How to delete some data in windchill pdm

@ptc-2140310 

PDMLink is not designed to simply delete data that are in usage. 

If data are used by assemblies or WTPart objects are linked then you need to delete all. together. 

PetrH

Can you explain what you mean by test data?

How much production data is in the system?

In order to delete any items, all related items must also be deleted. Drawings first, then assemblies and finally part files, working backwards through all top level objects.

We see this happen some times too. Data was created without a distinct plan, test data was added by mistake, duplicates etc. Deleting data in Windchill is a pain, especially if it has been linked to somehow.

We have a separate context that we've aptly named "Hidden objects" to which only admins can move objects. Only admins are participants of this context. This way we "remove" objects from the end-users without actually deleting anything. We've also had users come back and say that the document they wanted to have deleted shouldn't have been. Moving stuff to Hidden objects instead of deleting is then a life saver.

Edit: I wanted to add that you will want to terminate any active workflow processes related to any moved objects since Tasks may still be viewed while the objects are unavailable.

It's good to have a separate test system for upgrades. This will help minimize the amount of test data in your production system.

I had a request to write a utility that will perform a power delete. That is, if the object is referenced by something delete it anyway.

The code deletes using APIs, NOT sql, so by the time the object is deleted all references to and the object it’s self are added to a WTSet and the set is deleted.

Currently the utility deletes EPMDocuments, WTParts and WTDocuments. The links that are Checked include, but are not limited to,

links to WTParts, Baselines, Change objects, links to other EPMDocuments, etc.

I did mention that deleting the link will not affect a CAD Assembly opened in Pro/E (please tell me everyone remembers when PTC first CAD app was called Pro/ENGINEER) from requiring the deleted CAD component, thus a regen failure was in the offing. The response was, “We understand and we don’t care, but thanks for the heads up”.

So, it is definitely possible to bulk delete referenced objects in Windchill. You just need to know what links to delete with the object and you definitely want to us the APIs to do it.

And you need a solid plan.