Questions about "association types" continued

[ssmith-6]

Thanks to all who helped me understand the Owner association type yesterday.

The questions for today are about the Contributing Image association type, one of the association types between CAD Doc and WT part. This is fromthe Windchill Help file for this association type:

"This association combines representation and attribute passing. Although a contributing image does not ’drive’ structure, it contributes to the product structure of a parent object. For example, a flexible component (cable) may occur, say, three times in an assembly but routed differently in each case. While Pro/ENGINEER requires separate model files for each routing, these models can be associated to a single part (one having an owner link and two having contributing image links). The resultant product structure would show three occurrences of a single part."

1. First, I need to understand the two words used. What is it "contributing"?

2. What "Image" are they talking about? Is this the ProductView image? I thought that was called a representation. Why is it called an image if it's not really an image file like .jpg or .bmp? Again, the words they use I already have definitions for, but they have a different meaning in mind.

3. What does it mean "it contributes to the product structure of a parent object." Since it's not driving, but contributing, is that like my wife in the passenger seat every time I drive? No seriously, I don't understand the sentence. I understand "parent" as in "Parent/Child" relationship in Pro/E, is this what they mean?

4. Whoever wrote that help paragraph does not understand flexible components in Pro/E. Maybe they didn't really mean the Pro/E term "Flexible", maybe they meant "easy to bend". In Pro/E, if a flexible component is used three times, is still only requires one model, that's the whole idea, so the example is worthless as an explanation of this association type.

5. In addition, I tried to associate three CAD Documents to a WT Part, just like the help states, with one having an owner association and two having contributing image associations, but Windchill errors and tells me that "Multiple Contributing Image Associations are not allowed with the same part." So either the help is wrong, or I'm more lost than I realize. I'm still waiting for PTC tech support to answer this last question.

I would really like a real world example of using this association type that actually works the way PTC intended it to.

[GregoryPERASSO]

Steven,

1 & 2 I need to understand the two words used. What is it "contributing" and"Image"?

I'm agree with you, the name of the links are not reallly explicit. But the behaviour is not simple to explain in few words ...

-contributing means that attributes are propagated from CADDoc to WTPart

-image, means Product View rep is propagatedfrom CADDoc to WTPart, and that this CADDoc can participate to the WTpart Bill of material (example in point 3)

4. here "Flexible" is used in a more general waythan in ProE. for talking about parts like springs, electrical harness, foam, etc ... I'm not a proE expert. But using "flexible" prt in proE is possible only if your model can be "dynamically" modified by parameter (example: a parametric spring where you can set theconstrained length), isn't it ? For more "free form" . We have(having this casewith the Catia V5 Electrical Harness module) to create a separate prt file for each "representation" of the same harness (because of it differents routings once mount in the whole produc assembly). In this case, for the same WTPart, in owner , I will have a "flat" prt for the detail design of my harness. and several other prt linked by (contributing) imagelink for the same harness in different "form". Then we can explain the point 3 ...

3."it contributes to the product structure of a parent object."

In my previous example. In my top CAD asm, I will not add the "owner" flat harness . But add the "secondary" prt files (let's say 3 differents prt, cause I put 3 harness). The result in the WTPart BOM after chek in of the top CADasm, is that I will have the WTPart "Electrical harness" in quantity 3. Because these 3 different model "represent" the same WTPart.

The difference between the "Image" links and the "owner", is that "image" works at a single level.

The owner link build the Whole multilevelWTPart BOM. You can for example have in owner a ProE .asm (let's say a car engine), with all sub levels linked as owner. it will build the Engine WTPart BOM. on the same top Engine WTPart, you link by image linka prt of a simplified engine (I know that you can use simplified rep in this case). In the top car asm (which have a owner link to a Car WTPart),even if you use the simple engine prt. It will put the full WTPart BOM of the engine in the top Car WTPart BOM. From the WTPart BOM point of view . the product is fully defined. And you will be able to open it in Pview. Even if not fully assembled in CAD

5. "Multiple Contributing Image Associations are not allowed with the same part."

Don't know why there's this unicity constraint ... work more with the simpliest "image" link because I have not the need to propagate attributes. May be problems if several CADDocs have the same attributes for a single WTPart .. which value propagate ... ?

This link model with "multiple rep" of a single WTPart is alos used for HDIC . Heterogeneous DesignIn Context. Where a full Product WTPart BOM, can be designed by different CAD tools ...

regards

Gregory