Integration with Other Applications > Managing CAD and Part Relationships in Windchill > Association Actions for CAD-driven Design > Automatically Associating CAD Documents and Windchill Parts
  
Automatically Associating CAD Documents and Windchill Parts
The Auto Associate action enables you to automatically find and associate an existing part to a CAD document or, if no matching part currently exists, create a new part and associate it to the CAD document.
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• Association functionality is only available in Windchill PDMLink or Windchill ProjectLink.
• Associations are only created upon clicking OK in the Auto Associate window. Similarly, listed parts whose row indicates New part created for association are not created if you select Cancel rather than completing the action.
For more information, see About Association.
Auto association functionality operates according to several conditions and is performed using the Auto Associate window.
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The exact manner in which the part is searched for, created, named, and numbered depends on preferences set by the site administrator. For more information, see the Windchill System Administrator's Guide. Auto association to parts is not supported for dynamic documents. Dynamic documents and graphics dynamic documents cannot form an owner, contributing image, or image link. Only contributing content or content links are available for dynamic documents and graphics dynamic documents, and these associations must be created manually.
Auto Associate Conditions
The Auto Associate action works in accordance with the following conditions:
• Auto associate automatically associates each selected CAD document with a part. The selected CAD documents can be new, checked out, or checked in. If a CAD document is checked out or new, a part structure is built upon the checkin of the CAD structure subsequent to auto association. If a CAD document is checked in, an association to a part is made; however, the part structure is not built as part of auto association. (The part structure can be built later by using the Build Associated Part action on a CAD assembly’s information page)
• While searching parts, if more than one part per CAD document is returned, then the Auto Associate command ignores the CAD document. An error message is shown in the Event Console.
• In multi-selection, only qualified CAD documents are valid. If a part is selected for auto associate, then the status message "Invalid selection for Auto Associate" is shown. If none of the selected objects are valid candidates for the command, then a status message "None of the selected objects is eligible for the 'Auto Associate Parts' action" is shown.
• When auto associating a model-containing CAD document and part, the system attempts to make an owner association if the part is not already associated by an owner association to another CAD document.
Auto Associate Window
When you select one or more CAD documents from the workspace and click Auto Associate, the Auto Associate window appears.
The Object List table lists parts (either existing or to be generated by the auto associate action) and CAD documents. The Number column displays part objects left-justified with one or more CAD documents listed in an indented position below each part. This is because parts can be associated to multiple CAD documents, but each CAD document can only be associated to a single part.
The default Object List table columns you may see are described in the following table:
Column
Description
(Select All)
Use check boxes to select rows to which to apply toolbar actions. The top (yellow-highlighted) check box selects/deselects all rows.
(Action status)
Displays action status symbols, as follows:
• New prt created for association—Appears in a part row to indicate that the listed part is being auto-created.
• Added association—Appears in a CAD document row to indicate that the association is to be created
• Removed association—Appears in a CAD document row to indicate that the currently displayed association is set for removal
(General status)
Displays object general status icon (if applicable).
(Share status)
Displays icons that indicate an object's status relative to a project or PDM (if applicable).
(Status Messages)
Displays status message icon and text message in tooltip (if applicable).
Number
Displays the number and type icon of the selected CAD documents. Also displays the number for existing parts, or (Generated) in cases where the associated part is auto-created. If auto-numbering is not set at your site, an editable field appears for you to enter a part number.
Association Type
Displays a menu from which you can select the type of association the CAD document will have with the associated part.
Name
Displays the name for CAD documents or existing parts. If auto-naming is not set at your site, an editable field appears for you to enter a part name.
Revision
Displays the revision of the part or CAD document.
View
Displays a drop-down menu from which you can select an available view for the part.
Location
Displays the location for the master version of the object. For newly created parts, clicking the adjacent set location icon presents the Set Location window from which you can select a location.
Organization ID
Displays the related organization
Actions available in the Object List toolbar for selected table objects are described in the following table:
Action
Description
Remove association
Removes the current association for the selected CAD document. Also available via Edit > Remove association.
Existing Part
Displays the Find Object window, allowing you to search for one or more existing part objects for association with a selected CAD document. Also available as Insert > Existing Part.
Create New Part for Association
Displays the New Part window, allowing you to specify the attributes of a newly created part for the selected CAD document. Also available as Insert > New Part.
Location
Displays the Set Location window (for valid selected objects only) to allow you to specify a storage location for the object.
Organization ID
Displays the Find Organization window, allowing you to assign an organization.
Set New Name
Displays the Set New Name window (for newly created selected parts only) to allow you to specify a new name.
Find in tree
Allows you to enter a text string to find in the tree listing. You can use the Next match and Previous match controls to move upward or downward through the Object List, highlighting instances of the string.
To auto associate parts:
1. In the workspace, select the CAD documents to which you want to auto-associate parts and select Edit > Auto Associate or click the auto associate icon .
The Auto Associate page appears.
2. Examine the objects listed for existing or proposed association.
◦ For selected CAD documents with existing associations, clicking the remove association icon sets the association to be removed
◦ For selected CAD documents, clicking the existing part icon brings up a Find Object window to locate existing parts for association. If you have selected only one CAD document, then you may select more than one existing part.
◦ For selected CAD documents, clicking the create new part for association icon generates a part for association.
3. Examine the associations listed in the Object List table, using the Association column to change the association type, if desired. If you change the association, the Action status column displays a symbol indicating that a modification has been made.
4. For newly created parts, modify the part number, name, or other attributes as allowed by the preference settings of your site.
5. You can select one or more newly created parts and click the set location icon or the set new name icon in the tool bar to modify current values.
6. Use the button in the Location column, along with the drop-down menus in the columns that contain menus to set values for one row at a time.
7. Click OK.
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The view assigned to new parts is the one specified in the General tab of the Edit Workspace Options window.