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amar_karthi13-Aquamarine
13-Aquamarine
November 28, 2023
Solved

Has anyone tried a Dynamic Banner in Windchill Page to broadcast message to Users?

  • November 28, 2023
  • 3 replies
  • 3349 views

Hello Everyone,

 

Has anyone succeeded in implementing a Dynamic banner on top of the Windchill page near the Windchill logo to relay messages to Users like Maintenance details of the system for example?

 

I know of the static display banner which can be used to display text that is updated with a restart of the Windchill, but I'm looking at some ways where it needs to be dynamic without a restart of Windchill, like display content from a text file stored somewhere

 

Thanks in advance!

 

Amar 

Best answer by jbailey

I have a couple of solutions that take effect without a restart (they typically apply at the next page refresh or login

 

The first is following PTC's instructions for modifying Banner.txt (We have been using this since 11.2)

https://support.ptc.com/help/wnc/r12.1.1.0/en/index.html#page/Windchill_Help_Center/customization/WCCG_UICust_GenericUICust_SysBannerAlert.html

 

Additionally, I was able to take this another step further and use the reference here (https://www.w3schools.com/howto/howto_js_alert.asp) in addition to banner.txt to create some custom banners. This did require some additional logic and a new JSP file. The result is a maintenance banner that is seen at login / and page refresh... and a "Terms of Use" banner that covers the page, and is only seen once as long as the person agrees to the terms of use.

3 replies

J
jbailey18-OpalAnswer
18-Opal
November 28, 2023

I have a couple of solutions that take effect without a restart (they typically apply at the next page refresh or login

 

The first is following PTC's instructions for modifying Banner.txt (We have been using this since 11.2)

https://support.ptc.com/help/wnc/r12.1.1.0/en/index.html#page/Windchill_Help_Center/customization/WCCG_UICust_GenericUICust_SysBannerAlert.html

 

Additionally, I was able to take this another step further and use the reference here (https://www.w3schools.com/howto/howto_js_alert.asp) in addition to banner.txt to create some custom banners. This did require some additional logic and a new JSP file. The result is a maintenance banner that is seen at login / and page refresh... and a "Terms of Use" banner that covers the page, and is only seen once as long as the person agrees to the terms of use.

    A
    amar_karthi13-AquamarineAuthor
    13-Aquamarine
    November 28, 2023

    Thanks for responding @jbailey 

     

    But i have a question, even with this approach of having a separate jsp & a .txt file to store content, wont it require a Method server restart every time if the content to be displayed is changed in the .txt file?

    J
    jbailey18-Opal
    18-Opal
    November 28, 2023

    Nope, the jsp files are read real-time. do the simple example in the banner.txt.

     

    Note: This step only needs to be done once (to enable the functionality)

    jbailey_0-1701175437563.png

     

    Once that enables the banner, modifications to banner.txt are read without restart. The banner is "disabled" by commenting out the banner text you display.

     

    Example: with banner text on: 

    <font face="verdana">
<!-- Banner begins here -->
Windchill server will be down 1/1 for maintenance
<!-- Banner ends here -->
</font>

     

    Example with banner text off:

    <font face="verdana">
<!-- Banner begins here -->
<!-- Windchill server will be down 1/1 for maintenance -->
<!-- Banner ends here -->
</font>

     

      avillanueva
      23-Emerald I
      avillanueva23-Emerald I
      23-Emerald I
      November 28, 2023

      I use the banner.txt that @jbailey mentioned too. It does not require a system restart. I have 3 commands in the bin folder to make this easier. One turns it on, one turns banner off and the last one edits the message which just launches me into vi. I typically use it for upcoming system changes, ongoing performance issue alerts or April Fools Day fun.

      Fadel
      Fadel23-Emerald I
      23-Emerald I
      November 28, 2023

      @avillanueva this can be done now from UI (12.1), without any RDP access , https://www.ptc.com/en/support/article/CS378733 

      There is a video attached above 

      Buiꓘa
      J
      jbailey18-Opal
      18-Opal
      November 28, 2023

      True, however many customers are months (if not a year or more) from moving to Windchill 12.1 or later. 

      C
      CraigFinney12-Amethyst
      12-Amethyst
      October 24, 2025

      Although I have not done it, and not sure how I would approach 13.x... 


      BUT for linux installs, on 12.0 and earlier, I would set up a cron job (to run once every hour) that would run a script to calculate the current time to x, and sed the banner texts, i..e "Windchill will be shut down 2 days, 13 hours".  so sed could be sed -i 's/2 days, 13 hours/2 days, 12 hours/g' banner.txt 

       

      With the dynamic text on 12.1 going forward, I do not need to do server logins.

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