To	Windchill PDMLink 9.1 M060 and later datecodes
Cause	From the 9.1 M060 release, the Download content link will not be available for the primary content of Workgroup Manager Cad Document from pages displayed in a standalone browser. A Link for Open in Authoring Application is, however, available when viewed through the Windchill Workgroup Manager browser.
Resolution	Change in product specification from 9.1 M060+ to prevent data loss or data corruption This change in Download Content links does not apply to ECAD, Mathcad or IsoDraw documents In order to ensure data integrity, CAD data must be downloaded and processed by the workgroup manager CAD Adapter. In order to export CAD data, follow below steps: First open the required data in the appropriate CAD application in registered mode. Save As operation available in the CAD application > Save the content to local disk. Content with the same updated changes that is provided by a workgroup manager CAD adapter can also be obtained via Work Packages (Packages link under any context). Work Package content by default, is processed by visualization CAD workers which when configured for filesync/contentsync will update content with appropriate changes. Refer to the "Using a File Synchronization-Capable Worker to Download Files" topic in the Windchill System Administrator's Guide and TPI 142887 for more information.

Added tech support article contents: Tom Uminn

View solution in original post

SimonLucas · ‎Sep 15, 2014

Some of our users would love the same thing (especially analysis guys).

Currently we try and enfore the use of packages for the analysis guys. Some may say this is overkill, but at least you get a full record of what files were grouped together and extracted from the system when.

DavidCobb · ‎Sep 15, 2014

We have a need for this as well, especially with AutoCAD. There are many users who will retrieve AutoCAD files from Windchill, but not modify/upload/checkin - for these folks having to add the file to workspace via the Workgroup Manager rather than being able to download directly definitely seems unnecessary.

TomU · ‎Sep 15, 2014

PTC has taken the approach that anything that can be managed by a workgroup manager cannot be downloaded directly. The stated reason was to minimize discrepancies in the data. If you download a file directly you will not get changes that may be been made outside the cad system (state change, attribute changes, etc.). These values are pushed to the CAD application the next time the file is opened and are missed if downloading directly. There are also issues with attempting to directly download family table members since these don't truly exist outside of the generic.

You can purchase (or custom build) 3rd party applications to directly access and download the data, but you do so at your own risk.

Here is the relevant tech support article: CS27313

Title	The "Download content" option is not available for "Workgroup Manager CAD Documents" from the standalone browser in Windchill PDMLink 9.1 M060
Description	The Download content option is not available for Workgroup Manager CAD Documents from the standalone Browser
Applies To	Windchill PDMLink 9.1 M060 and later datecodes
Cause	From the 9.1 M060 release, the Download content link will not be available for the primary content of Workgroup Manager Cad Document from pages displayed in a standalone browser. A Link for Open in Authoring Application is, however, available when viewed through the Windchill Workgroup Manager browser.
Resolution	Change in product specification from 9.1 M060+ to prevent data loss or data corruption This change in Download Content links does not apply to ECAD, Mathcad or IsoDraw documents In order to ensure data integrity, CAD data must be downloaded and processed by the workgroup manager CAD Adapter. In order to export CAD data, follow below steps: First open the required data in the appropriate CAD application in registered mode. Save As operation available in the CAD application > Save the content to local disk. Content with the same updated changes that is provided by a workgroup manager CAD adapter can also be obtained via Work Packages (Packages link under any context). Work Package content by default, is processed by visualization CAD workers which when configured for filesync/contentsync will update content with appropriate changes. Refer to the "Using a File Synchronization-Capable Worker to Download Files" topic in the Windchill System Administrator's Guide and TPI 142887 for more information.

Added tech support article contents: Tom Uminn

DavidCobb · ‎Sep 15, 2014

Thanks for providing this, Tom - it's definitely a better explanation than I've received in the past!

sm · ‎Sep 17, 2014

There are a few PTC Windchill Software Parters with solutions for this. I have not used them personally, so I cannot endorse them, but wanted to let people know they are out there. Check out http://www.wincom-consulting.com/solutions/cad/cad-direct-download/