Copying parts in Windchill vs. Intalink3x

We're going to Windchill and I've been asked how we are going to copy
(duplicate) parts from an assembly, give it a new name but have the
option of retaining the relationship with the assembly. I believe we
do this now with Intralink 3x but not sure how in Windchill (we're in
trial mode right now). Can anyone explain how to go about this or
direct me to some information on this topic?
-Thanks

 

We're going to Windchill and I've been asked how we are going to copy
(duplicate) parts from an assembly, give it a new name but have the
option of retaining the relationship with the assembly. I believe we
do this now with Intralink 3x but not sure how in Windchill (we're in
trial mode right now). Can anyone explain how to go about this or
direct me to some information on this topic?
-Thanks

You can do this now in two ways. There's the one involving Intralink which copies a lot of storage data with it (rev, folder, release level) with Duplicate Objects. The other way is to do Save a Copy on the assembly, with the option to copy rename not only the assembly/drawing, but also all the parts/components/subassemblies within or to keep those names.

I'm about to experience Windchill PDM-Link soon and will find out if any Pro/e functionality is changed by it. But I doubt that 'Save a Copy' will be affected. What, within WC, will approximate the funtionality of ILINK 'Duplicate Objects' or whether, I don't know. It was pretty handy, especially to get assembly and drawing copied, associatively keeping their link to each other, while also registering new components in an assembly, all without even starting up Pro/ENGINEER. Hope something like that continues.

David Janes

 

That's what I'm posting about. So far we haven't been able to do it in
Windchill (haven't figured it out). We're switching over in a few
months and we have a few testing it and not having the duplicating
capability is going to be a big issue.

 

I'm struggling with the same issue. I remember a few years back when
they first introduced Intralink8. That functionality did not exist,
and I told PTC we would not upgrade unless it was available. I am at
new company now, and it has been a few years since then, so I was
hoping that the user community had screamed loud enough to get
"duplicate" back. But it looks like it was either too hard for PTC to
get that working in a web client, or they feel that it is not
important enough to give to us. I personally think that is one of the
best features about Ilink3.X. The "update Parent" part is great. I
can copy (duplicate) a part and drawing, and still control what
assemblies get the new part. Great when you have a multiple "where
used" and you only want to change a few assemblies.

Andy

 

I'm struggling with the same issue. I remember a few years back when
they first introduced Intralink8. That functionality did not exist,
and I told PTC we would not upgrade unless it was available. I am at
new company now, and it has been a few years since then, so I was
hoping that the user community had screamed loud enough to get
"duplicate" back. But it looks like it was either too hard for PTC to
get that working in a web client, or they feel that it is not
important enough to give to us. I personally think that is one of the
best features about Ilink3.X. The "update Parent" part is great. I
can copy (duplicate) a part and drawing, and still control what
assemblies get the new part. Great when you have a multiple "where
used" and you only want to change a few assemblies.


I agree with the positive comments about 'Duplicate Objects'. Yes, it was one of the handiest features of Intralink and somewhat made up for its many weaknesses. I think, since I've heard nothing about this from out sysadmin (who's dance card is 100% filled with PTC WC migration consultants) what the scoop is on this functionality in WC PDM-L. Maybe rattle some cages? I'll reports the results. Can't imagine doing this migration w/o PTC consults.

David Janes

 

Here's a response I've received from another forum that seems to work:
Duplicating:
In Intralink 3.4 this was achieved using object#duplicate.
In PDM Link you:
· Go to the Folders Page
· Start a search in either the folder or the whole library or
product
· Search for the top level assembly or the drawing. If you
want to pick multiple objects which are spread across multiple folders
use the advanced search to gather all the objects in one go.
· On the search results page select the objects and click on
the "save as" button
· Set the objects that you do not want to duplicate to "Reuse"
· Apply new names to the objects you want to duplicate. Note:
use the "set new name" icon on the "save as options" page to rename
your objects (DO NOT USE THE TEXT BOXES ON THE "SAVE AS" PAGE),
remember to untick the "filename is same as number" box and apply your
new names to both the "name" and "file name" fields.
· Click on OK to return to the "save as" page and REMEMBER TO
SET THE COMMONSPACE LOCATION FOR YOUR NEW OBJECTS.
· Make one last check that you have remembered to include any
required drawings etc before clicking the OK button
---The problem I have with the solution though is this:
We can't seem to duplicate/copy a part/subassembly>give it a new
number>then retain the relationship to the top level assembly. The
only way we can retain the relationship is to also make a copy of the
top level assembly. Any thoughts on how to create a copy of a
subassembly giving it a new number while retaining the relationship?
TIA-Justin

 

Here's a response I've received from another forum that seems to work:
Duplicating:
In Intralink 3.4 this was achieved using object#duplicate.
In PDM Link you:
· Go to the Folders Page
· Start a search in either the folder or the whole library or
product
· Search for the top level assembly or the drawing. If you
want to pick multiple objects which are spread across multiple folders
use the advanced search to gather all the objects in one go.
· On the search results page select the objects and click on
the "save as" button
· Set the objects that you do not want to duplicate to "Reuse"
· Apply new names to the objects you want to duplicate. Note:
use the "set new name" icon on the "save as options" page to rename
your objects (DO NOT USE THE TEXT BOXES ON THE "SAVE AS" PAGE),
remember to untick the "filename is same as number" box and apply your
new names to both the "name" and "file name" fields.
· Click on OK to return to the "save as" page and REMEMBER TO
SET THE COMMONSPACE LOCATION FOR YOUR NEW OBJECTS.
· Make one last check that you have remembered to include any
required drawings etc before clicking the OK button
---The problem I have with the solution though is this:
We can't seem to duplicate/copy a part/subassembly>give it a new
number>then retain the relationship to the top level assembly. The
only way we can retain the relationship is to also make a copy of the
top level assembly. Any thoughts on how to create a copy of a
subassembly giving it a new number while retaining the relationship?
TIA-Justin


This is actually less a Pro/e question than a configuration management question. I don't have any expertise but know some common techniques for dealing with such situations. One is to serialize the product so that changes in different levels of the assembly are reflected in the composition of the serial number.

Another way is to create tabulated indexes at the top level to indicate different product configurations with dash numbered top level configurations. This works for somewhat simple variations that have dash numbered, alternately configured subassemblies, but only a few of them. This also requires drawing trees to match each top down configuration. But, by the time you get up to ten or fifteen of these, you're going to be thinking seriously about serializing.

David Janes