Associative Topology Bus Enabled Models and Features
Associative Topology Bus (ATB) propagates changes made to the original CAD system data in the heterogeneous design environment. All geometric IDs preserved by the native system after the change to the native file are also preserved in the imported geometry by the ATB update. With ATB, you can work with Creo part or assembly that is:
• A Translated Image Model (TIM) representation of a model imported from the ATB interface, such as, CADDS or CATIA.
• A Creo assembly containing one or more components which are models imported from an ATB interface, such as, CADDS or CATIA.
• ACreo part containing an Import feature that is imported from an ATB interface such as, ICEM.
Only import operations in Creo application create TIM parts and assemblies. You can open CATIA, CADDS model files as TIMs. Neutral part files and files of other ATB-enabled formats are imported as native Creo parts with ATB-enabled features.
The TIM parts and assemblies store their ATB information at the model level. However, ATB-enabled import features store ATB information at the feature-level. The TIMs are displayed in the Model Tree with ATB icons that indicate their status with respect to their reference file as up-to-date, out-of-date, and so on.
These methods related to ATB models or features enable you to perform the following actions on a TIM model or ATB-enabled feature or the entire geometry of the imported model:
• Check the status of the TIMs or the ATB-enabled features.
• Update TIMs or ATB-enabled features that are identified as out-of-date.
• Change the link of a TIM or ATB-enabled feature.
• Break the association between a TIM or the ATB-enabled feature and the original reference model.
Methods Introduced:
The method wfcWModel::GetTIMInfo returns information about TIM in the specified model as a wfcTIMInfo object.
The method wfcTIMInfo::IsModelTIM checks if the specified model is a TIM.
The method wfcTIMInfo::ModelHasTIMFeats checks if the specified model contains a TIM feature.
The method wfcTIMInfo::FeatIds lists all the TIMs or ATB-enabled features present in the specified model. This method can be called after the method wfcTIMInfo::ModelHasTIMFeats which determines if the specified model has one or more TIM features.
The method wfcWModel::VerifyATB verifies if the specified ATB model is out of date with the source CAD model. The method first checks if the specified model is a TIM. If the model is not a TIM, this method checks if the ATB-enabled model was created by importing or appending ICEM or neutral surfaces to existingCreo part models. The method wfcWModel::VerifyATB returns the wfcATBVerificationResults object that represents the status of the TIMs.
You can specify a Creo part or assembly that is—
• A Translated Image Model (TIM) representation of a model imported from the ATB interface, such as, CADDS or CATIA.
• A Creo assembly containing one or more components which are models imported from an ATB Interface, such as, CADDS or CATIA.
• A Creo part containing an Import feature that is imported from an ATB interface such as, ICEM.
The input parameters for this method are:
• FeatIds—Specify an array of feature ids for the ATB-enabled features in the model. If a model contains more than one ATB-enabled feature, the verify method works only on the specified feature. If you do not specify a feature id, the method wfcWModel::VerifyATB verifies the entire model including TIMs from non-native CAD models.
• SearchPaths—Specify the complete location to the source CAD model. You can specify multiple directories to search for the model. If no search path is specified, then the method will search in current working directory or locations set in the configuration option atb_search_path.
Use the method wfcATBVerificationResults::GetOutOfDateModels to get an array of TIMs or the ATB-enabled features that are out-of-date with the source model and require an update. These TIMs or the ATB-enabled features can be relinked. Such models are represented by a red icon in the Model Tree in the Creo user interface.
Use the method wfcATBVerificationResults::GetUnlinkedModels to get an array of TIMs or the ATB-enabled features that have missing links because the reference model is missing from the designated search path. These models are represented by a yellow icon in the Model Tree in the Creo user interface.
Use the method wfcATBVerificationResults::GetOldVersionModels to get an array of TIMs for which the source CAD model is older than the one with which the TIM was last updated. These models are represented by a yellow icon in the Model Tree in the Creo user interface.
The method wfcWModel::MarkATBModelAsOutOfDate identifies all the ATB-enabled features that are out of date for the update operation.
The method wfcWModel::UpdateATB updates the ATB-enabled models or features that are displayed in the session. The update action synchronizes the derived structure and the contents of the TIMs with the primary structure and the content of the source non-native CAD models. This method returns an error if there are non-displayed models in the session or if the input model is not displayed.
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• If the link of a TIM or ATB-enabled feature is broken, you cannot re-establish the link or update the part that is independent and has lost its association with the reference model.
• The geometry added or removed from the model before the update is added or removed from the TIM after the update.
• ATB incorrectly identifies the imported geometry as up-to-date based on the old reference file which is found before the updated reference file.
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The method wfcWModel::RelinkATB relinks a TIM to a source CAD model specified by the input argument MasterModelPath. This method relinks all those models or features that have lost their association or link with their master model. In order to relink a model, provide the name and location of the master model, using MasterModelPath to which the specified model or feature is to be linked. If the master model with the same name is found, the Creo TIM model is linked to that master model.