Pro/ENGINEER and Windchill PDMLink(An Integral system for the collaborative development of Pro/E Product Models)

© 2006 PTC

Pro/CONCEPTPro/CONCEPT

Pro/Pro/DESKTOPDESKTOP

Pro/IPro/INTRALINKNTRALINK

Routed SystemsRouted SystemsDesignerDesigner

CREATECREATE

ProjectLinkProjectLink

DynamicDesignLinkDynamicDesignLink

PartsLinkPartsLink

FoundationFoundation

PDMLinkPDMLink

COLLABORATECOLLABORATE& CONTROL& CONTROL

Pro/MECHANICAPro/MECHANICA

Pro/EPro/EWILDFIREWILDFIRE

The Challenge

The solution must be web-based, simple to use and compliment, not constrain Pro/E

C++Native, Desktop ApplicationWorks with files (Lots of files)Associative, Parametric

Java3 Tier Web Application

© 2006 PTC

Topics I will cover

User Interface

Architecture

Files types, runtime support & name resolution

Dependencies

Managing the Pro/E model development processes

Family Tables

Simp. Reps

Collaborative Design

Linking Pro/E Data to the rest of the company

Futures

© 2006 PTC

The user environment: Accessibility & Convenience (Immersion)

Built-in Browsing

Built-in Navigation

Built-in Search

Single Button to Download

& Open in Pro/E

Simple drill-down for

more information

© 2006 PTC

The user environment: Accessibility & Convenience (Immersion)

3D Preview

Visual Navigation

PDM (Control)

Information

Relationships and history

Parameters Created in

Pro/E

Pro/E File Information

Easy access to

commands

Drag & Drop to Open or

Assemble in Pro/E

© 2006 PTC

The user environment: Accessibility & Convenience (Immersion)

Actions On Model Tree

Windchill available during

placement commands

Checkout on-the-fly

© 2006 PTC

The user environment: Accessibility & Convenience (Immersion)

Hyperlinks on Notes to Windchill managed

documents

© 2006 PTC

File Support,Runtime Access and Name Resolution

Automatic Name Resolution

Pro/E has runtime access to the Windchill Database

– Windchill is in the Pro/E “search path”

Pro/E automatically pulls files from the database when needed

– e.g. During Assembly Retrieval

Database can be accessed anytime by the user

– e.g. to resolve an assembly component reference

Common Pro/E variables can point to locations in the database

– e.g. pro_library_dir (For Library Parts)

– pro_symbol_dir (For Drawing Symbols)

– pro_material_dir (For Material Files)

– start_model_dir (For company std. start parts)

Supported File Types

Pro/E can create approximately 200 types of files:

….all are managed by PDMLink

© 2006 PTC

Pro/E File Abstraction (PFA) Layer

File Support,Runtime Access and Name Resolution

Architecture

All files read & written via PFA

– File>SaveFile>Save A Copy (IGES, STEP, .ol, Shrink wrap etc.)File>Backup

A Windchill FPA driver makes Windchill transparent to Pro/E Applications

All Pro/E files written by Pro/E both now and in the future can all be managed by Windchill

Use of Internet Protocols make this firewall safe

– S.O.A.P., http, https, Multi-part MIME

Local Disk

SAVE

Windchill Server

Local fwrite()http

Location = “D:”Location = “http://theserver/pdml”

© 2006 PTC

Dependencies

Dependency types

Dependencies enable associativity

More than 30 dependency types

– e.g. MEMBER, DRAWING, FORMAT,

GENERIC, MFG, MERGE, GROUP,

SUPPRESSED, NON_PLACED, UDF, MARKUP…

Broken dependencies can lead to an incomplete, sometimes un-retrievable model

PDMLink understands and manages all Pro/E dependency types

– Robust infrastructure for exchanging dependency information (Neutral data)

– Understands REQUIRED vs NON-REQUIRED dependencies

Simple Dependency Example: BoM (Uses)

a.asm

c.prt

b.prt

d.asm

bb

cc

ee

ff

gg

d.asm

f.prt

e.prt

g.prt

UsesMate/Align

Assembly “A”

Assembly “D”

Note the circular

dependency

uses

uses

Drawing Format

X-hatch

More Complex Example: Assembly Drawing

© 2006 PTC

Family Table Support

Instances are modeled in Windchill

Separate objects, independently checked in/out

Can each have parts associated

Checkout of one instance does not checkout all instances

Generic automatically retrieved when required

Supports nested instances

Supports checkout on-the-fly

Instance Verification on checkin

© 2006 PTC

Simplified Rep. Support

Simplified Reps.

Invaluable when working with large assemblies

Reduces the amount of data in session

Reduces the amount of data downloaded from the server

Windchill supports Internal & external simp. Reps.

External Simp. Reps. New with Wildfire 1.0

Create Simp. Reps on the fly

© 2006 PTC

Collaborative Design

Workspace

– Manages configurations of Pro/E Data (Latest, Baselines etc)

– Records all data referenced by user (Not just checked out)

Workspace update

– Synchronizes work with others before checkin

� Replace in session

Automatically updates in-session models with updates from the database

� Subscriptions

� Asynchronous Notification (Future)

© 2006 PTC

Pro/E Data integrates with the Enterprise Product Structure

Requirements

Data Sheet

CAD ModelData Sheet

Viewable

Requirements

Test PlanSoftware Code

Analysis

Part: Cell PhonePart No: CEL9412Cost: $34.95Weight: 3.5 oz.

Part No: KEY124Name: KeypadCost: $0.65Weight: 0.25 oz.Manuf: Key, Inc.

Test PlanSoftware Code

Analysis

CAD Model

Viewable

Test PlanSoftware Code

Analysis

CAD Model

Data Sheet

Viewable

Requirements

Part No: SCR243Name: ScreenCost: $1.04Weight: 0.35 oz.Manuf.: Screen, Inc.

SkeletonModelNot Built

Builds ComponentPart

Builds AssemblyPart

Builds ComponentPart

Pro/E Structure Enterprise Structure

© 2006 PTC

…And more…

Rename Pro/E Objects in Windchill

All dependencies resolved & updated on retrieval

Windchill supports “Save As…”

Includes support for Family Tables

Ghost Object management

Prevent incomplete objects from entering the database

Automatic Number Allocation

PDM Number generator linked to Pro/E File>New, Add Instance etc.

Model Check Integration

Ensures objects will only checkin if they conform to corporate standards

Client Side Viewable generation

Viewables created by Pro/E on checkin

Performance

Parallel thread architecture

Avoid Network “chatter”

Data compression

Asynchronous transactions

© 2006 PTC

Futures

Performance: Retrieve in session & download in parallel

Shape indexing

Asynchronous notification

Full Text Indexing of Pro/E Data

© 2006 PTC

Conclusion

Windchill PDMLink provides an “immersive” environment for Pro/ENGINEER users to collaboratively develop high fidelity 3D Product Models

It is easy to use and compliments, and does not constrain Pro/E

It enables user to use the full modeling power of Pro/ENGINEER, and propagates the results to the enterprise